The future

So, thinking about what direction I want to take my blog in. My posts will likely slow down a bit, but I think I want it to be a place I can share ideas for projects. I'll probably repost fun things I find online and share personal ideas I had. I may also blog my own projects when I finish them. Thoughts?

A new site

Hey, I started a new little mini social network site for people who are into cross stitching. It's just a place to share ideas, show off projects and have fun. Come join me there or I'll be all alone ...

Almost good-bye

Just fair warning to any readers I may have picked up along the way. I am probably going to be wrapping up my blog soon and probably won't be posting very much after the next few weeks. I've had fun writing this and will hopefully post a little bit more, but I will not have regular posts after the end of the month. Thanks.

Embroidery stitch for flowers

This is a pretty stitch to incorporate into your designs. I like adding a little embroidery detail to my cross stitch. Now I just have to see how this looks as flower petals with a French knot in the middle.

Learn How to do the oyster stitch. For more Sewing & Embroidery How-To Videos & Articles, visit WonderHowTo.

Framing

Unless you make nothing but bookmarks (not that there's anything wrong with that), you will probably want to frame your work at some point. Getting it done professionally is needlessly expensive when you can do it yourself.


How to Frame a Cross Stitch Pattern -- powered by eHow.com

Teach your friends

Having trouble getting people to join your sewing circle? When I started mine, only three of us knew how to cross stitch. We had to teach the other members. Luckily it's pretty easy to pick up. So if you want to expand your sewing circle options, rope your friends into learning counted cross stitch with this video I found.

How to cross stitch

Helpful video

I found this video on YouTube and thought it had some good info. Just wanted to share.

My soundslide :D

I hope you enjoy it. Like everyone else in the world, I hate the sound of my own voice, but I am sort of dorkily proud of how it turned out.

Podcasts (that I did not make)

So I listened to some podcasts about cross stitching recently. I found them by using the super scientific method of searching for "cross stitch" in the iTunes podcast store. I only downloaded free ones.
Some of them were sort of disappointing. I would not recommend "Cross Stitch What's Up" by Leisure Arts Podcasts unless you are really interested in new books of (IMO) boring cross stitching patterns. There was too much religious symbolism and not enough snark for my tastes. Another one, by Discover Artista, turned out to be a how-to for a pattern software you can buy. K-G Chart is free, so I wasn't too excited.
One of them was called "Anime Today" and was basically about manga cross stitch. Not exactly my thing, but I do love the combination of nerd culture and crafts, so I was happy.
The Mirkwood Designs podcast was interesting. It had a brief bit about cross stitching, but was also about crafts in general. It was a little heavy on the knitting. She apparently loves Stitch n' Bitch books, and is old enough to have a college-age son. She made him a Kingdom Hearts costume for a party. I spent most of the time listening to it wishing she were my aunt or something.
The longest one I listened to was CraftSanity #49. It is a series, obviously, and this particular episode featured an interview with someone who sells her cross stitching professionally. At first I didn't think I would be interested, but she was really cool. She sketches her designs out really informally, and when she doesn't have a lot of time she focuses on smaller patterns. If you have the time, I'd really recommend checking it out.

Photographing some stitches

Taking pictures at sewing circle was a new experience for me. I got less done, for one thing. I also noticed that, now that Ashley is obsessed with knitting, there is less cross stitching going on than there used to be.
But mostly it made me evaluate what is important to me about sewing circle and what I love about cross stitching.
The photos I liked showed my friends in action: smiling, talking and working. I also liked the detail shots of what we were working on. I feel like between them, those photos showed the reason we get together every week. I like looking at the way each of us has a different style. I love the beauty of the patterns. I love the way the pictures remind me of what's fun about crafts like this. They remind me of the way the thread feels as you pull it through the holes in the aida and the satisfaction I get when I complete something. All in all, they make me feel like sewing circle is time well spent.

Some sewing circle pictures

Here are a few pictures I took at sewing circle last night. One of our regular knitters is on vacation with her boyfriend, so we were a quiet group. This is Ashley knitting. I was practicing with the flash and with getting at eye level to take the picture. The look on her face is the look of someone starting a rather ambitious scarf and feeling ambivalent about it, I think.

Here's Lydia, almost finished with something for her dad. I tried to position her off to the side in the shot instead of just centering her. I wish I were that far along in the truck I'm making for my nephew.

This close-up is of Jessi threading a needle. She's embroidering two pieces of aida, which she plans to stuff and sew together to make a pin cushion. Crafty.

French knots

I used to think French knots were the devil. I mean, I know they can create some cool things, and can add a nice pop to a design, but I hated making them (please note that neither of the links are things I made). Mine always turned out sloppy. Well, I've been sort of thinking about incorporating more types of stitches into my work, so today seems like a good day to share a French knot tip. For those of you who are new to the knot, here's a simple explanation of how to do one that I found.
When I was struggling with some French knots one day, my awesome friend Katie gave me a tip that, after only one or two practice runs, turned my knots from pathetic to more or less perfect. When you push the needle into the fabric, before you pull it through, pull the thread tight around the needle. For some reason, that seems to keep everything in place and reduce my ability to screw it up.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering why I want to branch away from the basic x stitch, I really love Dinosaur Comics, and I think T-Rex will be easier to pull off with a satin stitch.

