12. Baby Pillow Sampler

This is a pillow I made for my nail girl when she had a baby. The letters and numbers came from various places but the picture designs are my own. This was the second time I used buttons.

15. Key Chain

Lora's house!

7. Baking

Some of the objects on this are from Donna Kooler books and some are my designs.

5. Grapes

I designed this. It says My Kitchen in Italian. It looked very nice finished in purples and greens.

17. Bonsai Tree

I got this pattern out of the January 2006 Quick and Easy Cross Stitch Magazine (my favorite!). I'm going to frame it in a black square frame.

9. Pin Cushion

Next I made a pin cushion for my mom. I stitched the blue and pink bird from chart 92 in Julie Hasler's 500 Cross Stitch Charted Designs. I used light blue aida.

16. Peter Rabbit

I created this pattern by copying a picture of Peter Rabbit onto graph paper and adjusting the lines. This is going to be a little bag (to hold a copy of the book) for my coworker Emily who is having her second baby!

13. Prayer

This was the last big project I completed in 2005. I made this for the principal at the school where I teach. I gave it to her at the beginning of the school year; I had worked on it all summer! It is the prayer of St. Francis and the picture at the top came from Donna Kooler's 555 Country Cross-Stitch Patterns.

11. Phantom of the Opera Bookmark

This is the pattern for the Phantom of the Opera bookmark I made for my cousin Val. I stitched it on black aida so it looked very sharp with a red rose. I drew the mask by looking at a picture but the rose came from Better Homes and Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs.

10. Bookmark

The last thing I stitched in 2004 was a bookmark for my cousin Nicole. I stitched her name vertically in red letters with small roses on the border.

8. Bookmark

The first thing I ever stitched on black aida was a bookmark I made for my brother. I used a geometric pattern from a Julie Hasler book. The colors were bold blue, green, and gray. I found that you can secure the edges of aida by lightly brushing them with regular Elmer's glue. It's perfect for bookmarks or small pieces and doesn't make a mess of your project.

6. Baby Sleeping

The next project I did was a small doorhanger of a moon with the words Baby is Sleeping for my coworker Emily when she had her first baby. I don't have a picture but I got the moon pattern from Donna Kooler's Cross-Stitch Designs: 333 Patterns for Ready-to-Stitch Projects, page 91.

4. Bookmark

Here is a bookmark I stitched for my friend Lora. The bookmark was store-bought. I'm still learning how to line up letters vertically.

3. Pin Cushion

Pattern from the book Donna Kooler's Cross-Stitch Designs: 333 Patterns for Ready-to-Stitch Projects.

2. Siamese Cats Pattern

I found this pattern on craftsmanstudio.com and altered it. The finished piece (which I don't have a picture of) is a pillow and the cats have single green rhinestones on their collars. I finished it in October 2004.

1. Hummingbirds (UFO)

This is the first project I started in October 2004. You can see I never finished it.

My Cross-Stitch History

My mom taught me how to cross-stitch when I was younger, about 13 years old. I never finished the project she started me on. It was a basket of flowers that said "Kindness is Contagious." Who knows where it is today?

Then about two years ago my best friend took up crocheting. I wanted to do a craft but I didn't know what. Then I remembered I knew a little about counted cross-stitch. I bought an easy kit of two hummingbirds. I was immediately addicted!

I began buying all of the DMC floss colors, books, patterns, fabric and anything else related to cross-stitch. I have all of my cross-stitch stuff organized in a closet in my house. There are tons of patterns in my "To Do" binder.

Of course I never finished the hummingbirds because I was eager to move on to something else. I tried to finish it later but I accidentally threw out the thread. My first project I finished was two Siamese cats I made into a pillow. I have been stitching ever since!

My goal this summer is to finish all of my ongoing projects so I can start new things in the fall. I plan to post my current projects on this blog and hopefully meet my goal.