Tinkeringbell

A stamped cross stitch of two baby penguins in a white plastic snap frame. Progress was made on the belly of the left penguin this week, covering all the squares marked with dark green, purple, and black circles.

Cross stitch week 3. Bit more progress than last week, so I'm happy 😄 Still a long way to go though!

A close up of three narcissus flowers. They're the small variant. At the top of the picture is a dead buddleja branch.

A close up of a scilla plant and flowers.

A photo of some irises, made from above to show the neat patterning in yellow and white on the purple flower leaves.

A close up of a bumblebeebutt in a purple and white crocus flower.

There's been a few days of good weather, so a lot of the bulbs I've planted over the years are flowering again! 🌱 🌼 The flowers are popular with bumblebees too, I counted at least three hiding in the crocuses and one in the irises. I think they might be sleeping?🐝

Cross stitch week 2: virtually no progress this week. Had the worst cold in ages and didn't want to sneeze on it. 🤧

Mine may start looking like this, but it never lasts until the piece is finished. ☺️

A stamped cross stitch, showing two baby penguins. The bottom left is stitched over, showing most of the wing in different shades of grey, and the ice in the background in different shades of blue/blueish grey.

A close up of the back, upside down, showing the stitching in neat rows.

First week of cross stitching on this. I made about 2400 of the 23760 stitches, so I'm about 10 percent done. If I can keep this up, finishing by June is very feasible.🎉 Large blocks of color go fast, and also make for what's probably my neatest ever back side. 🥰🪡🧵🧶

A close up of two blooming snowdrops.

A view of a blue bucket filled with weeds, taken from above.

There's green in the garden again! Sadly, quite a lot of it was weeds... 😞 But also, a lot of sprouts from bulbs, and a few of the snowdrops are already blooming 🥰🌱

A pink piece of rectangular plastic with 37 round holes, numbered 1 to 37. 26 of the holes have varying amounts of embroidery floss attached, mostly black, white, shades of gray and blue, but also 2 shades of pink and a pale yellow.

A close up of a 3D printed part, attached to a wooden embroidery stand and a white plastic snap embroidery frame. The part is a dark gray with glitters, and has two black screws to hold the frame.

I'm ready to start the next cross stitch. This one is bigger than the hedgehog and needs to be finished by June as I want to make it a birthday gift for the awesome brother that made me a 3D printed attachment for my embroidery stand, so it can hold plastic snap frames too. ☺️🧶🧵🪡

Thank you!

It was also really fun seeing a core group of the same people follow along! :-)

A cross stitch of a hedgehog, facing right. It has a patchwork belly and the spikes look more like soft tufts of fur in gradient colors. It is mostly shades of gray, brown and pink with small amounts of blue too. It is in a frame that looks like wood but is just plastic.

I did it! I'm now behind on sleep and chores, but the cross stitch hedgehog is finished! I'm really happy with how it turned out ☺️ 🪡 🧵 🧶

Maybe it was just the picture? I just saw your other post and it looks much more visible there and on the closeup :D

Awesome work! It looks very finished at a first glance. But since you asked, I took a very close look comparing the two, and I think the big duck could use a few backstitches to make the wing.

A stamped cross stitch in a plastic snap frame. Compared to last week, there was progress on the ear (finished now) and a lot of the spikes. It is close to being finished.

Sixth week of the hedgehog cross stitch: Still not finished that one belly stitch, and also a few cross stitches to go on the bottom half. Getting close to finishing it. If the upcoming week wasn't so ridiculously busy I'd make that my goal for this week, for now, I'll just see where I end up. 🧶🧵🪡

This is my first time having the threads all prepared like that. But I love it, it makes switching to a new color and continuing rather effortless. The breaks, well.. my body takes care of reminding me to take those by sending me to the bathroom or for a drink 😄

Picture of a stamped cross stitch in a plastic snap frame. It is a hedgehog with a patchwork belly, in shades of pink, brown and blue. The bottom half is almost done, as is its face.

