Tag Archives: cross stitch

Kit Review – Cross Stitcher Bunny

Posted in cross stitch, freebies by

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  • Source: Cross Stitcher Magazine, April 2016
  • Designer: Maria Diaz
  • Supplied: wooden shape, threads, needle, button, length of ribbon
  • Overall: yeah, OK

I must admit that I brought this one just because it was there. I was looking for the Summer issue as stitchtherapyblog is featured, but we’re so far behind it wasn’t on the shelf – this is issue 303 and she’s in 306! However there’s a couple of charts in this issue I will use, so it’s not a wasted trip.

I am avoiding the autumn side of my biscornu so I decided to stitch Bunny in my downtime yesterday. He’s cute, isn’t he?

But I do have a couple of issues with the packet & instructions.

 

  • If it’s a brooch, as the suggested finish, why wasn’t there felt or even interfacing to cover & protect the back during use?
  • The suggestion is to use the loop knot to start. Now, I consider myself an intermediate and experienced stitcher, but I’ve yet to work out how to loop start with an uneven number of threads! I did need to use the suggested 3 strands to get the full coverage – 4 was too much, 2 left gaps.
  • The thread lengths are far too small to loop start anyway. You’d only get 8-10 stitches completed at a time.
  • Beginner stitchers would benefit by having the number of thread lengths mentioned, as well as colour. There isn’t a huge difference between lt brown (422) & chestnut (3828) but it would make the finished piece look odd if you stitched them the wrong way around.
  • My wooden piece is cute and very evenly punched – but oddly smells liked smoked fish!

I’m not going to finish as a brooch. I’m planing on backing with felt and adding a large magnet so I can use as a needle minder or on the fridge.

 

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, family, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

well here we are! I missed last week so I have a wee bit to show.

We celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s birthday this past weekend, so there was an extra day away from the desk. Si has gone to Ohakea on Thursday at oh-dark-oclock as he refereed at an inter-base league tournament. He also came home at an equally it’s-dark-everywhere hour on Monday morning. This idiot had driven him too/fro from the base, so I had to get up reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal early to pick him up. But it was worth it to have him home 12 hours earlier than expected.

With no senior footy, B only had the one game to referee so we had a family quiet weekend planned. The bigger boys studied and played the weekend away, Mase whined. And whined. Then on Monday night he crashed big time. Turns out he had a virus. Someone will turn up and yank away my mother card soon. He’s on the mend now, but has binged watched an awful lot of Netflix.

I finished stitching & beading the Mill Hill fireflies kit (and beaded the back a couple of times, doh), and also stitched up a little piece from the JCS Christmas 2014 issue, but on plastic canvas and not quite as designed. I plan to string this up on a cream ribbon and set it into a frame.

I also put Persephone away for a wee while. I was losing heart with that skirt; so as much as I do love the colours that I’ve converted her to, it was time. My StitchMAYnia goal wasn’t the traditional 15 starts but to stitch every day in May, and I very nearly got there. Persephone alone was stitched 23 days of the month & on 3 days she wasn’t touched, I stitched a Small. I’m pretty happy with that.

On Sunday night I pulled out Mermaids again. I’m nearly at the half-way mark of the chart (one more colour to go) so here’s what they look like, as of 5.30am today:

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I also popped up on Instagram my version of parking. Most of the multi-page charts I have used have a greyed-out section, usually the bottom two lines of the chart. I simply DON’T stitch the top leg of the last cross, and then on the next page, I draw a box around the incomplete stitch. I don’t pretend to be an expert at parking, and this probably won’t work for everyone, so no offence if this doesn’t work for you.

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May SMALLs & WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL by

So it turns out I’m very late posting! Sorry, but last week was a mess in our household. Mase went down on Saturday night, and everyone else fell like dominoes over the next few days. I was grateful that I have a laptop for work so could stay up-to-date while I was at home.

The Smalls SAL is a free choice SAL hosted by Heather over at Stitching Lotus. You can click on the button in my sidebar and it’ll take you there or on her blog name for the current check-in page.

My May small is the spring side of my biscornu. I found what I think is the perfect thread for the autumnal leaves at my LNS the Friday before we got sick, but I didn’t stitch for a few days there (vomit doesn’t enhance much).

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I’ve made some really visible progress on Persephone’s dress. It’s so freaking huge! I was thinking of swapping out to another project for June but then I worry that I would get overwhelmed & not pull her out for ages. So I think I’ll keep moving on with her. I am using the chart grid and stitching in 10*10 blocks vertically – each night I can get between 200-400 stitches in. I’ve beaded the RHS jellyfish and confirmed my substitutions for the dress back-stitch and beads. So, progress!

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WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

I’m not enjoying this skirt! It’s so freaking huge that I’m forcing myself to sit down. Luckily I had plenty of flosstube to watch last night. I had to scroll last night to find my comfort point, so I took the opportunity to take a full length shot as motivation:

That’s probably 1000+ stitches in a week – so at this rate I would finish before I’m 50!

Sharing is Caring: Tapestry Cat — TW’s Needlework Blog

Posted in cross stitch, Teresa Wentzler by

Just a quick note to let you know that Tapestry Cat has been re-charted and is now available at PatternsOnLine.com

via Tapestry Cat — TW’s Needlework Blog

This is my second-oldest WIP; I have the original kit edition! Maybe I should get it on the large frame as soon as I finish Persephone…and NOT start another Mira!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

My goal for Stitch MAYnia was to do something everyday. So far, OK – I missed Monday as I had a migraine but we’ve gone from this:

IMG_20160430_212727to this (and the garland is complete with beads, her creepy hand is backstitched & waiting on beads):

I’m well underway in her huge, huge skirt. And I’ve been working on my Small at work. I have a buyer for it already!

