Cross Stitch Cafe 2012

flowerofscotland

QueenB. wrote: »

has anyone tried dyeing their own fabric? I want to have a go to save some money on the more specilaist aida but I'm worried about the dye affecting the threads over time.

The only dyeing of stitching fabric I have done has been with tea or coffee to get that antique "tea dyed" effect but I would have thought that dyes suitable for fabrics would be OK. Brings back memories of tie dyeing T shirts etc in my Mum's washing machine - she wasn't impressed :eek:

flowerofscotland

*Louise* wrote: »

Speaking of Seasons - I do like the idea of the same scene shown at different times of the year. I may do myself something like this:

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter


They look fairly quick to do, no backstitch - I reckon maybe a week for each one?

I like the way they come with their own frames, the price is really good (imo) I would probably stitch the name of the season on them as well to finish them off.

I love these frames and like the designs though it would take me more than a week to stitch one.

flowerofscotland

*Louise* wrote: »

WORLD OF CROSS STITCHING
Lots of nice designs, not too many I will be adding to my list though (which is a relief really!)

The birth sampler is a good one which can be stitched up pretty quickly

Daffodil wood is really lovely, I do like John Clayton designs

Margaret Sherry's cat is lovely but too many flowers for me

DS2 will LOVE the space designs - I can see me having to make him something from there...actually I could see a whole space scene formed on a large piece of black aida looking really good! All the solar system planets in a row with the other details around them.....hmm....I got that black aida from acrosstown by accident and they told me to just keep it if I could make use of it....

Not keen on the easter stuff. I never actually send easter cards, neither does anyone I know. Christmas Cards are bad enough, I'm not giving myself more work! :rotfl:

Don't like the Roman Goddess AT ALL

I need to hide the hippo alphabet from my mum....she LOVES hippos :rotfl:



As for next month.....Not fussed about the free gift, the regency ladies look nice, and the unicorn mentioned by others is lovely, but not something which I will tackle - too many white/greys

Ok...done...better get onto some stitching soon :T

Love reading what everyone else thinks about the designs in the latest WOCS

I love the Daffodil Wood circle but then John Clayton is one of my favourite XS designers - I've stitched one of his circles, one of his panoramas and 2 of his Elegant Ladies (probably my favourite series of his). Am thinking that this might be a good design to try out the magic line evenweave I bought recently (thanks to a link on here )

I like the Home Sweet Home design and could see me stitching that as a gift at some time. It would make a nice coaster.

I like the Margaret Sherry cat and love the flowers - just the sort I like to stitch with little or no backstitch - see how different our tastes can be

I quite like the Gail Bussi sampler and I like the way it has been finished with the fabric surround and wire hanger. Interesting that they don't give instructions for this -probably don't want the criticisms that Cross Stitcher gets for including sewing as well as cross stitch ?

I think the Belfast dotted linen in the Willow Fabrics advert is stunning and love the tea cosy and egg cosy designs that are illustrated.

The space designs are great but I have a long standing UFO of Earth from space so I can't add any of these to my to do list. I think your idea of combining some of the designs on a piece of black aida is great and am looking forward to seeing this

I like the Roman goddess but not enough to stitch her at the moment

Hippo alphabet and the 2 subscriber charts with hippos are fun.

Everything else has too much backstitch for my taste.

Love to know what everyone else's views are

flowerofscotland

HP_Sauce wrote: »

Evening all...
Please could anybody recommend me some decent pinking shears for cutting the edge of my aida to stop it fraying? I don't want to spend a fortune but I dont want to get cheap ones if they are going to be rubbish. I'm not really sure how much I need to spend on these thing?
Thanks
HP

Late last year (Nov/Dec) I bought a set of 3 pairs of scissors from Dunhelm Mill which included pinking shears. They are titanium coated and are sharp. You can pay a lot for any type of scissor but the problem with pinking shears is that you can't sharpen them (unless someone knows differently?) so I didn't want to pay a lot. This set were cheaper than a pair of pinking shears on their own.

flowerofscotland

sweetcarer wrote: »

Wow great minds think alike I was thinking of the lavender and lace celtic ladies - think you can get conversions online for other colours other than the ones that its designed with - link to all 5

http://www.country-designs.co.uk/info/lavender-and-lace.aspx

How long did it take flowerofscotland? It is on my to do list to do them one day.