Rules I live by online

1. Be open and honest with my readers about my information
2. Never use information from another site without attributing and linking
3. Always think before I post
4. Evaluate information before I post
5. Don't publish opinions that are not obvious as such
6. If I take money from advertisers, I will let my readers know
7. Be respectful of commenters on my blog
   
8. Accept criticism by not deleting comments that are critical of me without being offensive
9. If I make a mistake, I will admit to it, correct it as best I can, apologize and then move on
10. Try to stay on topic so my readers won't feel mislead when they come to my site
11. Respect copyright
12. If I inadvertently post copyrighted material, I will take it down
13. If a commenter posts copyrighted material, I will take it down when I find out
14. Do not post personal attacks on others
15. If I disagree with someone's opinion, I will do so respectfully
16. I will not publish personal details about someone for the sake of salaciousness
17. I will not stir up controversy to generate page hits
18. Do not rely on stereotypes to hide lazy thinking
19. Be proactive about identifying problems on my blog
20. Work to fix any problems as soon as I discover them
    

Additional Resources

Here are some more cool places to go for patterns, pieces or patterns or a place to start.

• This program lets you make your own patterns on your computer.
• Fun site to browse.
• I like the alphabets here.
• I love some of her feminist-inspired patterns.
• This is possibly the best Flickr ever.
  

The Deep Web

So here’s this blog I found. It’s about embroidery in general, not cross stitch specifically, but I found it really helpful and wanted to share. When I first started doing kits, they would frequently include other types of embroidery stitches, and I still use some of them in my patterns. Compared with a simple cross stitch, a French knot or stem stitch can be a headache, so the site is a good resource.

The blogger’s profile says she has a home craft business, and she uses her full name, which lends credibility to her site. She uses blogger, so this is obviously a personal blog, not a business one. She hasn’t updated in more than a year, but the information is somewhat timeless. She uses links well and presents her information clearly. Other big names in cross stitching seem to link to her.

Overall, the advice on the blog seems to be helpful and practical. She may not be an expert, and it is not a professional site, but she seems like a knowledgeable enthusiast. I think the site will be useful for those looking to incorporate other types of stitches into their designs.

Not quite cross stitching

But still really awesome ...

I try to keep up to date on what the Internet (all of it) is saying about cross stiching and crafting in general, but this awesome blog post surprised me by showing up on a sociology blog I read, not a craft blog. It's about using traditionally feminine crafts to upend our ideas of masculinity. Definitely worth checking out.

Sewing circle: Where my stitches at?

One of my favorite things about cross stitching is the way it gives me an excuse to hang out with some friends. Having a small group you sew with regularly is a good way to stay on track with projects and can help you keep in touch with friends when life gets busy.
Last night, my friends and I had an extra special sewing circle devoted to watching True Blood. We cooked up a bunch of Southern food (much of it fried) and ignored the fact that my friend from Louisiana told us we were doing it wrong. We invited more people than we usually have at our weekly meetings, so we had a knitter and a couple of people crocheting. It was a lot of fun.
I thought I was almost finished with a truck pattern I'm making for my 2-year-old nephew, but I decided to do a cute checker pattern for a border and it is taking forever. I am already annoyed with it and I've only done one side. I'll post a picture when I'm done.

Assignment

This is part of an assignment and not cross stitch related. Back to our regularly scheduled programing soon :)

Getting started

Cross stitching is simple. I mean really simple. I started it because I needed a repetitive hobby to help with insomnia. But it’s easy to get bored with tulips and cute sayings about how children bring joy to your life, so after my first pattern I started to seek out projects that were targeted toward a younger crafter.
That led me to this amazing site. I love snarky needlecraft, and Subversive Cross Stitch certainly fits the bill. Eventually I started making my own patterns. Sometimes (read: when I am too lazy to make a pattern) I’ll even just jump in and estimate where things should go. I’ve had mixed success with that strategy. One that did turn out well, and one of my personal favorites, is this lovely piece I made for a friend. Those are semi-colons in the border.

If you’re interested in getting started, I would recommend starting with a stamped pattern kit. Most major craft stores carry them, and they usually include Aida fabric (which has helpful little holes in a grid pattern so your stitches will be even) printed with the design, needles and all the thread you need for that project. A hoop is useful, but by no means necessary. Most kits have a little instruction guide, but all you really have to do is make diagonal stitches for a row, then go back over them in the other direction. In a printed pattern, you just use the thread over the area of the cloth of the same color. It really is that easy, but if you want a more complete overview, this site is fairly thorough.
I really recommend starting with the printed pattern. Don’t worry about perfection. Try to make the top thread in the cross go the same direction throughout the entire project, but don’t worry about what the back looks like yet; no one will have to see it. The first cross stitch I made was so sloppy I have it hidden away in a drawer somewhere. Once you feel comfortable with that, you can move on to counted patterns. With those, the pattern will tell you how many stitches of which color thread (also called embroidery floss) to use per row. They look like grids. The most important thing is to have fun and remember that perfectionism is the enemy of creativity.