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Top 5 Cross Stitch Things to Perfect (and 5 I may never)

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

This post reminds me that mistakes are a good thing, as it means that I’m still learning and that I have the ability to do what I love and share these things with like-minded people. I also accept that I may never perfect these top 5 or they may be replaced with a new 5!

5. Keeping track of needles and pencils

Prior to receiving a needle minder as a birthday gift, I was regularly dropping needles and jumping up from the couch or chair to look for the needle amongst the cushions and dust and dirt on the floor. I would be doing a similar thing with the lead pencils when the couch would eat them or I’d accidentally drop them on the floor.

4. Counting Crosses

Every so often I joke with family and friends that I need to go back to school and learn how to count and get my eyes checked. This is based around me miscounting how many stitches I need to do and tracking where I am in the pattern when I’m tired or distracted, resulting in me needing to unpick parts of the picture and re-stitch it. I’ve also been clever enough to mark off parts of the pattern that I’ve not even stitched yet!

3. Getting my measurements right

If you’re anything like me, you’ll love to make the most out of your fabric stores that have been built up from trimming up other cross-stitch projects. This means that at times I come up a bit short when I’m trying to find the right amount of fabric for a project I’m working on or I have just completely misread the measurements at the front of the pattern.

White Horse

This has often left me stressing as I’m stitching, whether or not I’ll have enough fabric to fit the design on it. I’ve even made the mistake of stitching a picture around the wrong way! This happened when I first started the picture and didn’t pay enough attention to which way I had the fabric in the hoop. Which meant that I stitched a landscape picture in a portrait view and I give full credit to the professional framers who framed up this picture for me. They have done an amazing job with the product I gave them.

“Catch of the Day” by Bryan Moon – published/distributed by Dimensions

2. French Knots

When done well, French knots can really add that extra bit of detail to a picture that other types of stitches may not. It is also the one type of detail/stitch that I’ve never mastered! Admittedly, I’ve not practiced them much to help my cause. If anything, I’ve either avoided or delayed stitching some patterns that have this stitch or I’ve used beads in their place.

One of the things that I love about living in this day and age, is having IT devices and an internet connection at my finger tips and being able to look up anything that I need to. Which means that I can watch numerous YouTube clips on how to do French Knots. I’m also able to purchase a variety of needle minders and related tools to help me keep track of my lead pencils. I also love that technology enables me to have digital cross stitch patterns and digitally mark off the areas that I’ve stitched.

1. Cutting/Sewing Straight

For many years I’ve joked with family, friends and colleagues that if I can’t walk straight when I’m sober, then so help me when I’m drunk! This inability to walk straight extends into my ability to cut straight, sew straight and draw a straight line. This is causing me headaches, as I’m attempting to make a quilt out of the various country themed cross stitch pictures I’ve stitched over the years. I’m not following a specific pattern or plan which is adding to the fun of trying to cut and sew straight! Instead, the images below are what I have in my mind of how I want the quilt to look – both images I came across on Pinterest.

With these two images in mind, below is progress to date for my country quilt and you’ll see that sewing or cutting straight really isn’t my thing!

Country quilt progress as of April 2019

What I’m really excited about with this quilt is that I’m getting closer to finishing it. Also, by not strictly following a pattern, I’ve been able to problem solve on the go and talk with a variety of people to try and figure out how I can get past my creative blocks. Which means, watch this space to see how I fix the blue borders around the cross stitch pics!

Until next time, happy stitching everyone!

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Some of My Favourite Stitchy Places and Things

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

Hi Everyone

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something and the last few posts have been a bit intense and not the usual light-hearted posts I’ve shared posted before. So my aim for this post is to bring back that light-hearted vibe that I hope you all enjoy, by talking about some of my favourite places to stitch and things I use while I’m stitching.

To kick things off, I’m writing this post at the coast (Malua Bay, NSW, Australia) and the weather is absolutely beautiful! Even if the weather wasn’t beautiful, I would still be really happy to be here. The house is located in short walking distance to two beaches, the local shops that has a fantastic butcher who also makes amazing coffee to warm the soul and local lawn bowls club that serves really yummy Chinese food. The two hard parts are walking back up the hills and going back home and back to reality. To me there’s something about the relaxed lifestyle of being at the coast and so close to the beaches that I love. Additionally, the coast is my third home (the second being my parents place in the country-side). For school holidays when I was growing up through to long weekends or short weekends away, the coast has always been the go-to place where a lot of my memories are from. Also, I’m very much an introvert and alone time is important to me. To escape from people and re-charge my batteries – especially before I moved out of home to my own place. Meanwhile, we’ve just had a new entertainment unit delivered to the house which is going to make it a lot easier for technology improvements and changes and accessing the power points that are behind the unit. Especially as televisions continue to get bigger, gaming consoles are updated and our tastes in movies and television shows change. Which will mean that I have yet another reason to sit down and do some cross stitch! **Sigh** First world problems ‘ay!

