Stitching Saturday - Seasonal Cottage SAL

Happy Saturday, Friends! Can you believe it is the last Saturday in May!??! We are fast approaching our two year anniversary living here in Riverside County, CA. The time is just racing away from us!

I wanted to get this one last springtime project posted before I get into the summer and fall projects! 

I am part of a cross stitching group on Facebook and a few of us started a STITCH ALONG (SAL) with this cute FREE pattern from Crocette a gogo. There are five total charts, one each for spring, summer, autumn, Christmas, and winter. The group is going to be stitching them all as a fun thing to do together.

The patterns are simple and fun, and they do stitch up pretty easily. You are given the pattern and a list of some DMC threads to use. However, I chose my own threads based on what was in my thread boxes. So, my project may look a little different from some of the other folks' projects. 

I stitched on a scrap piece of 16 count off white aida, making the finished stitching about 4 1/4" x 4 3/4". I had purchased this white frame in a 3-pack from Amazon because it has a 5" x 5" opening. However, my stitching was just not quite the prefect size and did not look nice inside the frame. {insert sad face}

I ended up finishing the stitching by wrapping it onto chipboard, then attaching it to a piece of chipboard covered with paper (Graphic 45 Botanical Tea). The finished piece is 6" x 6" Since the spacing at the top of the project was wider than at the sides or bottom, I had space to add a ribbon bow!

I still wanted to use the frame! I ended up attaching a magnet to the glass and a washer to the back of the stitching panel! Now I can use the frame over and over again without having to take the project in and out. Since this is just a fun little piece, I don't care if it is exposed to the elements...meaning my cats!

The ribbons are from Really Reasonable Ribbon. See the links below for the exact ribbons used. The button was just in my button stash. 

The frame is approximately 7 1/4" square and has a stand in the back so that it sits nicely on a table or shelf. I will hopefully be able to use the same frame for all the pieces in this series, rotating them out seasonally.

One of the color changes I made was to the little birds. We have some sweet birds here that are similar in color to how I stitched the birds on my project. They are songbirds of some variety and live in the many trees behind our house. It is a lot of fun to watch and listen to the many birds we have here. We did not have much bird life on the coast compared to here in the inland valley. 

Here is a sneak peek of the Summer color palette. I changed up most of the colors again, to match what I had in my floss box. At the time of this writing I am nearly finished stitching! I hope to have it fully finished for next month! 

I am well and truly hooked again on stitching! I have purchased many charts, found some fun free charts, and have purchased floss and fabric! The lot you see above was to finish the rest of the monthly samplers that I have been sharing. I needed some fabric and floss to be able to kit those patterns. 

A few Christmas patterns fell into my cart, Oppsie! {giggle}

And because I thought I needed even more fabric, I made another order for just fabric. I am moistly purchasing from 123stitch.com. They have a great selection, good prices, often have sales, plus fast and low cost shipping. They are located in Texas, so I usually get my package in a few days! 

I am not a monogamous stitcher, meaning I have more than one project going at a time (I know, I know). I just kittled up this free pattern that I found on the Herrschners website. It is called Garden Sampler. 

I chose a piece of hand-dyed fabric with tones of tea dye, green, and pink. The pattern called for a floss that I had not heard of, and when I went to look for it, I found it to be from Australia and quite expensive. I ended up just picking DMC colors from my floss boxes to create the look I wanted. I hope that I can get this stitched up by the end of summer! 

My plans for the next few months are: finish the Summer Cottage SAL, finish a patriotic project that I started over the weekend, work on the November sampler of the month, and work on the garden sampler. Plus I need to fully finish for display two other items that are already stitched! 

I am going to be traveling the first two weeks of September on a cruise, and I already have planned which stitching project to take with me....wait and see...

Thanks for joining me today! Happy stitching! 

Pattern: Spring 2020 Freebie by Crocette a gogo

Floss: DMC (white, 975, 310, 801, 335, 471, 605, 3761, 326, 776, 742)

Fabric: 16 count off white Aida by Cosmo
Paper: Graphic 45 Botanical Tea

Ribbon: Really Reasonable Ribbon 3/16" Celery Green Gingham, 5/8" Rose Mini Check Plaid

Button: my stash

Frame: Amazon 

Magnet: my stash

Chipboard: Grafix

Tools: Bow-It-All

Adhesive: hot glue, Scor-tape, Art Glitter Glue