Thanksgiving Blessings - Free Cross Stitch Chart!

This is a design especially for my American friends - I wish you the joy of the holiday, and I hope that you have a lovely day, surrounded by peace, plenty, family and friends.

I hope you like the design. If you would like a copy, please leave a comment below with your email address, as this is a little too big to display as a jpeg.

If you do stitch this chart, I'd love to see a picture - and there will be a prize for the first one I get! 

Edited to add: If you feel so inclined, a donation to the MS Trust for this chart would be appreciated. Pennies will do - and you can make payment via the link in my sidebar or by clicking here.

This pattern is offered for personal, non-commercial use only. Items made from this pattern may be sold on a small scale basis such as on Etsy or at craft sales. Sales for charity are positively encouraged! This pattern and the text and photos contained within, may not be copied or reproduced for any purpose other than personal use. Please direct people to this blog rather than forwarding the pattern, thank you! Copyright 2009 N M Wray

Autumn Leaves Fob - Heart in Hand

Design: Autumn Leaves Fob from Fall Fobs chart

Designer: Heart in Hand

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric:14 count plastic canvas, brown

You got a sneak peek of this in my previous post - I stitched this as a little 'extra' for the exchange as I was running late with it. It was very simple to do - I used plastic canvas, and backed it with matching paper before adding a floss ring. It would have looked more finished had I been able to put in an eyelet, but I didn't have one that was deep enough.

Fall Needleroll - Heart in Hand

Design: Fall Needleroll from Fall Fobs chart

Designer: Heart in Hand

Threads: DMC as charted

Fabric: 28 count evenweave

I stitched this for Gaby over on the Hooked on Exchanges blog. It seems like most of my stitching these days is for exchanges, I've lost my mojo for 'selfish stitching' but it is so much fun to give - and to receive - to friends all over the world.

I think I will have to stitch this piece for myself though - I loved the colours and the style. I stitched it in the DMC that the chart called for, but I did alter the colour of one of the pumpkins. I think my favourite part though was the specialty stitch band at the bottom - the combination of colours and textures looks great!

I finished off the needleroll with a little acorn charm, and some organza ribbon. This picture shows a little flash glare:

French Country IV Pumpkin - JBW Designs

Design: French Country IV Pumpkin

Designer: JBW Designs

Thread: GAST Pumpkin

Fabric: 28 count evenweave

This was finished in 2008 (although I blogged about it in January this year).

The frame was a charity shop (thrift store) find, complete with double mount - it had a dull cheap print in it and it would have cost me less than £3 (US$5). Of course, I'd stitched the pumpkin on a piece of fabric a little too small for this, so it took quite a while to centre it up and to make sure the edges were hidden! The ripples you can see I think are from the glass, as the piece is actually smooth in real life!

Trick or Treat - Lizzie*Kate

Design: Trick or Treat from the Hallowe'en Sampler Leaflet
Designer: Lizzie*Kate
Threads: DMC as charted
Fabric: 28 count evenweave

Another 2008 finish. It's still waiting to be made up into something, but I should be able to get it made up this autumn - I have a lot of suitable backing fabrics in my stash, given my fondness for autumnal colours! The colours in this photo don't really show up the background fabric very well, it's a bit more yellow. It's rather an odd fabric, I don't know where I acquired it from - possibly a trade or an exchange - as it's rougher than normal evenweave. I like it though - it gives the piece a rustic homespun appearance.

French Country IV: Pumpkin - JBW Designs

Design: French Country IV: Pumpkin
Designer: JBW Designs
Threads: can't remember, I think it was a GAST
Fabric: 28 count jobelan, off cut (unlabelled) from stash

I realise I haven't posted a lot of cross stitch this week, and that most of my readers are stitchers, not knitters :o)

This stitched up fairly quickly as I recall, and it was a lot of fun, working out each of the little motifs. There's a lot of almost instant gratification with this project, as each of the motifs is so small and work up so quickly!

I've added the other charts in this series to my wishlist, although I'm trying to stay on the no-stash wagon for a while - at least until my birthday next month!

Fall Into Autumn - Rainbow Gallery

Design: Fall into Autumn Designer: Erica Michaels for Rainbow Gallery (freebie available here) Threads: own choice (mainly Anchor stranded cottons) Fabric: 14 count aida, cream Finishing: Pinkeep

Although I'm currently not active on the Crazy Exchange group, I recently completed a birthday exchange for Marlies there - I had already received you see, my birthday being in February. It was really nice to have another exchange to put together and I found lots of nice autumnal themed items to add to the package - it's amazing what one can get in a fairly small padded envelope! LOL

The card is one I made myself, as is the floss tag. Also added to the package were two small charts, a small kit, some backing fabric, beads, rayon floss, metallic floss, multi coloured floss and a small spring hoop!

Marlies told me she felt very spoiled, so I feel my work is done :o)

Schoolhouse Needleroll - Shepherd's Bush

Firstly, a quick thank you to each and every one of you who leaves comments - they are all appreciated! If you haven't done so already, do think about signing up for my first round of "Pay It Forwards" - there's a spot left!

