Clara Ellen

I recently lost my "little" brother to cancer. I wanted to stitch a memorial piece to give as a gift to my "little" sister. Both of them are younger than me BUT our last name is Little, or was until we married. 

Clara Ellen is #8 in the Anniversaries of the Heart series by Blackbird Designs and the design I chose to use.

 

Since some of the personalization was stitched over one, I chose a piece of 25ct Natural Lugana as the fabric and used the called for floss. I did change the inside of the windows to Onion Skin as the Olive Branch was a bit to dark for me.

 

The eyelet stitch has now joined the lazy daisy and backstitch as my least favorite stitches.

 I just placed an order for a frame from The Rusty Roof on Etsy. One of my favorite source for frames.

Lord Libidan's Small Cross Stitch Alphabets book

 Many of the projects I stitch, especially samplers, I want to personalize with the name or initials and dates of the person I am remembering. Some designers include an alphabet and numbers with their chart. Some do not. When I need alphabets and or numbers for any project, I head over to the Lord Libidan website for one of the free tools, he offers, 53 Free Cross Stitch Alphabets.  I have always been able to find letters and numbers that will work with my project. 

I have even used his letters and numbers to chart verses for my projects that I might want to change from what is offered on the chart. 

Lord Libidan's Small Cross Stitch Alphabets book is a collection of over 100 cross stitch alphabets, organized by height rather than style or theme. The book includes 103 alphabets in total, 50 brand new designs plus 53 reader favorites from the site. Every height from 3 to 16 stitches, arranged smallest to tallest. 

 Lord Libidan's Small Cross Stitch Alphabets is available as a paperback for $15.99 or as a PDF for $9. It is also available as a Kindle book for $9. The book will be available on September 29, 2026. 

I think you will find it a useful tool to add to your cross-stitch supplies whether you just want to add your initials and date to a project or chart an entire verse. 

 Buy on Amazon

Buy the PDF (Gumroad)

 

Little Red Hen

 Little Red Hen by Blackbird Designs is in the quilt book, Country Inn. I chose it as the August project for a new Facebook group Blackbird Academy SAL. The group was set up by Holly Jones and Leah Bloom. Each month their is a theme and you can pick any Blackbird Designs chart that goes with that theme. August was Alphabets.

I selected a piece of 16ct Platinum aida I had in my stash and Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe floss Warm Berries. When I started stitching with it, I decided it was to brown so switched to DMC 3859 which was the recommended floss.

Not exactly sure how I am going to finish this one but it is done.

 

Nettie's Sewing Basket

 Nettie's Sewing Basket was designed by Lindsey Weight for her mom. It was one of the 2026 releases by Primrose Cottage.

 The stitch count is 61 x 61 and the recommended fabric is 32ct Light Taupe Lugana. I chose a piece of 14ct Parchment I had in my stash.  

Floss colors:

• DMC 844
• DMC 3820
• DMC 3731 or Weeks Dye Works Aztec Red
• DMC 503 or Weeks Dye Works Cadet
• DMC 3354 or Weeks Dye Works Charlotte's Pink
• DMC 436 or Weeks Dye Works Chickpea 
• Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Farmhouse Stone instead of DMC B5200

Unfortunately the Farmhouse Stone really does not show up well so I am probably going to go back and outline the sewing basket at least.

 

  

 

The Homestead Band Sampler

The Homestead Band Sampler is a traditional counted cross-stitch chart from the Prim & Proper Collection by Homespun Elegance. Designed by Sandra Sullivan and released in 1989, this vintage leaflet (Leaflet No. 99) features classic band motifs. I stitched in back in 2002 as a gift for a dear friend who recently passed away. It came back to me along with some other pieces I had stitched for her.

It is probably stitched on 14ct cream aida with DMC floss. The bellpull hardware was one I used quite often that is harder to get now. 

Homestead Band Sampler