Not Your Momma's Cross-Stitching

I was taught to cross-stitch at a very young age.  I think I drove my mom nuts until she finally gave in and taught me!  I started with simple projects, always on a car trip I'd work, or while watching TV with the family.  I still have the willow tree and name pillows I made in the late 80's.  I also can't seem to pass a vintage sampler in a store without holding it and staring at the stitches.  Something about the rows of little x's completely entrance me.  I made the Pike sampler below for Billy while we were dating.  It says 91" on it.  Awwwww...I know.

 

 So sometime back I saw on a favorite blog PapernStitch this tutorial for making a cross-stitch pendant.  Drool city....I want to make those......but alas.  I was trying to be good and not make jewelry or at least not buy anything new.  I have enough beads and wire to make about 1000 necklaces.  No lie.  And then I went to the show where I picked up my awesome chair and an artist had these sweet little wooden pendants she'd stitched onto.  They weren't cross-stitch, just little threaded pieces.   I was so smitten with the delicate nature of them.  They were so different from wearing metal or sparkles around your neck.  So you guessed it, I got on Etsy and found the wooden cross-stitch blanks.  And they arrived from Greece this weekend.

I thought a lot about what I wanted to stitch onto the pendants and ultimately decided to buy a beautiful color palette and stitch simple patterns onto the wooden blanks.  I finished 2 yesterday.  Love, love.....

On the pendant above I only did single side stitches.  I was going for more of a chevron look.  The other is a rectangle, totally stitched.  I have to be totally honest though.  These little suckers are tiny.  And your eyes get kinda crossed while doing them.  AND it took as long as it does for me to paint one small painting.  Yeah.  And yet I'm afraid the most I can put on the finished pieces is around $35.  But, I love them.  And I'm pretty sure Vero at Naked Art Gallery in B'ham is going to flip over them for the Micro Love Show I always participate in.  Every year I come up with some new jewelry line for her to sell.  It's my yearly thing.

So....tempted to try you hand at them?  Head over to Etsy and type in "wooden cross stitch base" and you'll find them.  Most are from over seas.  It took 3 weeks to get here.  So plan accordingly.   And get out your readers and a good light.  Because you'll need them!  Enjoy!