Thursday, March 16, 2017
Christmas Stitching Challenge
Well, there's nothing to report on my Christmas stitching - I haven't done any.
I have been working on my La Belle Dame... Since I haven't finished a page, I haven't rotated to any other project, Christmas or otherwise.
In other news, I am making a start on adding listings to my Etsy shop, XedStitches. I just finished sorting out the items I need to list: magazines, leaflets, books, kits, etc. There is a lot! Not only do I have a bunch of cross stitch stuff, there is quite a bit of quilting and sewing too.
I currently have 222 items for sale in my shop and by the look of my office area, I'll be close to doubling that! (whew!)
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Diamond Painting
I know, it sounds so cool, right? Unfortunately, they aren't real diamonds (sigh). Also, there's no paint involved. I consider that a good thing...paint's too messy.
I heard of diamond painting on the HAED FB page. One lady on there was doing a HAED in this medium rather than cross stitching it.
I thought it looked interesting so I bought myself a kit. The one I chose was a simple, inexpensive one (not a HAED) just to see if I liked this craft.
It came today! It came from China and wasn't supposed to be delivered until at least March 9th so getting it 8 days early was a bonus. I unpacked it and here it is:
The "diamonds" get attached to the front of the canvas, which is sticky. You can see the color key on the right side of the canvas. For this particular kit, the diamonds only go on the trees, not the ground. The pink thing peeking out on the right side, is the grabber "pen" for the diamonds. If you look closely, you can see that there is a clear plastic sheet covering the canvas - that gets peeled off to expose the stickiness.
Here is a close-up of the "diamonds". They are small, about 1/8" (2.5mm). These happen to be round, but I know there is a square version, too. If you click on the image for a larger view, you will see that these are numbered 741 and 742. These numbers correspond to DMC color numbers so ordering your own supplies just got simpler!
I got this kit on Amazon.com. If you were to look for suppliers, the best places appear to be:
Ordering supplies, the canvas, diamonds, tool, etc., is perfectly fine but please make sure you order the patterns from legitimate sources (your local needlework shop, designers' websites, etc.).
If I enjoy doing this and like the way it looks, I might do a few of the cross stitch patterns that I own in this medium rather than stitching them. I would do the ones I like but not sure I'd ever stitch this way.
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
___________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: I do get paid a commission if you click through on some of the shopping links on my blog. If you don't like this, just don't click on them. ___________________________________________________________________________________
I heard of diamond painting on the HAED FB page. One lady on there was doing a HAED in this medium rather than cross stitching it.
I thought it looked interesting so I bought myself a kit. The one I chose was a simple, inexpensive one (not a HAED) just to see if I liked this craft.
It came today! It came from China and wasn't supposed to be delivered until at least March 9th so getting it 8 days early was a bonus. I unpacked it and here it is:
The "diamonds" get attached to the front of the canvas, which is sticky. You can see the color key on the right side of the canvas. For this particular kit, the diamonds only go on the trees, not the ground. The pink thing peeking out on the right side, is the grabber "pen" for the diamonds. If you look closely, you can see that there is a clear plastic sheet covering the canvas - that gets peeled off to expose the stickiness.
Here is a close-up of the "diamonds". They are small, about 1/8" (2.5mm). These happen to be round, but I know there is a square version, too. If you click on the image for a larger view, you will see that these are numbered 741 and 742. These numbers correspond to DMC color numbers so ordering your own supplies just got simpler!
I got this kit on Amazon.com. If you were to look for suppliers, the best places appear to be:
- Aliexpress (China)
- DHGate (China)
- Smith Beads (UK)
Ordering supplies, the canvas, diamonds, tool, etc., is perfectly fine but please make sure you order the patterns from legitimate sources (your local needlework shop, designers' websites, etc.).
If I enjoy doing this and like the way it looks, I might do a few of the cross stitch patterns that I own in this medium rather than stitching them. I would do the ones I like but not sure I'd ever stitch this way.
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
___________________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: I do get paid a commission if you click through on some of the shopping links on my blog. If you don't like this, just don't click on them. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Labels:
alternative,
craft,
cross stitch,
diamond,
kit,
painting
Finish It Up Challenge
Well, I made some progress on my challenge list, even though I didn't finish a goal.
I did some hand quilting on my bulls-eye quilt this past month. As I said, I didn't finish it but I did have to move the hoop so that's something.
Here's the quilt:
...and here's a close-up of the quilting:
The thread is a red, white and blue variegated Sulky. It looks less "patriotic" than it sounds.
