Kalideoscope And A Bouquet of Happiness

Today is overcast, rainy, windy, and cold.  The cats are hissing at each other.  And I'm sick.  WAAAAAHHHHHH!  That's all of the whining and excuses for one day.  Maybe I just need to get stitching and forget my woes.

My current project is one that I'm enjoying stitching very much.  I've made a bit more progress on Sheena Rogers' Kaleidoscope.  I haven't been the most prolific stitcher during the past six months or so and I can't really say why.  It's not exactly a slump, more like a semi-slump. But this is a pretty cheerful looking project with its combination of beautiful colors, and it's getting me out of whatever kind of slump I'm in.

I don't even mind all of the color changes because it's so rewarding seeing it come to life.  I think I will pick this up for some evening stitching if I don't fall asleep first!

My stitch group's October Stitch Day was a couple of weeks ago.  I've mentioned before that we have a gift exchange at each of our get togethers.  Look at what I got!

It's a bouquet of floss in autumn colors. Who doesn't like to receive more floss?  I mean, you could already have 4,000 skeins of DMC but getting a gift of more can make you do a little happy dance.  Who's with me?  Come on, I know I'm not the only one!  Love this.  Look at them - all colorful and shiny.  Makes me want to start a fall project.  Hmmmmmm, I may have to look through the chart collection......

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of my "Learn Something New Giveaway is:

Linda from the blog, Stitchin With My Furbabies

Congratulations, Linda!  I'll be e-mailing you soon asking for your mailing address.  Then I can ship your fabric, needles and needle case to you!

Thank you to everyone who commented on this post and entered the giveaway.  I'm sure I'll be having more giveaways in the future, so I hope you'll visit often.  Oh, and also visit for all of the awsomeness you find here.  Hee hee.

 

Learn Something New Giveaway!

It's been a long time since there's been a CraftyCat giveaway, so today's your lucky day!  I've noticed that in some of the stitch groups I'm in on Facebook that there are a few stitchers who don't know what evenweave fabric is or know what it is but are too intimidated to stitch on it.  Come on, stitchers, expand your stitchy horizons!!

Now, I know that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to cross stitch.  Aida is a perfectly nice fabric, easy to stitch on, and most of us created our first piece of stitchy art on it.  Stitching on evenweave, however, allows for more detail because fractional stitches are easier on it.  It can be a lot softer too.  And after you master evenweave, you can move on to linen which is a tiny bit more of a challenge because the threads in linen are often not even. 

So for my giveaway, I'm offering a 18"x18" piece of white 28-count Jobelan.  Don't panic about that 28-count.  It's the same size-wise as 14-count fabric because you're stitching over 2 threads. 

It's not at confusing as it sounds.  I'm going to also include my favorite instructions for stitching over 2 on evenweave (or linen).  And I'll even print them out for you.

As a little bonus, I'm including this little magnetic needle case with two size 26 needles. 

Sound good?  To enter the giveaway, just comment on this post.  That's it.  You don't have to be a follower to enter, although I love getting new followers.  I mean, it can really make my day.  Please make sure there is some way to get in touch with you!  If your email address is difficult to find by clicking on your blog or photo, then please include it in your comment.   I will announce the winner on Friday, October 23rd at 12:00 EST, so please comment before then!  Oh, and I'll ship this prize anywhere in the world.

Who doesn't want to learn some thing new?  Come on and enter my giveaway, even if you're an experienced evenweave/linen stitcher.  Good luck!

What's In YOUR Stitch Bag?

Prior to a Stitch Day a few months ago, I decided that my stitch bag needed a good cleaning out and organizing.  After emptying it out, I found that I didn't have too many extra things that I didn't "need" in it, like non-stichy items.  I also discovered that I carry a LOT of stitch stuff when I take my stitching somewhere.  Here's the bag itself.

I sewed this bag with help from a tutorial from Colorfool Creates.  I've changed the dimensions and added inside pockets and a button closure.  I think I've made a half dozen of these for friends.  So this one is my designated stitch bag, unless for some reason I have to carry more "necessities". 

