July in the United States is awash in red, white, and blue, but I've fallen in love with this more Christmasy version of vivid red, snowy white, and icy blue. This is Joy Squared from the December 2016 issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine. I made a lot of changes (you can see the original in this post), the biggest one being that I stitched all the blocks together instead of individually. The red is GAST Buckeye Scarlet (is there any other red?), and the fabric is 28 ct. Snow linen by Fabric Flair, available at 123 Stitch.
The super fluffy trim is a snowball garland from Hobby Lobby, and the double-sided, wired ribbon I used for the bow is also from Hobby Lobby. This is great ribbon, by the way. It's got a very sturdy feel to it and is nice to work with. I just purchased these items last week, so they should still be available, but remember what I said a few days ago: shop early!
I wasn't too sure the snowball garland would work for trim when I bought it, but I hadn't seen anything like it before (I like unusual trims) and it was so soft and fluffy I couldn't pass it up, and besides, it makes me happy. I think it reminds me of gluing cotton balls onto pictures of sheep during Sunday school when I was little!
Hope you've enjoyed this little burst of Christmas in July!
This is very sweet and has a real christmassy feel with the cotton wool trim. x
ReplyDeleteI love the Joy piece in its finished form, Honeybee! That ribbon looks fabulous and the snowball trim also reminds me of using cotton balls on projects in my younger days. This whole piece makes me smile. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteVery Nice...
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! I like vivid reds and whites for Christmas too.
ReplyDeleteGreat finish!
ReplyDeleteThere is no other red. The End. :)
ReplyDeleteThe cotton balls remind me of my mother. She would draw a picture of Santa's face on a piece of construction paper, and we would glue cotton balls to the place where his beard was to mark off the days until Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he finally had a full beard!