Well it is blog hop time again and the prompt is:
When it comes to the stitching part of your life, what are you most thankful for?
Without stitching and crafting in general I would be quite, quite crazy. It has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life. When I am having a very hard day at work or in general, I find one of the ways to calm myself is look at a few blogs, or my WIPs or my collection of HAED charts on my hard drive.
It is a great way to unwind and just let my brain shut down for a while, though my OH says that he can tell when I am particularly stressed because it is all I want to do in my spare time. I love just putting on a well watched DVD (usually Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or something) and stitching away, getting lost in each little / or X depending on whether I am working on a HAED or not :)
Also crafted items, I think, make the best gifts and with everything being so financially difficult of late having a hobby and a skill that allows me to make some gifts that I know people will like and enjoy makes special occasions much less stressful. Last Christmas I made most of my family hand crafted gifts, and they seemed to really like them.
So crafting, I am very thankful I found you :)
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Showing posts with label Blog Hop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog Hop. Show all posts
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The Dread Thread - Blog Hop
Well I didn't get a chance to to the last blog hop so I decided to join in on this one. It's about thread which you may not particularly like working with.
'Maybe it’s a particular type of fiber that always gives you a hassle. Or maybe it’s a least-favorite color of thread to use. That one thing that when you come across it in a design you just know the frogs are coming, or something that gives you twists and tangles. I know for me it’s Christmas Red DMC #666, I always joke that it has that color code for a reason and it’s the devil!' - Loretta, Stitching the Night Away
Well I have to say the most difficult thread I have come across to work with was the DMC satin range, which I used for the jar lid in Lickle Ted. The effect is beautiful but that stuff was a NIGHTMARE. It kept slipping and sliding in the needle. I had to kept re-threading and evening out the ends.
I also find metallics can be fairly difficult to work with as they are difficult to thread and I absolutely hate having to re-thread metallics as the end fray and make it very difficult to get back through the eye of the needle.
I would love to know if anyone has any good ideas about how to deal with these threads, as I really want to stitch Ted again for myself but am not looking forward to dealing with those satins.
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Have a Great Day :)
'Maybe it’s a particular type of fiber that always gives you a hassle. Or maybe it’s a least-favorite color of thread to use. That one thing that when you come across it in a design you just know the frogs are coming, or something that gives you twists and tangles. I know for me it’s Christmas Red DMC #666, I always joke that it has that color code for a reason and it’s the devil!' - Loretta, Stitching the Night Away
Well I have to say the most difficult thread I have come across to work with was the DMC satin range, which I used for the jar lid in Lickle Ted. The effect is beautiful but that stuff was a NIGHTMARE. It kept slipping and sliding in the needle. I had to kept re-threading and evening out the ends.
I also find metallics can be fairly difficult to work with as they are difficult to thread and I absolutely hate having to re-thread metallics as the end fray and make it very difficult to get back through the eye of the needle.
I would love to know if anyone has any good ideas about how to deal with these threads, as I really want to stitch Ted again for myself but am not looking forward to dealing with those satins.
Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop
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Have a Great Day :)
Monday, September 17, 2012
My all time favourite
Well it is Blog Hop time again. This time around the question is as follows:
What has been your favorite project to stitch? (either finished or in progress).
My absolute, all time favourite project has to be Lavender & Lace Nantucket Rose. I started stitching in my teens, I started with a couple of small projects (which took me ages to do). Every year I go (still do) to a vintage car rally with my father and one year there was a woman selling some beautiful cross stitch kits, the Lavender & Lace ones. She had Nantucket Rose all stitched up and framed and at the time it took me an age to decide whether or not I would actually get this one as it was much bigger than anything I had worked on before. In the end I decided to go for it and my father gave me some money towards paying for it.
I spent nearly all of my summer holidays from school that year working on this project. It took longer than that to do, all in all I think I spent about 9 months on it. Finally I finished it and my mother had it professionally framed. It now hangs on the wall in the living room of my mother's house. I love to just look at it when I head out home as I still think it is so beautiful and I just love her hair and face.
At the moment my favourite project to work on is Bridge of Wings. I love the detail and so long as I am using the parking method, I find the confetti can be quite enjoyable - mostly because in confetti you can really see the picture come together which I feel I can not really see in areas of block colour.
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What has been your favorite project to stitch? (either finished or in progress).
