Linda's Review of Arctic Circle of Santas MH20-9303 Nunavut Santa Cross-stitch Kit From Mill Hill

In pondering what kind of Christmas gifts I wanted to give this year I once again settled on some cross-stitch. Surprise! Surprise!  I definitely wanted much smaller projects than the two massive counted cross-stitch pictures I had completed in the past year as time was of the essence.

The massive cross-stitch pictures I had completed took hundreds of hours to complete and I couldn't spend a lot of time on any one gift so I settled on several smaller cross-stitch projects. I really didn't want anything bigger than a 6 x 6 type picture or project. Something that might take 15 to 20 hours or so.

As usual, I found several kits I liked. So, I bought a few. Actually, given my nature I bought quite a few. You know me - I can never do anything in moderation. Plus, with Christmas gifts I never really know if I'm going to give a particular cross-stitch to someone until it's completed. I needed a few to choose from - or so I told hubby!

Linda's Review of Recipe For A Snowman Cross Stitch Kit From Pine Mountain Designs

Every so often I see a kit that I think might be cute and easy to make.  Something I could quickly make for a Christmas present or "just because" type present. Something that would make a great seasonal git.  Such was the case with the "Recipe for a Snowman Pillow - Cross Stitch Kit" from Pine Mountain designs.

What drew my attention to the pillow kit was the pillow sham was pre-sewn.A definite time saver when you're as busy as I am. So, I bought it and decided to give it a try.

The "Recipe for a Snowman Pillow - Cross Stitch Kit" came in a resealable heavier plastic bag and contained the pre-sewn pillow sham, DMC floss, button decorations, tapestry needle, and instructions. The pre-sewn pillow was a combination of rectangular cotton strips surrounding a rectangular burlap piece that would be embroidered upon.

The cross-stitch chart and symbols were in black and white and easy to follow.  The instructions, cross-stitch chart, and symbol key were all contained on the front side of a single piece of paper.  Definitely an indication that this would be a fairly easy pillow to do.

Linda's Review of Christmas Delights Pillow Cross Stitch Kit From Pine Mountain Designs

Every so often I see a kit that I think might be cute and easy to make.  Something I could quickly make for a Christmas present or "just because" type present. Such was the case with the "Christmas Delights" pillow kit from Pine Mountain designs.

What drew my attention to the pillow kit was the pillow sham was pre-sewn.A definite time saver when you're as busy as I am. So, I bought it and decided to give it a try.

The kit came in a resealable heavier plastic bag and contained the pre-sewn pillow sham, DMC floss, button decorations, tapestry needle, and instructions. The pre-sewn pillow was a combination of rectangular cotton strips surrounding a rectangular burlap piece that would be embroidered upon.

Linda's Review of Queen Anne House Cross-Stitch Kit From Mill Hill - Buttons & Beads Series

When trying to decide on which small cross-stitch kits I wanted to try this year I knew I wanted to cover several holidays and seasons. To cover the Christmas holiday season and the winter season I choose the counted cross-stitch & bead design from Mill Hill - Queen Anne House - Cross Stitch Kit. I, of course, just love Victorian Houses so this was a simple choice for me!

Like the other Mill Hill  - Buttons & Beads Series patterns I had bought the Queen Anne House - Cross Stitch Kit included the pattern, embroidery thread, perforated paper, beads, 2 needles and instructions.

The Queen Anne House - Cross Stitch Kit pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and outline stitching as well as beads for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background.

Given the experience I had with my "Spirit of Quilting Angel Counted Cross Stitch Project" and the fragile nature of perforated paper I decided to add wide masking tape to the back of my perforated paper before I started cross-stitching. I also decided to utilize the rectangular wood frame jig that my darling husband built for me that I could tape the edges of my perforated paper to. The wood frame jig was a rectangular embroidery hoop of sorts, but without bending the paper. He made it out of 1/2" x 1" pine wood strips. It also had an adjustable center strip that I used for this 5 x 5 square design.

