A Very Merry Christmas Town – Complete

Posted on December 3, 2015December 3, 2015 by Clarington

Yay! I finished the Frosted Pumpkin Christmas Town stitch-a-long in plenty of time for Christmas!

Christmas Town cross stitch

Sadly, I have no idea what I’m going to do with it now. It’s roughly 11″ by 6″, so a standard frame isn’t going to work, and I don’t really want to pay for custom framing. I think it would look pretty cute stretched over a canvas, so I may see whether I can track down some appropriately sized stretcher bars or fake having woodworking skills well enough to make my own.¹

Or, I may bribe someone with a sewing machine and some sewing expertise² to see whether it can be made into a wall hanging.³

Regardless of how it ends up finished, I’m really pleased with the stitching – it couldn’t be cuter. And the photo does not do justice to just how beautiful the Picture this Plus hand dyed crystal fabric actually is.

¹I actually had to Google ‘woodworking’ to see whether or not it contained a dash. That demonstrates the extent of my woodworking skills.

²I have neither of these things.

³I’m looking at you Mom (hint, hint).

A Very Merry Christmas Town Update #1

Posted on August 20, 2015November 19, 2015 by Clarington

I finished the first instalment of the Frosted Pumpkin Christmas mystery stitch.

It really is adorable (Frosted Pumpkin’s speciality) and I love how the overdyed threads turned out (the red used for the door and Santa, and the green used on Santa’s bag). I don’t have a lot of experience using overdyeds so it was a bit of a challenge to remember to stitch one stitch at a time, and to not use the loop method to start my threads, but in the end it was worth it.

The only thing I don’t like about this stitching so far is the fabric colour. I would have picked a darker colour so the white of the snow would pop a little more.

The next part of the pattern (there are four parts in total) arrives on August 26th. I can’t wait!

Frosted Pumpkin A Very Merry Christmas Town

Posted on August 16, 2015August 16, 2015 by Clarington

I really didn’t need a new cross stitch project since I already have two on the go, but the Frosted Pumpkin A Very Merry Christmas Town mystery stitch-a-long is simply too adorable to resist. I ordered the aida kit and it arrived in the mail late last week.

The kit came with 1/8 yard of 14-count hand dyed aida (there’s a 28-count linen version available as well), ten colours of DMC floss, two colours of The Gentle Art floss, metallic gold Kreinik braid, and a six-pack of size 26 tapestry needles.

I’m super excited to try the floss from A Gentle Art as it isn’t a brand I’ve used before. The BOHIN needles are new to me as well. Most of mine are John James or DMC since that’s what seems to be available at the stores I shop in. I am, however, already giving the metallic braid the evil eye. I can’t stand working with the DMC metallics, so we’ll see how the Kreinik compares.

The hand dyed crystal aida from Picture this Plus in Arctic is some of the prettiest fabric I’ve seen. The muted shades of blue and the opalescent thread woven through the fabric really do evoke thoughts of a beautiful winter day.

I jumped right into stitching but don’t have much to show yet. The second instalment of the pattern arrives on Aug. 26, so I better stop typing and start stitching!