My absolute, all time favourite project has to be Lavender & Lace Nantucket Rose. I started stitching in my teens, I started with a couple of small projects (which took me ages to do). Every year I go (still do) to a vintage car rally with my father and one year there was a woman selling some beautiful cross stitch kits, the Lavender & Lace ones. She had Nantucket Rose all stitched up and framed and at the time it took me an age to decide whether or not I would actually get this one as it was much bigger than anything I had worked on before. In the end I decided to go for it and my father gave me some money towards paying for it.
I spent nearly all of my summer holidays from school that year working on this project. It took longer than that to do, all in all I think I spent about 9 months on it. Finally I finished it and my mother had it professionally framed. It now hangs on the wall in the living room of my mother's house. I love to just look at it when I head out home as I still think it is so beautiful and I just love her hair and face.
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| Lavender & Lace - Nantucket Rose |
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Friday, August 3, 2012
I think there are leftovers - blog hop
What do you do with the floss,
thread, beads, and other elements you have left over from full project kits?
Well I have been having a great time reading what others do with left overs. I feel I will be a disappointment
I have stitched a few kits and I have often had left over thread, however I don't really do anything with it. I don't feel like I can throw it away, it seems like such a waste so tend to keep the chart and the remaining thread together in case one day I might like to stitch it again. This is a completely ridiculous thing to do however as there would never be enough thread to stitch another one. I have also never had the urge to re-stitch a project.
I would love to do something with the left over bits and pieces but as they are not numbered according to any DMC or Anchor numbers I don't really see what they can be used for. I love the idea of kids using them to create bracelets and practice some stitching tho.
Edit: Just found this link, thought it was interesting and relevant http://www.linesacross.com/2012/08/make-your-own-beads.html
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Well I have been having a great time reading what others do with left overs. I feel I will be a disappointment
I have stitched a few kits and I have often had left over thread, however I don't really do anything with it. I don't feel like I can throw it away, it seems like such a waste so tend to keep the chart and the remaining thread together in case one day I might like to stitch it again. This is a completely ridiculous thing to do however as there would never be enough thread to stitch another one. I have also never had the urge to re-stitch a project.
I would love to do something with the left over bits and pieces but as they are not numbered according to any DMC or Anchor numbers I don't really see what they can be used for. I love the idea of kids using them to create bracelets and practice some stitching tho.
Edit: Just found this link, thought it was interesting and relevant http://www.linesacross.com/2012/08/make-your-own-beads.html
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Monday, July 16, 2012
I just have to.....
I have been missing from the last couple of Blog Hops so here I am again:
Some of us have a favorite chair that we sit in to stitch, others prefer to enjoy a steaming mug of tea while they stitch. Maybe you need to get comfortable and put on your pajamas before you pick up your needle or you simply must rearrange all the sofa pillows before you sit down. Sometimes the ritual is in the clean up when we're done and everything must go in a certain place. What sort of stitching rituals do you have when you sit down to work on your projects?
When I'm stitching I just have to have something on the TV or an audio book on in the background. However if it is TV it had to be something I have seen before and don't have to pay too much attention to.
I also love a nice hot cup off tea but I just love tea in general anyway. I also quite like to stitch when I'm out and about but again I usually have something on like music our an audio book.
My main ritual is, as I mentioned in a previous post, that after a stitch session at the end of the evening I prop my stitching on my bedside table either to admire it or to plan out what to so next.
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Some of us have a favorite chair that we sit in to stitch, others prefer to enjoy a steaming mug of tea while they stitch. Maybe you need to get comfortable and put on your pajamas before you pick up your needle or you simply must rearrange all the sofa pillows before you sit down. Sometimes the ritual is in the clean up when we're done and everything must go in a certain place. What sort of stitching rituals do you have when you sit down to work on your projects?
When I'm stitching I just have to have something on the TV or an audio book on in the background. However if it is TV it had to be something I have seen before and don't have to pay too much attention to.
I also love a nice hot cup off tea but I just love tea in general anyway. I also quite like to stitch when I'm out and about but again I usually have something on like music our an audio book.
My main ritual is, as I mentioned in a previous post, that after a stitch session at the end of the evening I prop my stitching on my bedside table either to admire it or to plan out what to so next.
Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop
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Thursday, May 17, 2012
My Unreasonable Stand-ards
Stitching The Night Away is having their second blog hop and it is all about using a stitching stand.
'Do you use a stand when you stitch? If so, tell us about it and share pictures if you've got them. If not, would you like to try using a stand? Do you have any tips or tricks around using a stand versus not using a stand?'
