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I squeezed in one more cross-stitch finish before the end of the year. I actually did this a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting to blog about it. The piece I finished is called Christmas Fruit Basket from Threadwork Primitives. I started out by putting interfacing on the back of my trimmed-down …

Cross Stitch Finish: Christmas Fruit Basket Read More »

Consider this a post-Christmas, end of year, holiday wrap-up post. You might remember my initial foray into needlepoint, my birthday plaid. Our daughter took it back for finishing and surprised me by attaching it to the lid of this sweet little basket. I absolutely love it! It will hold my treasures and be a constant reminder of a wonderful weekend that we shared together. I don't know how

Consider this a post-Christmas, end of year, holiday wrap-up post. You might remember my initial foray into needlepoint, my birthday plaid. Our daughter took it back for finishing and surprised me by attaching it to the lid of this sweet little basket. I absolutely love it! It will hold my treasures and be a constant reminder of a wonderful weekend that we shared together. I don't know how

I was thrifting the other day, and I found a frame. I actually found three frames at Goodwill. All three were vintage frames, and all were wonderful. The first was super thick and chunky…but someone had painted it black. I ended up leaving it there. The second was pretty and gold and had a great …

Singing the Praises of Restor-a-Finish Read More »

As you are reading this, I am likely at doctor appointments. My three-month time has rolled again, and it’s time to see what my cancer is doing. While I’m getting blood draws, CT scans, and MRIs, I’ll leave you to read my cross-stitch update. I didn’t stitch much at all this week. Arnie’s Grandson has …

Cross Stitch Update: December 19, 2025 Read More »

It’s that time of year…I’m thinking about a New Year, New Start with my cross stitch. If you’re new to the idea, it just means starting a project on New Year’s Day with the hope of completing it during the upcoming year. I have done it successfully in the past…I did my Anniversaries of the …

A New Year, New Start?? Hmm. Read More »

No fabric in this week.

I finished the ornament quilt.

I’m so pleased with how it turned out.  Now I’m sorry I waited so long to finish it.

I started sewing Snow into a pillow.  Here’s the finished stitch.

I’m going to count out the fabric for both here.  I used less than I expected, but they were small projects.

I still hope to hit net 20 yards out this year.  So close, and I still have time.

Fabric In:  8.625 yards

Fabric Out:  28.375 yards

Net Fabric Out:  19.75 yards

How did ...

I got a lot of stitching time this week. My daughter, Kalissa, was over one day, and we binge-watched a series for much of the day. I stitched the whole way through it. The series was pretty racy, so I spent lots of time stitching. HA! Last week, I showed you that my Tiny Town …

Cross Stitch Update: December 12, 2025 Read More »

Back in July of 2024, I went to a cross-stitch retreat at the Stitchery Nook in Osage, Iowa. I was with a group of friends, and we all decided to pick a cross-stitch piece to stitch. I don’t remember the who and what of it all, but we ended up picking Humming of the Bees …

Cross Stitch Finish: Humming of the Bees Read More »

No change in the numbers.

After finishing a big project, I started something much smaller.

I stitched these designs over 25 years ago from a Bucilla ornament kit.   I knew from the start I didn’t want to make ornaments.  I already have more ornaments than I can fit on the tree.

I was thinking a small wall hanging but never figured out a design.  Then I stopped stitching and forgot about them for 20 years.  Now that I’m stitching again, I’m determined to finish all my old pieces (and the new ones too).  There is no sense ...

I had a little more stitching time than I expected this week. We had a snowstorm last weekend. Some of my kiddos were planning to stay several days, but everyone ended up going home on Thursday or Friday, as the storm was scheduled to come in overnight on Friday. That left me with more of …

Cross Stitch Update: December 5, 2025 Read More »

You might remember I finished this piece, Primitive Merry Christmas Pillow from Abbey Rose Designs, a few weeks ago. This was stitched on a piece of scrap linen. I think it was a smaller count than 40- count…I never did measure it. I can’t tell you the linen name as I didn’t label the piece. …

Cross Stitch Finish: Primitive Merry Christmas Read More »

I finally finished this wall hanging, just in time for Thanksgiving. Designed by Laura and Rita DeMarco, the pattern for it was featured in the October 1998 issue of McCall’s Quilting magazine.

It was my first attempt at applique and bias stems, intimidating at first, but not a big deal once you get into it. It was also my first attempt at a scrappy look, and I had enormous fun pairing the different orange prints with their backgrounds and selecting the two different prints for the leaves.

The backing is a two-toned print from South Sea Imports.

The binding ...

I fully finished my Queen of the Harvest piece. This is a With Thy Needle and Thread design. I have wanted to have this stitched for such a long time. I think being a farmer’s daughter and a farmer’s wife, the harvest theme really pulls my heartstrings. After going to my basement frame shop, I …

Cross Stitch Finish: Queen of the Harvest Read More »

I love it when you all ask questions and leave comments here on the blog. It makes me feel like we are on a two way street and communicating. So often it’s just me here on the computer writing with communication back from you. It can get pretty lonely on this side of the conversation. …

Ask Jo: From the Comment Section Read More »

The February Colorful Cat is done:

 

I will upload the new designs to Kitty And Me Designs on Etsy this coming weekend.  Also, they will start arriving at needlework shops in the next week as well.

I am so excited to be writing this today. Sometimes, as a blogger, when I am working on projects, the progress I show you seems so incredibly slow. As I write, I imagine you reading, thinking, “Is she ever going to finish that? I’m so bored of reading about that!” Well, you won’t be saying …

Cross Stitch Update: November 21, 2025 Read More »

 Below are a few early winter photos while the snow is a novelty. While walking the dogs, I'm finding the air so wonderful and bracing. But I am a little shocked with just how cold it is already in the season. It was minus 12 with strong wind gusts that took my breath away one day, but it's back to mild and kind of damp feeling today.

Here is my usual kitchen window photo; it was dark enough very early for the big garage light to stay on. That's another thing; here in the Northern Hemisphere we ...

If you’ve been reading the blog long, you know I have a spot in my basement that I lovingly call my frame shop. I have a bunch of pieces that I can use for finishing cross-stitch pieces. I have thrifted all of this. My general rule is that I only spend under $3 for any …

My Basement Frame Shop Read More »