Country Cottage Needleworks, Cross Stitch

Cross Stitch XIII: The Newest Mantel Decoration

Stefanie

Of Late

Hello. How’s your Christmas shopping going? I’m almost done. I can’t remember if I have already mentioned this, but I had my SIL decide on whether or not to exchange this year as we most likely wouldn’t be able to see one another on the 24th; she decided to skip this year and instead, Facetime. The upside is I have less Christmas stress since I have less ppl to shop for, nine less to be exact. The downside is I won’t get to hold my new, baby nephew who was born in late October. Well at least the ideas I had for presents this year can be moved to next year; I put a lot of thought into gifts. I keep an eye out for ideas and keep a list to remind me.

Do you have ppl in your family who are hard to shop for? My dad is one of them because he’s a man of basic pleasures: good food, golf, bowling, Hawaiian and Harley Davidson t-shirts, and cable TV. I asked the husband for an idea and he suggested an apple pie. I make a pretty good one so when I had asked my mum what she thought of this idea, she gave it a thumbs up. Which reminds me…I need to get a pie pan for it.

Latest Finish

Did I ever tell you I lost my Country Cottage Needleworks piece for a bit? For the life of me I couldn’t find it and had only remembered the last time I saw it was on the dining room table when I was using it to find Christmas fabric online to go with it. Well, guess where it showed up? The 13yo was cleaning out the litterbox house in her room one afternoon and found it underneath; yup, Minerva got to it, the booger. I had to wash it and let it soak in Eucalan for a day.

Fast forward to last week and now it’s made into a pillow, this time a more decorative one than what I had done for the Halloween one:

In the background is the mantel full of Christmas decorations. We decided not to put up the tree since the bottom branches were messed up from Mortimer’s tree climbing last year. I need to find some more decorations for the piano for 2021, preferable Harry Potter-themed.

I should have left more seam allowance room on this side of the tree. Since Minnie had some play time with this piece, the edges of the Aida fabric were more unraveled. When I tried to sew a 1/4″ SA, the stitches didn’t catch in some places so I had to go up to 3/8″.

Here’s an upclose view of the decorative elements:

Rick Rack

I had bought it on Etsy, a variety pack of colors.

Stitching

I used a decorative stitch on my sewing machine so that that part of the pillow didn’t seem so plain since the print isn’t as noticeable. I chose it because it reminded me of snowflakes.

Fabric

I didn’t have any Christmas fabric that coordinated with the cross stitch piece so I found this white material with white snowflakes on it.

I guess I stuffed this pillow with too much polyfil which is why the top and bottom edges cave in? I’ll have to Google this issue.

Okie doke, I am off to get in some knitting. The click clacking of the needles give me a much needed yoga session. Thank you for all of your recent visits and feedback on my trio of shawls; each comment made me smile. Ta-rah and TTYS.

Published by Stefanie

Veteran educator to SAHM. PTA experienced. Wife. Mom. Blogger. Knitter. Cardmaker. Beginning sewist. Newbie podcaster.

20 thoughts on “Cross Stitch XIII: The Newest Mantel Decoration”

  2. Oohhh….that pillow is precious. All the little extras you did to make it special really did just that. As for it caving in……if it gets used that will all work itself out and become even.

    We do not do much gift exchanging anymore. The grand kids are old enough now where $$$ makes them the happiest. All the adults just enjoy being together for the day to enjoy good food and good company.

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  3. I think the pillow is just gorgeous. I saw a pillow with a small Christmas cross stitch in the middle and then quilted stuff around it. Maybe I might do something like that for next year. Naughty Minerva!!

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  8. I love that pillow!!

    And ugh my dad is so hard to buy for – mainly because he buys whatever he wants all the time. He loves to shop. I think I might just get him a bunch of blank journals, he loves paper and stationary as much as I do. He’s a tough one.

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  9. I love that pillow so so much! I haven’t even really touched on Christmas shopping. I’ve got a lot of lists done but with moving right before Christmas I don’t want to buy anything and then have to move it.

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    1. That’s smart. I have notes in my phone so I can keep track what’s been given in the past. I have saved collections on IG when those ads guve me ideas.

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  10. I was here earlier, but forgot to leave a comment! I just love that little pillow you’ve made with the County Cottage Needleworks stitchery. The way you finished it is sweet and perfect. I really love that rick rack – the color, as well as the way you applied it. I’m just now doing my Christmas shopping. On the computer.

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