Linda Review Of Haunted Hotel Cross Stitch Kit From Mill Hill - Buttons & Beads Series

When trying to decide on which small cross-stitch kits I wanted to try this year I knew I wanted to cover several holidays and seasons. For one of my favorite holidays  - Halloween I choose the counted cross-stitch & bead design from Mill Hill - Haunted Hotel - Cross Stitch Kit.

Like the other Mill Hill  - Buttons & Beads Series patterns I had bought the Haunted Hotel - Cross Stitch Kit included the pattern, embroidery thread, perforated paper, beads, 2 needles and instructions.

The Haunted Hotel pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and outline stitching as well as beads for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background.

Given the experience I had with my "Spirit of Quilting Angel Counted Cross Stitch Project" and the fragile nature of perforated paper I decided to add wide masking tape to the back of my perforated paper before I started cross-stitching. I also decided to utilize the rectangular wood frame jig that my darling husband built for me that I could tape the edges of my perforated paper to. The wood frame jig was a rectangular embroidery hoop of sorts, but without bending the paper. He made it out of 1/2" x 1" pine wood strips. It also had an adjustable center strip that I used for this 5 x 5 square design.

Linda's Review of Flower Shoppe Cross-Stitch Kit from Mill Hill - Buttons & Beads Series

When trying to decide on which small cross-stitch kits I wanted to try this year I knew I wanted to cover several holidays and seasons. For the Spring season the counted cross-stitch & bead design from Mill Hill - Flower Shoppe (beaded kit) seemed to fit the bill.

Like the other Mill Hill  - Buttons & Beads Series patterns I had bought the Flower Shoppe included the pattern, embroidery thread, perforated paper, beads, 2 needles and instructions.

The Flower Shoppe pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and outline stitching as well as beads for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background.

Linda's Review of Gather Together Buttons & Beads Series Cross-Stitch Kit From Mill Hill

One of the cross-stitch kits I decided to try this Fall was a counted cross-stitch & bead design from Mill Hill - Gather Together - Cross Stitch Kit.

The Gather Together - Cross Stitch Kit included the pattern, embroidery thread, perforated paper, beads, 2 needles and instructions.

The Gather Together - Cross Stitch Kit pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and outline stitching as well as beads for emphasis and depth. The pattern also calls for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched as the background.

Linda's Review of Spirit of Quilting Angel Counted Cross Stitch Pattern Design by Brooke Nolan of Brooke's Books Publishing

In pondering what kind of cross-stitch kits I wanted to try this year I decided to focus on smaller projects of a less mammoth nature. If you've been following my Linda's Blog and Book & Crafts Review Corner blog you know that I completed two massive counted cross-stitch pictures in the past year.

The first I posted about last December in a post on my Linda's Blog entitled "You Spent How Many Hours On That Cross-Stitch?" and reviewed in an article on my Book & Crafts Review Corner blog in a post entitled "Linda's Review of M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit."

The 2nd one I wrote about last June in a Linda's Blog post entitled "315 Hours On Another Cross-Stitch Picture - WOW!" and reviewed in a Book & Crafts Review Corner article entitled "Linda's Review of In Her Garden - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit."

Both of the above took hundreds of hours to complete and I didn't want to spend as much time on my cross-stitch kits this year. So, I looked for projects that were smaller in nature and which could fit in a small shadow box or picture frame. I didn't really want anything bigger than an 8 x 10 size picture.

Linda's Review of In Her Garden - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit

I don't know if you remember or not, but last December I wrote a blog post entitled  "You Spent How Many Hours On That Cross-Stitch?" that talked about my spending over 250 hours on a cross-stitch picture. Back then you may have thought that 250 hours is a long time to spend on one project. Well, if I told you that I just spent 315 hours on another cross-stitch picture you might think I really have lost my mind.