If the weather happens to be bad outside and I’m unable to be out there enjoying by sitting on the balcony (if I’m at the coast – see images below) or going for runs or walks, having the television on in the background while I’m stitching is one of the things I love to do. If this is the case, I’ve found having a movie or television show on that has a similar genre to the project I’m working on a real motivator.

Balcony View 1 – slight water view
Balcony View 2
Balcony View 3

For example, when I was stitching the Palamino by Country Threads or Midnight Glow by Dyan Allaire for Kustom Krafts (see below), I was regularly watching Heartland or McLeod’s Daughters.

Completed Palamino. I have used this as part of a country/outback/Australiana themed quilt. I've used a navy blue trim around it with lime green or avacado green fabric to connect it to other cross stitch pictures.
Palamino by Country Threads
Three quarters of this image has been stitched. The nose and remaining part of the mane of the horse needs to be stitched. I may not have enough fabric to be able to stitch it all.
Work in progress – Midnight Glow – Design by Deanne Allaire for Kustom Krafts

If I’m not down at the coast, I’m definitely chilling out at home with cross stitch in hand and television in the background. If it happens to be a nice day outside, I’ll try and make the most of it by being out at the patio. Which is where I’ll have my earphones on and I’ll be listening to music or an audio book or something from Youtube like Flosstube!

I have considered taking my stitching public – e.g. going to a park or cafe and stitching whilst drinking a coffee or hot chocolate or even going to the library. I’ve been a bit nervous about it. Scared even! In my introverted way, I’ve been fearful of the fabric getting dirty or spilling something on it. But mostly fearful of what others might say – especially if I’m stitching at a cafe on my own and the staff getting annoyed that I’m sitting at one of their tables for hours on end and only drinking a coffee or hot chocolate, when they could have many people sitting at that table ordering drinks and/or food. Then there’s the sharp object thing in a public space that isn’t a knife if I’m at a cafe. I’d like to think that it shouldn’t be a big deal stitching in public – especially since there are knitting and crochet groups who catch up in my local area!

What about you? Are you a home body as well or do you recharge your batteries through your social interactions or being out amongst nature? Where do you like to stitch? Do you need peace and quiet or something noisy in the background?

I love needle minders!

Meanwhile, if I haven’t mentioned it before in my other posts, I’ll mention it here and quite probably in future posts too…I looooove my needle minder! I can’t believe I’ve been stitching so long without one! It has made the world of difference for reducing the amount of times I jump up from the couch cursing and swearing that I’ve dropped my needle and need to find it before anyone steps on it or sits on it. I love it so much that a few weeks ago at the Canberra leg of the Craft Alive Fair, I bought a few more and I wish I had them with me so that I could share pictures of them with you. Hopefully I’ll remember and share them with you in my next post!

Old school paper patterns

I’m old enough to remember very well the cassette and VHS tapes and the joys of batteries dying in diskman’s and walkman’s and the transition from cassettes to CD’s and VHS to DVD’s to streaming music and movies online. I’m also young enough to be championing the use of digital patterns, spreadsheets and apps on my phone or laptop to keep track of my threads, patterns, fabric and cross stitch related things. But there’s something about the physical marking off of an area of a pattern with a lead pencil that I can’t shake. I have purchased a digital pattern and I have briefly had the intention of trying to keep it digital as I stitch but I couldn’t do it. I had to print it off.

A comfy chair with my legs stretched out

Unfortunately I’ve managed to do something to my side of the recliner couch and I miss being able to have the foot rest up while I’m stitching. It was sooo comfy and it gave my legs a good work out when I needed to put the foot rest back into position. The couch still is comfy and I enjoy being able to sink into it while I’m chilling out. I just need to figure out how to re-establish the tension for the wire that normally enables the foot rest to go out/come out.

So these are just a few of my favourite stitchy places and things. I’d love to hear about your favourite stitchy places and things.

Until next time…Happy Stitching!

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Cross Stitch – Perfection vs Close Enough is Good Enough. Does it really matter?

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

In life and death situations, perfectionism all the way. Unless you’re going Bear Grylls style out in the wild and have limited supplies. Also, we expect near perfectionism when we’re paying professionals for their advice or to do a job for us that we can’t do for ourselves.

What about our private lives? When we’re playing video games, being healthy and active, cooking for our loved ones, crafting and interacting with our family and friends are we wanting things to be perfect?

The Need for Perfection

For some stitcher’s, there is the desire to have stitches as flat and neat as possible and no visibly stray threads – to the point where the stitches are re-stitched until they are exactly the way they want them done.

Clip by Isolath Creations – published on YouTube on 14 February 2016

Then there’s the need for the tension to be right whilst stitching and then having the tension right when the project is being framed – if it gets framed! There are so many different options for finishing a project that the pressure to find the right finishing option for the right project and person can be overwhelming.

