Cross Stitch Cafe 2011

Marru

I have finished the little bird but my camera is so rubbish that I can't get decent pictures unless I have daylight so piccie tomorrow hopefully. Next project: The chickens

This is how the challenges sort of happened:

March: Cocerspaniel
April: Border Collie
May: Finish Woodland Folks
June: One bird and the chickens
July: ???? (Except I really want to start on the wolves but would like to get all the smaller projects out of the way)

blue_eyed_girl

Morning Ladies

Just having a catch up with you all before my day gets underway. One of the many reasons this cafe is successful is the fact its open 24/7 - I mean how many cafes open this early on a morning??

:j Fantastic news chicky - will try to help in any way I can.
Love your lake picture Louise - must have taken you ages to do - but the result is amazing.

Sammr - :j - everyone will love your card I'm sure.

Thinking of you bikerchick - take care of yourself.

Bubbles - you sound as though you have had a tough time but hopefully things are brighter for you now.

Incidentally I would never ever have dared to join an actual group for many reasons - quite shy (yes really) and I would have been afraid that my 'masterpieces' were not up to standard. Oh and btw I'm an oldie at 52 have a wonderful husband and great son. Please don't take offence anyone - sadly I do not 'do cats' - especially when they come and pay a visit into my garden - that said - I would never ever hurt them.

Looks a lovely morning out there so far. Washer is on the go already.

Tea anyone ?????

nykied

Why do you always offer tea when you can see I've already got a cup that I made myself just five minutes ago??

blue_eyed_girl

nykied wrote: »

Why do you always offer tea when you can see I've already got a cup that I made myself just five minutes ago??

So sorry -its just a habit I've got into :D:D:D

Marru

Just had coffee but won't say no for a tea

Anyway here the piccie:



And here picture of the chickens I am going to start tonight. I think I need to dig out my sewing machine to zigzag over the edges of the aida before I start, it is not very big so don't really want any freying (sp?).

23rdspiral

Oh wow chicky! That's just brilliant!!!!

and it's so good to read over everyone's answers... really cheering me up. thanks everyone!

1) When did you set up the group and why did you decide on a virtual club rather than a real-life?
I joined the club in feb 2010, after being on MSE for quite a while. Despite being a complete novice I only lurked for a short time before joining. Everyone was very friendly so I wasn't afraid to ask 'silly' beginner questions. Being online means everyone can give the time to it they choose. People's posting ebbs and flows depending on how many project updates they want to post or what else is going on in their lives. People may 'go away' for long periods but are always welcomed back warmly. (And if we've forgotten who they are, or what they were stitching, we can always search the thread for their last post and remind ourselves!!)

2) How did you begin recruiting members?
A real life friend of a friend had shown me some of her stitching and I was I interested but didn't know her well enough to ask her how to start. When reading up on frugal cooking tips I saw someone had the Cross Stitch Cafe in their signature so I went looking for it. I was already a member when we decided to have numbers.. so I'm number 23, which relates to my user name.

3) What's the age range of your members and are you all UK based?
I'm 30, i live with my fiance in the east midlands.

4) Any funny/uplifting stories you can share with us?

Well i actually think there are too many to mention! But if pushed i'd say...

When ChickyWiggle announced her preganacy we were all very pleased for her. This immeditaly meant we named 'tineywiggle' our next newest cafe member... even though he was a long time off being born! Of course, when he finally arrived we all gathered round like any group of excited and delighted friends eagerly awaiting news and photos.

Sweetcarer's flower alphabet springs to mind. So beautiful and such a good thing to restore - both physically by saving it from the shed, finishing and cleaning it, and mentally into a good place in your heart.

Bubbles journey to recovery will alway stay with me.

5) You mentioned the quilt joint stitch project which sadly went missing... Will you do any more joint projects do you think? And what would you do with the finished article?
I really enjoyed being part of the Quilt Challenge. At that point I'd never stitched for anyone other than a small card for my mum, so the idea of sending my work out into the world was quite daunting. Like others I am still sad the project was 'lost' along the way. I still have the chart for my little pixie and would like to stitch him again some time. Another joint project would be fantastic, but we'd have to try to ensure all participants were as committed as we were. We could auction the finished item / items off, or I do like the idea of creating a quilt for a sick child, a charity project someone else here has mentioned before.


