Once upon a time I started an Etsy shop. I filled it with handmade cards and scrapbooks, then branched out to handmade embellishments. The fabric and paper flowers were a hit and I spent years making thousands of flowers for lovely people the world over. They were even published in magazines (except Bride--they requested samples but didn't go with my flowers for their article).
Inspired by a vintage tablecloth my grandmother gave me, I designed my shop/blog branding around those flowers in red, yellow, aqua and accents of black and white. My craft room (and eventually Addie's nursery) took on the color palette. However, the shop has long since closed and I am ready for a fresh, calm environment. You can see my Pinterest board inspiration for the space here.
Years ago I pinned a peg board that had been painted with a cross stitch floral pattern. That winter, at CHA (or Creativation or whatever it was called that year), the 3Birds Design booth walls were covered in yarn cross-stitched flowers. I just knew I had to give it a go. The past few years I have enjoyed a bright red rose on my wall. This past weekend, I changed things up. I used the same pattern (even though I looked at dozens of new ones) and changed the colors to reflect my new palette.
First, I marked out the design on graph paper. Next, after cutting out all the old stitches, I marked the colors of each cross stitch with pencil (in the center so my stitches would cover it without having to erase it).
When I first made this peg board, I purchased two pieces of peg board from Home Depot and trimmed them down to fit the square-ish wall space I have. I painted the boards white and they are framed from behind on 2x4's that go around the edges and down and across the center. When I stitched, I removed all the 2x4's. Some stitches go across where the two boards join, so I attached the edge pieces to hold the boards together, stitched, then attached the center pieces.
I used a large bobby pin to thread the yarn two strands at a time. I finished The Crown and a few episodes of Cosmos while I worked with the boards propped up on dining room chairs like sawhorses. I'm not a cross-stitcher, so it isn't perfect and the back isn't pretty, but I love it so much.
I'll share how it comes together with the baskets, hooks and shelves I use to store things later. I'm not in love with my current ones, but I haven't found anything else yet.
TIPS: For those of you with Ikea peg boards, I'm not sure how well a cross stitch pattern would translate because the holes are more like slots. Perhaps paint would be the better method? I also briefly considered cutting a ton of X's out of vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo, but I LOVE the texture and dimension of the yarn. I don't need the whole board for storage, so even though hooks can carefully go through the stitching, I don't really cover any of it up. Vinyl or painted cross stitches are much easier to place hooks and baskets over.
Thanks for stopping by :). Tessa