Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Be Jolly Cross Stitch Finish - Mini Cushion Style

Hey there, hope those of you who celebrate Christmas are enjoying the start of the holiday season. To all my American buddies, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I have finally made a start on getting ready for Christmas, don't have my decorations up yet, but will sort those some time over the next few weeks. I have been doing some gift shopping, and also made a Christmas ornament finish! This is actually really exciting for me as I have no handmade Christmas decorations! I usually give away most of my pieces.

Be Jolly, Just Cross Stitch, Mini cross stitch finish, Christmas, Mini Cushion Finish, Stitching, Handmade
Be Jolly Cross Stitch finished as a mini cushion
Looking back through my blog I was fairly appalled to find that this piece was stitched in Feb 2014 and been awaiting finishing all that time. Want to see that post, it's right here! The chart is from Just Cross Stitch Ornament edition 2013, and as far as I can remember I changed all the colours to the DMC equivalents. It was stitched on a piece of 28ct evenweave fabric from a Polstitches grab bag.

Be Jolly, Just Cross Stitch, Mini cross stitch finish, Christmas, Mini Cushion Finish Preparation, Stitching, Handmade
Be Jolly Mini Cushion Prep
This ornament was a very straight forward, simple finish. I used the snowflake fabric for the backing, ran it through the sewing machine, leaving an opening for stuffing. Once I had filled it with polyester soft toy stuffing, I used an invisible ladder stitch to close it. It is a bit too large to hang from the tree so I didn't bother adding a ribbon. I will just pop it on a shelf in the house somewhere.

Be Jolly, Just Cross Stitch, Mini cross stitch finish, Christmas, Mini Cushion Finish Preparation, Stitching, Handmade
Be Jolly Cross Stitch - Just Cross Stitch Ornament Edition 2013
While I was searching my blog for the original post of this mini project, I was surprised to see how much my photographs have changed. They still aren't perfect by any means but they look a good deal better now than they used to. Don't believe me? Here is the original photo of this piece and a recent shot. What do you think? A big difference?

Old Terrible 2014 Photo
Be Jolly, Just Cross Stitch, Mini cross stitch finish, Christmas, Mini Cushion Finish, Stitching, Handmade
New Less Terrible 2016 Photo
I am currently working on another Christmas mini for a very special project, hopefully I will be able to share that with you soon.

That's all for now!

26 comments:

  1. So cute. Make sure to keep hold of him before he decides to be gifted.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. My big sister has been very complimentary over this one but I have a tight grip on it. This one is def staying with me :)

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  2. Yay! Santa certainly is jolly, he is finished! :D Looks so cute.
    And yes, your pictures have improved much.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I'm planning to do a photography course after Christmas so hopefully the pictures will continue to get better.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks so much for your comment. This is now sitting on our mantle, only Christmas decoration up so far :D

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  4. Definitely can tell the difference in the photos and great FFO! I need to learn this invisible ladder stitch.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. The ladder stitch is super easy, you can find some great videos of people doing it on YouTube.

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  5. Yes your photos have improved but your stitching has always been lovely! Glad to see you dug him out of the cupboard and finished him. He's lovely.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment Justine, you are a sweetheart! I'm happy that I finished this one, maybe I might even get another done before Christmas.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I'm super happy to have finally done something with this after 2 years.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I always thought that making Christmas cross stitches a bit of a waste as they only get seen for a couple of weeks a year but having seen so many amazing Christmas projects from other bloggers I can definitely say that it is totally worth it.

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  8. What an adorable finish! Congratulations. Your photos are lovely. I do hope you had a great Thanksgiving and wish you a very Merry Christmas!

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. Hope you have an amazing Christmas. I have a nice long Christmas holiday from work and am soooo looking forward to it.

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  9. Very cute finish. I have so many stitched ornaments but very few finished ones. I really do need to take a week and just sit myself down and work on that.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. This is just one of a number of pieces that still need to be finished off properly. I hope you manage to get some time to get yours done.

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  10. Love this. He is the perfect Santa. You always pick the best fabrics for your finishes.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I usually takes me ages to pick the fabric I am happy with but this one just clicked straight away. I love when that happens.

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  11. Definitely a big difference! Your recent photos look awesome. Great ornament, it's so cute :D

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I still haven't figured out a way to get good photos indoors. I am going to do a photography course in the new year so hopefully that will help my pictures to continue to improve.

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  12. Replies
    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I'm very happy with how this come out and I think my finishes are getting better with practise

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  13. Great finish! I love the idea of displaying it on a shelf

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. This piece is now on display in our home for Christmas and it is so great having a decoration I made myself. I can see this being used every year.

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Would love to read any comments you would like to leave. Thanks for brightening my day :)