Cross stitch works for today

Here's my 11th day of stitching -- purple Pearle cotton put into a row of Xs. It's been a bad day.

A stitch a day will fill 2017

In 2017, I am once again committing to a stitch a day. It fits so well with my resolution to use or lose it:

• I can use up more of my flosses, yarns, threads, strings, etc. that I have acquired over the years. 
• I can learn new stitches from the books on my shelves and my computer. 
• I can use the templates I learned to make through Kathy Shaw (I have them in three sizes)
• I can remember to use stitches I've learned through the years. 

My first year I stitched on specific works -- block exchanges for the most part -- and on an experimental fat quarter whenever I was in between projects.

The second year I tried TAST -- Take A Stitch Tuesday. I also started Kathy Shaw's wonderful online  crazy quilting class, which included lots of stitching on one block.

The difference in 2017 is I have found a whole lot of  people who have committed to a Year of Embroidery. You can follow the tags of  #1yearofstitches or @1yearofstitches or #ayearofstitches on the social media of your choice. There are groups on Facebook so stitchers can share their output and encourage each other. 

That's right -- stitchers are supposed to share what they've done every day. Oops.

The only other rule is to stitch everyday. You can do the same stitch daily or a different one. You can do one stitch or as many as you like. 

I really love the finished work, which Hannah Clare Somerville documented on her  Instagram account. It is so different from anything I have done ... especially in my previous challenges to stitch every day.  Plus I like that all the work is in one piece.

So onto the new challenge and the sharing of my stitches. After today, the plan is to share the progress daily.  So the first six stitches:

The first day I pulled out a bit of brown floss from my Stitching-On-The-Go Bag for some stem stitching. Then the second day a piece of red floss became seven French knots. The next day, I pulled black floss out and did some straight stitches in a random pattern.  The fourth day I randomly pulled another piece of black floss and did straight stitches around a French knot. The fifth day I pulled another piece of black floss and did some bullion stitches. The sixth day, I pulled some cream colored floss and did some feather stitches.

I need to add some more thread to the bag as I drew another piece of black floss. I added some buttonhole stitches.

I pulled some peach floss that I recently used on a bear appliqué for my granddaughter's curtains. Again, I went with a stitch I know -- the chain stitch.

Then I pulled a heavier thread and did a running stitch and whipped along the stitches.

On Jan. 10th I pulled some DMC #5 yellow and blue and

added satin stitches in the spaces created by the feather stitches.

That brings us all up to date.

Eight is Great for quilting

 

My project has eight pieces of material, eight embroidery stitches and an "8" turned into a snowman. 

The little wall hanging -- finished 5.5 inches by 12.5 inches -- is part of a bigger series of projects I WILL finish in 2017. The plan is 12 hangings -- 1 for each month of the year.

I started thinking about what to do in Tennessee, where I was spending the month celebrating the birth of my first grandchild, as soon as the theme was announced Jan. 1.  I researched the theme and thought more about possibilities on the nine-hour drive home to Michigan on Tuesday. I think it was in Ohio where I did a rough draft in Notes on my iPhone. 

I found materials on Friday. Somewhere along the line I simplified the design -- a two-layer snowman made of squares, not circles. Then I realized I was doing a traditional square-in-square block so I chased a few tutorials for hints.  I sewed on Saturday and embroidered on Sunday and posted by deadline.

You can see all of our results and vote:

I am moving on to those other challenges. Thanks for reading.