When near enough is good enough

Quote by Moumita Ray on 8 August 2018. Image obtained from website http://www.yourquote.in on 4 May 2019

With cross stitch, it is important for the crosses to be uniform and being stitched in the same direction. Once we’ve mastered the basics, for many of us – including myself – use the close enough is good enough approach. For example, I’m stitching a Heaven and Earth Design that has a lot of confetti in it. On the first page I had done some serious muck ups where I had lost track of where I’m stitching on the fabric in comparison to the pattern. Mostly because I had crossed off parts that I hadn’t stitched yet and I thought I would get back to that section to update it, but never did. Which left me with the following choices:

  1. I could use an eraser to rub out where I’d accidentally marked off and stitch the section then and there;
  2. Leave it as is and stitch the area I had accidentally marked off on the pattern; or
  3. Leave it as is and stitch the area using similar colours to what would be used in that area.

I chose to use some creative licence and I left the areas on the pattern marked off and used colours that have been used throughout the page. I also used my own judgement for the amount of stitches for each colour that I thought was appropriate for the area I was working on and for the pattern broadly speaking. Thankfully, the area I was stitching wasn’t too close to the edge of the page so it wouldn’t have an adverse affect on the adjoining pages!

Another example is when I’ve accidentally stitched one too many stitches on a line or two for a long line – e.g. 50 crosses. Rather than unpicking all of it to fix the error, I’ve adjusted the other stitches around the mistake to bring the picture back into alignment.

Creative Licence and Cross Stitch

There have also been times when I have used some creative licence to change or update a pattern because of preference for certain colours and fabric types. Spruce Crafts for example, discuss this very topic and provide guidance on changing fabric counts to suit patterns you want to stitch. I’ve also talked about changing a couple of colours in the pattern I call Jingle Bells, because I didn’t have the colour the pattern called for and I’ve used a metallic thread to give the picture some texture and make it unique.

Image obtained from Shimbo Pottery site on 4 May 2019 –
http://shimbopottery.com/art-and-copyright-law/

One thing I need to make very clear, is the importance of respecting copyright where it’s due. I’m not a lawyer. I understand what I need to and aim here is not to provide any legal advice, but to advocate for the continual respect for copyright and how it affects the artists and those around them. At the end of this post, I have included some links to some creative commons sites and copyright sites for anyone who would like to know more.

The awesome thing I have noticed about the cross-stitch/embroidery community is that the majority of us understand this and respect it. I’ve noticed this with the way people talk about the patterns they are working on via Flosstube. They willingly share the details of who the artist/creator/designer is and where they got the pattern/kit from and encourage the rest of the community to shop local where possible – especially the small local shops that aren’t part of the large chains.

Mistakes happen

For many of us, it can be hard to accept that mistakes happen and to bounce back from them. As a stitcher, mistakes tend to range from miscounting, causing lines to be out of balance by one or more stitches through to stitching sections in the wrong colour. All the while we curse and grumble about lost time, wasted floss, that we need to get our eyes checked and learn how to count again while we’re frogging a section we’ve just stitched.

Milsey’s clip on Frogging a cross stitch project – Posted on 30 January 2018

Embracing the middle ground and flaws in our stitching

It’s clear in this post that I’m advocating the acceptance of near enough is good enough whilst taking pride in our projects and how they look when finished. What I want to know now is what you think. Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your stitching? Alternatively, is near enough good enough for you?
What lengths have you gone to, to ensure your project looks the way that you want it?

Related topics and links:

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Perceptions Are Everything! Or are they?

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

How important are perceptions? Who are you trying to impress? Who are you trying keep on your good side? Who are you trying to stay on the good side of? Additionally, what are your perceptions of cross stitch? How have they changed? Do you know what your family and friends perceptions of cross stitch are?

Perceptions by Hanrie Greeb – Published 2 March 2016

Perceptions are important, whether they be positive or negative ones. What I think it depends on is:

  • what I am trying to achieve
  • who am I needing support from
  • who I am needing to impress

Cross Stitch Perceptions

  • What are your perceptions of cross stitch?
  • What perceptions are you aware of from non-stitchers?
  • Who’s support stitchers need to ensure the longevity of cross stitch?
  • Who’s perceptions of cross stitch are you trying to convert?
  • What would happen if you were successful or unsuccessful in converting them?

For me, bringing new people into the crafting community and having more people to share my interest with is exciting and something I hope happens. But it’s not the end of my world if the interest isn’t there because there’s always the internet and what is old is new again is old again – i.e. it’ll come back into fashion again soon!

Additionally, it’s the opinions of the people who are already part of the crafting community and my loved ones who matter to me the most and I hope they feel the same way. Inclusion is important.

Furthermore, my perceptions of cross stitch is that it’s an awesome hobby to have. Unfortunately it becomes taxing on my posture, eye sight, hands and weight when I’ve been sitting down for too long.

Image from 11 Best Posture-Correcting Devices article

Turning a hobby into a profession

Additionally, I would love to turn my love for cross-stitch into a profession. However, the other perception and reality is that it may not be as lucrative as I would like it to be – especially if I want to maintain my current lifestyle! For people who don’t stitch, they don’t really know or understand just how much time and effort that goes into a piece. And they would not be willing to pay thousands of dollars if the true value was placed on the piece.

