Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Wishing you all a very 

Merry Christmas & 

a Joyous New Year!!

May you be surrounded by beautiful memories & those you hold dear & may your days be filled with Love, Laughter & Happiness.

Here is a small gift from me to you.

 This was designed to go with my earlier designs "Noel" & "Merry Christmas" that you can see here:

https://smalltownstitchin.blogspot.com/2010/12/tis-season.html

 

heart = 321

X = 319

. = 676 & back-stitch on leaves (opt.)

0 = 729

lg. black dot = 680

As always my color choices are just a suggestion, so pick the colors you love most and stitch away. 

I would love to see your finished pieces.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

 

Stitchin' & Sewin'

Hello Dear Friends & Followers: I hope all is well with you.

So I got a bit of sewing done this month and stitching done last month and this month on our camping trips.

First off, I designed & stitched two Chair Caddy's for our camp chairs.

They were made from Fat Quarters and have snaps to hold them in place.

They will hold a book or some stitchin' and a bottle of water
or whatever your drink of choice is.

Also got in a bit of small stitchin'

 A bookmark for the Hubs and three magnets, all my original designs.
The bookmark was stitched on 14ct. perforated paper and the magnets were stitched on 14ct. plastic canvas, all were stitched using DMC threads.

That's it for this post, I still have to put up posts of our last three camping trips, they were all at Cottonwood Creek Campground outside Lovell, Wyoming so I have A LOT of similar photos to sort out.

Until next post.....

Take Care & Have A Great Day
Hugs, Sandy

Finishes for the 5th Wheel

Hello Everyone, Hope all is well with you.

Finished these off at the end of March. They will hang in our 5th wheel vacation home. They are my original designs using John Muir quotes and are stitched on 28 count with a combo of DMC and Caron Collection Wildflowers.

Finished as flat hangers.

Added a door charm, little metal stars, and a Moose button I cut the shank off of and glued down.

Stuffed hangers.

Added a key charm, but I might replace it with a compass charm at a later date. Didn't think the other two needed anything. Simple jute hangers on all.

Take Care

Hugs & Stitches, Sandy

A Valentine Small

Hey There Everyone, It's been cold here in Montana and we got a foot of that beautiful fluffy white crap early in the week that is turning into brown slush all over town. Luckily the highways that the hubs has to drive 5 days a week are clear.

Well, it's almost February so I thought I would post a Valentine gift for all my stitchin' friends and followers. It should be a fairly quick stitch using a favorite color, a variegated thread, or even with the threads I chose.

I added a small alphabet and numbers if you want to personalize it where the solid lines are.

I designed it with Dusty Rose colors using DMC 

150 - solid black circle, 

3350 - + (plus symbol),

 3731 - clear heart,

 3733 - x,

 151 - small black dot

(do not stitch the solid lines)

"Valentine's Heart"
41w x 40h

Hope you enjoy the chart.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy 

Snowflakes for Winter

***Chart Correction***
I have replaced the chart with a corrected version. If you do not want to re-save or reprint the chart the error is on the first snowflake lines 23 and 24 on the right side should be two white stitches not three.
Sorry folks, but I'm only human 💕 

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope you all are doing well this Holiday season.

We're doing well. It's been very windy this past week with mild temps in the 40's & 50's. 

I decided to add a few snowflakes for the winter season.

Not out in the yard, thank goodness, or in my home, but as gift for all of my Cross Stitching friends. They could also be worked up with beads or in Needlepoint.

"Four Mini Quaker Snowflakes"

I designed them for 14 count paper or plastic in two colors:

open heart shape is White (background)

dot or square is color of your choice

Stitch with or without the white on fabric. 

These would make cute magnets, little ornaments, wreath accents, gift tags, etc. 

Hope you enjoy stitching them as much as I enjoyed designing them for you all.

Take Care & 

Have a Great Weekend

Hugs, Sandy

2018 Smalls SAL Update

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

I hope all is well with you. 

Thanksgiving was just the hubs and I per usual with our families living in California and northern Idaho. Cooked a turkey with stuffing, corn, deviled eggs, gravy and rolls as sides. Peach Cobbler for dessert.

