2020fo

Flowers in a Window from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

It turns out that you can have a whole lot of fun with a free pattern, some thrifted aida, and a couple of skeins of ecru floss.

The chart is Flowers in a Window by Stone Street Stitchworks and it's a free download.

added by Michelle 3 years, 8 months ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , xstitching

Remember Ripe Apples? from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

One of my goals for the next few months is to tackle my pile of UFOs. The projects that I'm still actively working on are fine. So are the ones I started and then set aside for a while because there are only so many hours in a day.

The ones I've set my sights on are the ones that I abandoned because something went wrong. With Ripe Apples, it was the basket and the stitches I'd left unstitched. With so many similar shades of brown and green, it was the hedgehogs all over again.

I know ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 8 months ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , xstitching

Bee Well from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Sill here, still stitching, still doing a lot of reading, and still not managing to take pictures of finished projects to post them. That's why there was no mid-year totals post this year. Well, that and the fact that there weren't a lot of finishes by the end of June.

I did finish Bee Well, a free pattern by The Blackberry Rabbit. It would have been a quick stitch, but I had unexplainable trouble with the wings and wound up doing one of them three times. They're probably not perfect, and bees probably do have perfect wings ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 8 months ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , vintage

I Stitched A Goose in a Dress from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Or maybe she's a duck. If you'd asked me last year I'd have told you that the last thing on earth I wanted to stitch was a goose....but I'd never seen a goose like this one by Barbara Ana Designs.

Pattern: The Key by Barbara Ana Designs

I love the patterns with animals in dresses, but this is the best dress ever, with its great colors and geometric details. I started her for Maynia and got a corner of the dress done before moving on to something else because it was the next day and ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 10 months ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , xstitching

Lobster Bouquet from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I absolutely adore this little piece!

The pattern is Lobster Bouquet, a free download from Ink Circles. The fabric is something I bought with a coupon at Hobby Lobby. The floss is DMC #304.

This was my eighth Stitch Maynia start for this year and I kept picking it up again until it was finished. It's so addictive just to do one more flower petal or swirl or lobster claw.

I've been wanting to tackle a single color project by Long Dog Samplers. I thought I'd enjoy it, but after stitching this, I'm thoroughly convinced!

added by Michelle 3 years, 10 months ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , xstitching

I Apparently Don't Know How Bats Work -- But I Stitched One from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I stitched a thing...

The pattern is Self Isolating Bat, and it's a free download from Night Spirit Studio. (And I just saw while copying the URL that there's now a plague nurse -- imagine Florence Nightengale, with the beaked mask. I totally know what I'm starting tonight!)

I stole the fabric from a Dimensions kit to use for my bat, but that's okay because it had a big slub in the middle and I was going to have to replace it anyway. The full coverage project would have probably covered up the flaw, but I'm ...

added by Michelle 4 years ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , xstitching

House of Roses from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I stitched a thing and it turns out that I absolutely love red aida. Or maybe it's just this hunk of red aida that I must've picked up at a thrift store or estate sale. The pattern is House of Roses, a freebie I stumbled across and printed out with the plan that I'd start stitching it for Maynia.

A week or two ago, I started seeing all of the Be Well and Stitch patterns and they motivated me to start something new and this was still on the printer because I don't print things often ...

added by Michelle 4 years ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch , xstitching

Finding the Yellow Brick Road from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I started this socks at the beginning of September, back in 2018. They've been on my needles and in my project tracker ever since. Now and then I'd pick them up and struggle through another few rounds and remember how tedious they were, then I'd shove them back into their projects bag.

As of last night, they are DONE! And they fit, which is an extra bonus. (There's no reason they shouldn't have fit, but with as much trouble as these gave me I didn't have high hopes.)

The problem wasn't with the ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 1 month ago. under 2020fo , knitting , socks

From Threadbare Sheets to Reusable Grocery Bags from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Unpopular opinion -- I'm not a fan of the ban on plastic grocery bags. I'm all for reusing you own bags, but I think this new law is going to create a whole slew of new problems. And because I'm aggravated about that, I put off actually sewing some bags.

I've you've been reading my blog for more than a decade, this fabric might look familiar. It's identical to the thrifted sheet that I used to back Simple Pleasures back in 2009. Not long after I made the quilt, Alex found a set of queen ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 1 month ago. under 2020fo , tutorial

Pyramid of Skulls from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I didn't know that Pyramid of Skulls was a famous painting by Cezanne, I just stumbled across the pattern when I was looking for still life cross stitch on Etsy and was drawn to the slightly creepy subject matter. And I'm so glad I did, because this is one off my favorite finishes and I'm about to start scouring thrift shops for an over the top ornate frame to display it in.

Pattern: Pyramid of Skulls by The Art of Cross Stitch on Etsy

Pretend that you can't see the two missing stitches. I checked and ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 1 month ago. under 2020fo , cross-stitch

The Worst Pair of Socks Ever from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I cast on for this pair of socks FIVE MONTHS AGO and I've been working on them fairly steadily the entire time. A normal pair of stockinette socks takes me two weeks or so if I do most of the knitting at night while we watch television.

What went so wrong with these?

Part of it was my own schedule. I was doing more stitching than knitting in the evenings. I also spent a lot of evenings actively avoiding these socks because the yarn, a skein of Mary Maxim Tropical Breeze in the Toes in the Sand colorway, was ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 2 months ago. under 2020fo , knitting , socks

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