A great weekend for Cross-stitch

I did a lot of stitching in January - between stay-at-home and colder weather, I had lots of time to dedicate to needle and thread. As luck would have it, I finished 3 of the 4 pieces I worked on during the month in the same weekend! In fairness, I was pretty close on the first two before the weekend, so it wasn't that much of a stretch. 

The first finish is a project that I selected to be my 2021 series piece. I picked up all five pieces of the Little House Needleworks pattern Snow Place a few years ago and always planned to stitch them in one piece. I dug through the stash over the holidays and found a piece of linen that would work. I got started on it Jan 2 and was missing one thread color (Ladybug). I stitched as far as I could and didn't think I would get the thread for a January finish, but it arrived late in the month and I finished it right up. I love the first "block" and look forward to getting start on the next one. This looks to be stitched on a piece of Zweigart, but I don't know the colorway as it was in a bag of goodies from a friend. Most of the colors are called for, but I switched out the blues for a really pretty blue Needle Necessities thread in my stash - and I am so glad I did - I love the variegation in it. 

Later the same day, I finished up my second piece of the weekend - this is Animal Friends - August from Tiny Modernist. My birthday is in August and I rarely find things that say August that I like - but this was the exception - I love the little critters and the tent in the mountains. This is stitched with all the called for DMC colors on a piece of Wichelt Forget-me-not (very light blue) Aida. I stretched myself on this piece and tried to stitch with the sewing method - it was nice in the areas where I was stitching a long rows, but not quite as good in the detailed areas - I think that most of the time, I will stick with using a hoop or frame. 

On Sunday, I had a start and finish during my normal Sunday Morning Stitching - this is an ornament from the 2007 Just Cross Stitch Magazine - pattern by Lizzie Kate (one of my favorites!). It was such a fun and quick stitch and I have an idea for how I will finish it too. The original pattern had some hearts below the word, but I thought with the petit point fabric, it didn't need those. I used all the called for colors on this 32 count linen. 

What a great month to finish three pieces in the same weekend! I also did some FFO (fully finished object) work the same weekend and I got three of my 12 Lizzie Kate monthly pieces finished - I will mount them on the same chalkboard as soon as I get some magnets so they are easy to change out. I did chuckle at myself that I finished them all at the end of the last month of the three I did! My plan is to get all 12 fully finished this year. Not sure I will be creative enough to do all 12 bows differently, but please let me know if you have some ideas I can use for variety! 

Hope you enjoyed this month's stitching!