2-Hour Cross Stitch Project

A few months ago, I was invited to a friend's birthday party. Now, I don't normally procrastinate on planning/getting a gift, but at the time, I wasn't even sure I would be able to go, so, I hadn't yet figured out what I'd get for her! Not to mention I was a little low on funds...

So, what to do?!

Being a cross stitcher, having a good, full, supply of floss at-the-ready, as well as spare fabric and other supplies, I took to my pattern books for an idea!

I looked through the following:

Link to purchase here.

Link to purchase here.

Link to purchase here.

In this last book is where I found my pattern! Not only that, but I had a challenge ahead of me! Not only had I only realized the day of that I could actually go to the party.... I made this discovery about 2.5 hours before I had to leave to get there!!

Hmm,...2-hour cross stitch patterns, eh...??

I took the challenge to see if I could indeed make one of these patterns within the 2 hours I had (after showering and getting dressed of course ;) ) and......

SUCCESS!!

I completed the below piece in just under 2 hours, plenty of extra time to trim/glue down the back-side and get a few pictures before heading out the door!

This piece was done with 14 count white Aida, in a 3" hoop, and then displayed on a miniature art easel that you should be able to find at your craft store. The back I trimmed to just about a 1/4", then with a glue gun, I lined the inside of the hoop with a thin line of glue, then folded/pressed down the fabric, careful not to have any fabric or glue attach to the back side of the fabric. When this happens, you can tell from the front side, so I try to make sure that doesn't happen (again...lol).

Anywho, I was pretty excited that I was able to whip this piece out in a 2-hour period, and I'm happy to say that the recipient was VERY happy with it! :)

I would highly recommend these books, with the 2-hour Flowers book as first preference, the "Hearts, Bird, Flowers" book being 2nd preference, and the 2-hour Animals being 3rd preference. 

I say the Animals is my 3rd preference ONLY because there are a lot of cute animals in there, and even some patterns geared towards kids and kids fairy tales, and since I do not yet have any children of my own or any nibblets to stitch for, these aren't quite as useful as the general flowers patterns are.

What else is there to do with these little patterns you might ask? Well, I'm actually thinking of perhaps making some small designs to then put into aperture cards, and post these cards on my Etsy shop to purchase for special occasions. Basically something like these:

Kit can be purchased here.

Nifty, huh? :)

Until next time,...

Craft ya laters!