Sharing is Caring: JOYFUL WORLD – JUNE PATTERN — The Snowflower Diaries

Posted in cross stitch, freebies by

My dear Readers, How are you doing? I have been away from my designing for some weeks: I am refurnishing my house, especially the crafting space. I love how it becomes more beautiful and more like I had imagined it in my dreams. This big cupboard I bought for The Snowflower Diaries office. It was a brown old…

via JOYFUL WORLD – JUNE PATTERN — The Snowflower Diaries

Stitch MAYnia begins

Posted in cross stitch, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

You may have heard of a variant of Stitch MAYnia somewhere on the Web. Facebook or Instagram or YouTube. The standard version is a new start for the first fifteen days (don’t ask me why, IDK) or a madder version with 31 starts.

For me, it’ll be a little slower. I aim to stitch a little everyday so my planner doesn’t have the word “nil” in any blocks this month. Tame isn’t it?

Here’s my starting point for Persephone. I’m into the vast thread chewing skirt, and I think the daily IG photos will help keep momentum as much as a daily stitch. Fingers crossed!

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April Smalls SAL

Posted in Christmas, cross stitch, Smalls SAL by

This SAL is a free choice SAL hosted by Heather over at Stitching Lotus. You can click on the button in my sidebar and it’ll take you there.

I didn’t have a Small for March & tho I said at the time this didn’t bother me, it turns out that it did. So I made sure that I had a finish for this month, even tho it meant I sat down for 2+ hours on Tuesday, watching end-to-end flosstube to get it done. I definitely didn’t like stitching on this dark fabric, so much so that last night I went and brought a new floor lamp. Yay for teenagers who like to assemble things! I’ll be able to work on Persephone while in the lounge with the rest of the fam this winter. Bonus.

This month’s Small is Plenty, by Hands On Design. Their Year in Chalk was really big last year (deservedly so, bang on trend & cute too) but this one is from the 2015 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments Issue. Yes, I changed it up a little. I do this a lot. The recommended fabric was 30ct gunmetal linen from Weeks Dye Works; I used a 26ct navy Elixar from my stash, and I omitted the top antler. IMO it looked weird with 3 antlers.

If you want to check out more by Cathy, she blogs HERE

Plenty – Hands On Design
Gentle Arts DMC
Sampler 0180 772
Simply Shaker 7052 304
Simply Shaker 7054 3865
Simply Shaker 7085 841

April WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, family, grateful, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett, Smalls SAL, WIPocalypse by

Another full moon – now that I am in the habit of looking for the moon I’m much more aware of the way the seasons are turning and the effect it is having on the world around me. My driveway is bordered with liriope (see this post) and the lilac flower stems have finally gone. There’s little colour left in my garden except the rosy red apples – I must go pick those tonight.

Oh, and after we dropped Lou at her flat last night, we paused in our drive to look at the stars. Yesterday was ANZAC Day so it was perfect to see the Southern Cross in all its glory, and think of the sacrifice made by men and boys half a world away a century ago. Humbling. Grateful. Relieved. Patriotic. All those feels. So happy the flag did not change.

Anyhoo, WIPocalypse. This is a full-moon check-in hosted by Melissa over at her blog, Measi’s Musings (you can link to it anytime with the image on my sidebar). I haven’t had much stitching time this month, but I do have some progress on my major pieces. I still won’t have a Small for this month tho unless I pull finger, but I’d forgotten how eye-straining it can be to stitch on darker fabrics (in this case, a 28ct Elixar Navy).  Second Mermaid has some more hair, and Persephone has most of the beading done in the top half. Last night I worked on her arm – I stitch right to left and I didn’t want to risk getting oils on her white dress portions if I lean over to do that arm, so it’s nearly done. I did run out of the Nymo thread – that bobbin didn’t last long enough so I’ll have to get some more.

This months’ question: What do you listen to while stitching? (via Jo)  I have a mix of things. Easy, non-thinking TV or movies (my darling brought me a case which is fixed to my lap stand, so I can mount my phone in the perfect spot when streaming), podcasts or even the radio. I don’t often listen to audio books unless it’s something I’ve read, like Harry Potter, Roald Dahl or Winnie the Pooh (I often have company while stitching).

Podcasts include (I use Podcast Addict, an android app that takes from iTunes and RSS feeds, and can include video subscriptions):

  • Around the Table
  • Elise Gets Crafty
  • Hope*Writers (I liked the earlier variant of this podcast, it remains to be seen if I continue to subscribe)
  • No Such Thing as a Fish (the QI researchers, funny but not suitable for under 13’s)
  • Sorta Awesome
  • The Charged Life (a new rec, I haven’t started listening)
  • The Simple Show (freaking awesome)
  • What Should I Read Next (the modern mrs darcy out loud).

I also watch FlossTube (stitch vids on YouTube). Currently loving:

  • Ms OhSewCrafty
  • Carolyn Mazzeo
  • Eclectic Possesions
  • Donna Murray
  • Pyrex Stitcher
  • lindystitches (funny)
  • CoffeeStitcher
  • Stitching Mae
  • Teresa Little Stitcher
  • The Evergreen Needle
  • The Queen of Starts (hello Kate)
  • The Stash Queen (hello Katy)
  • and many, many more

What do you do? Do you have any podcast or Netflix recs for me?