2013 SAL Update - I is for (irritating) Italian Crosses Since it is WIP Wednesday and all, I thought I’d post a photo of my progress on the 2013 Year of Specialty Stitch sampler project. I have to be honest, I really did not enjoy stitching those Italian Crosses. Would have been more enjoyable with a thinner thread, probably, but such is life. We are just about one-third of the way through the sampler, but there is still plenty of time to sign up and stitch along with us - each block takes a few hours at most, and they are a great way to practice your hand at those specialty stitches! If you are interested in signing up, you can find more information on the Year of Specialty Stitches info page.
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2013 SAL Update - I is for (irritating) Italian Crosses


Since it is WIP Wednesday and all, I thought I’d post a photo of my progress on the 2013 Year of Specialty Stitch sampler project. I have to be honest, I really did not enjoy stitching those Italian Crosses. Would have been more enjoyable with a thinner thread, probably, but such is life.

We are just about one-third of the way through the sampler, but there is still plenty of time to sign up and stitch along with us - each block takes a few hours at most, and they are a great way to practice your hand at those specialty stitches! If you are interested in signing up, you can find more information on the Year of Specialty Stitches info page.

Peace Wool Conversion Thread Packs Now Available Have you heard about Little House Needleworks’ series, Little Sheep Virtues? Twelve charts in all, each of these designs includes a heard, a virtue and a sheep. At a little over 4 inches square on 30 count fabric, you could easily stitch these individually as ornaments or as one big piece. My thread pack for Peace, the third chart in the series, is now available - come over to the shop and order yours today!
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Peace Wool Conversion Thread Packs Now Available

Have you heard about Little House Needleworks’ series, Little Sheep Virtues? Twelve charts in all, each of these designs includes a heard, a virtue and a sheep. At a little over 4 inches square on 30 count fabric, you could easily stitch these individually as ornaments or as one big piece.

My thread pack for Peace, the third chart in the series, is now available - come over to the shop and order yours today!

New This Month - Get Ready For Halloween I know it’s April, but the New Releases section of the shop has taken on a decidedly Halloween-y feel this month! Not only will you find six brand new Shadowed Threads colorways (handspun from 100% variegated BFL wool, above), but also two new Petite Semi-Solid colorways as well (Petite Chestnut and Petite Sienna). Now is the perfect time to get started on Halloween projects for this year, so come on over to the shop and grab the perfect thread for your spooky skeleton or grinning pumpkin!
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New This Month - Get Ready For Halloween

I know it’s April, but the New Releases section of the shop has taken on a decidedly Halloween-y feel this month! Not only will you find six brand new Shadowed Threads colorways (handspun from 100% variegated BFL wool, above), but also two new Petite Semi-Solid colorways as well (Petite Chestnut and Petite Sienna). Now is the perfect time to get started on Halloween projects for this year, so come on over to the shop and grab the perfect thread for your spooky skeleton or grinning pumpkin!

Woodland Hedgehog - new cross stitch kit available now! Today I’m happy to announce a brand new series of cross stitch kits from Dragonflylotus Designs and The Happy Dodo Stitchery, starting with my little friend Hedgie, the Woodland Hedgehog. We will be releasing a brand new kit on the second Monday of each month. If there’s a Happy Dodo Stitchery chart chart you’d like to see at the top of our kit list, please let me know!
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Woodland Hedgehog - new cross stitch kit available now!

Today I’m happy to announce a brand new series of cross stitch kits from Dragonflylotus Designs and The Happy Dodo Stitchery, starting with my little friend Hedgie, the Woodland Hedgehog.

We will be releasing a brand new kit on the second Monday of each month. If there’s a Happy Dodo Stitchery chart chart you’d like to see at the top of our kit list, please let me know!

The Happy Dodo Stitchery, and Other Awesome Things

Looking for some interesting reading or a new project this weekend? Here are some of my favorite crafty things from the internet this week.

The Happy Dodo Stitchery Grand Opening

Today is the grand opening of Nicci’s new shop, The Happy Dodo Stitchery, and I could not be more excited for her! She has been working on this new shop a long time, and I think you will love her new charts as much as I do - she’s already got a peacock chart, which is the sign of a first-class establishment, in my opinion. Even better, all the charts are 25% off during the grand opening, so it’s a great time to stock up!

Found a couple fabulous tutorials this week:

  • Ruby Murray posted a tutorial on her blog showing on how to make teeny tiny little finishing “hoops” for cross stitch or embroidery out of milk jug caps. I love the samples she posted of little button-art hoops - very cute.
  • Carina (of Polka & Bloom fame) posted a tutorial on joining crocheted granny squares that is so full of photos I think it would be impossible for even the very poor crocheter (read: me) to get lost while following it. Saved this one to Pocket for future reference.

If you are itching to start a new project this weekend, check out these free needlework charts:

  • Nutty Rectangle, a bargello needlepoint chart from Janet Perry
  • Spring Plantings, a cross stitch band sampler from EmbroiderBee (to grab the PDF, look for the chart name in the Box.net widgets on the left side of the page)
  • Butterflies from World of Agi - there are four varieties that you could stitch in a variety of colors
  • Pastel Biscornu, another cross stitch chart from World of Agi
  • Easter Eggs, a cross stitch chart from Rather Unseamly
  • Bunny Peeps!, a cross stitch chart from PixyStitches -this one will only be available for a week, so make sure you grab it while you can. (Disclaimer: this is not the actual name of the chart. but rather the name that I screamed inside my head when I saw it - thus the exclamation mark.)
  • Home Sweet Home, the first free cross stitch chart from The Happy Dodo Stitchery

What was your favorite crafty thing on the internet this week? Leave me a comment or a reblog and let me know - Happy Stitching!