Meanwhile, physical and digital stores rely on there being enough stitchers out there who are interested in their products to purchase them. Additionally, the market can be fickle and with the potential for people to create their own patterns using a variety of methods, it makes life difficult for the stores to be able to have the right products in stock and to be able to adjust to changes in the market. Two examples of this is the Victoria House Needlecraft store in Mittagong and the Fox Collection.

Over 10 years ago when I first visited the Victoria House Needlecraft store in Mittagong, the variety of patterns, kits and supplies available was amazing and I have easily spent hours and hundreds of dollars in the store. As time has passed and the business has changed a few times, the availability of products has changed due to consumer interests, what products the suppliers have provided the store and whether consumers are able to buy directly from the suppliers. For example, we can buy directly from Heaven and Earth Designs and a few years ago, we may not have been able to do so.

Meanwhile, the Fox Collection has widened their scope significantly since the first time I was introduced to their catalogue over 10 years ago. I remember the catalogue predominantly featured all things cross stitch related with a few pages a the end for jigsaw puzzles and some scrapbooking supplies. Now, half of the catalogue features pages for scapbooking, diamond dots, decoupage, crochet, knitting colouring-in, paint-by-numbers, quilting and related accessories. Admittedly, the Fox Collection is part of the Innovations brand which enables them to expand their scope and product base to meet the needs of more customers and the changing trends.

Grandma Stitch – The non-stitcher’s view of cross stitch

Meanwhile, when I first got back into cross stitch and I told people what I did in my spare time, I would be met with an ‘oh’ and a slightly puzzled and disappointed look. Or an ‘oh, my grandma does/did that’. I would then proceed to tell people what projects I’m working and show them pictures if I had my phone with me. Which would then completely change their idea of cross stitch and would be a lot more surprised and enthusiastic when they realised that the patterns have progressed from their memories of the traditional samplers they may have seen at their grandparents house.

Time and patience

Other comments and feedback I’ve received about cross stitch is ‘I don’t have the time or patience for cross stitch’. Yet some have the time and patience for watching movies, binge watching television shows, browsing the Net and playing video games to name a few. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loooooove all of those things and I cross stitch while I’m binge watching tv shows and movies. I’m also lucky that no one has filmed me yelling at the tv when I’m playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown because my soldiers can’t shoot straight, the aliens are picking on me or my soldiers have freaked or they’re mind controlled and are trying to shoot each other instead.

To me, the hidden question is whether or not these people want to give cross stitch a go, but are afraid of what others will think of them or they are afraid that they may enjoy it?

Final Thoughts – cross stitch can be cool

I would love for many more non-stitchers to see clips like the one below and the subversive cross stitch sites to see that cross stitch can be of any image or saying you want it to be. And it can be stitched onto anything you want and worn out in public!

The worlds of hip-hop and cross stitch connect in a cool way.

Additionally, I’m one of those nutters who will more likely than not, forego my health for my craft and become a hunched over old lady with hands swollen from arthritis and stitching too much.

Related posts and sites:

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Nanna Naps, Running and Stitching

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

As I’m writing this post, I’m sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather on Saturday 13th April 2019. All the while listening to Kitten Stitcher – Episode 42 and recovering from the 5km leg of the Australian Running Festival in Canberra I participated in this morning and trying not to fall asleep!

I ran the whole 5km, which normally isn’t a big deal for me. However, my training in the lead up to the event hasn’t been where I would have liked, and it’s a hillier event than other courses in Canberra. Also, the week leading up to today’s event I haven’t been sleeping very well and I’ve been playing catch-up with my hydration. On Monday I was silly enough to leave my drink bottle at home which holds 1.89 litres and I didn’t make the most of the opportunities available to me to drink more water.

Stitching wise, I’ve been rotating through three different projects. I’ve been really enjoying the Jingle Bells (my name for the project, not the official name) project because of how awesome it’s looking on the blue fabric and the colours in the pattern.

Jingle Bells work in progress as of 13 April 2019

I’ve swapped out a couple of colours – one intentionally, one unintentionally. I wanted to have a silvery/metallic look to key parts of the pattern to make things interesting and add a different element to the pattern.

Jingle Bells close up of silver metallic thread as of 13 April 2019

The other colour change was one of the blues in the blue bell because I didn’t have the colour recommended in the pattern, so I chose a different blue that I think works well. The image below shows with an arrow pointing to the blue I have used instead of the recommended blue.

Jingle Bells blue thread swap out as of 13 April 2019

I then get my cat fix with the four seasons pattern that’s been my off and on pic for the last few years. My aim is to get it finished by the end of this year.

Four Seasons Kittens – Gold Collection kit – Progress as of 13 April 2019

My challenge for this year/next few years is my first Heaven and Earth Design that I’m stitching for my sister. I’m stitching it one over one (one strand over one square) on 28 count fabric. Which means that the crosses are tiny.