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Christmas Stitching Challenge
Well, it's time for an update on this year's Christmas Stitching Challenge...and I actually have one!
The last round of my rotation, I started Heirloom Nativity Sampler by The Victoria Sampler. When I work on a piece like this, I stitch until I have to roll my scroll frame. Here's what I've gotten done so far:
It looks like there's plenty of room for another band but the next band is the shepherds in the forest, or something like that, and it's a bigger band like the angels. This is the first 7 bands out of 30.
The fabric is the recommended 28ct. linen. The color name is something like Ice Blue (I forget what it's called). It's about the same shade as DMC 927.
That's it for now.
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
Monday, February 13, 2017
La Belle Dame...update
Woo hoo! I finished another page on La Belle Dame Sans Merci! Well, it's a page and a bit because of the partial page at the bottom.
I have 5 full pages + 7 partial pages left to do. The end is in sight!
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
I have 5 full pages + 7 partial pages left to do. The end is in sight!
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
Labels:
cross stitch,
HAED,
Heaven and Earth Designs,
La Belle Dame Sans Merci,
photo,
progress,
wip
Friday, February 3, 2017
Finish It Up Challenge
Yes, I know. I'm late with this post! The real irony of that is I am never late for anything else. Hair appointment? 15 minutes early. Church? At least 15 minutes early.
Here's my list for this year:
Put all my loose floss on bobbinsfinished January 27th with new purchases done February 3rd- Stitch a design for the candlescreen that I have
- Assemble my Happy Blocks quilt top
- Assemble my Crumbs quilt top
- Finish hand-quilting the Bullseye Quilt
- Finish the Log Cabin Star wallhanging
- Hand-quilt at least 10 blocks on my Christmas Strings quilt
- Finish my Through the Storm cross stitch as a free-standing block
- Finish my green Temari ball
- Finish 1 of my Santa kits (not cross stitch)
- Make bookcases for my sewing room
- Decorate wooden "S" for my sewing room
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
Thursday, January 19, 2017
La Belle Dame... progress!
Good Morning, Everyone!
I finally finished a page on La Belle Dame Sans Merci!
It's been cold here lately and the space heater in my sewing room died, so I've been stitching in the living room next to the fire. The only problem with that is there are more distractions than I'm used to so I haven't been stitching as intensely as normal. ;-)
This is actually a page and a bit. The bottom row of pages are only 6 stitches high, so I'm including them as I work on each full page above. That means that this is page 25 & page 33 done.
I'm excited that I'm on the last row of pages! While I love this pattern, I'll be glad to finish it - that means I'll have a scroll frame empty for another big project! lol
I'm taking a break from stitching for a day or two. Not burned out or anything, but I've started working on getting all of my floss on bobbins. I have more than I thought needing to be done.
I've also created a database for all of my specialty threads (non-DMC). I do have an app [XStitcher] to inventory all of my DMC but I needed something for all the other threads I have.*
The app that I'm using for my inventory list is AirTable. It's free for Apple - I don't know if it works on any other operating system.
* XStitcher does have inventory capabilities for GAST, Weeks Dye Works, and Anchor but I would rather have all of my specialty threads listed together.
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
I finally finished a page on La Belle Dame Sans Merci!
It's been cold here lately and the space heater in my sewing room died, so I've been stitching in the living room next to the fire. The only problem with that is there are more distractions than I'm used to so I haven't been stitching as intensely as normal. ;-)
This is actually a page and a bit. The bottom row of pages are only 6 stitches high, so I'm including them as I work on each full page above. That means that this is page 25 & page 33 done.
I'm excited that I'm on the last row of pages! While I love this pattern, I'll be glad to finish it - that means I'll have a scroll frame empty for another big project! lol
I'm taking a break from stitching for a day or two. Not burned out or anything, but I've started working on getting all of my floss on bobbins. I have more than I thought needing to be done.
I've also created a database for all of my specialty threads (non-DMC). I do have an app [XStitcher] to inventory all of my DMC but I needed something for all the other threads I have.*
The app that I'm using for my inventory list is AirTable. It's free for Apple - I don't know if it works on any other operating system.
* XStitcher does have inventory capabilities for GAST, Weeks Dye Works, and Anchor but I would rather have all of my specialty threads listed together.
Happy Stitching!
Stacy
Labels:
cross stitch,
HAED,
Heaven and Earth Designs,
La Belle Dame Sans Merci,
photo,
progress,
wip
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