 

Year of Specialty Stitches SAL - G is for Gobelin Stitch


This week we start on our 7th block in the stitch-a-long, the Gobelin Stitch block. So far, this is the first specialty stitch we’ve worked on that I’ve never stitched before, but it turns out to be quite a simple stitch, at least in this variant - just a bunch of long straight stitches, followed by a bunch of short straight stitches! If there is anything this stitch-a-long has taught me, it’s that the majority of specialty stitches are not difficult, as long as you break them down into their parts. It is amazing all the different things you can do with a straight stitch, though, isn’t it?

I thought I’d also include a progress pic of my rainbow sampler. I’m still haven’t decided if I’m going to do some sort of white border around the whole thing or not, to try into the blue-sky-rainbow theme, but I certainly have plenty of time to decide, so I’m not worrying about it too much yet.

Stitch-a-long members, how are your projects coming? I’d love to see photos, either here, on my Facebook page, or in our Flickr group.

If you haven’t joined the SAL yet, there’s still plenty of time - Head over to the SAL info page to read all about the various options and sign up!

The Solar System Sampler, and other Awesome Things

Looking for some interesting reading or a new project this weekend? Here are some of my favorite crafty things from the internet this week.

The Solar System Sampler:

image

Image copyright Museum of Children


I don’t think there are many outside of the sampler-stitching or history-loving communities that realize how vital samplers were to the education of young women in centuries gone by. It’s easy to dismiss this, if the only samplers you ever see are of flowers and trees. Don’t get me wrong, I love those samplers as well, but it’s pretty hard to deny the fact that these girls were doing more than “wasting time stitching” when you see a sampler like this. 

If you are interested in samplers and their history, the blog post on the Museum of Children’s website has some great info, and includes links to other samplers in their collection (if you love samplers, prepare to drool!) And a hat tip to Slate for publishing the article that lead me to the post in the first place - it’s nice to see discussion of samplers and their meaning on a non-craft website!

And speaking of crafts on non-craft websites, the Wired UK website posted a how-to article on making an 8-bit quilt! I have to be honest, I have no idea what possessed them to post it, since I don’t really read the magazine any more (and it certainly seems lonely on their site), but hey, I’m all for anything that gets more people crafting. Geekcraft has exploded over the past few years, and if that’s what keeps handcrafting alive, then I say pass the Mario chart! (Honestly, I’d say pass the Mario chart in any case :) )

For my fellow crafty geeks (and non-crafty geeks), Crochet All The Things posted this set of amigurumi Avenger Snails that immediately made me realize that I desparately need a set of amigurumi Avenger Snails - perhaps for my birthday?

Over on my Facebook page, Sandy shared a photo of her Year of Specialty Stitches SAL progress, which I am super excited about. (What can I say, I love it when people stitch with my thread!)

If your needle is craving a new project, the internet did not disappoint this week - Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs re-released one of her free charts, A Friend Indeed, and Maja of The Snowflower Diaries blog continues to post awesome free charts. I think she’s released 8 or 9 at this point, and I’ve snapped up each one as it has come out - lots of spring and Halloween stuff!

It’s been a big week in the shop, with both March’s new releases coming out on Monday (so much silk!), and the release of my Love thread pack yesterday. You can see everything in the New Releases section of the shop - grab a cup of coffee (or tea if you must) and check out the rainbow of new colorways I have for you :)

Okay, that’s a lot to get through, but you have a whole weekend to do it, right? :)

Love Thread Pack Now Available I am very happy to say that my wool conversion thread pack for Love, the second chart in Little House Needlework’s Little Sheep Virtues series, is now available in my shop!  Not-really-necessary extreme flower close-up  I also have a thread pack available for Hope, the first in the Little Sheep Virtues series - come on over the the shop and check out all the little woolie sheep :)
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Love Thread Pack Now Available


I am very happy to say that my wool conversion thread pack for Love, the second chart in Little House Needlework’s Little Sheep Virtues series, is now available in my shop! 

Not-really-necessary extreme flower close-up 


I also have a thread pack available for Hope, the first in the Little Sheep Virtues series - come on over the the shop and check out all the little woolie sheep :)

WIP Wednesday: The Challenges of Over-One Stitching


Chart: Crowned Heart, Blue Ribbon Designs (retired free chart)
Thread & Fabric: Sugared Violets Thread & Fabric Project Pack (linen)


For this edition of WIP Wednesday, I thought I’d focus on one of my newer projects, Crowned Heart. This is a retired free chart from Blue Ribbon Designs that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. I will admit, however, that I didn’t quite realize how much over-one stitching was in the chart until I started stitching it:

Crowned Heart chart image copyright 2013 Blue Ribbon Designs

See that alphabet in the middle of the chart? The whole thing is over one. The. Whole. Thing.

This is the very first time I’ve ever stitched over one with my Petite Mulberry collection threads, and I will admit I had no idea if it was going to work, but I think it’s turning out quite well!

I did have to play a bit with which thread(s) to use in the over-one in the beginning, though - not because of thickness/thread weight, but because the colorways really scan quite differently when you stitch them over one. I had originally intended to use four colorways, as the chart calls for, with the fourth colorway being a very pale purple (Petite Faerie Wings, a Petite Club Exclusive from a few months ago). When I tried stitching the Petite Faerie Wings over one, it seems to turn translucent - it just disappeared into the linen! So, I ended up sticking with just the three colorways in the Sugared Violets Thread & Fabric Pack, and I’m deciding which colorway to use for each area as I go.

It’s a lesson I will remember for future projects - be sure to test your thread & fabric combination carefully if the project includes any over-one stitching to ensure the contrast between the two is high enough, or else all that over-one-eyestrain-stitching will be for naught in the final project!

What project(s) are you working on this week? Leave me a comment below or reblog this post and share your own WIPs - I’d love to see them :)