Moon Lit Waters – Heaven and Earth Designs – Artwork by Julie Fain – progress as of 13 April 2019
This is what the picture should look like when I’m finished!

I started this picture about a year or two ago and then got back into it early February 2019. Two of my biggest challenges with this has been keeping track of where I’ve stitched on the fabric in comparison to the pattern and the confetti stitches. So far I’m lucky that the area I’m stitching in has a lot of similar colours, so it wont’ matter too much if I don’t use the same colour that is recommended on the pattern. As long as I don’t confuse myself too much when I move onto future pages!

So where to from here?

Running wise, I really need to fire up my interest and passion for it. A few years ago, I was regularly running 5km 3 to 4 times per week and I was seeing significant progress in my times to complete the distance. I need to fire up again so that I can feel a lot more prepared for future events – the next one being the Mother’s Day Classic.

Stitching wise, I really want to make the most of the fabric I’ve recently bought on a trip up to Mittagong and do those fabrics justice by choosing patterns that compliment them.

Fabric from Mittagong

All the while finishing the three patterns I’m working on that you’ve seen in this post!

Happy Stitching !

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Do You Suffer from Stitcher’s Fear of Missing Out?

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

Have you ever experienced the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)? What influences your decisions for choosing one cross-stitch pattern or project over another?

I will be one of the first people to put my hand up and admit that I regularly suffer from FOMO and it drives me and my loved ones up the wall! My indecision ranges from which chocolate bar to have through trying to decide what meal to have or which cross stitch pattern to stitch next. When I’m trying to make a decision, I consider things from all angles and perspectives – including whether or not I’ll regret my purchase and feel that I’ve missed out on something.

A Psychology Todayarticle (published 23rd April 2018) by Nick Hobson Ph. D. discussed the fear of missing out and two studies scientists conducted to try and understand how FOMO works and if it’s isolated to certain social situations. What I took out of the article is that the FOMO has a lot to do with confidence within ourselves to make decisions that are right for ourselves, being happy with those decisions (regardless of the outcome) and living in the moment.

Ellen explains FOMO on her show on 5 March 2016

It’s important to note that dealing with FOMO and getting over the FOMO is a work in progress. Something that I’m working on daily. When I’m trying to decide on which pattern to stitch next or which one to purchase, I remind myself of the budget I’ve allocated myself and ask myself:

  • Who am I stitching this for?
  • Why do I want to purchase the pattern/kit?
  • When do I need to complete the project by?
  • Can I realistically complete the project in time?
  • Do I have all of the tools for the project?

What about you? Have you ever experienced FOMO or remorse regarding your craft? How have you handled it?

Related Articles and Links:

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Cross Stitch – The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

Have you ever considered that this craft could have a good side, bad side or even ugly side?

The Good…

With cross stitch, the various sides of this craft can range from the amazing creativity we all get to share in with the range of patterns available to us to stitch. Through to the accessories that help us with our craft and the amazing and wonderful people we get to meet and share our passion with and learn from.

Needle Minders

Thankfully I’ve never accidentally sat on a needle pointing the wrong way or stepped on one for that matter. However, I have misplaced many needles throughout my time and wishing I had a way to find them. Knowing that magnets would help me, but not knowing how exactly they would help! It has only been within the last 6 months or so that I’ve come across needle minders – also known as needle nannies. So for my birthday in 2018, I asked for a Big Eyed Cat needle minder by Stitchnmad on Etsy and I absolutely love it! I’m also thinking that I need more needle minders to go with the various WIP’s I have!

What I also didn’t realise about needle minders is how easy it may be to make them! That said, I love the variety and options currently available and knowing that if I fall on hard times, that I could make them myself.

Parking verses cross country

Meanwhile, I’ve recently come across a variety of YouTube clips on cross-stitch involving the technique called ‘parking’. I’m still playing around with this technique and currently I’m finding that it will be more useful for solid projects rather than ones I’m currently working on that have many spaces.

Stitch n’ Bitch sessions

That said, I’ve loved my stitch and bitch sessions with one of my best mates who has since moved interstate. Prior to her move, we would catch up once a week and alternate as to who’s place we would catch up at (we lived within a 15 to 30-minute drive away from each other – a short distance considering we lived in the country!). This time would enable us to catch up on what’s been happening in each other’s lives and share tips, tricks and other stitch related topics with each other. This would range from the way we would start or finish off stitches through to the use of light – lamps to light up the front or back of the projects we’re working on, depending on how dark the fabric was. We would also grumble about our threads knotting up and learning how to count or getting our eyes checked because we had miscounted the number of stitches we needed to do or confusing the thread colour and associated symbol.

Update – As of the end of 2018, my bestie and her husband moved back to Canberra and we’re going to be starting up our stitch n’ bitch sessions again! What’s even more awesome is that she’s living a short 10 to 15 minutes-drive away and we don’t need to worry about country roads!!

