I’ve been asked by a local knitting shop, Stitch-up in Wimbledon, to run a felt flower course at their shop. I made a bouquet of these flowers for my wedding bouquet, and so many people commented on how beautiful it looked. They’re very easy to make, so if you fancy having a go, we’re planning on running the course in June. See the Stitch-up website for more details.
I’ve had a piece of fabric put aside to do the Prairie Schooler ABCs in one, though I always figured I’d never commit to something that big. It turns out that it was a full yard as I’d never quite got around to working out how big a piece I’d need. A full yard will be more than big enough for Dutch Beauty AND the fabric for Dutch Beauty will be more than big enough for ABCs. Kismet! It’s settled. I will do both (in what I laughingly refer to as my spare time). In for a penny, in for a pound, right? *Cough* Yeah, right.
Another thing that’s settled is that there is no way I’m doing the Dutch Beast in it’s pre-ordained colours. Too boring. I’m going to exercise my creative bone and use whatever colours I feel like on any of the motifs, but I want to stay with the pale antiques as I really don’t think brights or jewels will suit this pattern, in design or spirit.
I’ve had a dig through my stash and have some colours which I think will do, including some overdyes I’ve always wanted to use, but never had a pattern for. I’ve already started the border, so will keep that green, which is actually very nice, but all bets are off with the rest of it. The DMCs it came with will just be absorbed into my stash for other projects. I went from being a little overwhelmed to really excited!
The only thing now is to decide whether or not to abandon DB already in favour of starting (or re-starting, I’ve already stitched G is for Garden separately) the ABCs. Tonight is Pizza night (£2.50 for a 3 topping 10″ from Sainsburys) with a Grey’s Anatomy moronathon thrown in for good measure, so I intend to get a serious amount of stitching done!
I’ll let you know tomorrow what I decided!
As I’ve been clearing out the storeroom to make more space for stock, I’ve been coming across long forgotten UFOs, one of which was Permin’s Dutch Beauty. I bought it on sale somewhere and eagerly brought it home, got it all out, started it, became annoyed about something, packed it all up again and promptly forgot about it. So, anyway, the other day I was reading Paulette’s (of Plum Street Samplers fame) latest Dutch Beauty update and thought to myself, “heeey, I just hoiked that out of a bag somewhere”. So, I hauled it all out again to have a look then promptly remembered why I gave up in disgust after about 20 stitches.
I think the fabric is too small.
Seriously.
Now, I tend to be old skool and start a project in the middle, but lately, I’ve taken to starting in the upper left hand corner and working my way across then down, especially on multi page projects. I measure up the fabric, determine the size of the finished piece, do some basic maths to work out the size of the border then start that far away from the edge. But as I was looking at the corner where I’d started, it all came flooding back. The fabric is more than wide enough, but, according to my calculations (which are very different than the advertised size), the fabric isn’t TALL enough. The problem is, nowhere on the pattern does it state the finished size, basically because the instructions allow for different thread counts. The only place to find the measurements is on the interweb, which state 96cm x 59cm. That’s 37.79″ x 23.22″. Perfect for the fabric size which is 28″ high. However, the fabric is 32ct (not specified, I got out a ruler and counted, yes counted!, the threads in an inch) and the stitch count (which I also had to count as it’s not printed on the pattern) is 630 x 390. My trusty calculator says that, on 32ct fabric, over 2 threads, the finished design will be 39.375″ x 24.374″. That’s not even a 2″ border top and bottom! No wonder every single framed finish I’ve ever seen has no mount and the frame right up to the border. There’s no room for anything else! I suspect that the only solution that will bring me any peace is to cut a new piece of fabric from stock and then keep this fabric for other shop samples (enough to stitch 25 more PRS letters?).
Has anyone finished it and knows how big it is?
Country Stitches Word Play – March’s Doorbells is up on the site today. It’s the latest in this series and features little cross stitch flowers, shamrocks and lambs.
You will need:
Gentle Art Sampler: Dried Thyme, Gold Leaf, Brandy
Gentle Art Shaker: Shutter Green, Parchment, Walnut, Ginger Snap, School Yard, Roasted Marshmallow, Tomato, Pumpkin Pie, Wood Trail, Heirloom Gold, Wheat Fields
Fabric: R&R Reproductions 35ct Abecedarian: (not yet available, but coming soon)
Thanks very much to Alison for pointing out that it wasn’t possible to order fabric products from a pattern’s requirements list. I have now fixed this by adding the “Fat or Long?” field to the list. It defaults to “Fat”, so 99 times out of 100 you won’t need to change it, but it’s there if you want to!
You might need to refresh the page to see it, so just let me know if you’re still having trouble with this.
Karla
The first patterns are going up, most without the requirements lists initially, just so I can get them all on the site. I’ll go back over them in the next week. There are loads, so it will be keeping me busy!
First up, two new beauties from Blackbird Designs:
A veritable whopper at 55 pages there is For My Friend:
Next up, we have 3 offerings from Homespun Elegance:
First there’s “Home a Haven”
Then the needful Spring Eggs III:
and finally the ric-rac-tastic Making My Heart Happy:
”Stitching makes my heart happy”. OMG, never a truer word was spoken! The other two are true too, of course, but mmmmm stitching!
We also have four new designs from La-D-Da (Spot the Cat, Alone in the Garden, The Seven Virtues and The Wicked Witch) which I’ll do a separate post for. And there are many, many more to come, so watch this space!
What blogs do you love? I haven’t had much time to bask in the beauty and inspiration of your blogs, I’m sorry to say, but I’d love to hear about what you’re all up to. Please send me your stitch blogs (I especially love drooling over people’s workspaces!) or any other creative blogs that you love. I’m looking for inspiration!
Terms and Conditions: Please only post links to stitch related blogs. I’m not interested in lotteries, condoms or making anyone’s genitalia larger. I reserve the right to delete/not publish any comments containing spammy or unrelated links. I want real blogs by real stitchers, no blatant commercial links, please (unless you’re a designer, in which case, I’d love to check out your style). Also, if you’re a customer, please say so! I’m particularly interested in what you’re up to!
Just a quick note to let you all know that the new goodies from Nashville are on their way to us. I’m hoping to get all the new patterns up quickly, sans requirements in most cases, then go back and add the requirements in over the next few days. I’m not sure yet exactly what’s in the shipment, but you’ll know as soon as I do. Exciting!
Just a quickie to say we’ve just added the following Lakeside Linens items to stock:
Bad Behavior has blocked 12 access attempts in the last 7 days.
