2016 Primary & Youth Cross Stitch

I was recently called to be the Primary Chorister in my ward*. I was super sad to leave Young Women, because I truly had such love in my heart for those good kids! But I love those cute little Primary guys too -- even the naughty boys in back who think they're too cool to sing. They're not too cool when I threaten them with solos! (hee hee hee -- I might be just a little bit ornery about that.)

*in my church, the members are "called to" or "released from" certain positions as needed -- we don't do it for pay, it's all volunteer. We believe that Heavenly Father calls us to these positions through the Bishop, Stake President, or other leaders. The Primary Chorister leads the singing time for Jr. and Sr. Primaries -- meaning the kids from 3-12 that attend our ward. In our ward, we have a BUNCH of little guys, so they are split into two groups and I teach them church songs.

So, I decided to make a new cross stitch for General Conference -- my Young Women torch is almost done! And since I'm in Primary, I thought a simple, fun Primary theme pattern would be good.  I came up with a boy and a girl version, as you can see here:

2016 Primary Theme - Girl

2016 Primary Theme - Boy

But then a funny thing happened last Tuesday -- the Stake Executive Secretary called me to meet with the Stake Presidency. I went in with no expectations at all -- I thought I might be on a panel discussion or something -- and lo and behold, I am now the Stake Camp Director! (This means I'm in charge of all the Young Women at our annual week-long Young Women Camp -- and there are about 400 or so girls in our Stake!) So I've been secretly pinning my heart out with ideas for Girls Camp, and came across some really fun stuff by Amanda at jedicraftgirl, it's so nice to have a resource like that! I made my boards public this morning, since I was sustained Sunday, and now that I'm in Young Women again, I thought I'd modify my original patterns for the youth as well.  They turned out so nice!

2016 Youth Theme - Young Women

2016 Youth Theme - Young Men

Specs
Fabric Requirements: one package of 15" x 18" 14 ct Aida will yield two different themes (just cut in half so you get two 9" x 15" pieces) -- trim as necessary after finishing the piece. I used white Aida for the boy version and oatmeal Aida for the girl version.

Floss: You can follow my color recommendations, or come up with your own!
For the boy version, I just used scraps of thread I had already used in other projects, but stayed pretty true to the colors in the cross stitch pattern.
For the girl version, I will use these six colors:

• DMC White
• DMC 745, Yellow - LT PALE
• DMC 761, Salmon - LT
• DMC 3712, Salmon - MED
• DMC 3808, Turquoise - ULT VY DK
• DMC 3825, Pumpkin - PALE

I didn't include beginner instructions for this pattern, since I've already put out something similar with the Young Women torch and Provo Temple cross stitches. If you need anything more than what I've included here, please let me know -- but I think any information you need will be either in this post or in those beginning instructions.

And once again, here are the links for each pattern:
2016 Primary Theme - Girl
2016 Primary Theme - Boy
2016 Youth Theme - Young Women
2016 Youth Theme - Young Men

I have to admit, I've already started on my own cross stitches -- I just couldn't wait for Conference to start! I really wanted to get one completely done so I could show it, and I just finished last night.  Here it is, in a 5" x 7" frame:

Please let me know if you complete any of these patterns. Just email me at smileynann@yahoo.com -- I'd love to see them!

Radio Silence

Hey everyone!
I'm sorry to say, this radio silence has gone on for much longer than I anticipated. I have so many blog post ideas, but just not quite enough time to follow through on them all. I decided early on in this blog that I didn't want to post JUST to post, but that I would make sure I have important content in each blog post. In addition, I am the Mama to a passel of kids that need my motherly attention, and for me that has to come first. As a result, sometimes I don't post for a while. I hope you'll forgive me. I have a few really fun ideas in the works -- and one super fun tutorial I'm hoping to publish this week in anticipation of General Conference -- so please be patient with me and my human-ness. See you in a few!
Natalie :)