Well I have a floor stand which I was using for some of my larger pieces and I have to say I really enjoyed using it. However when we moved I dismantled it to store it away all tidy and when I get home in the evenings I just don't have to energy to put it together to use it. I don't want to have to leave it assembled all the time as it makes the house look too cluttered.
The stand I have is one used for the scroll frames that you sew or tape the piece onto. I would love to get a stand for my q-snap frame but it is just too expensive.
I have thought about getting a lap stand for doing some of the smaller pieces but my couch is quite soft and therefore I'm not too sure how well it would work.
I use my q-snap frame quite often but with some of the larger pieces like The Dreamer I find it extremely unwieldy. I also find that I need to use a frame close to the size of the piece as a lot of extra material flopping around gets on my nerves.
In short I like working on my floor stand but it can take up lots of space and be a pain to assemble and dismantle.
However having now read the other blogs in the hop, there are a few interesting looking lap stands I may look into.
Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop
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'Do you use a stand when you stitch? If so, tell us about it and share pictures if you've got them. If not, would you like to try using a stand? Do you have any tips or tricks around using a stand versus not using a stand?'
Well I have a floor stand which I was using for some of my larger pieces and I have to say I really enjoyed using it. However when we moved I dismantled it to store it away all tidy and when I get home in the evenings I just don't have to energy to put it together to use it. I don't want to have to leave it assembled all the time as it makes the house look too cluttered.
The stand I have is one used for the scroll frames that you sew or tape the piece onto. I would love to get a stand for my q-snap frame but it is just too expensive.
I have thought about getting a lap stand for doing some of the smaller pieces but my couch is quite soft and therefore I'm not too sure how well it would work.
I use my q-snap frame quite often but with some of the larger pieces like The Dreamer I find it extremely unwieldy. I also find that I need to use a frame close to the size of the piece as a lot of extra material flopping around gets on my nerves.
In short I like working on my floor stand but it can take up lots of space and be a pain to assemble and dismantle.
However having now read the other blogs in the hop, there are a few interesting looking lap stands I may look into.
Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here
Friday, May 11, 2012
The Blahs - Dun, dun, dun!
Stitching The Night Away are running a blog hop to help us stitchers to connect with each other. Twice a month a topic will be posted, whoever wants to be involved just blogs about that topic and then posts a link to their topic in Stitching The Night Away
This is my first and is about the Stitching Blahs.
'Have you ever had a case of the “stitching blahs” where you just didn’t want to stitch? Or maybe it was more like you didn’t get to stitch because you were busy and that created a chain reaction sense of the “blahs” and led to even less stitching…. sort of like a case of “the Mondays” that we are all familiar with. How do you handle your stitching blahs and get back into stitching mode?'
Do you ever find you have gotten a stitch glitch? No matter what you try you can't seem to get motivated. Well I went through a few years of the Blahs when I didn't do any stitching. I did other crafts though but I find that with every craft I lose my mojo every so often.
I find that looking at other stitcher's work can be very inspiring and at other times catastrophic for me. When I look at you wonderful peoples work and how fast you get it stitched I sometimes lose heart in my own stuff.
Occasionally I find a new start helps or simply looking at all my lovely stash. Others times even if I'm not really in the mood to stitch I pick up a WIP and doing a bit gets me back in my groove.
Then again sometimes a rest is the best medicine for the Blahs. When I stopped stitching for a few years it was the discovery of HAED that really got me back in a stitching groove.
Who knows when the Blahs will strike again!
Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop
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This is my first and is about the Stitching Blahs.
'Have you ever had a case of the “stitching blahs” where you just didn’t want to stitch? Or maybe it was more like you didn’t get to stitch because you were busy and that created a chain reaction sense of the “blahs” and led to even less stitching…. sort of like a case of “the Mondays” that we are all familiar with. How do you handle your stitching blahs and get back into stitching mode?'
Do you ever find you have gotten a stitch glitch? No matter what you try you can't seem to get motivated. Well I went through a few years of the Blahs when I didn't do any stitching. I did other crafts though but I find that with every craft I lose my mojo every so often.
I find that looking at other stitcher's work can be very inspiring and at other times catastrophic for me. When I look at you wonderful peoples work and how fast you get it stitched I sometimes lose heart in my own stuff.
Occasionally I find a new start helps or simply looking at all my lovely stash. Others times even if I'm not really in the mood to stitch I pick up a WIP and doing a bit gets me back in my groove.
Then again sometimes a rest is the best medicine for the Blahs. When I stopped stitching for a few years it was the discovery of HAED that really got me back in a stitching groove.
Who knows when the Blahs will strike again!
Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here
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