Prairie Schooler xstitching for Artisans of Houston Show on October 23rd

It will be awhile until I start showing finished pieces, but I've been having so much fun x stitching this year. I hope lots of people like Prairie Schooler's style. It is somewhat primitive and definitely an old fashioned look, with lots of variety in Santas, Old World style too.  Fun for me, as I'm only doing one of each design, hopefully fun for shoppers too. Each piece at my booth will be one of a kind for that show....

Because she has given me permission to sell her designs, with the request that I provide a link to her website. I'm going to do that right here, inventory form. The inventory form is very well designed. The titles are linked to a picture of the front of the chart(s), so if you aren't already familiar with the designs, you can view stitched samples.


You might prefer to look around at the whole site, before hitting the inventory form, so here is the home page of   www.prairieschooler.com     Most of the charts don't include finishing tips, although the later charts sometimes do have a tip or two.

I started doing handwork when just a girl. Beautiful colored flosses, stamped goods, and later counted cross stitch charts provide a way for me to transform a blank piece of cloth into a sampler, Christmas ornament, or a decorative pillow... like the sampler I made for my friend Debbie St. Germain(Woolen Sails). She is one of the leaders of USA PRIM, and my recipient of the alphabet sampler I showed in progress a few weeks ago. I finished it with some jam jar wool, stuffed it with wool, and was pleased with it overall. She let me know she was happy to be the owner! :)

Haven't been doing cross stitch recently, and have discovered or rediscovered the technique. One favorite trick is when doing a single line "frame" or a long line of stitches in a row, it is easy to keep track of what stitch you are on by actually crossing every 10th one. :) Senior moments or a houseful of kids, can mean easily losing count, but that little trick makes finding your place in the count a cinch!

After completing a chart, I sometimes add a sticky note, or even write on the card something that could make it easier the next time. For example, the size count of fabric I did it last time, the size of the whole piece of cloth I actually used, and for example with the alphabet sampler, grid count was 21<-> but only 15 up and down... Right now, it seems easy to remember, but a year from now? And next time will definitely start by stitching the entire grid first. Instead of working some grid, some letters, and discovering a big OOPS again.