Recent Designs I Entered In Spoonflower Design Challenges

I just love designing custom fabric designs.  Over the last few months I decided to enter some of my fabric designs into the Spoonflower Design Challenges and entered 10 into their contests.  I didn't win any but I definitely had fun designing them.

I hope you like my designs.

Sisterhood Challenge

Food Frenzy Lake Coloring Challenge

 Cycling Challenge Design

 Animals By Air Challenge

 Elegant Holiday Limited Color Palette Design Challenge

 The Gardening Challenge

 Monochrome Blue Challenge

 Circles Are New Triangles Challenge

The Summer Cookout Challenge

© 2017 - 2023 Copyright Linda Walsh Originals - Fabric Designs By Linda Walsh.

A Kiss For A Snowman - Dimensions Cross-Stitch Kit

I fell in love with the "A Kiss For A Snowman" Dimensions cross-stitch picture the minute I saw it.  Totally adorable and so very cheery.  It  created such a wonderful happy aspect to it that I knew I'd buy it and add it to my other winter season cross-stitch decorations on my fireplace mantle.

Like the other Dimensions Gold Collection Petites kits I had bought the kit included the pattern, pre-sorted cotton thread, 18 count white cotton Aida, needle and instructions.

The "A Kiss For A Snowman" pattern uses full counted cross-stitch, half cross-stitch, french knots and outline stitching for emphasis and depth and this detailing really makes the picture stand out. It also varies the number of threads used with the various stitches to add to the depth emphasis. The design of this cross-stitch gives the finished picture a 3 dimensional aspect with the half cross stitch, french knots and outlining being used for artistic effect.

The pattern came with starting and working order instructions as well as samples of the various stitches required, color coded keys (with code #'s, lengths, color names, and cross-stitch symbols) and a chart with color coded symbols.  The kit came with instructions for finishing the back of the picture.

The kit called for several sections of the white cotton Aida to be left untouched.  I don't think the pictures look finished when you do this and opted instead to use 3 strands of white embroidery floss sewn in a half-cross stitch for these sections.

While I was very pleased with the end results of this design there are some things in the kit and in the instructions that can be improved upon.

Unlike the problem I had with the size and readability of some of the other cross-stitch charts in the kits I had bought this color chart was large enough and easy to follow.

As was the case with previous Dimensions kits the thread sorter was poorly designed. The embroidery threads were glued to foam backed 6" by 1 1/4" strips of cardboard that had a picture of the color of the thread and it's number. In order to get to the threads you had to separate the foam back from the cardboard strip. Very quickly the threads separated from their section and then you no longer knew what the thread number was to tie to your symbols & legends.

As I have done with other cross-stitch kits I've completed I had to alter the thread sorter to suit my needs. I pulled the thread sorter apart to get rid of the foam and then punched holes in the cardboard strip just above each color and color #. I inserted the floss threads that went with that color and color # through the hole and tied them in a loose knot. I then added color coded symbols with colored pens beneath each color so I would know what symbols went with what color.

Short of changing the thread sorter all together to make things even easier for the user the color symbol should at the very least have been shown on the thread sorter strip of cardboard as well. That way you would only need to use the thread sorter strip of cardboard to follow your chart.

I used an 8" by 8" Q-Snap embroidery frame to keep the Aida tight and stretched so I could easily cross-stitch this design.

The key split the strands of three colors into 1 strand sewn in a half cross-stitch and 2 strands sewn in a full cross-stitch for the pink, light orange, and yellow green floss. Both types of stitches for each color were being sewn intermingled within the same sections of the picture.  I didn't want to spend a lot of time differentiating between each of these stitches in the same section so I opted for using two strands of the color for both the half-cross stitch and full cross-stitch stitches within the same section.  That way I could finish the section all at once.  Some stitches were half-cross stitch and some were full cross-stitch.

A lot of the cross-stitch 5.25" by 5.25" pictures I have made were finished in small 6 1/2" by 6 1/2" shadowbox frames with 5" by 5" openings that I had gotten at Michaels when they went on sale one year.  I used up all the shadowbox frames I had gotten previously and have been looking for them ever since and hadn't been able to find that size again.

I did, however, find some 7" x 7" by 1 1/2" shadow  box frames with a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" opening at Michaels last year and bought a few white ones and black ones when they were on sale.  I was hoping to use one of the white ones with this project.