Current projects are kept in these zippered Alvin bags.  That's really the name of them.  Just Google "Alvin bags" and you'll find them.  They come in all different sizes and are pretty reasonably priced. 

Another kind of project keeper is this one that I got as a gift.  I think this kind of keeper is available at office supply stores.  They're a little more sturdy and less bendable than the Alvin bags and expand a little to hold more stuff.  Both are good storage for WIPs.

My small zippered bag is another thing I sewed and its basic construction is from this tutorial by Luann Kessi.  As you can see, I again changed the instructions a bit to make a bag that would fit my needs.  Inside I keep a magnetic credit card size case to hold important items like Lift-N-Snip scissors (for frogging), a Star Detailer, a pair of Clover Tweezers, my Snag-Nabit and extra needles.  There are some scissors in there too.  The Clover tweezers are the best thing for pulling an errant strand of cat hair out of your stitching.  I'm the only one who has to do that, right?

Let's see, there's also a tape measure, a needlecase, some extra bobbins, another pair of scissors a couple of needle minders, and two (not one, oh no) small lights in case I have to stitch during a power outage. 

Oh look.  There's more!  A needle threader, strawberry pincushion, Thread Heaven, a bobbin ring,  yet another pair of scissors and a magnetic thing for locating lost needles.  And a tiny Alvin bag to keep them in. 

AND a spring hoop and a magnifier.  I haven't needed the magnifier since I got a new pair of glasses last year.  But you never know.

Looks like a lot of stuff, but everything fits nicely in my stitch bag.  Yay me.  Now I'm all packed up and ready to go to Stitch Day this Saturday!

Soooooo, am I carrying around an excessive amount of stitching items?  Or is it reasonable for going to Stitch Days where I can't just go home and get something I need?  What do you carry in your stitch bag?  Just the bare necessities: a WIP and some scissors?  Or all the stitching supplies you'll need for every eventuality? I'm pretty happy with my stitching setup, but am curious as to what other stitchers do! 

Oh, and another thing:  DO NOT carry chocolate in your stitch bag.  I don't care if it's wrapped.  Don't do it!  I learned that lesson the hard way.  

Thanks for visiting my blog!  See you soon!

September Pinterest Inspired Craftiness

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that cross stitch is not the only crafty pastime that I enjoy.  Lately, doing beadwork has become something I've been doing a lot more of.  I think it's because of all of the new types (for me) of beads on the market.  Superduos, Tilas, drop beads, and others have all caught my eye, making me wonder:  What can I make with this?  I've found that I particularly like to work with Superduos.  I found this Youtube video on Pinterest and knew that I had to make the bracelet.

I chose all bronze tones for the three types of beads used in this project.  Beads required were Superduos, 15/0 seed beads and just a few 8/0 seed beads.

Something I learned: when choosing colors for a bracelet (or for a necklace for that matter), figure out what kind of fastener looks best with it BEFORE starting your project.  I found that bronze closures are not easy to find.  Maybe there are multitudes of them, and I just was lax in my research.  Could happen.

I did find this magnetic fastener at my local bead store and I like it.  But it was the only one they had that would be suitable for this bracelet.  And this is a very well-stocked bead store!  So what do you think?  The video shows that you can make this really long to go around your wrist a couple of times, but I chose the single version.  The only teeny tiny change that I made was to add an extra 8/0 near the fastener.

This was a fun project to do and I would say that it's a good beginner to intermediate bracelet to make.  The instructions are excellent and it came together very quickly.  If you really wanted to, you could complete this in an afternoon.  Oh, and you can make this bracelet in wider widths by using more beads across.  That's explained in the video.

My visit to the bead store netted me two more tubes of Superduos in really cool colors, plus some beading necessities.  Don't be surprised if you see more of these bracelets on my blog!

One more thing.  My sister, Sheila, asked me if I wanted to take a painting class with her.  It was offered locally in conjunction with Colors of Fall Art Exhibition and Sale sponsored by the Sawnee Association of the Arts.  It was conveniently scheduled on my day off so I happily accepted.  So we went today not knowing what to expect.  Sheila is definitely the better artist/drawer/painter of the two of us, but I had a lot of fun.  Thanks to the instructor (who is obviously very talented and very patient), I successfully painted a pear and I also learned a lot.  OK OK, I got a little help, but I think everyone else in the class did too.  Don't laugh.