The Bad…

The bad side we experience can be associated with the mistakes we make and whether or not we can laugh about them and learn from them. Such mistakes can range from having dirty fingers whilst stitching, resulting in our projects getting dirty. Through to knotty threads, running out of fabric resulting in not being able to finish a project.

Starting in the centre of the fabric (when possible) and all of my crosses going in the same direction

When I got back into cross-stitch after a long hiatus, I had completely forgotten about the importance of starting in the centre of fabric and pattern and making sure that all of my crosses are going in the same direction. I don’t remember any details of when I first got into cross-stitch or what the finished piece looked like, but I do have my first completed piece from when I seriously got back into cross-stitch and it may as well have been my first!

Teddy Bear with Train – not exactly centre and dirty fabric

Meanwhile, from a distance, the dark brown bear seems fine. He’s well centred on the fabric. The half stitches are all pointing in the one direction and the backstitch provides definition to key areas of the piece. A closer look at the piece shows a more troubled picture with many novice mistakes. My crosses are uneven and stitched haphazardly. If memory serves me well, I’d stitched the lines alternating in direction because I thought it was easier and saving time. E.g. line one going right to left and line two going left to right. Then there’s the problem with the backstitch. Because I was in a rush to get the piece completed (I was super keen to start the next one), I didn’t take as much time and care to do a good job. One thing that the dark bear doesn’t tell you is that when I finished him, there was a significant amount of fabric below him.

Bear with Boat – From a distance it looks okay…
Close up of Bear with Boat – not all of the crosses are going in the same direction

Dirty fabric

What you may also notice with the bear below is how dirty the fabric is. Another huge mistake! What I’ve learnt over time and what many of you may know is that it’s a sin for a stitcher to stitch with dirty hands and to leave their fabric dirty when it’s finished. Why? Aesthetically, it looks grubby, messy, unprofessional. Technically, the grub, grime and muck can attract bugs, mites and other nasty critters that can feed off it and eventually ruin the picture. Additionally, there’s the risk of the piece growing mould or remaining stained for the rest of its life because I’ve not washed it soon enough and ensured it’s dried and stored properly.

Bear with Train – dirty fabric above his head.

Having enough fabric

Maths, numbers and I have never really gotten along. In the world of cross-stitch, this means that I have trouble calculating how much fabric I need for a project – especially if I’m choosing to stitch a project on a different count of fabric to what the artist recommends. For example, the image of the white horse as shown below, is the best example of when I have gotten the measurements really wrong.

Midnight Glow pattern designed by Dyan Allaire, published by Kustom Krafts
The above pattern is how Midnight Glow should look when finished!

Which means that I’m going to need to be really creative with the way that I finish off this picture. I had initially thought that I would frame it. But I’m starting to think that I could incorporate it into a scrapbook page.

Knots, pulling my stitches too tight and lumpy stitching

I’m yet to meet a stitcher who loves it when their threads get knotted up while they’re stitching. For me, it’s inevitable for my thread to knot at least once during my time stitching a project. Depending on the size of the knot, I’ll try to pull it through the fabric and continue stitching or pull the thread either side of the knot to ‘undo’ the knot. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work out for me and my stitches end up being pulled too tight or the knot remains and it ends up on the front side of the picture. An example of this is the Kustom Kraft Tiger picture I started stitching ages ago shown below:

Left ear of tiger – some lumpy stitching

The Ugly…

Unfortunately ugly things happen in cross stitch and being part of the cross stitch community makes life easier to deal with when the ugly things happen like the following things…

Breaking a daylight light bulb that’s no longer being made

Many years ago for a birthday present, I received an Over The Top (OTT) daylight lamp that had a magnifier attached to it, like the one below:

OTT Floor Lamp with Magnifier – image from
https://www.sewmucheasier.com/ott-lite-easy-view-floor-lamp

Since the OTT was first purchased, the manufacturers have changed the way the light bulb fits within the socket. So any new bulbs I go to purchase, wont fit the existing socket and I’m left with the conundrum of what to do with a perfectly good stand with a magnifier and possibly purchasing another lamp.

Losing half a pattern that is now out of print

One of the joys of cross stitching is having the option to switch between a variety of projects. One of those projects for me is the Zebra Grande by Elsa Williams. Due to the way the pattern has been produced, it’s split in half and I’ve been clever enough to lose the second half of the pattern!

Zebra Grande by Elsa Williams – what the finished product should look like.
Half finished Zebra

I have made attempts to try and stitch the second half of the Zebras using the colour photo of the finished product, but it’s not the same. A portion of the Zebras are cut off by the matting and framing, so I’m making some guesses which could wildly through out the finished piece.

Lasting thoughts

What have been your experiences with the good, bad and ugly of cross stitch? How have you handled them?

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How healthy (intense) is your cross stitch addiction?