I decided to finish mine with thin adhesive press-board paper.  I used an 8" by 10" Pres-On sheet that I cut 6" by 6"with kitchen scissors to fit my picture and them wrapped the Aida cloth around to the back.  I pulled the middle of each of the corners of the Aida tightly to the corner point of the back of the adhesive press-board paper and then taped each corner to the back of the board with masking tape. I folded the top and sides of the corner down to form mitered corners for the four corners, pinned them to hold them tightly, and then sewed them with upholstery floss.   Once the corners were secure and tight I pulled the middle of each of the sides so they were tight against the adhesive press-board and taped them to the back of the board with masking tape.

The shadow box came with a black padded velvet sheet glued to the cardboard rigid back of the shadow box frame which was about 1/8" thick and fit the depth of the area in the back of the shadowbox.  My cross-stitch picture glued to the thin adhesive press-board paper  and folded around to the back was already 1/8" thick so I knew I was going to have a problem with the black velvet glued to the rigid cardboard for the backing of the frame.

The shadowbox frame had 8 screwed in movable metal clips that could be turned to hold in the velvet and rigid back piece on the back of the shadowbox frame.   The velvet piece itself would fit with my finished cross-stitch but not the rigid cardboard back.

I decided to separate the black velvet piece from the rigid cardboard backing and utilize just the black velvet piece to finish the back of my shadowbox as the black velvet was pliable under the clips.

After securing my cross-stitch picture to the 6" by 6" thin adhesive press-board paper, as mentioned above, I inserted it into the back of the frame, inserted the black velvet piece over it, and then secured the 8 clips.

Last year I had bought some decorative Washi tapes and hadn't had a chance to use them as of yet.  When looking at the white shadowbox frame and the cheery "A Kiss For A Snowman" picture I thought one of the tapes I had bought would be perfect to decorate the top and bottom of this frame and really add to the cheeriness of this picture.  So I cut two strips of the tape and adhered them to the top and bottom of my frame.

I love the way my "A Kiss For A Snowman" picture turned out and hope you do too.

Let It Snow - Mill Hill Sticks Cross-Stitch Ornament

As you know from my previous post it's the middle of the summer and sweltering here.  More heat and humidity than I would like.  Yet, I'm making Christmas ornaments.  Maybe the coldness of my craft project will have an effect on Mother Nature.  I doubt it, but one can be hopeful.

This time the ornaments that I'm working on  are a pair of 3" by 3" Christmas stocking ornaments by Mill Hill - Sticks line.

The "Let It Snow" ornament kit contained the presorted thread, 14 count perforated paper, needles (stitching and beading), beads and instructions. The pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and outline stitching for emphasis and depth.

The pattern came with starting, stitching and 2 different back finishing instructions as well as samples of the various stitches required, beading instructions and color code chart (with code #'s, color names, and cross-stitch symbols) and a black and white chart with black and white coded symbols.  The colors and symbols on the keys and chart were easy to read and follow except the symbols under the stars that were to be highlighted with floss were hard to read.

The only other problem I had with the kit was there was only one strand of the medium blue DMC floss and I ran out of it before I started the 2nd stocking.

I had no problem cross-stitching the stocking ornaments and then cutting the perforated paper close to the sides of the stocking figures. This kit did come with 2 different options for finishing the back the ornaments back to back.  The other was creating two ornaments and finishing the back with felt or card stock.  I opted to create two ornaments and finish mine with green felt which I glued to the back with an Avery disappearing color glue stick.  I wanted to finish the edges by whip stitching around the edges of the perforated paper with 4 strands of he green floss so I trimmed the edges and left enough of the felt and perforated paper to stitch around the edges.

Instead of adding a floss hanger according to the instructions I opted to sew two strands of floss to the top of the ornament, securing the edge of the ornament with an additional stitch and then tying the ends at the top in a large knot.  They're going to look great on my pencil Christmas tree

I was very happy with the way my "Let It Snow" stocking ornaments turned out and hope you like it too.

Joy - Mill Hill Sticks Cross-Stitch Ornament

It's the middle of the summer and sweltering here.  More heat and humidity than I would like.  So, you're probably wondering why I'm showing you two Christmas cross-stitch ornaments I just finished.  Well, when I'm making ornaments for the Christmas holiday season I like to start early. They are a pair of 3" by 3" stocking ornaments by Mill Hill - Sticks line.

