New My Big Toe Freebie on Wichelt

Amazing Grace - ornament sized design by My Big Toe available at Wichelt.com  Click on FREE GRAPH. Check out the other Wichelt freebies while there!

More Prairie Schooler Stitching

Where There Are Bees

Prairie Schooler Bk 194

Fabric: 16ct White Aida

Size: 2-7/8" x 2-15/16"

Floss: DMC as charted - 2 strands

Stitching Competed: April 2014

(The scanned and digitized colors are MUCH brighter than the rather subdued

pallet this chart and Rabbit Run both call for)

 Prairie Schooler MiniCard Pack E

Fabric: 16ct White Aida
Sizes: 2" x 2-1/2" and 1-3/4" x 2-3/4"

Floss: DMC 3371 and a brighter orange than charted

Stitching Completed March 2014

Actually, Halloween stitching is something I don't particularly care f or, so these are for my Daughter.  Last year she added a new tree to her 12+ decorated Christmas Tree ensemble: It's Orange, which she decorated with hot pink and black ornaments. I figure she can add these Halloween Ornies to the black ones for Halloween, which she loves to decorate for as well. Not my style but it suits her. :D  In addition to a traditional Christmas Tree, she has a Shoe Tree, a Santa Clause Tree, a tree with red ornies, a tree with mostly blue ornies, her largest tree is in white with white, clear, crystal or silver ornaments. etc.  After a couple of decades she removed all the 1" or 1-1/2: cross stitched ornies I made for her dorm room a couple of decards ago. She's replaced them with little snowmen. Must admit that after she left home, I don't specifically decorate for Christmas, which is why she has all the clear and crystal like ornies. :D

US Santa Finish!

I think, I may yet spot a missing stitch. Yeah!! I'll make it into a Christmas ornament for my sister (wish me luck as I am finish-challenged), and give it to her next time I see her, since it was my intent to have started and finished by last Christmas.  :D It is from a chart in Leisure Arts  Down Santa Claus Lane (c)1994.

1/19 Addendum: Well, phooey, I missed a few back stitches in the beard. Will take care of that. BTW, I had to frog the entire left hand (see WIP below). After quite some time trying to figure out what was wrong and the stitches weren't lining up I realized I'd inadvertently doubled the height of the furry cuff and it was something like FOUR spaces too high. Well, no wonder I was having issues. LOL BTW, last Sunday we were taught how to purl. I tried once at home but was doing something wrong so haven't practiced further.

Unusal site for needlecraft freebies but

I enjoy reading cozy mystery series, something I discovered a couple of years ago. There are all sorts of cozies related to location, comfortable or off-beat characters, wine, foods & sugary goodies, dogs/cats, etc. I tend to read just 1 or 2 series at a time to the extent they are available at the Library, then must find another author. Which is what I was doing early this morning. I thought, there MUST be needlecraft mysteries, which is how I happened upon author Monica Ferris, whose heroine has taken over her murdered sister's needlework shop and becomes a sleuth in the process. This is already a 16-book series so I'm behind to start, but unfortunately only the most recent books are at my library. But beside the point of the FREEBIE reference. In reading about the author I discovered that in each book there is a needlecraft chart related to the story: cross stitch, needlepoint, a black work, a cut out, bookmarks, etc. A Christmas ornament, a Taun horse, a phoenix, and other delights. Even more important for this purpose, the author has made each of the patterns available online as a .pdf freebie!

Visit: http://monica-ferris.com/books  Click on the "Pattern" at the bottom of the description of each of her books and explore the possibilities! You may also decide to read one of her books in the process. They get good reviews, so I'm excited to start reading an author new to me.

Ornament Finishing: Ladder Stitch Tutorial

Ladder Stitch

Used to stitch up the seam left open for stuffing. Description and photos. Very good!

More Online Freebies

May Sampler - from With Thy Needle and Thread
Welcome October - from With Thy Needle and Thread
C'est l'automne - from Gazette 94 - and many other freebies
Pinwheel's Ornaments & Tutorials - NOT freebies, but great ideas for finishing smalls!