Some Holiday Stitchin'

Now that the holiday hoopla has started to die down, I've been able to pull out an old Christmas project and do a little bit of "fun" stitching.
Last year I purchased the set of Prairie Schooler "12 Days of Christmas" patterns and wanted to work them all as one piece. Here's what I've got done thus far:

Instead of cross stitching them, I'm mainly doing basketweave stitches with 4 ply DMC floss on 18 ct. sandstone mono canvas(for a slightly antiquey look). And wherever I can add some fun/easy alternate stitches - like Smyrnas, or diagonal satin stitch or long stitches - I'll do so, to add a bit of unexpected texture to the overall piece. And I'm also going to add small gold beads to all the Santa's coats when I've stitched everything, just to add a bit more sparkle and dimension... Here's the FIRST design up-close, so you can see the few stitch changes I've made:

I've left the numbers unstitched so far, because I don't know what color I want them to be -- dark brown? gold metallic? dark red? I can't decide, so I'll leave them undone until inspiration strikes...

And I've started on the second row of Santas this week. I hope I'll be able to breeze thru a few more of them before "work" stitching beckons and I have to put these Santas back in the closet...

I hope you're all enjoying the "after-Christmas" glow and have snatched some quiet time to do some stitching on a favorite project. It's time to clear the decks and get ready for the New Year, isn't it? Time to start thinking about starting some new and exciting projects, don't you think?

Lots of Santas!

Here's one of my all-time favorite Christmas pieces: Santas Around the World.
It was shown as a cross-stitch pattern in a cross-stitch magazine many years ago...I don't recall which magazine it was. I guess you could also consider it a Santa Sampler...

But in any event, I fell in love with the image of all those different santas in a row, with the rest of those lovely wintery motifs of trees, stars, hearts and snowflakes.

Again, I stitched this on the brown 18 ct mono canvas, using 3-4 ply of DMC floss (and some sparkly thread for the snow and snowflakes). The orginal pattern probably had a lot of backstitching around all the santas, but I only backstitched where it was absolutely necessary, and let the thread colors define the santas. The dark brown background is left unstitched, because I like the vintage, rustic look...and I feel it lets the thread colors POP without creating any background distractions. (Of course, when you stitch this way and leave the background unstitched, you need to be careful not to lay threads across the back - or they will show through to the front.)

And here's another cross-stitch santa that I stitched as a needlepoint santa, and then hung to make a small Christmas banner:



These are just a few of the ways you can have fun with all those lovely cross-stitch Christmas designs by adapting them to needlepoint!

Prairie Santas

Well, now I've also got to show you some of my Prairie Schooler santas I've stitched over the years. They are among my favorite patterns to stitch; they have a limited thread palette and use simple stitches, yet the designs are rather elegant in their simplicity.

Just like a lot of you, I have a nice stash of these little santa patterns. And I love to take them out and shuffle thru them. I never have enough time to get them all stitched, but hey, hope springs eternal, doesn't it? I figure I'll get them all stitched EVENTUALLY.....

And as you can see, I like to stitch them on the brown 18 ct. mono canvas, using 3-4 ply of DMC floss. I use the old Tent or Basketweave Stitch, instead of cross stitches, so I can whip these out a little faster...

And I like the brown background showing thru... it looks rustic and old-fashioned to me...

And this year I decided to get the whole series of Prairie Schooler's 12 Days of Christmas designs(see the first one, below) because I just loved the simple images. I've only worked a few of them, but again, they're fun to stitch because the thread and color palette is limited and easy to stitch up.

Again, I'm stitching all of these with the basic Tent Stitch or Basketweave Stitch, instead of cross stitches...and I'm using sandstone canvas instead of brown.


Although, in this series I've decided to add a few other simple needlepoint stitches to add some extra dimension to them (see the pears? and Santa's pants?)...plus I've added gold beads on Santa's coat, just to add a little more sparkle. It's fun to embellish a cross stitch design with very simple needlepoint stitches...and there are so many easy ones to choose from. Give it a try!

I've been working these designs on little pieces of canvas, but it occurs to me now -how am I going to finish all of them? I originally bought the pattern thinking I would only stitch a few of the santas...but now I want to stitch them ALL. Maybe I should stitch the whole 12 Days of Christmas on one big piece of canvas, so they're all together. Ooohhh, wouldn't THAT would be something to see! Hmmmmm.....I'll have to give that some more thought!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's time to show off some of the stitched Santas in my collection.

I love to bring them out at Christmastime and remember how fun they were to stitch.

Here's another Pat Thode hand-painted canvas. They are so fun to stitch! And because they are small canvases, they stitch up quickly and you can enjoy them immediately. Because her canvases are "stitch painted" and have an attached stitch guide, you can be sure that every thread of the painted canvas is accounted for, and you'll be shown how to stitch EVERY thread.

If you want to try a small painted canvas, I'd definitely recommend trying one of Pat Thode's canvases. (She markets them under the label: "The Artists Collection".) She also designs many counted cross-stitch patterns under the name,"Heartstrings", so you can also find many of her santa designs done in cross-stitch too. My Mom just finished a Heartstrings santa design - and it's gorgeous!

I fell in love with Pat Thode's Santas after seeing them at my local needlework shop, The Regal Rabbit in Windsor, CA. The owner has several pieces finished in her shop. I particularly loved this santa:

She had it finished as a rectangular standup figure. I was smitten!
This design was one of Pat Thode's older limited edition Christmas santas. So I went home and searched the internet for anything I could find. And lo and behold! I found a cross-stitch store that had Pat Thode's pattern book for this very santa.
Of course I ordered it immediately, and stitched this santa by COUNTING it on the canvas...not as a painted canvas. It was a bit of a challenge...but I wanted it so bad, I was prepared to take the time to work it out. And I'm soooo glad I did!

I still have to attach a red felt bag (with treats) that Santa is holding in his lower hand....and I want to try finishing it myself as a rectangular standup figure.
(Just something else to do in my free time...ha, ha.)



And here's the most recent Pat Thode Santa I stitched this fall, called "The Juggling Santa."

And notice the background. I did something really daring on this one: Instead of stitching a background, I used colored pencils and colored the canvas around the santa. CAREFULLY, of course, so the pencils didn't get near the stitched stuff. I really like the effect, and think it gives it a lovely depth. Give it a try sometime...if you dare!