christmas {cross stitch} in july

Alright, I am not usually into the whole, christmas in july thing, but this just ended up working out. I am entirely finished my Kawaii Winter Sampler cross stitch and I love it so much! It felt like it took forever to make those 10,369 stitches, but this end result is so worth it.

I bought this pattern almost 2 years ago, I think, and had every intention of starting it then; I even got all the supplies and was ready to go. However, I knew I wanted to use a linen, which I had no idea how to do, and got frustrated and we were moving, and it just kind of got shoved in a drawer. And stayed there. But no lie, I am on a ufo rampage and have it all just about cleared out (I still have to tackle the intentioned projects that I have everything for but haven't even gotten as far as any kind of start), so this had to get done. Not to mention it is freaking adorable and I really wanted to be able to enjoy it this upcoming holiday season. So I figured it would be best to just do it while the motivation was there and I am so glad that I did!

I started it about a week into June, I think and got it framed up yesterday, so I guess it didn't take all that much time, all things considered. The linen is tea dyed, with a strange combination of black and oolong tea that I had in the house, and it came out pretty well. The heat did shrink the fabric a bit so that made things a little wonky, but it seemed to work out anyway. As far as the actual pattern, I did use quite a bit of embroidery floss that I already had so the colors for some of them are a bit different (I have one of those inherited old lady floss stashes which a gazillion ancient colors), and I opted to change the one framing color to a slightly darker gray, just because I liked it. The only problem with that was that the penguin is a bit darker, but I like the higher contrast between frames. The white does get a bit lost, probably partly because it is one of those ancient colors I mentioned, and not the bright white called for. Oh, and I used a different metallic gold that is more champagne than gold.

I spent a lot of time debating the frame. That it needed to be square was obvious, so I found one I liked, but the basic color options were not working and bringing out the colors as I had hoped. White washed them out, black was too harsh....you get the idea, so I bought a white one and spray painted it this lovely deep red. I must say, I think it is the perfect finishing touch. I very much look forward to getting this out every year and enjoying it for the holiday season.

I am so glad to have this one out of the drawer! Now I am just taking a reading break before I start my next long term project: a sweater! I also did get a bit of sewing done last week and am hopeful about finishing a couple more things this week. I really have some quilts that need attention, so we'll see if I can find the attention span to deal with them.