I just love to cross-stitch small ornaments with the word "joy" in them because my mother's name was Joy and when I look at them I think of her.

The "Joy" ornament kit contained the presorted thread, 14 count perforated paper, needles (stitching and beading), beads and instructions.  The pattern uses full counted cross-stitch and outline stitching for emphasis and depth.

The pattern came with starting, stitching and 2 different back finishing instructions as well as samples of the various stitches required, beading instructions and color code chart (with code #'s, color names, and cross-stitch symbols) and a black and white chart with black and white coded symbols.  The colors and symbols on the keys and chart were easy to read and follow.

I had no problem cross-stitching the stocking ornaments and then cutting the perforated paper close to the sides of the stocking figures. This kit did come with 2 different options for finishing the back of the ornaments. The first was finishing them back to back.  The other was creating two ornaments and finishing the back with felt or card stock.  I opted to create two ornaments and finish mine with green felt which I glued to the back with an Avery disappearing color glue stick.  I wanted to finish the edges by whip stitching around the edges of the perforated paper with 4 strands of the green floss so I trimmed the edges and left enough of the felt and perforated paper to stitch around the edges.

Instead of adding a floss hanger according to the instructions I opted to sew two strands of floss to the top of the ornament, securing the edge of the ornament with an additional stitch and then tying the ends at the top in a large knot.  They're going to look great on my pencil Christmas tree.

I was very happy with the way my "Joy" stocking ornaments turned out and hope you like it too.

Gazebo - Mill Hill Cross-Stitch Kit

As you know from my previous Linda's Blog post, it's getting to be one of my favorite seasons of the year - Fall.   For the last few weeks I've been  happily cross-stitching more shadowbox pictures to decorate one of my fireplace mantles.  If you're a reader of my blog you know I'm drawn to the beautiful bright colors of the Fall.  When I saw the Mill Fill "Gazebo" cross-stitch kit I knew I would buy it not only for the fall colors, but for the little doggie as well.  I'm a sucker for "doggie" pictures.

The Gazebo Mill Hill #MH14-1825 pattern uses full cross-stitch and straight stitch highlighting as well as beads of various sizes for emphasis and depth. The Mill Hill patterns usually call for certain areas of the perforated paper to be left untouched like the background or border. In this case they were leaving sections of the brown perforated paper border untouched.

In embroidering the cross-stitch I decided to once again 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 is a rectangular embroidery hoop of sorts, but without bending the perforated  paper. He had made it out of 1/2" x 1" pine wood strips with an adjustable center strip that I used for this 5.25 x 5.25 square design.

I had learned from previous mistakes that I needed to draw diagonal lines to locate the exact center of the perforated paper as in previous perforated paper cross-stitch picture I have done the picture was slightly off center by a few holes which caused a problem with inserting the needles in the holes along one of the edges of my frame. So, I lightly drew a diagonal line across each corner with a pencil to get the center point of the perforated paper.

A lot of the cross-stitch 5.25" by 5.25" pictures I have made were finished in small 6 1/2" by 6 1/2" shadowbox frames with 5" by 5" openings that I had gotten at Michaels when they went on sale one year.  I used up all the shadowbox frames I had gotten that year and have been looking for them ever since and haven't found them again.

So, I decided to buy some 8" by 8" hand painted wood frames that Mill Hill created for their cross-stitch pictures.  This frame is bare bones.  There's no glass or plastic cover and there's nothing on the back to hold the picture into the frame.  They do, however, provide a thin 6" by 6" cardboard back and wood dowel for inserting in the holes in the back to allow for the frame to stand on it's own.  Of course, if you're going to hang this on the wall you'd just add a picture hanger to the back.

The directions did not include any instruction for finishing the back.  I decided to finish mine with 1/4" thick self sticking art needle-craft mounting foam.  I used an 8" by 10" by Pres-On sheet that I cut 6" by 6"with an X-acto knife to fit my picture.  Since the depth of the back of the frame for inserting the picture is 1/4" deep the 1/4" foam was a perfect fit for inserting it as well as the cardboard backing that came with the frame.