I had the distinction of being the messiest and most disorganized class member.  Go me!  I left the class with the most paint on my hands.  We will be taking another class in a couple of weeks called Color Theory.  I don't know exactly what that is, but I like colors so I'll probably like it.

So that's my craftiness for the week.  I hope you enjoyed seeing the fruits of my labors.  Ha ha, "fruits".  Get it?  I am such a jokester.  Thanks for visiting and come back soon.

Which Are Your Favorites?

September is a big month for many of us stitchers.  That's when the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue comes out.  We snap it up at our local bookstore or LNS, or purchase one online and then settle in to decide what we'll be stitching for Christmas.  Or in my case, for next Christmas. 

I was lucky enough to buy this year's issue from a friend who already had one and it is certainly full of beautiful charts.  My fellow blogger, Vickie, from A Stitcher's Story, wrote a post about her top five favorite ornaments in the Christmas Ornament issue.  Such a fun idea, so I asked her if I could borrow it.  She said I could, which was no surprise because stitchers are awesome people.

So here are my top five in no particular order:
1.  Christmas Eve Delivery by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

2.  Plenty by Hands On Design

3. Barn Star Christmas by Summer House Stitche Workes

4.  White Christmas by New York Dreamer

5.  Simple Hearts by Elizabeth's Needlework Designs

There are so many more pretty ornaments, but I'm limiting this post to my top five.  Now, which of the 75 projects in the magazine are your favorites? 

I finished my portion of the secret project I told you about.  It turned out well, and now it's winging its way to the next stitcher.  Or maybe it's rolling its way.  I don't know.  I'm pretty sure I'll be able to reveal the finish in a couple of months.

This past Saturday was our stitch group's Stitch Day so I was able to put a few more stitches into my current project, Kaleidoscope by Sheena Rogers. 

Wow, I thought I got a lot more done than that.  Hmm, I think I need to devote a little more time to stitching if I'm going to have any finishes this year!

Each month at Stitch Day we have a gift exchange.  It's become a cherished tradition and is just plain fun.  I thought you might like to see what September's gifts look like after they were opened. 

Looks good, right?  And there were only four of us present this month!  You can imagine what it's like when all of us are there!

Thanks for stopping by!  I appreciate that and all of the comments I get.  If you're not yet a follower, please consider becoming one.  Until next time!

Stitching And More Stitching

The last couple of weeks have been stitching weeks for me, and I'm happy to say that I made some progress on my pincushion project.  As promised, here is the photo on what I've done so far.

Notice I said "some progress" and not "tremendous progress".  I am seeing it take shape and that is a good thing.  The chart is "Kaleidoscope" by Sheena Rogers.  This is one I'm going to finish before I work on anything else.  I think.  You never know. 

I was contentedly stitching this one and then two more library books came in off of my reserve list.  Not one.  Oh nooooo.  Two.  And we only keep them out for two weeks.  And then, another stitching project arrived at my doorstep.  In one of my stitching groups on Facebook, we're stitching something for one of the members and it's a surprise.  This project has already visited the homes of 2 members, then it came to me.  It will go to more participants after me.  And that's pretty much all I can tell you because I'm not exactly sure who all reads my blog.  Here's a tiny view of it.

That's all I can show.  Weird photo too because the colors are completely off.  I think I had bad lighting when I snapped this.  Oh well, good disguise.  I can say that I'm stitching this one pretty quickly, which is unlike me. 

The other day on Facebook, someone posted a link to a freebie that caught my eye right away.  And you know how I am when it comes to freebies!  Jody at Satsuma Street designed this cute chart, Summer's Flight, and is generously offering it as a freebie.

 The colors in this pattern are, what can I say, just delightful!  Plus, she includes finishing instructions right there on her blog.  Please check out her blog.  Her designs are colorful and whimsical and I may have to do some shopping there. 

Thanks for visiting!  I will post photos of the secret project as soon as the recipient receives it. 
Until then, keep checking back for more crafty stuff.