Throwback Thursday - 1998 (Part 1 of 4)

By 1998, cross-stitch had become a real passion. I still preferred to stitch small pieces. They worked best while raising a busy family. My attention span could keep up with small projects. Overall, I completed 22 cross-stitch projects that year -- nearly two per month!

January 1998 started out by doing the finishing work on the 1997 family Christmas ornaments. Like I said, busy family life.

1. Jeanne's snowman is called The Weather Outside by Sue Hillis Designs
2. My elf is called Elfie by Twisted Threads
3. Jodie's Angel is a Holiday Arches design by Alice Okon
4. Dale's Penguin is also a Holiday Arches design by Alice Okon
5. Julie's dog is called Puppy Card (designer not named)

I finished these ornaments as small stuffed pillows, four with satin ribbon hangers. I'd learned to make cording by this time, so used that technique to make the hanging cord on the elf. I used the same colors of floss for the cording that I used in the ornament.

Since I was in the mood, I stitched an ornament for 1998. This was designed by a fellow AOL stitching friend and given to me as a prize for a contest. With this design, I learned several specialty stitches. 

1. The "A," "B" and "C" are four-sided stitches. 
2. The tree is done in cross-stitch, but the ornaments and star are stitched one thread above the green Xs. 
3. The red bands are Herringbone stitches. 
4. The fancy work on either side of the "1998" are three variations on a herringbone, and called a herringbone cluster. A BIG challenge! 
5. The red square dots at the bottom are rice stitches. 
6. 1998 is backstitch

The next chart I stitched was a freebie from Twisted Threads called Aerobic Sitting. It's part of Emerson's Listen Honey... series which Ruth Sparrow converted into stitchery charts.

I recently came across this piece and displayed it again.

My next finish was a pretty bookmark for a Secret Sister in a stitching group. It's called Violets So Fair. I found the chart in a Leisure Art's book called Sweeter Than the Rose, part of the Christmas Remembered series. I love how delicate it is and how I finished it with long fringe.

The 1990s was a decade when lots of my stitching friends were having babies. I made this bib for one of my stitching group buddies for her baby boy. The chart is from designer Sharon Perna from a book called Cross-Stitch A Beautiful Gift.

With babies on my mind, I stitched another bib for another of my friends from the stitching group. The pattern for these little ducks in a row were also by Sharon Perna from Cross-Stitch a Beautiful Gift.  Both bibs were stitched on pre-made terrycloth bibs from Charles Craft that have a panel of aida fabric sewn into the front of the bib.

I plan to walk down the 1998 memory lane some more next week.