A nice quite day.

I haven't done any stitching in the last few weeks, but still have a finished piece for my November Smalls SAL update, which is a day or two late. Oh well, so goes life.

"Flower & Berry Vines"

Designed By: Sandra Longan Designs (ME)

Stitched on 14 count rustic aida using my own hand-dyed threads.

This little pillow will be sent to my 93 year old mother for Christmas.

It has a stitched patch on the back that reads "Always Remember" with my siblings and my name surrounding the words. My mother is in a memory care facility in Sacramento California suffering from advanced dementia. 

Thank you for stopping by and maybe leaving your thoughts behind, I really do appreciate all the nice things you have to say.

Take Care & 

Have a Great Weekend

Hugs, Sandy

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just want to wish all of my friends & followers a very

 May you be surrounded with love and blessings

and be Thankful for all you have.

Here's a Thanksgiving gift from my home to yours.

Use your favorite Autumn/Fall colors.

79 stitches wide x 43 stitches tall

Have a Blessed Day

Hugs, Sandy

A New Halloween Gift

Hello Friends; Hope all is well with you all.

So, my laptop has been in the shop since Monday and I've not heard back from them yet. When the hubs dropped it off they said it could be a problem with Windows 10, said they've seen a lot of this with the PC's that had the upgrade from Windows 8/8.1 to Windows 10 from the factory. But also said it could be the processor and if that was the case the labor alone would cost almost as much as mine new, mine was $300 at Walmart in 2015. Hopefully it's the easier fix.

Since we haven't chosen a printer yet I'm back to posting charts the way I started.

I'll most likely replace this chart with a better version once I get a new all-in-one printer.

 

No part of my designs may be reproduced except by needle and thread without the written consent of Sandra Longan of SLonganDesigns@gmail.com 

"We All Go A Little Batty"

50 x 50 stitches

Use black for the Bats and choose your favorite Halloween variegated/hand-dyed for the words or choose four similar colors for an ombray effect.

I think this would make a cute knob hanger, bowl filler or ornament for your Halloween display.

 

As always, if you choose to stitch up one of my designs I would love to see a picture of it, so I can show it off and give others inspiration for colorways and finishing.

That's it for today, I hope you enjoy the design.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Smalls SAL August 2018

Hello Friends, Hope you are all doing well. 

Well our truck cost us $405. He had to drop the fuel tank twice and replace the roll over shutoff and there was something loose in the filler neck that had to be fixed. At least now we can fill up the tank normally.

Here is my stitchin' for the August edition of the 2018 Smalls SAL....

"If You Sprinkle"

Done in DMC and Caron Wildflowers floss on 14 count rustic Aida.

I winged this piece and made changes on the go while we were up in the Big Horns. 

The pine boughs and lettering are all different than my original design.

I'm going to finish the framing and then hang above the potty in the trailer bathroom.

I showed it to the Hubs and he asked if I was trying to tell him something, said nope, just thought it would be a cute addition in my attempt to add some rustic cabin flavor.

That's it for this post, so until next time.......

Take Care and Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

 

Always Kiss Me Goodnight

Hey Friends; Hope you all are doing well. 

I thought I would share one more design with you all for your summer stitchin'.

"Always Kiss Me Goodnight"

I have always loved this saying and plan to stitch this and hang it from the center cubby handle over our bed in the Vacation home (aka: the 5th wheel).

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Smalls SAL for July

Didn't realize it was that time already, so here is my stitched finish for the July edition of the Smalls SAL.

I was playing with another of DMC's Coloris flosses.

Some more of my original designs.

This is the front and back of a soon-to-be needle book.

DMC Coloris 4513 with it's coordinating DMC solids 814,413, and 318. B5200 is also one of it's coordinators but I didn't use that color since it was stitched on white 28 count.

 This will be the inside of the needle book and will have felt pages.

This will be the scissor fob.

I am having issues with stitching it together, it's been a long time since I've made a fob and I cut the seams a bit to narrow.

You can see the hand made cording using DMC 814 and 413.