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

During the first year that my boyfriend and I were living together, we became acutely aware of the collections we have and the amount of space they took up. Me and my craft and he and his fishing. At times I would comment in amazement on another package arriving for him, containing more squidgies (aka hard and soft plastic lures) to become part of his collection. Whilst he would occasionally comment on how long I spend in a craft store and how many threads, patterns and fabric I’ve purchased. My boyfriend is amazingly patient! I’m not sure what he would do without his phone to keep him entertained whilst waiting for me to finish up in the craft store and I love him to bits for it!

My boyfriend and I also have a running joke about me leaving my stuff all over the place (not just craft stuff) and how he has displaced it since we moved in together (we’ve been living together for about 7, nearly 8 years!). My man does a fantastic job of keeping his gear to the office and garage and I have my craft room…which can then creep into the living room or lounge room – depending on where I happen to be hanging out at the time – and a little bit in the office. But only because my filing cabinet is there and I’m yet to move it from the office to the craft room. And I’ve had my craft room for about 2 years.

So…my craft room and my collections. Thinking about it now, it’s somewhat out-dated. I have my favourite magazines and books that were purchased several years ago [insert picture of bookshelf in craft room]. Many of the patterns that are in the filing cabinet were purchased over the last 10 years – the most recent purchases being about 2 years ago [insert pictures of filing cabinet]. Majority of my purchases have been fabric and re-stocking my threads as I need them.

I have recently purchased what I thought were some kits, but they’ve arrived without the patterns! I had made the assumption upon purchasing them that the kits contained the patterns, but alas I have the fabric and thread and I need to purchase the patterns separately ☹ Alternatively, I could repurpose the fabric and thread ‘kits’ for other projects. The question will be which projects?

I’ve tried to keep myself restrained and not purchase too much, as I tell myself that I can’t purchase anything until I have completed however many other projects I want to do or am in the middle of. It is with this in mind, that I think I’ve hindered myself in the process. You see, when I’m taking a break from some of the bigger, intense projects, I enjoy stitching birthday and Christmas cards to give to friends and family and friends. The part where I end up stitching myself up (pun intended) is when I go to choose a pattern for them. I end up reverting to the same old ones I’ve stitched time and time again and I feel myself getting bored because I’ve stitched a similar pattern before but for a different family member or friend.

The other reason why I’ve tried to restrain myself from a lot of purchases, is that I want to convert a lot of my photos [see my Pinterest boards] into cross stitch patterns. My intention to start entering them into a variety of craft competitions such as the Sydney Royal Show, the Ekka and Canberra Royal Show and see how things go.

Where my stitching obsession kicks in is the amount of time I spend working on my craft and/or thinking about it. I stitch every day if I can. The only times when I’m not stitching is when I’m super tired from a long day and I know that if I try to do some stitching, I’ll more than likely have to unpick it the next time I pick up the project because I’ve mis-counted or used the wrong colour or something along those lines.

What about you? What does your cross-stitch addiction look like? Have any family members or friends try to tell you that you have too many threads, patterns, kits or accessories? Also, how often do you talk about your addiction? Are you supported by family and friends who feed your addiction through gift vouchers and similar things?

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Cross-stitch Therapy

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

Many articles and blog posts have been written about the importance of mindfulness and taking time out for your self and your mental well-being. Colouring books for adults has become very popular in recent years as well as the resurgence of journaling. In my teenage years, I went through a bout of depression after seeing the movie “Saving Private Ryan”. For an unknown reason at the time, I found writing and colouring books to be therapeutic. I even remember asking my mum to buy some more colouring books as I had already finished off the kids colouring books that we had around the house (from when my siblings and I were younger) and I needed something a bit more challenging. 

As I’ve gotten older and I’ve gotten back into cross-stitch, I’ve found cross stitch to be just as thereputic as colouring in and journaling. When I’m stitching on my own, I’m able to focus solely on the task at hand and have some music, tv or flosstube playing in the background. On the days when I’ve let life get to me and I’m stuck in my head (i.e. I’m unable to vocalise the mood I’m in or I know I’m in a bad mood and it’s best for me to not talk too much), I use cross-stitch as a way to focus my attention on something positive and methodical. Additionally, when my family and friends ask why I do cross-stitch, my regular reply is ‘it’s one of the few things I can do where I’m allowed to get angry and annoyed at myself and I can’t get fired for it!’

Subversive cross-stitch quote – Author of quote unknown

What I hadn’t expected or anticipated was the number of people who have written about cross stitch and embroidery being thereputic! I have known for some time that other forms of creative arts such as writing, painting, sculpting etc. have enormously positive affects for people who need a way to channel the energy they have and express their thoughts and feelings. Susan Luckman (Professor of cultural studies), Kate Dwyer and Robin Shreeves (freelance writer) are just three of the many people who have written about the positive affects of cross stitch and embroidery as ways for people to reduce their anxiety and stress levels. 

Which may be why subversive cross stitch like the above image, has become so popular and given cross stitch a new lease on life. As it has given people an alternative way to express themselves and communicate their thoughts and feelings that they may not have otherwise had words for. 

