Daphne is done and dusted! (Well, washed and ironed...) I stitched this one as part of a holiday gift basket for a friend. It was my 2022 "travel project" -- worked mostly on flights, work trips, and our summer vacation. It's so hard to give it away! 💙 💚 💙 (It's also a cautionary tale. Notice how close that hem is to the design? I was distracted while doing the finishing work and accidentally cut one side of the fabric to 1 1/4" beyond the pattern instead of 1 3/4". As there was no putting that toothpaste back in the tube, I had to make it 1 1/4" the whole way around, which is not much to work with. Measure twice, cut once indeed!!)

I have been LOVING working on the Etruscan Diamond square design. The pattern is so cheery and the backstitching really makes the colors pop. Such a joy to stitch!

Finally got around to the hem stitching on this one. I LOVE the way it turned out. (Especially if I squint when I look at the corners. 😆) It is such a beautifully-balanced and delicious design. Next up is a hemstitch finish for Dafni and a start on Etruscan Diamonds...

I‘m in Greece for work this week, and spent some time this morning hunting for vintage textiles at the Monastiraki Flea Market in Athens. How to choose???

Halfway there! It is a little skinnier than the pattern calls for, to better fit my coffee table, and NOT without a mistake or two — which I elected make symmetrical instead of correcting. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have found that I enjoy stitching on the traditional groundcloth — soft, with both structure and drape, and somehow it smells delightfully like hay or dried grass. Now switching to my other project for a while. When I return to this, it’ll be to complete the other half and do the hemstitch finish work!

The joy of starting a new project! I’m looking forward to spending time with this one. 🪡

I did it! 💪🏻 Krista, your video instruction was SO helpful — thank you for taking the time to create this type of content. I didn’t have any regular thread, so I used some DMC perle cotton size 12 in ecru. so it’s a bit thicker than it should be, but I think it works. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

Stitching is complete on my first Avlea design! I love it. Now wish me luck on my first attempt at a hem stitch finish this weekend! 😁🤞🏻🧵🪡

How to help Ukraine: https://time.com/6151353/how-to-help-ukraine-people/ More beautiful images at: https://www.demilked.com/traditional-ukrainian-flower-crowns-treti-pivni

February progress on my band sampler. I love that little row of pomegranates! Now, a break to begin work on my first Avlea design. (Whoop!)

Hi all! For those of you who stitch on linen, do you pay attention to the placement of your first stitch as it relates to the warp/weft of the fabric? I never knew that this was “a thing” until a few years ago, after stitching for years on linen and just starting any old place. And honestly, I can’t tell the difference. So I’m just curious: is this something you learned, or have heard of? Do you find it makes a difference in your stitching? (Photo for clarification, taken from the Stitchmodern website.)

Hello, I’m Anne. I, too, am a lover of Greece who lives in the PNW (Seattle). In non-Covid times, my job took me to Greece a couple of times per year — and I’m really hoping to get back there this spring. 🤞🏻🤞🏻 Lying in bed this morning, I was searching for smallish traditional Greek cross stitch patterns (something portable to stitch on the plane) and came across Krista and Avlea — and felt as though I’d stumbled across a kindred spirit! I’m enclosing a photo of the band sampler that I’m currently working on — I couldn’t resist replacing one of the bands with a Greek key design. Can you tell I’m itching to go back? 😊 Anyhow, I just wanted to introduce myself. If you’re a pattern-peeper like me, and are interested in seeing more of my work, I’m on Instagram [at]lotsa_little_xes. Gotta scoot now and peruse the patterns. (How will I ever choose?!) Yamas!