This morning I made sure I had everything ready to get started on the new starts for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. It’s doubtful I’ll get much stitching done on Christmas Day but spending time with the family is way more important.
Christmas Day Start
The Christmas Day Start is Eloquent Christmas by ByGone Stitches.
I’ve had this kitted for a a while so it will be nice to get it stitched. This will be the first time I’ve used beads on cross stitching and I thought I was being creative to swap the red stitching for beads but, looking at the chart, that’s what’s called for. I’ll use the called for green floss and the called for beads. The linen is 36 count Winter Moon. Stitched on 36 count, this piece should finish at 7″ x 9-7/8″.
New Year’s Day Start
This one has also been planned for a long time. It’s Three Things Sampler by Moira Blackburn. As I’ve mentioned several times, I’m cutting this one down a good bit. I have 40 count linen, one of XJu’s monthly selections, in the project bag but am re-thinking using that because it’s a big piece and I’m not even sure what size this piece will be with the changes I’m making.
IF I were making this according to the chart, it would finish at 13-1/8″ x 18″. I’m not changing the width so my guess is, with what I plan to take out, it may be about 13″ x 16″.
It’s probably a bit risky to use this piece. The color is good but it might be a little tight. The piece is 18″ x 20″. The width is good. Two inches on each side would mean I need 17.25″ so I have that. With the piece being 18″ if stitched by the chart, I would need the piece to be 22″ in order to have an extra two inches on top and bottom. With the fabric being 20″ in length, that means my stitching could only be about 16″.
I’ve looked at the changes I intend to make and I can roughly count 80 rows I’m removing and not stitching. That would put the size down to 273 stitches x 279 stitches.
There we go . . the fabric should be 17 x 18 . . exactly what it is but, what if I’m wrong and there aren’t that many rows removed? I’m going to go back and do another check before I commit. How awful would it be to get to the bottom and not have enough space?? Oh . . that makes me so nervous to think about!
justquiltin says
I still need to get all my DMC on floss drops for Three Things and do a final check on the fabric I had planned to use since I’ve gotten some others in since them so might want to swap it out. But I’m looking forward to working on that one.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Won’t be long now and we can start it.
Cindy F says
Love that Christmas chart and looking forward to seeing the beads incorporated into it. I have my Three Things chart and floss and still need to decide on fabric. I looked at that awhile back but will have to go remind myself again…lol. Still need to put the floss on tags. I saw some of the projects on Instagram and loved some of the floss changes but I’ll likely go with the called for ones unless I am unhappy once I start stitching. Excited to start!