6) Are there any plans to ever meet up in real life?
We've mentioned it before, but I guess the reasons why we haven't met up in real life yet are also the key reasons why this cafe works so well for us is: it's open 24/7, you can give only as much as of your time and your-self as you choose, it doesn't have any fees, and doesnt cost any money to travel to.

I have a couple of 'real-life' friends who do cross stitch now, and we occasionally stitch over coffee. I've told them about the cafe and I know at least one of them lurks here from time to time!


7) What are the benefits of being part of an online club over a real-life club?
The initial benefit for me was being able to ask very simple beginner questions without getting embarased! Everyone was very helpful, even though they must have answered the same questions a dozen times before. With the Cafe members encouragement I successfully stitched a DMC Colour Variations house and Lucie Heaton Japanese Doll design and have not looked back since.

My latest project was a wedding sampler for my cousin. It was very ambitious for me as although I used a butterfly and heart border from a chart in a book, the given wording was a humourous jibe at men always being right. With advice from the girls here I found the confidence to decide upon and chart the backstitch words, I even had to design several of the very twiddly letters myself as they weren't in the original text. I also changed the border to suit my design better. The sampler was also the first piece I'd ever properly framed: it was the day before the wedding and I was distraught to realise my fiance had gone to work with key to the shed, with the double sided tape locked inside, but i knew I could get help here... within minutes of posting my plea alternative suggestions had been given - from odd places I could get tape out of hours, to how to lace it up instead. This could not have happened without the club being avalible to members online 24/7. This may be a little thing to some, but the reasurance I recieved meant that I didnt pannic and my wedding gift was finished in time. I was so proud to give it to the bride, but her thanks can't only be for me... credit needs to go to the girls in the Cross Stitch Cafe too.

Simply put, whenever I come online I am reminded that stitching is good for my soul, and that I have a strong group of friends who are supportive, funny and completely non-judgemental. We started off just talking about stitching, but now share as much of our lives as we choose to. After a bad day a work, with the boilder playing up so I can't shower, I'm looking and feeling like a wreck but I can still visit the cafe and no-body minds (or knows!)

8) Can you sum up the ethos of the club for me in 3 words?

My idea would be: friendly, thrify, stitchy

(and I do love Louise's 'Money Stitching Experts')

Flat_Eric

Just popped on very quickly to say that my lovely newsagent are forever in my debt because guess what was waiting for me when I went in this morning ???? the lovely Margaret Sherry publication I mentioned about the other day :j:D:j:D:j:D:j:D:j:D:j:D

I have to say that its the best £10 I have spent on cross stitch in a long time. Just to look at the lovely designs brings a smile to my face and having them all in one handy booklet is just, well, :T:T:T

Oh and I see the news about us featuring in Cross Stich Crazy !!! :T:T:T So exciting !!! (sadly) I am at work so can't catch up properly with all the posts but will catch up properly tonight/tomorrow

tellmeitsfriday

To Smiths I must go at lunchtime then Glad its good Flat Eric

23rdspiral

hi, just wanted to say i've made my above 'answers' post make sense now! sorry its a bit of an essay... i just kinda got on a role.

Marru - i love those chickens! was it you who posted them a while ago? or did someone else stitch them too?

*Louise*

Morning all!!

Just finished cleaning and had some porridge (how very Scottish LOL) so thought I would pop in while checking the online bank.

ONE MORE DAY until I can get back to my stitching!! :j I have made the Lego wall, decorated a giant lego rocket and made 5 big posters which will cover the windows of the house - going to my sisters tonight to decorate the house so we just need to hope it doesn't rain now! Be glad when this Gala day is over tbh.

My challenge for the rest of June is to complete 'New Heights' and the 'Seafarers Map' which I unearthed the other day

blue_eyed_girl wrote: »

Love your lake picture Louise - must have taken you ages to do - but the result is amazing.

Thank you. 7 months, stitching every day and lots of encouragement on here to keep at it. Definitely the biggest challenge I have ever set myself, but it looks lovely above the stairs.:D