xstitching

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

Finding a Way Through It.... from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

"Acceptance doesn't mean resignation. It means understanding that something is what it is and there's got to be a way through it." The quote is from Michael J. Fox and Michelle from Bendy Stitchy Designs created the sampler as part of a fundraiser for Parkinson's back in January. The things we're trying to get through have changed since I bought the chart, and changed since I started stitching the chart, and I'm sure they'll change again before I'm finished.

I'm still here, still stitching and knitting and making plans for quilts. I ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 9 months ago. under cross-stitch , xstitching

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

Ecru Embroidery Floss on Navy Aida from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Who would have guessed that I could be so happy stitching with a single color of embroidery floss? Definitely not me!

After finishing Lobster Bouquet, I switched back to Flowers in a Window, a free download from Stone Street Stitchworks. It's amazing how much fun you can have with a piece of thrifted navy aida and a couple of skeins of ecru DMC.

This one is trickier and I've had to break out the highlighter because one flower or sprig of leaves is easy to mistake for another while I'm looking back and forth from the chart ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 10 months ago. under 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

Ten Days into Stitch Maynia 2020 from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

My plan was to post every day or two and show all of my new starts with all of the details. Obviously that isn't happening so far.

But actually stitching is more important than writing about and photographing the stitching, right? I've been stitching a lot since the first of May....

That's nine starts in the first nine days, despite a low level three day migraine that I'm still trying to shake. I'm eager to keep working on most of these and trying to figure out what to start each day is keeping me from ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 11 months ago. under cross-stitch , mayna2020 , xstitching

Stitch Maynia 2020 from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Stitch Maynia has finally started and on day six I already have six of my possible thirty one starts. I'm extremely happy about that, but not quite happy and motivated enough to lay them all out and take pictures and fight with the photo editing software. There will be pictures soon.

This is the first project, on the first day. I've picked him up three more times since then and made more progress and I'm absolutely loving this angry little bird. Isn't he the perfect quarantine stitching?

The kit is Mad Bluebird by Bucilla. I picked ...

added by Michelle 3 years, 11 months ago. under 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

Confetti Stitching Tips from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I've fallen into a happy rhythm where the confetti stitching is just working. It's as fiddly and time consuming as always, but I can see my progress and the more bits of blank aida that get covered up -- even if it's only with a few stitches at at time -- the more I fall in love with this project.

A few people have asked me for tips on how I do this type of stitching, so here they are...

Grid your fabric.
Make sure that you have all of the colors you need and, if possible, keep them ...

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

A Flying Monkey, Oz the Great and Terrible, and Part of a Hot Air Balloon from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Is it weird to describe the Emerald City SAL as a quick stitch? Now that I've settled into it, I can get a part of the pattern done in a couple of evenings of stitching. They're not short evenings, but still -- it's visible progress that's happening quickly.

I got most of the monkey done in one night, the rest of the monkey and all of the wizard done another afternoon and evening, and the hot air balloon (which looked like a lot of stitching before I actually sat down and worked on it) took two short ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 2 months ago. under cross-stitch , xstitching

Riolis SAL Update -- It's a Leaf! from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

That slightly blobby green thing to the upper left is a leaf. It's reassuring to know what I'm actually stitching and to be working in a color that's different enough from its neighbors to help me keep track of where I'm stitching.

I cant wait to stitch my way up to the orange and the grapes. Please don't ask me why those sound exciting to stitch, because I have no earthly idea.

If you want to see everyone else's progress, check the posts over on Instagram at #riolissal. And use the hashtag yourself if ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 2 months ago. under cross-stitch , riolis sal , xstitching

Peer Pressure and the Emerald City SAL from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Some members of the PNW Stitchers recently decided to do the Emerald City SAL together and once I started seeing their pictures I remembered how much fun I was having with it before the end of the year. It was just the kick in the pants I needed to pull my own neglected piece out of its project bag.

I've been worried about what would happen once I finished the towers. They only use three shades of floss and I knew that going back to sections with more color changes was going to be harder. Not hard because this ...

added by Michelle 4 years, 2 months ago. under cross-stitch , xstitching

Back Stitching As I Go from Michelle's Romantic Tangle

I'm ridiculously in love with European Bistro and the more I stitch the harder it is to put down.

There are going to be miles and miles of back stitching, but if I work on it as I go, it shouldn't be too bad. Just look at that fancy lettering and how much it adds to the piece!