Summer Birds Finished & Framed

 

Before I wander off into Holiday Land, I wanted to share the results of my Summer Birds project for this year. I've had these finished for a while but hadn't taken the time to photograph and post, so here they are. If you're just joining us and want info on any of these designs, click on the "birds" label at the end of this post or in the right sidebar under "Labels".

Quick review: I decided to re-do my summer themed stitching decor and chose birds and had a wonderful time stitching them this spring and summer. I still have a bunch of designs to get through so I plan to continue this next spring.

My cheerful, colorful jumble of birds!

I have so many birds I want to stitch, adding to this collection will keep me busy for years!

Framing: Centering Made Easy

Finally had a chance to get in my sewing room and get some work done! This beautiful Blue Jay from Pigeon Coop Designs was the last project I completed for this year's Summer Birds and I've framed him at last! The frame is from The Rusty Roof. They have a nice selection of custom sizes and a good range of color choices. 

Framing your own needlework isn't hard and it saves a ton of money (my basic framing tutorial). The trickiest part is probably getting your piece centered properly, so I thought I'd share how I do it. As with a lot of other stuff I share here, this is probably not "the way you're supposed to do it" but it's the way I do it and it's easy and it works, so there's that. 

After cutting the foam core to the proper size, I use a ruler to draw two lines between the corners to find the center of the foam core.

I also measure and mark the center of each side.

Then I stick a pin through the center of the foam core.

Referring to the marked center of the design chart, I lay the finished piece on the padded foam core, with the pin sticking up through the center of the design. I now have the exact center of the design matched to the exact center of the foam core.

I then put one pin in the marked center of each side. If it looks good, I start pinning in the corners, working between opposite sides (ie. top right corner, then bottom left; top left corner, then bottom right), gently stretching and straightening as needed, pinning all the way around the piece, with pins about 1/4" apart. I start in the corners because it's easier to stretch the fabric in two directions (lengthwise and widthwise) simultaneously, and it's also easier to see if the horizontal and vertical fibers are exactly perpendicular, which they will be if the stretch is nice and even. If it's uneven, you can easily see the wiggle in the fibers at the corner.

So that's it! It takes some practice but it really isn't difficult at all and it saves so much money. 

September Basket

 

Down to the last three baskets in the Cosford Rise Stitchery flower basket series! I think this one uses all DMC but I swapped out the yellow and black for Weeks Squash and Weeks Onyx for more visual "movement" but also used my mismatched strands method to avoid chunks/stripes of color. 

When making single stitches, especially in a dark color where I wouldn't carry the thread across the back, I use a Smyrna stitch. It makes a prettier stitch than a lone cross stitch, and it's easier to anchor if it's off on it's own, as with a star or a snowflake. I also use this stitch for eyes to prevent my critters from looking unconscious! (The single black stitches in the small flower centers are Smyrna stitches.)

On to October!

Bonus Baby Pic:

We brought two tiny werewolves home two years ago today!

Saturday Sampler: Thursday Edition

 

All is well! We're still here, just very busy! October has been a month of anxious hurricane watching from our position right smack on the Gulf Coast. Thankfully, all of the landfalls have been just to our west or east, but it is heartbreaking nonetheless to watch them hit anywhere. I know people love to live on the water, but I cannot understand how it's worth this worry for six months out of every year. To each their own, I guess.

I've also been busy preparing for a speaking engagement at the end of the month, and I've been doing some stitching, mainly finishing up this year's Christmas Open House. Only one more project left to go and that will be done. I started a Halloween project a couple of days ago, hoping to squeeze in one more, but I'm not sure I will finish it before Halloween. Stitching is much slower these days, as I now have lots of "help" and must take frequent snuggle breaks. Speaking of the babies, they are fine: chunky, fluffy, purry, snuggly, and ever so helpful. 

Just wanted to quickly drop in and let y'all know we're okay. Thank you to those who have reached out to check on us. I have a very busy weekend coming up but hopefully once I get that over with, things will quiet down a bit and I'll be around more. Hope you're all well!

Happy Stitching!

August Basket

 

Look how pretty this one is! Peach is not at the top of the list of colors I like, but these threads were so lovely, especially together with that gray green in the basket. I made a couple of small changes to this one. I used a Rhodes stitch for the centers of the small white flowers, and I altered the "Fresh Peaches" sign to read "Peach Salsa" as that's my favorite way to eat peaches! If you're interested in trying it, you can't go wrong with the famous peach salsa made in our home state of Texas. 

Only four more baskets left in this series by Cosford Rise Stitchery (Etsy)! 

Quoth the Raven

 

First finish of spooky season! This is Nevermore Raven by Quaternion Creations from the 2024 Just Cross Stitch Halloween Special Issue (also available in the designer's Etsy shop). I chose a darker fabric than the model because I wanted that beautiful moon to really show up well. I also added a little spark of color to the leaf.

Fabric: 28 ct. Storm, Hand Dyed Fabrics by Stephanie

Moon: GAST Ohio Sky

Raven/Nevermore: GAST Onyx

Branches: GAST Wood Trail

Leaf: CC Colonial Copper

Summer Birds: Blue Jay

 

Here he is! My final bird for the summer, a gorgeous Blue Jay from the new book by Max Pigeon, Cross Stitch in the Forest (Amazon). I stitched him on Stormy Grey Jobelan, and pretty much stuck to the chart, except for one thing. This designer uses a lot of negative space in his work, which I like, but he also uses white fabric a lot. I almost never use white fabric, so for this design, I simply filled the spaces he left open (for the white fabric to show) with white stitches. This is the third design of his I've stitched this year (!) and for the other two, I used green and blue fabrics, and didn't fill any of the negative space. These designs can definitely work well on dyed fabric.

 

I have all but one of my summer birds fully finished and am just waiting on a frame for this guy, and I'll have this bird project wrapped up until next spring. I am continuing to work on my Nimble Birds sampler though. 

Stay tuned to see all my bird finishes, and my first Halloween finish of the year! Coming soon!

July Basket

 

Cruising along through the Cosford Rise Stitchery (Etsy) basket series and having a lovely time with it! The baskets are quick to stitch so it's easy to keep up with monthly finishes, even if you're busy with other things, and of course, they're so pretty! This design includes a number of flag options, and the model is stitched with the flag of the UK, so I hadn't seen a finish with the American flag. I think it's beautiful!

As we head into this holiday weekend, the last weekend of summer (hooray!), I've had to make some adjustments to my stitchy plans. If you've been around lately, you know I've been stitching up a bunch of birds for my summer decorating, and that we've been sick, and that this summer has not gone according to plan. No worries! I have adapted! 

I'm about 2/3 done with my final bird of the summer (a real showstopper). I wanted to get my birds finished/framed in time to display them this summer, but that didn't work out. I am undeterred. I really want to enjoy them so I decided to just go ahead with that plan, instead of bringing out all of my fall/Halloween stitching. (If you missed last year's somewhat over-the-top display, click on the Halloween label in the right sidebar and scroll down a bit.) I have a stack of small Halloween stitches I want to get done, and the new plan is to whip those up and do a smaller display with just my new finishes. So, full speed ahead on Summer Birds, and on a scaled down--but all new!--Halloween display! Fingers crossed I can get some finishing done this weekend. 

Wishing you all a safe and stitchy holiday weekend... we made it to fall, y'all!

PS: Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes for the girls! 

The Werewolves Are Two Years Old!