Cross-stitch cafe 2010

awesome2_2

Hi Everyone

Hope you are all having a fab day. I am quite new to cross stitching and have been buying kits from various places these have always been done on Aida. Could someone please explain what the count means eg 14 count and is Aida always the best material to work with if not what is?
Thanks everyone have a great evening.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi Awesome2

14 count will often be listed as 14 HPI -which means there are 14 holes to the Inch ..
so you will get 16 hpi, 18 hpi etc which means the holes and there for the crosses will be smaller
Then you get different fabrics like even weave, linen which a lot of people prefer -and they will come in sizes like 28ct, 32ct -which means you get 28/32 holes to an inch of fabric -but with these you generally sew "over 2 threads" so you miss a hole out of each cross -which means that a 28ct works out the same size as a 14ct aida..
I hope that rambling makes sense....although Im sure someone can explain it better

poppett

Gargoyle, do you have a photo of your German Shepherds project? I have thought about getting a kit/chart too so wil be interested if you get any decent links.

Last night I started a new project from "A Woman's World in Cross Stitch" book I have. My own German Shepherd must've had too many treats as he kept throwing his ball in my lap for me to throw it. It wasn't til this morning when I picked my stitching up again I realised I had made a mistake...not a small one but one that took over an hours unpicking!!! :rolleyes:
All back on schedule now and someone else can throw his ball tonight!

Casperthefriendlyghost

Here's my UFO at the moment lol x

http://twitpic.com/vwmm3

Cheers
Casper
x x

mountainofdebt

Thanks for your comments guys - you sort of confirmed what I was edging towards......the celtic knot it is then!

Keiss - if the birth samplers are the ones with the characters down the sides and the names and dates etc in the middle then I did that one for my son (17 years ago) and I still think its lovely!

nmm

Casperthefriendlyghost wrote: »

Here's my UFO at the moment lol x

http://twitpic.com/vwmm3

Hope it's ok to post the link here.

Cheers
Casper
x x

Casper of course its ok and it's coming along great, personally i'd go for a full body nude shot, ooooh the fun stitching that :rotfl:

My African Lions is 42x68cm, its the biggest one i have ever done, my others have been roughly A4 size.

Gemm85

misty blue and casper your UFO's look great, can't wait to see them finished!

Anglea

awesome2 wrote: »

Hi Everyone

Hope you are all having a fab day. I am quite new to cross stitching and have been buying kits from various places these have always been done on Aida. Could someone please explain what the count means eg 14 count and is Aida always the best material to work with if not what is?
Thanks everyone have a great evening.

Hi, cross stitch is as fab hobby. Most people start with Aida, and it depends on your eyesight which count you will start with. 16, 18 and upwards to evenweave means it can be very fiddly.

I think most people choose 14 Aida. But if your eyes aren't that good, then use 11 Aida.

If you want a project that is easy to hold, and deal with once it's finished e.g. no framing, washing etc then try plastic canvas which you can also get in different sizes..

Keiss_21

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Keiss - if the birth samplers are the ones with the characters down the sides and the names and dates etc in the middle then I did that one for my son (17 years ago) and I still think its lovely!

That's it, or rather, them, as I did two different ones, one for each of my sons. I found them when looking for wool to knit Christmas pressies. I found a part-knitted jumper (probably at least 10 years old!). It is bright red, so I knitted 4 woolly hats, two for under 4s and two for adults. In the adult ones I added white, when the first started looking like a Santa hat, I added a few more stripes further up the crown, they all looked good I must say!.

I also found part-made Christmas stockings. They are over 3 feet long and pre-printed. I backed them with dark green sheeting with wadding inbetween and quilted around each pictured toy with the sewing machine...quite a task! Anyway I found one already quilted, together with a back which is diamond quilted (again sewing machine). I didn't have time to finish it in time for this Christmas, but plan on getting it done for my neice for Christmas 2010.

So a few UFOs waiting for me to complete!

I will take piccies of all my UFOs when I have got the hang of my new camera...our old one died just before Christmas when I was trying to take pictures of all the knitting that I did for this past Christmas...so no record of those then!

This year I want to make Christmas cards, whether cross-stitch or other crafty method. I have loads of odds and ends in boxes under the bed...I plan on liberating them this year!!

So while I wait for the H&E Astronomer design to arrive. I will look through the tons of X-stitch books I have and decide on a few cards I can make in the mean-time. I also have some plastic canvas, so I can see some tree decorations appearing too! I will be able to draw up a list of any extra threads I will need to add to the Astronomer threads order (from accrosstown).

Right off to start looking at my books...what an indulgence, and will keep the Christmas mood going for a while!

Ruth_honey

littlestar1981 wrote: »

I have a UFO! My nanna and I bought a 'Calendar Bears' cross stitch about 10 years ago; she finished hers within months and it hung proudly by the front door until she died in September... so now I want to finish mine... sat working on it while watching Bad Santa, there's 12 bears to do, I have completed 2 and have 2 half done!

Oooh, I have that kit too. Also unfinished.:rotfl: I'm not even sure where it is, but I know I'm quite a way through it. Maybe 9 bears done???