Sweetcarer - yes you can get conversions to other colours particularly for Autumn and Summer as a lot of people seem to think that the original colours aren't ideal. I've versions of Summer with more pinks and of Autumn with more rust/orange shades. All look stunning.

I never have just one project on the go at the same time as I stitch other things as well as cross stitch so if I'm in a stitchery or patchwork phase I can go for weeks without doing a cross stitch so it's impossible for me to estimate the time taken. They are quite large pieces so obviously they take weeks but I find L&L charts very easy to follow. The bit that takes the longest for me is the beading at the end (mainly on the Celtic Noel one).

flowerofscotland

benny1981 wrote: »

Oh and guys I have another request - seems like I never stop with these.
My Mum recently decorated her liviing room and decided she would like a XS sampler, so off she goes on the world wide web (v v v v v dangerous if you are my mother) and out of every design there is she has decided she would like and no other will do,
Just Nan - majestic peacock. So now I am on a mission to get it.
I would usually tell her to wise up and pick something else but shes had a hard few years and I would love to get it for her - or something very similar. It's the teal that attracts her (unlike me she is very matchy matchy)
Any ideas or has anyone a wink wink nudge nudge??

This is how it looks


Just Nan majestic peacock by XS77, on Flickr

Benny If you do decide to stitch this and want the teal green fabric Willow Fabrics have it in 25 count Dublin, 28 count Quaker and 32 count Belfast all at half price http://www.willowfabrics.com/acatalog/Clearance-Linen.html

You can't really stitch Just Nan designs on aida as there are always other types of counted thread stitches not just cross stitches (plus she has a habit of including some over 1 cross stitches for which I find a magnifier is essential )

tellmeitsfriday

Good prices FOS - Thanks

sk00bie1

flowerofscotland wrote: »

These are lovely and just an adaptable design - is it from a magazine?.

I've resisted the temptation to buy that ribbon embroidery design - I've added it to my wish list on sewandso and am hoping that one day it may appear in their sale:D

I looked through my stash of fabrics for something suitable for Dear Santa and found a piece of hand dyed evenweave which I think looks a bit like sky so I am going to use this I think

Hand dyed evenweave for Dear Santa by stitchyfeather, on Flickr

It's not as dark as the original or as the fabric you are using - do you think it will be OK?

I think that fabric will be so effective! I'm stitching mine on pale blue 25ct lugana as I prefer evenweave. The design calls for 14ct delft blue aida, which I think is slightly darker than my pale blue.

In fact I could have ordered 28ct brittany(?) evenweave but I only realised this after I got the 25ct. No matter, just had a doh! moment :rotfl:

Well done on resisting the ribbon embroidery for now, hope you last out until the sale!

Oh and the baubles were a card kit I got in the Sew & So sale just after Christmas. I'm definately going to have a go at them with some metallics after all your comments.

Ailsb - your horse is looking lovely!

Ocemeer - those big designs are great, I've never seen anything like them. So effective.

Didn't manage to stitch any dear santa last night will try again today. I did bring some new kits to work with my though, a magazine kit from a WOXS from last year and a decoration kit my mum brought over from the US. Now I just have to decide which to do first!

QueenB.

flowerofscotland wrote: »

The only dyeing of stitching fabric I have done has been with tea or coffee to get that antique "tea dyed" effect but I would have thought that dyes suitable for fabrics would be OK. Brings back memories of tie dyeing T shirts etc in my Mum's washing machine - she wasn't impressed :eek:

I found advice on dyeing aida in an old magazine and it suggested that herbal teas could be used as well. I have plenty of these and lots of small offcuts that I keep for those smaller peices such as keyrings so I have a feeling I may be spending some time this week experimenting:) If it works It will be a lot cheaper than buying the more specialist fabric.

Hopefully I will get some stitching done today as the headache is more of a fuzzy feeling rather than a blinding heavy pain and might as well take advantage of the lovely light.

QueenB.

Just made the mistake of looking online for stitchy bits and came across Polstitches website. I have seen it a few times and lots of tempting goodies on there but has anyone used them beofre, are they reliable and does anyone know where I can get Kreinik threads at a reasonable price?