Anyone cross stitching today?

Those are GREAT ideas, I wonder why I didn't get notified you had responded... I know I was out of town Saturday... but really!

You could also turn them into Xmas cards too. I have been using the wood cutouts then cutting the aida cloth to the shape of the cutout. I do a cross stitch piece in the center of the shape, then finish it with ribbons, button embellishments, and cording around the edges. I will see what I have left and throw up a couple pictures for you to see. I usually sell on Ebay 2 to 3 times a year. It takes a bit to have a bunch of crafts done to sell but I almost always sell them all out. Hope the ideas help you. Oh another thing is if you see a craft shop and theyhave the smaller grapevine wreaths, you can lay the grapevine on top of the aida cloth and cut out and make sure to stitch the picture within the inner hole. then I wrap ribbons and flowers to them and you can hang themn on trees too or depending on the design and color you can use them for magnets on the fridge, or just country things to hang on peg shelfs. I always come up with tons of ideas for small pieces. I like doing something different with them than just place in a frame.

On 14 and 18 ct aida you usually use 2 strands of floss. this covers nicely and does not make your project look bulky. 22, 25 count is 1 thread over 1 square. 28ct is usually evenweave or linen cloth and that will be two threads over two squares (which makes it 14ct basically) But its a finer softer cloth than most of the aida cloths. This is just a rule of thumb. Read your pattern fully, and sometimes companies will vary. But I will be doing a 25ct piece soon and while the company said we can do 2 threads, I think of the bulk that would be like placing 8 floss strands through each hole. as you come up and down and back to your next square. I went and read a lot of comments on this and some women have started projects and thrown them out as they noticed the material bunching up because of the use of to many threads. I am doing 1 thread over 1 hole on a 22ct piece and it is covering beautifully. If you cut down on your next project to 2 strands you will notice when you cut a piece of floss it will give you 3 2strand pieces to use. More floss to go further on your project and it covers very nicely. I will have my picture up tomorrow of my 14ct I am working on.

You really know your way aroun cross stitch. I'll gonna check your pictures here if you will post it. Good luck.. :)

Thats awesome! yea I dont do the kits now either. I just buy the patterns and then kit up the floss and buy the material. That way I can adjust the size depending on the count of the material.

One thing I noticed when I bought my first big project was that they insisted on making the grids on the fabric to make it easier to follow the patter. After she finished putting the grid on, she then showed me how to actually do the stitching correctly. That was never done when I purchased kits when I was younger so it is no wonder that I was never successful in completing a project. I hope that when my niece comes back to the states that she is able to bring the one that I finished there. I can't say that I saw any other major differences except the actual pictures. Have a great week!!!

I would love to see it sometime! I know there is such a difference in China stitchery and ours. I took my piece in one day when I was getting some chinese food. The lady knows me personally and she come out to view what I was working on and tried to tell me about personally about china stitchery.

That sounds awesome the piece she is working on that you described! I am amazed how many men do cross stitch. With that you had me think of another story on cross stitch

You know I have a friend that is a complete perfectionist front and back etc on her stitching. I stitch because I have chonic pain all the time. It takes my mind off the pain. Mostly because I am concentrating on something else. I have another girlfriend that also cross stitches and she has some of the same illnesses I have. She said if you make a mistake, and you don't go back and rip it up it makes for a unique cross stitch piece that you made. She made me feel good about my cross stitching again and that we should enjoy our craft and not make so much about the perfection. And more than likely, we are the only ones that can SEE the mistake! Thanks so much for sharing!

You are right! I used to be terrible about doing the project perfect! I was telling someone about some piece I was doing, and the colors were similar and I made a mistake. She said something about if they were so similar nobody could tell there was a mistake anyway. She was right of course and I try to let some things go but sometimes it is hard.