Cross stitching has been my needlecraft hobby of choice since I was younger. Well, to be fair I used to do a lot of plastic canvas work, but since high school I’ve done a lot of cross stitching. I haven’t had any time to do so lately, so I thought I would show off some pieces that I’ve stitched in the past.

I wish that I could hang this in my cubicle at work. I think that this is a Sue Hillis pattern. I stitched this for my friend, Jamie. It was just a little piece to make her laugh due to the managerial position she held at the time.

I used to stitch a lot of squares for C.O.L.E.s Quilts, but I haven’t really done any in the last several years. Instead I’m concentrating on my Dresses for Missions and Project Linus charities. I do hope that the quilts brought a smile to somebody’s face.

This was the first, and so far only, piece that I’ve stitched on black fabric. I stitched this for a friend who I haven’t talked to in years. The wolf didn’t do much for me, but I really love the Northern Lights in the background. Those are actually half stitches. Isn’t it beautiful?

This isn’t the best picture, but I stitched this for my sister shortly after she received her degree in Elementary and Special Education. This might have been one of the first pieces that I ever stitched on evenweave. I do remember that it felt like it took FOREVER to finish her apron.

When I saw this pattern I knew that I had to stitch it for my best friend. Growing up we used to spend a lot of time playing piano (and flute in her case) and singing. Now that I think about it, I think that I actually gave this to her when we went to see PDQ Bach. That was quite a few years ago.

When I stitched this piece I didn’t have anybody in mind to receive it. Typically when I cross stitch it’s to make a gift for somebody. Up until I started my seasonal crosses I didn’t regularly stitch for myself at all. I enjoy Norman Rockwell and wanted to stitch this when I saw it. I ended up framing this and it hangs in my living room.

This weekend as I was watching Flosstube (cross stitch vlogs on YouTube) I came up with an idea… Jay has saved a bunch of pictures of the planets that he loves. Well, I used the picture of Earth the other night to practice using the pattern making software that I bought a few years ago. The pictures are gorgeous:

I think that if I were to stitch them on black fabric they would really pop. Wouldn’t this be gorgeous all stitched up?

Mars isn’t nearly as pretty, but I think it would be a neat project. My idea is to stitch the sun and all of the planets (including Pluto because it’s still a planet to me!) and then display them in order starting with the sun. Do you think that’s too ambitious of a project? It might take me 80 years to actually finish. But how could you not want to stitch these?