Ribbon Christmas Sampler - Updated 2/19/24

February 19, 2024--Picked this up from the pillow fabricator a few days ago and can't wait to display it under the tree at Christmas.  

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Finished

January 5, 2024--Ta da--first finish in 2024.  For the most part, I loved stitching these Christmas ribbons.  Each one was a challenge on to itself with tons of compensation, composite stitches, interesting techniques, designs, etc. 

Ribbon 2 did give me some issues, however.  The designer suggested the wreaths and bows be stitched last after everything else was done.  I now understand why she made that suggestion.  If I had stitched the wreaths immediately after finishing Ribbon 2, I probably would have given up on the project out of absolute frustration.  Trying to place the wreaths on top of the white ribbon worked up in a diagonal stitch made it nearly impossible to figure out where to place the stitches for the wreaths.  It took lots of eyeballing and ripping out.  The red bows done in a daisy stitch weren't much better.   I'm not happy with how those bows look but stay they will (a syntax nod to Yoda).  

My favorite ribbons are 7 and 13.  Both took some serious concentration, and I love how they turned out.   You may notice that ribbon 4 looks crooked on the canvas due to the back and forth of the design elements.  The spaces between the ribbons were stitched with white and pale green thread to make it recede while the background of the poinsettia is done in all white.  An interesting effect.  The edge of the design is stitched with 2 rows of continental red thread to match the pillow fabric.  

Now off to the pillow fabricator

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Completed

November 2, 2023--All but two ribbons are now completed (ribbons three and four) out of 16 (stitched ribbons one, six, seven and eight since my last blog post).  After that there's the background to stitch in basketweave as well as some outlining of ribbons, and adding wreaths to ribbon number two.    Still plenty to keep me busy on this project for a few more months.

Ribbon Christmas Sampler 14 Ribbons Completed

October 12, 2023--All the horizontal ribbons are stitched as well as two vertical ones for a total of ten ribbons.  Six more to go.  I love the depth each ribbon has due to the composite nature of each one.  Some of the ribbons require up to 8 different combinations of threads and stitches to complete.  I plan on making a box pillow with this, so will add 2 extra rows of continental stitching around the edges so no canvas will show at the pillow's edge.

Ribbon Christmas Sampler 10 Ribbons Completed

October 3, 2023--A total of 8 ribbons have now been stitched following the order given in the instructions.  Now I can stitch the next 8 ribbons in any order I choose.  I'm thoroughly enjoying this project due to the complexity and variety of the stitches.   Now, will I get it done by Christmas of 2024?  It certainly won't be this year.  LOL.  

August 3, 2023--Ribbons 2 and 13 are now stitched.  Ribbon 2 will have little wreaths added to it at the end.  The plaid worked up in Ribbon 13 is very different from any other I've done.  Instead of working the design horizontally, it was stitched diagonally using back stitches.   I found it easiest to work up one color at a time in all 5 areas.  It was fun to see the pattern develop.

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Ribbons 2 and 13 Completed

July 25, 2023--The next step in this project called for ribbons 12, 14 and 16 to be stitched, so that's what I did.  Mindy English's graphs are wonderful.  She charts out each section of a ribbon which shows all the compensation stitches required.  Easy peasy.   I really like the bottom ribbon consisting of small red flowers.  This ribbon, along with many others, will be outlined when they are all done.

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Ribbons 12, 14, 16 Completed

July 12, 2023--Just finished stitching the poinsettia located in the upper right corner of this Christmas ribbon project.  There's lots of dimension in the petals and leaves which surprised me.  I even learned a new stitch--Colonial Knot placed in the poinsettia center.  This stitch used two strands of two different colors of Perle 5 thread.  Bulky but effective.

The background of the square is stitched in basketweave.  I'll save this for when I'm at various stitch-ins where I'll want to socialize more than concentrate on the project at hand.

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Poinsettia Completed

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Pointsettia Completed Closeup

June 22, 2023--While at my EGA Brandywine Chapter's stitch-in earlier this month, I was able to peruse items from the estate of a past member and take home a delightful, counted project called Christmas Ribbon Sampler designed by Mindy English, copyrighted in 1995.  This is a large piece stitched on 15" x 15" 14 count canvas and a wonderful stash buster using many skeins of DMC reds and greens.    I just completed the first step of outlining the ribbon widths with basting thread.  Whew--that was a large job and required lots of counting.  Now that's done, I plan on getting started with the upper right corner poinsettia.   Stay tuned.

Ribbon Christmas Sampler Basting