So how has cross-stitch and the creative arts helped you? Have you been able to help someone through cross-stitch? Alternatively, do you have a favourite saying or quote? Have you put it into stitches? I would love to hear about your experiences!

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What type of stitcher are you?

Posted on by Kristen Gawronski

I have a love hate relationship with running. I love the excited feeling I get before a run – especially if I’m competing in an event – and the exhausted feeling or feeling of achievement after an event. It’s just the actual act of running I’m not always fond of – especially when various parts of my body are whinging or I’m just not feeling it and I end up walking more than I do running.

My reason for talking about running, is that I’ve come across a few articles over the years about the different types of runners in the community, and it got me thinking about those types could relate or be converted to our world of stitching.

In terms of running, I’m a little bit of everything. I have about 3 different apps going during my run, plus the fit bit on my wrist. I need to listen to music if I’m running on my own. If I’m running with others, I really don’t like talking to others unless it’s before or after the event. I’m competitive and will compare my times from previous events for the same course with current times and use that as my motivator to do better next time. I’m also a fair-weather runner and I will use the weather as an excuse to not go for a run if I’m really not feeling it. My stubborn determination has also gotten in the way of this logic and the reasoning that I paid to participate in the event (even though under any other circumstances I wouldn’t run in 20 to 40-kilometre winds with rain) because it’s for a good cause. Usually it’s the Mother’s Day Classic that has this kind of weather and I’ve inevitable caught a cold as a result!

So with no further delay, I present to you, my version of ‘What Type of Stitcher are You?’:

Social Stitcher

Group of emojis from https://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-with-emojis/

As a social stitcher, your energy and enthusiasm comes from stitching in a group environment. At times you can stitch alone, but feel lonely and drained as a result. By stitching in a group, you’re able to laugh, share your triumphs and struggles with life and your projects. Because stitching and enjoy other people’s company is what it’s all about.

Trend setter

Are you breaking all the rules and setting up new ones? Are you getting the rest of us to rethink the meaning of being a stitcher? So many questions with so many more answers! Being a trend setter means that your finger (or needle) is on the pulse of the stitching world. You know what patterns, threads, fabrics, accessories and kits have us begging for more and trends that have us chomping at the bit to try. Which may include an unconventional way of expressing yourself through cross-stitch. An amazing example is Severija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene’s embroidery like the image below:

Image from online magazine dontpaniconline.com. Artwork by Sevrija Incirauskaite-Kriauneviciene

Lone Wolf

Gray Wolf emoji – free download from http://www.kisspng.com

“Introverts unite…alone at our own homes”. Stitching-wise, being a lone wolf means that you’re happy to be where you’re most comfortable – regardless of what your family, friends and the stitching community may expect of you. You have no need to follow trends or try to keep up with Jones’s. You just do what feels right to you and stitch whatever patterns you want (which really is what all of us do anyway 😊).

One project at a time

You find it easier to stitch one project at a time rather than having multiple projects on the go at the same time. By working on one project at a time, you are able to focus all of your attention and resources on it and it’s a project that you absolutely love! For some of you it may be a Heaven and Earth Designs (aka HAED) or a similarly full coverage piece that will take you years to complete, but it will look absolutely amazing when you’ve finished it. For others, you may have a lot of things happening in your life and you’re unable to spend as much time as you want on cross-stitch.

So many projects. So little time.

You have many projects on the go and at times you feel like you don’t have enough time in the day to stitch all of the projects you want. What doesn’t help is that you are regularly searching the internet and attending craft fairs that have even more projects that you fall in love with and must have then and there! With so many projects you’re working on, you may then find yourself searching the internet for a variety of suggestions on how to manage all of your projects and have a rotation schedule.

Cross Stitch Planning and Organization by Stitchin’ Mommy, published on 14 May 2018 on YouTube.

The Overachiever

Yellow smiling emoji with stars as eyes.
Smiling star-eyes emoji from http://www.kisspng.com

As an overachiever, you have a number of projects on the go and you get them all completed within the time frame you have assigned yourself and you have gone above and beyond to make them look Ah-may-zing! You may also find yourself staying up quite late or getting up super early to finish off that project or page that has been your ‘bug-bear’. You have more than likely timed how long it takes you to stitch in an hour and you try to better it each time.

The Accessoriser

In order for you to get comfortable and commence your cross-stitch, you need to have your needleminder, support gloves, stitching stand, special scissors, scissor-minder (I’m not sure if they exist, but I’m sure they do!), hoops, spare scissors, highlighters, pencils, erasers, pattern – physical and digital versions… Have I missed anything? Oh! Lighting – natural light through the window as well as your over the top light and magnifier glass and regular glasses. You’re regularly on the hunt for any other accessories that may help you with your stitching, whether it be to make it more comfortable for your or stitch quicker.

Embroidery toolbox by Milsey – published on YouTube on 18 June 2017

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