I started this Dimensions Needlecrafts Counted Cross Stitch, In Her Gardenon December 29, 2010 and finally finished it on May 14, 2011. Hubby painstakingly documented my progress day by day so we'd have a detailed breakdown. I worked on this a few hours every day - every chance I got. I quickly learned that there were a lot of color changes due to all the flowers and, as a result, this was going to take a lot of time. And, for sure, it did.

So, was the 315 hours worth it? Absolutely! I'd do it again as the cross-stitch picture framed (shown in the picture above) is absolutely stunning.

To give you a little background on why I would create yet another massive cross-stitch picture I have to take you back to the rationale for my previous cross-stitch picture.  In July, 2010 I wrote a Linda's Blog post about my pressed flower pictures entitled "My Pressed Flower Pictures - Now That's A Great Idea!" In that post I told you about a large pressed flower picture I had made that was hanging in our master bedroom and, sadly, was fading which meant it needed to be replaced.

Well, my husband thought a needlepoint picture like the one I had done in the dining room but much bigger would be nice. I wrote about this needlepoint picture awhile ago in a Linda's Blog post entitled "Needlecraft Picture From A Decade Ago - Or So!"

So, since our house is filled with dolls and pictures of buildings & houses I thought a cross-stitch Victorian scene might be just the thing. So, I set out to find some large cross-stitch kits that would be suitable.

My Review of M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit Finally Got A Response

Last December 2010 after I finished my "M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit" I decided to tell Dimensions about my review of their kit that I had written on my "Linda's Blog" and on my "The Book Review Corner Blog."   So, I went to their EK Success Brand website and filled out their contact form.  I received an email on 1/1/2011 saying someone would contact me.

Well, I never heard anything in response so today, February 14, 2011 I thought I'd visit their website again to see if they had an address I could send a letter to. Well, to my delight, they had a Facebook link to their EK Success Brand Facebook page. So, I thought well let's see if they'll answer a Facebook comment.  So I "liked" it so I could make a comment and posted the following to their wall:

"I thought you might be interested in my review of M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit that I finished at https://thebookreviewcorner.blogspot.com/2010/12/lindas-review-of-mladys-chateau.html and more about it on my Linda's Blog here - https://lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com/2010/12/you-spent-how-many-hours-on-that-cross.html. Have a great day. Linda"

I also posted the same comment to their review page after rating them with 4 out of 5 stars.

Well, within two hours of posting that to their EK Success Brand Facebook page I received the following comment on my "The Book Review Corner Blog" review post :

Just A few More Crafts Kits

One of the stores in Sturbridge that my Mom and I used to visit when we were in town was one called Colonial Crafts. They were a small store on the main drag that had all sorts of wonderful wool fabric bundles, primitive patterns, primitive cloth bundles and fat quarters, finished items, wool felt kits, and punchneedle kits.

The staff was always extremely helpful and willing to put kits together for just about any pattern you bought if they had it available. It was where I was first introduced to punchneedle. In fact, one of the owners had no problem taking the time to show me exactly how easy it was to thread the needle and, once you got the knack, how easy it was to do. I was instantly hooked on punchneedle by the time I left the store.  And, of course, I had bought several kits.

I wrote about this adventure and the kit I subsequently completed in a post on my "The Book Review Corner Blog" entitled: Last Year's Punchneedle Kits and Subsequent Gifts.

Well, unfortunately they closed their brick and mortar store. However, they opened up a website - which, of course, I was just thrilled with. Their website is called Colonial Crafts and it is at http://www.colonialcrafts.com.

At their website they have a birthday club which offers a discount to members during their birthday month so, of course with this year's birthday, I asked hubby to get me some things (just a few.... Wink! Wink!) for my birthday. So, he did.

Besides some of the wool bundles that I've been wanting to get for awhile he got the following (all at birthday club discount, of course!)

