Cross Stitching – Plans

Cross stitchers, in general, have plans. I want to have plans but I know I’m not sticking with a cross stitching plan. How is it that I can stick with plans in other areas of my life but not so much with cross stitching. I thought about stitching Christmas in July and I thought about Sampler September but read on and you’ll see what I’ve decided to do and I’m thinking this is a very “adult” decision – try to finish some WIPs.

Christmas in July:

Check out Denise’s blog. She has stitched so many really cute Christmas pieces this month. Briefly, I thought about stitching Christmas pieces in July but I guess I wanted to stitch other things more.

Sampler September:

Several flosstubes I’ve watched have decided September isn’t enough time for samplers so they’re going to work on samplers in August and September. There are a variety of plans – some will start a new sampler each week; some will start some new samplers and work on sampler WIPs; some will only work on sampler WIPs.

My August & September Plan:

I am still wanting to finish WIPs. It’s easier for me to finish the ones I have out than to get others out. I’m not saying I won’t get others out but my priorities for August and September, and what I’d like to stitch on them are listed below:

Friends & Family:

This is Friends & Family by Fox & Rabbit and it was originally stitched in one color (red) but I had seen one that used other colors and that’s what I’m doing. The lady who stitched the one I’m loosely following also added a border and I’m also doing that. My plan is to stitch down that left side, then stitch down the right side as I have done on the top – kinda outlining the shape of the motifs, then make sure the border is right and lines up, then go back and finish the outer motifs and fill in the center. So, what I would like to get done in August and September is get the outline of all the left motifs stitched. The one I’m working on has the outline done. I will stitch enough of the middle to make sure the outline is correct, then I’ll move on down to the next motif and do the same thing with that one and two more.

Rejoice Evermore:

Rejoice Evermore by Brenda Gervais may be a bit hard to find. It looks like it’s available here. Here’s the cover of the chart:

Here’s where I am on my stitching:

That’s what’s showing in the frame. Here’s what I’ve done on the top segment.

My plan for August and September for Rejoice Evermore is to complete everything in that section with the house – above the alphabet and below the row with the berry baskets. I will not (probably) fill in the house, roof and door since I plan to do that at the sit and stitch group get togethers.

Summer Schoolhouse:

This is the Leap Year Project – Summer Schoolhouse by Brenda Gervais. It’s a big one and Denise and I started this on Leap Day this year and she’s already finished hers. This is all I have done! There are four blocks that can be all stitched separately but Denise and I decided to stitch ours together as one piece. You can see Denise’s finished project here. Beautiful!!

This is the design of the first “block”:

Here’s how much I have done so far.

My lofty goal for the next two months is to finish this first block!

Love is the Key:

Love is the Key by Teresa Kogut is so pretty! I want to finish it! Here’s the cover photo of the chart.

This is a photo from 2024. I have stitched the leaves across the bottom but that’s about all I’ve added since the above photo was taken.

What I have left to do:

• Finish the outer borders.
• Stitch the flowers to the left of the girl.
• Finish the flowers to the right of the boy.
• Finish the basket for the flower in the middle.
• Stitch the heart motif to the right of the basket.
• Stitch Love is the Key to Happiness with the little border above it.
• Stitch the row of letters and numbers under the ABC row.
• Rip and re-stitch the letters that are white and not showing up.
• Stitch the birds at the top of the big center flower.
• Stitch the little heart to the right of the boy bunny’s head.

I think that’s about it and my goal is to totally finish this project in August and September.

That’s four projects. I want to spend two weeks working on each project. I will start with Friends & Family since that’s what I’ve been working on. I will work on it from August 1 – August 15. If I accomplish all I wanted to accomplish prior to August 15, I will decide if I want to continue working on it or move on to the second project. I’ll probably move on to the next project in case one of the next projects takes longer than I expected.

Can I accomplish all of this? Sure I can! Will I? We’ll see!