This is my schoolhouse needleroll finally made up after all the anguish of the red colour running - it doesn't look too bad although really close inspection will still show a pink tinge around the apples! I couldn't find a small enough bell charm for the schoolhouse, so it is silent for now. However, I think it's quite appropriate - I was reading a local history booklet about the history of my primary school, and it mentioned there that our school bell was stolen one night - I'd forgotten that! It was a bit of a nine day wonder in the village - it was a very small place! - and instead of being called in from break and lunch by the bell, the teachers had to use whistles. It just wasn't the same!

Acorn Scissor Case - Lizzie*Kate

I love this little scissors case - it's so cheerful and warm looking! I forgive it for being a pain to stitch - stitching over one on a pre-finished item isn't fun, let me tell you! I don't really like stitching over one these days anyway, and having to manipulate the fabric around to get to where you wanted to put in the needle - erk!

Anyway, I think it turned out nicely in the end, and this will be on my scissors now until mid December!

If anyone would like the chart, just say so in the comments box!

Design Details

Fabric: 28 count linen, cream
Threads: Various over dyed threads
Designer: Linda Ebright
Chart Details: Acorn Scissors Case - Lizzie*Kate (c) 2004 (discontinued kit)
Stitch Count: 34H x 20V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch
Threads Used: Gentle Arts Sampler Threads: Maple Syrup, Nutmeg, unknown bit of purple, Burnt Orange. Minnamurra: 250. The Dye Is Cast: Pumpkin Patch. Weekes Dye Works: Pistachio Nut. Cross stitch in two strands over two.
Embellishments: Two small round buttons, brass acorn charm.
Modifications Made: Own choice of threads.

Fall Into Autumn

This called out to me to be stitched when I was rummaging through my thread stash for autumny colours, so I sat and stitched it up - it worked up pretty quickly, and I just used some of my Anchor collection to do so.

The button came in a pack from my LNS - although she is mainly doing scrapbooking at the moment, until the wheel of fashion turns. It is so nice having all the basic DMC colours five minutes walk away, because isn't it always the way that the colour you run out of is the one you don't have a duplicate of? LOL
Design Details

Fabric: 14 count aida, cream
Threads: Anchor stranded cotton
Designer: Erica Michaels for Rainbow Gallery
Chart Details: Fall Into Autumn - The Rainbow Gallery (c) 2003
Stitch Count: 55H x 58V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Back Stitch
Threads Used: Anchor 326, 671, 1305, 268, 341, 78, 890, one unknown, . Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: Leaf Button
Modifications Made: Own choice of threads.

Fall Freebie - Trail Creek Farm

I stitched this for an exchange on the Bookcrossing UK Yahoo group I belong to - I made the design into a fridge magnet, as it was stitched on plastic canvas. I backed the design with white paper to hide reverse, and used UHU glue to stick on a (supposedly) self adhesive magnet.

I used different colours to those charted, but I think it looks pretty similar to the model. For a bit of extra pizazz I added a button from the bag I used on the Pumpkin Flower Sampler.


Design Details

Fabric: 14 count plastic canvas, fawn
Threads:various overdyed threads
Designer: Trail Creek Farm (Linda Ebright)
Chart Details: Fall - Freebie available from Trail Creek Farm's website
Stitch Count: 29H x 29V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Back stitch
Threads Used: The Dye Is Cast: Aztec Gold, Pumpkin Patch. Weeks Dye Works Pistachio Nut. Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: Heart shaped button.
Modifications Made: Own choice of threads, added button.

Pumpkin Flower Sampler - Bent Creek

(Hmmm - my pictures are rubbish. I wonder what is going wrong - I'm using macro, and flash and yet they are still very blurry!)

This is one of the set of three samplers published by Bent Creek and I've chosen to stitch them all on the same piece of linen, although I will frame or finish them individually.

I love them - the colours work beautifully - especially on this piece and they are quick but satisfying to stitch, as there are bands of raised stitches in the alphabet.

I chose to use the DMC conversions, and didn't use the recommended buttons - they would have cost me over £5, and the ones I used were from a couple of assorted packets that cost me less than that, and I've used them for several projects! They do go well, I think - I guess that's one of the advantages of having a favourite palette of colours, most things co-ordinate!

Design Details

Fabric: 28 count linen from Silkweaver - Lichen Moss
Threads: DMC stranded cotton
Designer: Bent Creek (Marsha Worley & Elizabeth Newlin)
Chart Details: The Pumpkin Flower Sampler BC420 - Bent Creek (c) 2000
Stitch Count: 40H x 101V
Stitches Used: Cross Stitch, Rhodes Stitch, Smyrna Cross Stitch, Algerian Eyelet Stitch
Threads Used: DMC 436, 611, 3051, 434. Cross stitch in two strands.
Embellishments: Seven assorted buttons.
Modifications Made: Used DMC conversion, substituted recommended buttons