My Christmas Cross-Stitch Frog Project
We have been stuck at home due to the pandemic and I decided to do some cross-stitch gifts for some of our boater friends. When we first bought our boat and were learning how to use it, our training Captain Geoff Gow drilled a saying into Tom and I that has stuck with us more than anything else he taught us. That saying is “Panic Slowly!”, it is so true and has helped us keep an even keel (even when we had to replace our keel after crashing into a rock in Canada).
I decided to make 6-inch round cross stitch wall hangings with Geoff’s saying, and our Frog icon as Christmas presents.
Again Tom used the online pattern-making program (https://www.pic2pat.com) to digitize our Frog and the online text to pattern utility at CrossStitch.com to create a pattern for the text. That worked out okay, but it didn’t have the resolution that we wanted.
We then sent our image and the generated files to Crazy Stitch Studio on fiverr.com, which specializes in making custom cross-stitch patterns, and it turned out Awesome! (Note from Tom: If you don’t know about Fiverr.com it’s a great website where you can contract with people all over the world who do specialized tasks including writing, graphics, programming, photo retouching, digital art, and yes, cross-stitch patterns! These services are usually VERY low cost and many start at just $5.00!)
The frog is cross-stitched and outlined in black single stitching. The fabric is 14 count, and the hoop is a 6″ hoop sourced from Amazon.
In all, I made 10 of them! This is the finished project.
I also made a special one for Chris & Alyse Caldwell who referred us to Geoff Gow, and have given us TONS of training, advice, and support over our boating career. Please check out Ask Captain Chris for their cruising classes, videos, training, and consulting services! Also, if you are a boater or thinking about becoming a boater, be sure to check out their Free YouTube Videos! We can’t thank them enough for all of their support of the cruising and Great Loop community.
Thanks for visiting! –Tom & Brenda
