Stitching Friends Forever

July/Patriotic 
Styling with Stitches
SAL update
Freebie

Happy last day of July!   It is so good to be back.   I missed stitching, blogging and most of all my stitching friends so much.  You can count on me to come by and visit with all of you as soon as possible.   I would like to thank all of the lovely ladies who sent get well emails, comments and lovely cards.  They all meant the world to me and cheered me up greatly.  I have a serious auto immune disease that is causing alot of pain and making it hard to do much of anything.  I'm on meds but have not seen a huge difference yet but hoping to.   It is also causing weakness, dizziness and stomach upset.  But, I'm determined to get to the blog as much as possible.

Most of all I would like to thank my very special blog partner and dearest friend, Mary who made sure the blog kept going.   Each and every one of her projects were beautiful.   I especially loved the box with the nesting stitch...just gorgeous!!!

And thank you to Faith for sending us SAL updates and to Robin and Marilyn for their lovely stitches they sent for Friends Who Stitch.   Mary and I really appreciated the help of all three of you.

                                                           ☆☆☆
                                                                   

Styling with Stitches
This month we did patriotic wraps for planters.   We chose two of our favorite patterns to wrap around cans.  These can be changed out through the year for other holidays or seasons.


RJ's Planter Wrap

For my planter wrap, I chose the pattern Lady Liberty by Blackbird Designs.  It was a gift from our friend Catherine because she knows how much I love patriotic stitches.  I loved stitching this gorgeous flag.  You can find Catherine's lovely blog here.  Things didn't exactly work out as I planned.  For starters, I'm not allowed to leave the house because of Covid and an underlying condition so I had to make due with  flowers on hand.  Then I didn't have a can (they don't even sell coffee cans in our grocery store when my friend went to look) but dear Mary had an extra and even painted it for me with Annie Sloan paint.  Thank goodness for wonderful friends!

Long may she wave

Closeup of stitch.  The back is star fabric but it did not show up in photo.

Lady Liberty
by Blackbird Designs
40 ct. pecan butter linen
overdyed floss
Annie Sloan paint on can

         ☆☆☆

Mary's Planter Wrap

The last time I went to a cross stitch shop I saw this pattern and immediately decided it would be my can cover for July.  I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this,  I love the Quaker style of the flowers and the banner trim.  Fabric from RJ was the perfect background.  I substituted grits for Shaker white as the white just looked discolored in spots.  I used Needlepoint Silk Raw Sienna for Old Hickory and the rest were called for colors.

I put together the arrangement from after season sale flowers from Michael's.

Sweet Land of Liberty
 by Heartstring Samplery
32 ct Wexford Linen 

                                                                ☆☆☆


SAL update

Faith and Mary were busy completing their July SAL's.   Aren't they adorable?   I wish I did not have to drop out of the SAL this year but am enjoying the beautiful work of my friends.

Faith's Sal

Mary's SAL

                                                          ☆☆☆


Freebie

Here's a sweet freebie to share.  You can find the chart for this stitch here

                                                          ☆☆☆


We hope you are all staying safe and enjoying lots of time for stitching.  As always, thank you so much for stopping by to see us.  We look forward to visiting your blog and seeing what you have been working on.   We have some new extras next month to share with you so hope you will come see.

                                                  Stitching Friends