Diary of Judy L.: A Great Thursday! Cross Stitching

Today was such a good day! In order to keep this post from being too long, I'm going to make several posts. This first post is going to be about cross stitching. The second will be about cooking and the third will be about Cooper (it's good!)

This morning we went to Sam's Club, got what we needed there. Vince asked me on the way to town if I wanted to go by Hobby Lobby and I said no . . didn't need anything but we were going right by there so I said "OK! Stop!!" We did and I got some inexpensive pieces and decorations to help finishing some of the patriotic pieces I've been working on. I'm still not 100% sure exactly how I'll finish them but I've had fun today playing with them all.

The journal won't be used for my finishing but I'll talk about it at the end of the post.

This is the first stitched piece I started working with:

I had this little wooden piece already but I also have another stand that I may end up using for it. There's a little blue rick rack around it but it isn't attached. See that little knob at the top? I got four of those. They were on sale and only about $2 - $4 each before the sale so I got these:

The one on the left is a deep blue. I thought I would use it on the round piece but then decided I liked the brassy looking one better. There's a light pink one that I thought might work on something for spring and the rabbit - I have several pieces by Brenda Gervais that have rabbits on them. Maybe I can use it one of those.

I thought I could paint some of the stars and use them somewhere along the way. I thought I could paint the spools and glue them on to a wood piece and maybe hang old keys or buttons on something.

I think this board might work for this piece. I'm thinking I'll use white crackle paint on it and maybe use some red trim around the edges of the piece. I may or may not use those bows. They're like little pillows.

My initial plan was to turn this flag piece into a pillow but I kinda dread making a pillow. It might work on this piece.

I love this piece. This tray is only about 2" deep. It looks much deeper in the photo. I'm thinking I would paint the tray white or an eggshell color, then cover a piece to put in the bottom - maybe a tiny red stripe or check. Then mount the stitched piece onto a padded foam core. If I used magnets to attach it, I might could also use it for a Christmas piece too - just pull the patriotic pieces off and attach, also with magnets, a Christmas piece.

Last of the patriotic pieces in this batch is this one!

This is the board.

I like the saying but I'll sand it down and paint it - probably white, maybe crackle or something with texture, then mount the stitched piece on it. I'm thinking I'll probably just make a bow with some patriotic ribbon and call it done.

This last one is one that I finished in 2022 and had never framed it. I know there's more space at the bottom below the stitching than there is at the top but I laced it back in 2022 and wasn't going to re-do it.

Nice to have it up on the wall!

Now . . the journal. I've tried The Book of Days and I like it ok. The last couple of years I've purchased pages off Etsy that have all spots for all kinds of info - new starts, finishes, purchases, pans, progress, etc. I print them, put them in a Happy Planner cover and I like that it's kind of a lot of trouble setting it all up and by the end of the year, it's pretty ragged with all the pages printed on plain paper. I know - I could use better paper but it would mean changing paper in the printer every time I add something and I know I'm not going to keep that up.

Last year, near the end of 2025, Hobby Lobby had some of the 52 Agenda planners marked way down so I bought one. It's actually an 18 month planner. That one was July - December, 2025 and them all 12 months of 2026. Since I only started it in January, 2026, I kinda felt like it would never be finished so today, when I saw that the 52 Agenda planner was on sale, I got this one - July - December, 2026 and then all of 2027. My plan is to use it through 2027 and then hopefully find a 12 month planner like. That's a while . . I don't have to worry about it for now.