At the end of the episode I do a personal life update. I discuss my new home and garden YouTube channel focusing on product reviews and my DIY projects. You can now follow along as I update and decorate my home at my new YouTube channel and on Instagram. You can find all of my review videos and Amazon picks at my Influencer Page. I am just as dedicated as ever to my cross stitch, but I also wanted you all to know what else I am up to when I am not designing and stitching. 

Much Love,

​Amanda Mae

In this episode of Flosstube I show my recent holiday themed cross stitch finishes and a little tour of my snowman display in my home. I show how I fully finished and framed Gera's 2022 SAL Christmas Stitch Along, "Peace on Earth." I show my November 2022 needlework haul from a few thrift shops in Pennsylvania. 

Items Showcased on this episode:
1. Discovery Sport Land Rover Car for Kids* is the super cute toy car featured in this episode. I assembled it for my son and he loves it! I decided to make bumper stickers to decorate the rear of the car.   
2. Cross Stitch Bumper Stickers  
3. Whaley Love Winter Chart 
4. Destination North Pole Earth 
5. Autumn Floral Urn 

My Thrift Haul and Cross Stitch Rescues #savethestitches 
1. Merry Christmas letter wall hanging by House of Hatten Made in the Philippines on red 14 count Aida cloth
2. Yellowstone National Park Lupine Sage Brush on 14 count Aida and framed 
3. Mother in Law themed cross stitch, needs to be cleaned
4. Set of green handmade crochet dish cloths
5. Vintage handkerchiefs with machine embroidery with assorted themes and edges
6. Teddy Bear, 14 count cream white Aida. Signed and dated 1995
7. Embroidered Story Cloth, unknown. No maker or date. Tourist piece? This textile needs to be researched further.  Here are a few resources I found:
Story Cloth Resources: 
www.storyclothdatabase.org/database
www.hmongembroidery.org/index.html
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/hmong

Charts and books featured in the episode
1. Kitty Litter Book 5 unknown publisher and designer
2. De Grazia in Cross Stitch, Sundance Designs. My favorite design I want to stitch is the cactus Christmas Stocking. You can search for available charts here*
3. Yule Stitch
4. Bernat Afghans Book 132
5. Lewis and Clark Vol. 2 Quilts inspired by Bird Woman *
6. Sue Hillis Designs: Needlework Trees Something Old Something New #2*
7. Sue Hillis Designs: Happy Quilting
8. Major Presentations Saint-to-Claus Miniatures*
9. Rebecca Waldrop Winter Tapestries by Serendipity Designs*
10. 50 Sports Designs for Cross Stitch
11. Charted for your Baby
12. Wildlife Classics Country Cross Stitch, waste canvas panda bear and groundhog
13. ABC for Baby 
14. Magical Medallions quilt book
15. Pat Rogers Hearts and Flowers Sampler *
16. Creating PA NDAU Appliqué: A New Approach to an Ancient Art Form by Carla J. Hassel*

Finishes and WIPS
1. Winter mushroom, 3 Part SAL by Gera https://gera-m.jimdofree.com/ 
Gera! Japanese designer. @kyokomaruoka 

2. Snowman by Stitchy Princess on Etsy  https://www.etsy.com/shop/stitchyprincess/

3. Let it Snow Envelope by Olena Khirkh-Yalan of Living on the Rainbow published in JCS 2022 Ornament Issue, https://www.etsy.com/shop/livingontherainbow/?etsrc=sdt

4. Rabbits in Winter by Kateryna Voskoboinykova of StitchyPrincess published in JCS 2022 Winter Issue

5. Fabric and Flosstube by Helen Dailey, Helen D  @helend

6. Together  (is a Wonderful Place to Be) by Cecilia Turner of Heart in Hand Needle Art

7. Christmas Sloth, Tiny Modernist, Cross Stitch Favorites Magazine 

8. Autumn by Abby Johns of TopKnot Stitcher Shop #stitchtherainbow design
​
9. Christmas Woodpecker by Evdokia Nikolaev of Punochka  published in JCS 2022 Ornament Issue

Let's be honest, I have cross stitch everywhere. Everywhere. Thus it's not surprising that my recently fully-finished cross stitch project made it into my husband's office area. 

This autumn I have been making some changes in the library which includes making a dedicated office nook for my husband. I immediately hung the cross stitch piece and then got to work assembling his new chair and desk accessories. 

Here are the his five favorite things in his office space:

We are super duper happy with this new high back executive style office chair. We love that it is specifically designed for folks that are big and tall. We made a video of how we assembled the chair. He likes it so much that he wants to order a second one.  

One thing my husband and I share is an affinity for the retro lamps. We really like this lamp because it has the iconic green glass shade and the pull down chain to turn it on, but what takes this light to the next level is the two USB ports. It has the USB-C and USB-A ports. I love that you can charge your phone or other electronic devices right from the lamp! I made a review video for this lamp that you can view here. 
I got the lamp from Amazon as well as the Edison style light bulb. 

This is a really neat clock. We like that we can adjust the colors, set 16 different alarms, and the logo and text features that it displays. We made a video about the clock that you can watch here. 

This is the first pattern my husband picked out for me to stitch. We went to Dyeing to Stitch in Virginia Beach, VA and he saw the model of "Skeleton Crew" on the wall. We both fell in love with the piece. I knew it would take a long time to stitch, but I was happy to work on a project that he liked just as much as I did. I stitched it with one strand of Sulky 12 weight cotton threads on a 32 count over-dyed even weave linen fabric. You can see my YouTube video of how I fully finished it. 

