Once Upon a Time

Before I had Nora I spent some time stocking up on sock yarn, thinking I'd likely not be spending time down in my sewing room for a while, and thought I'd probably still want to have something to work on and keep my hands busy, when they weren't feeding the baby or changing diapers.  I was right on all accounts, except the knitting.  For some reason once I settled into some semblance of a routine a few weeks after she was born, I was jonesing for a cross stitch project to work on.



I've worked on a few of The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's patterns before, and am never disappointed, so I went right to their shop and started ordering.  I actually tackled the Gingerbread Lane pattern first, but it is at the framers getting framed as we speak, I should have it back to share in the next week or so!



After finishing Gingerbread Lane, I was just in time to order the Once Upon a Time Sampler and get stitching.  I am loving this pattern more than words can say.  Each month an adorable little fairy tale scene appears in my email to stitch up and each pattern is ridiculously cute with its own teeny tiny characters and details.



So far we have stitched up Snow White and her helpers doing laundry in January and The Frog Prince and Princess with Cupid's bows in Febraury.  The color palate Amanda and Ashleigh have picked is so bright and fun, and can we talk about the amazing border??  Castles and crowns and scrolling flowers all stitched using Weeks Dye works thread.  I just love the pink color they picked, Blackberry, the variegated color goes from a bright fuchsia to almost purple, so so pretty.



This is the second cross stitch project I've done on linen instead of aida cloth, and I'm definitely a convert.  I just love the way the stitches jump off the cloth.  It definitely took a little getting used to, but I don't think I'll ever use Aida cloth again.  This is my favorite linen, I ordered it from here, its the perfect "natural" shade with the prettiest opalescent threads running through the linen.  I've used it on this project and also on my Gingerbread Lane project.



I can't wait for March's pattern to arrive on Saturday, I am so looking forward to working on this each month throughout 2014, after its complete, I think it will be the perfect addition to Nora's nursery!  Hard to believe she will be older than a year at that point!  I just can't imagine her toddling around and saying mama or dada, we had a heart to heart yesterday, and she promised me she would stay this small, but I'm not sure she'll be able to keep her word :-)