That's it for now, so until next time.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy 

Honey Bee's & Bumble Bee's

Hello Everyone;

 The hubs went to the doctor on Thursday and is still on restricted duty, no lifting anything over 25 lbs. Taking some more time off from today until Monday, hopefully it will help those bruised ribs more. Lifting his left arm past shoulder height or bending over to pick something up from the floor is still hard.

Well I finally got my act together, somewhat, and decided on a design to share. Meaning, I said screw it and picked what I had ready to be scanned. Indecision can be pain in the backside. 

So here ya go & hope you enjoy.......

Bee's Scissor Fob

Only four colors for this little fob, you can put the date and initials in any open honeycombs, or even fill in a few with DMC 783. I think it would make a cute knob hanger or join the front and back as a single design and make a pin pillow and all four joined together would make a sweet mini pillow.

As always, I would love to see a picture of your finished pieces from any of my designs. 

You can send me a pic at SDLongan at yahoo dot com

Have a great weekend everyone.

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

A Wandering Scissor Fob

Hey there everyone. 

Thought I'd share a scissor fob chart that you can stitch over the weekend.

"Not all who WANDER are lost" 

Uses DMC threads, but as always I encourage you to choose your favorite colors for fabric and thread.

It only measures 2-1/4" using 14/28 count.

You can find finishing tutorials for scissor fobs on YouTube or here Lynns scissor fob tutorial

I've never made a tutorial for one yet, but probably should at some point. 

Please Respect Copyright Laws.

Remember these are my own designs and I would love it if you would post a link to my blog if you stitch one of my designs.

If you do stitch one of my designs I would appreciate seeing your finished piece. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great weekend Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

A Patriotic Gift for Independence Day

Hello Friends; I hope all is well with you. 

Were having storms roll through each evening with high winds, lightening, thunder, and rain. 

I hung some laundry out earlier and just said screw it and left it out for the rain to freshen instead of running out in it to bring it in.

I finally got ink for my printer so I'm able to print my charts again and since my printer is multi function I can also scan them so hopefully this will print off just fine. If not let me know and I can try and fiddle with it to get it the right size. It's set for ruffly 11" x 8" in landscape mode.

Forgot to add the color inspiration.

Should be an easy stitch with only three colors and whole cross stitches, but there is quite a bit of back stitch. I think it would look great in variegated or over dyed threads, so pick your favorite red, white, and blue and start stitchin'. This could be turned into a pin pillow, mini banner, or a bowl filler, you decide.

As always, I would love to see your finished work of any of my designs and if you post a picture to your blog, Facebook, etc. a link back to my blog would be much appreciated.

That's it for today, thank you so much for stopping by the cabin to see what I've been up to.

Until next time.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

A Monogram for the Table Topper

I tried and tried to come up with a fancier monogram for the center of my bread cover turned table topper for the vacation home on wheels, but my mind kept going back to a simpler one that would not compete with the rest of the design. 

This is what I ended up stitching.

Simple M for Miller, using Caron Wildflowers in Chili and Burnt Toast.

These are the same colors used for the hearts and the branches.

That's it fir today, so until next post.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

💗 Hug's, Sandy 💗

Not All Who Wander

Hello Everyone; Hope you are all doing well. 

It's warm in the 70's with rain and overcast conditions here. 

My hubs is keeping his daily camping bastards tally. Told me when he see's ten or more it's time to go camping, yesterday he was more than happy to announce that he saw eleven Camping Bastards on his way home so a camping trip is in our very near future.

I finally decided on which of my designs to share with you. Had to do a couple of comparisons and some tweaking to the final choice, so here it is.

"Not all who wander are Lost" 

a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien

I set to print as a ruffly 5 x 7 chart. 

If it is to big for the page let me know so I can resize the chart. 

My printer ran out of ink so I can't test print right now. 

So until I can print an actual chart and scan it, this will have to do.

It is 60 x 74 stitches about 4.25 x 5.25 on 14/28 count fabric.