Apparently the Santa Scratcher is a favorite amongst my husband and kids. Ha. You can watch my unboxing video of the back scratcher here. 

Thanks a bunch and I hope you've enjoyed this list that I assembled with my husband. Everything is better with love and cross stitch.  Amanda Mae

I stopped into a big box store this week to buy fun adulting stuff like salt for the icy front walkway and cardboard banker boxes for Nashville Needlework Market prep. Thankfully my cart guided me over to the toy aisle. There in the Disney doll section was the most amazing box set of dolls— the Encanto four doll set made by Jakks Pacific.

Within the four pack was the most amazing Disney doll, Luisa. The doll body is a huge departure from the pre-2015 princess dolls produced by Mattel and post 2015 the Hasbro princess dolls. I must say I’m super impressed by Jakks Pacific and their doll design of Luisa. She is strong and muscular. Her frame is large. She looks like the animated character! I immediately searched for the individual doll to purchase, but she only came in the four doll box set. No worries. I had to bring her and her three doll box companions home with me.

My daughter is thrilled with the set. I too am thrilled with all of the dolls. I explained the significance and importance of the varied doll bodies, skin tones, and hair textures within one box set. Remember all bodies are good bodies and representation matters. 

Happy December my stitching friends! I am so excited for all that is to come this month. I completed the fabric panel advent calendar just in time to stuff it full of candies and snacks from around the world.

I purchased my first ever basic Bitzy Bob from Kelly over at That's So Kelly Co. I also got a wonderful digital art print from her, "Love to Stitch." I immediately framed it and placed it by my tomato pincushion collection. I need to finish up a quilted wall hanging, model stitching for 2021 releases, and my own personal stitching.

I hope to post more stitching updates of all the things. Until then, you matter and your stitching matters.

Much love,
​ Amanda Mae

It is no secret that one of my favorite counted cross stitch creators is Barbara Ana Designs. I have stitched several of her anthropomorphic animals and a cute mermaid. My latest cross stitch finish is the freebie pattern offered on the Barbara Ana Designs Instagram page. She released it as a complimentary chart with the #bewellandstitch movement. I have stitched both of her Be Well complimentary designs in 2020. I decided to do a thread conversion and use Sulky 12 wt cotton Petites.*  

When I am not cross stitching, I really enjoy making all the things. I have been quilting and crafting. My favorite crafty club is the current Farmhouse Style Kit Club.* I made their first kit, which was the gorgeous felt wreath. My second kit just arrived! It is a soap making kit. I've always wanted to learn how to make soap. Seriously! In case you are interested in the club, Annie's is offering  75% off any Annie's Kit Club with the promo code SHARE75 .

Thanks so much my friends and happy stitching!
​Amanda Mae

I had so much fun creating this Alaskan themed Alphabet banner. I got the fabric panel at The Quilted Raven. I placed an online order and it shipped from Anchorage, Alaska to Maryland in three days. Amazing.  The illustrations are by Cindy Shake for Clothworks. 

Supplies: 

-1 fabric panel of Alaskan Alphabet by Cindy Shake design for Clothworks. I purchased mine at The Quilted Raven. You can find the panel here. 
-Wide bias tape in Yale blue (three 3 yard packages)
-One bobbin each of yellow and blue sewing thread. I used some vintage polyester thread from my stash, but use any type of sewing thread that you prefer.
-1 spool of Sulky Poly Star 30 weight metallic thread in gold with gold sparkle. Item 965-0905. You can find the spool here.*
-1 spool of Sulky Poly Star 30 weight metallic thread in blue. Dark Sapphire with tone on tone sparkle Item #965-0912. You can find it here.*
-Set of sewing clips
-Rotary cutter
-Iron

I had a lot of fun creating this Alaskan Alphabet Banner using Cindy Shake illustrations for Clothworks and Sulky Poly Star metallic sewing threads. I pulled out solid polyester sewing thread and Yale blue wide bias tape to create this banner. I also took a fabric stash dive and found the tan quilting cotton to use as the backing for each letter of the alphabet. Armed with a hot iron and my enthusiasm, I created this banner in just a couple of days.

It is now officially autumn and I have completed two of the Annie's craft kits. While cross stitch will forever have my heart, it was really nice trying out and completing two new craft projects. The best part, the kits arrived at my doorstep and I just had to sit down and start creating!

The first kit I decided to make was the Needle Felting Pumpkin Kit from ​Annie's Creative Woman-of- the-Month Club. Thanks to a rather humorous event involving me, a stray wool fiber, and my eyeball in college, I have not needle felted in over fifteen years. Thankfully I was brave enough to embark on this crafting endeavor with the help of my youngest kid. I say "help" loosely as he was quite useful in creating many knots in the yarn balls. Oh crafting with kids. 

Apparently I was so excited to be needle felting again that I was a bit too enthusiastic with my needles. I snapped one off at the tip and successfully bent the other one. This did not detour me. I carried on and I finished all three pumpkins. The directions were easy to follow and I had enough supplies to successfully complete the project. I am happy to report that I loved the project and I look forward to more wool needle felting. 

As with any project involving hot glue, please be mindful of your finger tips when you are attaching the individual leaves. There are a lot of leaves to attach. A lot. I did the math. Wow. You will just have to get the kit and find out the exact number for yourself. You can find out more about the Farmhouse Style Club here. 

I am thrilled with how the wreath turned out. It was so nice finishing two craft projects that got me out of my cross stitch comfort zone. I look forward to completing more kits. Thanks Annie's!