My Family In Stitches

Every summer when I was little- we would travel over a 1000 miles from Yuma, Az to Salt Lake City, Ut then up to Driggs, Id. 1000 miles is a lot of hours in the car for 7 kids {6 of them girls} Remember this was a long time ago- long before ipods & DS's. Think 8 tracks & optional seat belts...  

We would visit my dad's sisters who were super talented at quilting- needle point & cross stitching. My Aunt Dorothy taught us how to do fun needle point stitches on our levis. So hours & hours in the car turned a few boring levis into one of kind levis with flowers down the side- cheesy? maybe- but we thought they were cool. I would also embroider my used point shoes or anything else I could get my hands on. 

 When I went to my 20th High School reunion last winter {yes I'm old} 

I stayed with one of my oldest friends Emma. She still had this point shoe I decorated 

for her from her 16th birthday! We called our selves the dilemma's. 

I was disco nic & she was the slicker chic we were 

silly teenagers what do you expect... 

 Last winter my cute friend Jessica showed me this cross stitch DIY from her Martha Stewart magazine. She was planning to do one as a Christmas present for her husband. I was dying to do one right away but I just didn't have the time. I finally got around to doing one this week & I'm in love with cross stitching again! 

 Items needed 

aida cloth- I used a 14 count in natural color {the smaller the number the wider the squares- so 8 count would make your people bigger} 

embroidery thread {choose colors after you graph each person out} 

embroidery needles 

embroidery hoop {wood is best} 

graph paper 

colored pencils 

scissors 

 Keep in mind each person is very small- Adam is about 2 inches tall {36 squares high} 

Can you see Reyn in the baby carrier?

Go here for Martha's tutorial & here for her clip art patterns. It's easiest if you draw the pattern out on graph paper first. I used Martha's clip art for sizing starting with Adam then making myself a little shorter & although Kaleb is taller than me now- I wanted to make him shorter so you could see that he was a kid & I made Elsa 3 or 4 squares taller than Ida. I ended up changing Martha's patterns around- like the girls dresses & making heart shaped balloons. It's really fun to play around with.     

Make sure to graph all your people before you start stitching

 ida my 2 1/2 yr old  

she loves pig tails & balloons- she also 

loves dresses & tights 

kaleb my 14 yr old  he's my only brown eyed kid.  

you'll rarely see him without a sweatshirt & jeans on.  

he also has bieber hair- I tried my best 

this is me 

you can find me in an outfit like this almost daily 

my neck is folded & shortened because I made my neck one square too long

 my husband adam carrying reyn my 8 1/2 yr old 

he loves t-shirts & straight jeans or pants- he always has a beard. 

I ended up playing with his beard while I was stitching it & it turned out a bit fuller than my drawing &  looking a little like a monkey- Oh well

 elsa my 4 yr old  

she's always wearing a dress & tights & up until recently  

her cream cowgirl boots {they are too small now- sad face}  

she also loves balloons & a pony tail 

It fits perfectly on my wall of frames {one day i'll take a picture of said wall}  

ps. I just used what ever colored pencils I had to color my drawings with & then picked my thread after. I  wrote what colors I wanted to use on my drawing so I would remember when I went to the fabric store. 

pss. While I was picking out my thread- I ran into my Aunt Jeanie {my SLC Aunt} at the store - crazy!

**update- I'm will be taking commissioned orders to cross stitch your family starting May 10th. I will have a few of my own patterns to choose from. They will be $20 per person. Email me at elsabags@gmail.com