The pattern called for a blue colored wooden frame. I  opted to use a rust colored wooden Mill Hill frame as I though it complimented the gazebo picture much better than the blue colored frame.

After adhering my cross-stitch picture to the 6" by 6" adhesive foam board that I bought I inserted it into the back of the frame and then inserted the 6" by 6" cardboard that came with the frame over it.  I taped the back of the cardboard with masking tape to hold it.

The wood frame is 8" by 8" so to totally finish the back I cut a piece of thick decorative paper 8" by 8" to entirely cover the back.  I rubbed purple color disappearing glue stick all over the back and then pasted my 8" by 8" decorative paper sheet on the back.  I signed by name and dated it and was done with finishing the back.  I used a pencil to stab the decorative paper I had glued to the back so I could insert the dowel into it so the picture would stand on it's own.

The pattern also called for the border of the perforated paper to be left untouched like the picture shown above. However, I don't like seeing the perforated sections of the paper for the border as I think it makes the cross-stitch picture look unfinished and opted instead to finish the border with ecru colored  DMC embroidery floss sewn as a half cross-stitch using four strands of the floss.  I usually use two strands of floss for the background.  Since the perforated paper was brown and the background floss I wanted to use was ecru I opted instead to use four strands of the ecru floss sewn in a half cross stitch as it would cover the brown perforated paper better.

The pattern called for outlining the doggie and the three birds.  I thought the gazebo could use some outline highlighting to really make it stand out as it was the centerpiece of the picture.  So I added
two strands of a dark gray brown around all the posts, pillars, and roof of the gazebo.  When looking at the picture from a distance now the gazebo really stands out.

The pattern also called for the white and blue sections of the sky to be sewn as a cross-stitch using two strands of each respective floss color.  I thought the sky and clouds would look better if the clouds were differentiated from the sky so I opted to sew the clouds using four strands of the white embroidery floss and sewn in a half cross-stitch, as shown in the picture below:

While the end results of this design were wonderful some things in the kit and in the instructions could be improved upon so I'd like to offer the following constructive suggestions:

The cross-stitch chart was in black and white as was the floss color code and symbol key. Both were easy to read and very clear. While I had no problem with the chart and keys I did have a problem with the way the DMC floss was presented. All of the floss was tied together in one big knot so you had to separate the floss pieces yourself, sort them, and try to interpret which color belonged to which floss # and symbol key on the color chart.

If you only have a few colors to deal with this isn't a problem. However, if you have several different colors to choose from that are close in color then interpreting the chart can be tricky. You may assign the wrong color to the wrong symbol if the colors are too closely aligned. Luckily, this time, the key code chart contained the number of strands that were included in the kit for each color so I knew how many strands I had for the different floss colors.  However, a lot of the rust, browns, green and oranges had two strands each and were close in color so it was a little tricky deciding which went with which.

As I have done with other cross-stitch kits I've completed I had to design my own thread color sorter and symbol key. I took a piece of thin cardboard and cut a 1" x 12" long rectangular piece out to use as a thread sorter. I then punched holes in my cardboard strip in which to tie each of the different colors. Just above the hole I wrote the DMC floss # and just below the hole I added the respective cross-stitch symbol. I then inserted the floss threads that went with that # and symbol through the hole and tied them in a loose knot. This kit could be much improved if a thread sorter with respective #'s and symbols was provided.

There wasn't enough of the blue floss for the sky in the kit.  I ran out and had to get more of it.   Also, there was supposed to be a strand of light orange floss in the kit but there wasn't any included in the kit I bought so I had to utilize some of my stash.

The beads were contained within three small Ziploc bags which was fine. The chart had footnote symbols to help distinguish which beads were within which bag.

The kit included a tree button that was to be sewn to the right hand bottom front side of the gazebo on the bottom of the picture.  Generally, the Mill Hill buttons are of poor quality and are glued to a small piece of cardboard which do not easily come off.  The glue used is usually hardened and extends  over the sides of the button.  Such was the case with this button.  So, I cut it with scissors and managed to make it presentable enough to use in my picture. At least the quality of this button and design were better than some of the other buttons I have seen in the Mill Hill kits.

My results with the totally finished background, border and frame is shown below:

Despite the relatively small issues I had encountered with the kit I was happy with the way my "Gazebo" turned out.  It's going to look great on my mantle this fall.