And week number 5! Only two more stitches to do in the belly/floor area, and a lot of progress on the spikes (which look more like tufts of fur). I am aiming to finish the entire bottom half this week, and do a lot of the bigger areas on what's left.

Coasters? Are they big enough for that? There are transparent plastic cases, made for that purpose, being sold online. Or you could stitch/glue them onto felt or cork if you don't mind them getting dirty eventually.

Today's lunch: self baked bread. Not as airy as my previous (first) attempt, and the crust got a bit dark. Still tastes awesome though! 🍜 🍽️

A picture of a stamped cross stitch patchwork hedgehog in a square plastic snap frame. Compared to the previous weeks one, this one has a more completed belly, feet and shadow on the ground, no more yellow squares, and a bit of work done around its snout.

The 4th week of working on this cross stitch has passed, time flies when you're having fun! 😃 🧵 🧶 🪡 The belly and bottom are (still) almost done. I've also "treated" myself to working on some larger areas. All the yellow squares are done too, I finished one color entirely!

I think it's mostly the 'start, do 1/2/3 stitches, end' on repeat, securing the thread for a start/end takes me quite a bit of time. I do try to use up the entire thread/colour I have on my needle before switching to a different colour, but it's still slow going.

Another picture of the cross stitched hedgehog. His belly, hands and feet are a little more filled in, but not finished yet.

And another week of cross stitch progress. 🪡 🧶 🧵 I set quite an ambitious goal (finish belly, feet and ground shadow) and did not meet it. It's way slower to do all these little bits and loose stitches instead of bigger areas. So, same goal for this week! 🫣

Glad to hear! Here's to hoping those moments will be few and far between. 🤞

That bad? 😞

Thanks, that's very kind of you to say!. So far, I'm on track. I hope to have finished the belly, feet and shadows on the ground by next week. At least all the parts of those that aren't confetti stitches :D

A stamped cross stitch of a hedgehog in a plastic snap frame. Progress was mostly made with dark brown between the patches on his belly and the shadows on the floor.

Last week's cross stitch progress. 🧵 🧶 🪡 Having to work, shovel snow and do my regular chores again means progress slowed down significantly. No more snow is predicted though, so hopefully this week has more time and the difference on next week's progress picture will be more noticeable.

These are 'oliebollen', they're more similar to doughnuts than cookies. But cookies are always a great idea too, so good luck with making yours!

My first cross stitch was a simple stamped (pattern printed onto the fabric) one for kids with a lot of colors. It was also a bit too large and I never finished it because pre-teen me didn't have the patience for that... I only picked up cross stitch again as an adult and figured I could do this.

My first crochet creations were a simple bookmark of single stitches and a sphere "key chain" that allowed me to practice starting with a magic loop and increasing, decreasing stitches. Nothing fancy, but I still managed to finish both fast and feel accomplished.

Start small. I once read a blog on knitting, where the argument was compelling and worked great for me: make something small like a bookmark, before starting on something big like scarves or blankets. Do something small that makes results fast and allows you to start over soon if it goes very wrong.

A stamped cross stitch of a hedgehog in a plastic snap frame. A bit of progress is visible in the stitching on his belly, which consists of little patches of different colors. Patches of a very dark pink, two grayish blues, and some orange were added.

Okay, I went faster than expected yesterday, so here's another cross stitch progress post. 🪡 🧶 🧵 I also realized each square of the grid is 100 stitches, so I guess I added around 500/600 stitches yesterday, which sounds like a lot 😃

A stamped cross stitch showing a hedgehog in a plastic snap frame. Most of his face and some of the dark brown outlines for his belly (which consists of little patches, like a patchwork teddy bear) are done.

More cross stitch progress! 🧵 🧶 🪡 Mostly from yesterday, as Fridays and Saturdays are for chores. Happy with how far I've come so far. Back to work today, so I doubt progress will continue to be this visible from here on...