Wooly Pumpkin Mat - Chickadee Hollow Designs Wool Applique Patterns

You'll Never Believe What I've Started

You would think that after I had spent 250 hours creating my M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit that I would give cross-stitching a rest. Au contraire! Not at all. Secretly, I think I'm addicted to it. Then again, I get addicted to just about any type of craft I'm doing.

Well, no sooner had I finished my M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit then I decided to start on another Victorian cross-stitch that I had bought last year. This one is Dimensions Gold Collection In Her Garden Counted Cross Stitch Kit: 11x16 and she is a beauty.

I've already clocked 70 hours on her and she is far, far from being finished. In fact, hubby couldn't visualize exactly where I was in the cross-stitch until I had done her face. I have her face, hair, and half her body done, but that's it.

Unlike some of the other cross-stitch kits I've worked on this one is done on an 18 count Aida linen and the stitches are very, very small. So, it's going to take awhile.

I'll keep you all informed and, of course, will show you how she looks when she's finished.

She's a beauty - even if it will take me all year to do her.

Linda's Review of Dimensions Santa & Snowman Ornaments Kit #8789

I think if I tell you any more about the cross-stitch kits I made this past year you'll want to strangle me! LOL LOL Well, maybe not strangle me, but say, "Linda, enough is enough." I know that's what my Mother would say.

But, I just have to tell you about another cross-stitch kit I bought and made this year as it contained 6 adorable and delightful Santa and snowmen ornaments. They're shown in the collage pictures above.

Aren't they adorable? I know you'd like to say that they are, but you're afraid if you do then I'll have even more cross-stitch kits to tell you about! LOL LOL Not to worry. This time I promise it's the last cross-stitch kit I'm going to tell you about for awhile.

Linda's Review of Dimensions Gold Collection "Morning Lake" Cross-Stitch Kit and Dimensions Gold Collection "Moonlit Cabin" Cross-Stitch Kit

You may have noticed in my last few Linda's Blog posts that I've been on a cross-stitch kick this year. In fact, I think I've been on it now for close to three years.

Just recently I finished an enormous Dimensions Gold Collection Victorian cross-stitch kit and wrote about it on a Linda's Blog post entitled "You Spent How Many Hours On That Cross-Stitch?"and wrote about it on a "The Book Review Corner" blog post entitled "Linda's Review of M'Lady's Chateau - Dimensions Gold Collection Cross-Stitch Kit."

I have been a fan of the Dimensions cross-stitch for quite some time and have written about them several times on my The Book Review Corner blog before. There was the Christmas In The Adirondacks Cross-Stitch Kit From Dimensions The Gold Collection review, my Christmas Village Ornaments Cross-Stitch Kit by Dimensions The Gold Collection Kit #8785 review, and my Colorful Rooster Cross-Stitch Kit #7195 From Dimensions review.

Back in June I told you about several cross-stitch kits I had bought and was hoping to finish this year.

Well, I finished several - two of which were woodland landscape scenes and which are shown in the pictures at the beginning of this post and below:

Linda's Review of Lakeview Primitives "Holiday Light" Pattern & Kit

If you've been following my Linda's Blog for awhile and my The Book Review Corner Blog then you know that among a million other things I LOVE crafting with wool felt and wool felt kits.

Whether it's making wool felt penny rugs, or needle felted penny rug pictures, or ornaments I just LOVE wool felt.

And, it doesn't have to be limited to penny rugs  or ornaments. Over the years I have made hundreds of cloth dolls using wool felt, brushed felt, shaggy felt, etc. I have found that it is especially useful for making animals, but the uses are practically limitless.

I was introduced to penny rugs during a shopping trip with my Mom to Sturbridge many, many years ago. There were several wonderful primitives shops out there that we liked to visit that carried primitive doll kits, wool felt kits, punchneedle kits, and penny rug kits.

One store in particular specialized in wool fabric. And, boy, did they have wool fabric. Some of the most beautiful wool fabric you'd ever want to see. And, boy, was it EXPENSIVE.