I picked DMC floss in.....

black dot - white arrow feathers and outline (2 cs, 1 bs)

u - 310 - small arrow heads, N, S, E, W and compass outline (2 cs, 1 bs)

X - 413 - large arrow heads and NW, NE, SW, SE (2 cs & bs)

square - 433 - tree trunks and words (2 cs & bs)

black heart - 498 - arrow feathers and outline (2 cs & bs)

clear heart - 729 - compass (2 cs)

0 - 3362 - pine trees (2 cs)

1 - 3363 - pine trees (2 cs)

2 - 3364 - pine trees (2 cs)

3371 - outline for pine trees (1 bs)

(cs = cross stitch, bs = back stitch)

I would really appreciate it if you would share a picture of your finished stitching of this design or any of my other designs that I have shared with all of you. It will keep me motivated to continue to share my designs if I know that they are being stitched, not just printed or saved.

Remember these are my original designs, please respect my copyright. 

Please do not mass produce the charts or post on any other sites without my written consent.

If someone you know would like to stitch any of my designs please direct them to my blog.

Thank You.

Well that's it for today, so until next post.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

 

  

Quaker Snowflake Gift

It's cold and windy here today so I thought I would share a pattern with you all.

Here is the chart for my "Quaker Snowflake" design. 

It only uses one color so is a quick stitch even for beginner stitcher's.

"Quaker Snowflake"

By Sandra Longan Designs

Stitch Count - 57x57 

When I stitched this piece I used:

28 count white Monaco from Charles Craft and 

DMC Color Variations 4025. 

As always, if you stitch one of my designs I would love to see a picture of your finished piece, it may well be posted on my blog for everyone to see. 

Well that's it for today, so until next post .......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin' Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

Valentine Gift From Me to You

Hello All; It is just plain cold outside made worse by all the wind we're getting. The thermometer might say mid 30's but the wind says upper 20's. Mother Nature decided not to be cruel this weekend and kept the snow away, but it's only January and we tend to get snow until April or May.

Hope everyone else is keeping warm in the winter wonderland areas.

Decided to get out the bread maker and use up a couple of boxes of bread mix this weekend, Saturday was Hawaiian Sweet bread and tonight is Sour Dough to go along with Crock pot BBQ ribs, smashed potatoes and corn. Easy dinner is my favorite kind.

Now on to the Valentines Gift.

So here is what I came up with.......

Should be a fairly quick stitch to finish before Valentines Day.

"Love & Hearts"

 

 "Love & Hearts"

 

Stitch the whole design or only stitch half the design. Change the colors to fit your idea of Valentines Day. There are so many options to choose from for finishes and colors.

I used to post charts this way, so lets see if I got it right and this still works, if not I'll go back to the easier way that I used on the last two. 

As always, if you stitch up this or any of my other free designs I'd love to see a picture. And if you do happen to post a picture of your finished piece it would be appreciated if you could link back to my post so other's know where the design came from.

Well that's it for now, so until I post again.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

Celebrating the Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice also known as the first day of Winter, so in celebration I'm sharing a winter themed chart.

The colors I used are:

Heart - DMC 803 also first backstitched border

1 - DMC 334 second backstitched border

0 - DMC 3756 third backstitched border

Dot - DMC 3865 and backstitched snowflakes

The gray dots can be either French or Colonial Knots or Petite Seed Beads

Stitched size is 4" x 4"

Two strands of floss used.

Hope you all enjoy the chart, and as always if you happen to stitch one of my designs I would love to see a picture.

Take Care & Happy Winter Solstice

Hugs, Sandy

Stitchin' Gift for You

I haven't been in the designing mood here lately, but last night and then this afternoon I started and finished a little Christmas ornament design for all my stitchin' followers.

It is done in: 

DMC 498 for the heart symbol and lettering

DMC B5200 or white for the dot symbol

51 x 53 or about 3-3/4" x 3-3/4" (3.68 x 3.72) on 14/28 ct.

Stitched with two strands of floss.

Do Not Stitch the black line ;}

I included the numbers in case anyone wanted to add a wedding date or birth date in place of Christmas. 

Hope you all enjoy stitchin' this little ornament and if you do stitch it up I would love to see a picture.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Hugs, Sandy