SFS - April

For more information as to what Stitch From Stash (SFS) is, please click the button above.

From last month the carry over was € 15.81

This month:

Month: April
Budget:  € 25.00
Spent: € 31.24
Earned: € 20.02
Carry over: ( € 15.81 + € 20.02 + € 25.00) - € 31.24 = € 29.59

My spending:

This month I decided it was high time I added all the "new" colours of Colour Variations to my stash that have not yet become readily available in the Netherlands yet. I also was running low on E168, 712 and 814 so I got them as well as a water removable marker pen as my old one had run out. Total spent excluding the pen:  € 31.24

My subscription stuff:

I have a monthly subscription at Jodyri for the monthly hand dyed fabric, monthly hand dyed thread and a subscription for a set of 5 threads from the standard collection. Last month I had not yet received the package so I'm showing it now:


The theme of March was Bill and Ben - most UK people will immediately think of  The Flowerpot Men, an old 50s programme that was revived a few years ago and brought back to the BBC for the kids of today to enjoy.


April's theme was Amethyst and boy what a grand job Jodyri did with that colour! I don't like purples much but this one is wonderful.

My earnings:

The April ornaments:
This month I finished 2 ornaments as usual using the pattern I've made for my Ornament of the Month SAL. The fabric is 16ct antique white Aida that I got last summer when I was in the UK and the threads are from my stash, most of which were collected before 1995 though of course I have since added any new colours and topped up colours I finished. The pendant bead and the bead on the tassel are the beads my bf sent me and the edging beads are the beads Carla sent me last month.

The bigger ornament is 47 stitches square and the smaller one 35 stitches square so each ornament earns me $ 4.00 each for a total of $ 8.00 which according to the currency converter today is € 7.28

Fob a Month April Edition:

For April's Fob a Month I made an additional pincushion pattern as the pattern was too big for a fob and just the one flower is pretty but more is better! You can find the pattern here: A Fob a Month - 2. The scissor fob is 26 stitches square which earns me $ 2.00 and the pincushion is 40 x 36 stitches which earns me $ 4.00 for a total of $ 6.00 which is € 5.46

Randje Per Week January rows:
Last of all I started and worked on a band sampler - it's a pattern that's given for free in weekly instalments and is called "Randje Per Week" or band of the week in English. You can find the patterns here: Randje Per Week. It started in January so I'm well behind, but this does mean I can work on a month's worth of patterns at the same time. I saw on some photo's on google image search that some people were adding motifs and I thought it was a fun idea to do, so I decided to do a butterfly this month, an old pattern I have in my scrapbook that was cut from a magazine some time in the 80's. The fabric was bought last October and the thread was already in my stash as well.

To make it easier to count I'm going to only count stitching if it's part of a whole month's worth of patterns - so as January had 5 Saturdays there are 5 instalments so 10 rows.  Each row is 103 stitches wide. I have not counted the 3 stitch gaps between the bands and decided that due to the lack of coverage I would also not count the motif in the calculations to give a more fair end result.

Week 1 is 11 stitches high
Week 2 is 6 stitches high
Week 3 is 5 stitches high
Week 4 is 8 stitches high
Week 5 is 6 stitches high
Giving a total of 36 stitches high x 103 stitches wide

36 + 103 = 139/2 = 69.5 stitches square for the calculation which gives me $ 8.00 which is € 7.28

This brings my total earnings at: € 7.28 + € 5.46 + € 7.28 = € 20.02

This month was a good stash month! Not too much enhancement but enough to have the colours I might need and a fair bit of stash use which is the main idea of all this.

A Fob a Month - 2

Welcome to the second instalment of my Fob a Month project! This month the flowers are out in bloom and even my apple tree is joining in, though sadly the flowers are not completely open yet so the flowers you see in the photo are still buds. I decided I didn't want to be left out and found a delightful piece of blossom artwork over on Deviant Art made by VAMPSTOCK as the base of the pattern, you can see the original image here: Blossom Texture Vampstock. I'm sure you can see why I loved it so much that I chose to use it!

Because I liked the flowers so much I really wanted to do more than one on the fob but in order to do that I'd lose the prettiness of the flowers so I decided instead to do the group of flowers as an extra pattern for a pincushion and do a single flower for the fob. This month's pattern means that I have been rather specific with colour however if you have a colour that is close feel free to substitute it but be aware you won't get quite the same result.

The fob is 1 7/8" square.
The pincushion is 3 3/4" square.

What you need to make the example above:

• 2 pieces of 4 1/2" square for the pincushion, I used 28ct light brown Jobelan
• 2 pieces of 3" square for the fob, I used 28ct light brown Jobelan
• DMC thread in the following colours:
• 602
• 605
• 666
• 818
• 819
• 891
• 892
• 893
• 894
• 4000 (colour variations)
• Sewing thread
• Your stuffing of choice
• 1 skein of pink variegated craft thread 
• DMC or thread to coordinate with the variegated thread 

Note about fabric choice: if you prefer just use evenweave/Aida on one side and use another fabric for the back.

You can find the pattern here

Instructions: First stitch the patterns onto one each of the sizes of fabric. Press the embroideries face down onto a fluffy towel to make them crease free. Before turning the embroideries over you need to mark the stitching lines.
On the back of the fob count 3 threads from each side and using a chalk pen, light sensitive pen or water soluble pen, mark the stitching lines.
On the back of the pincushion you need to count 10 threads on the sides with a bit of branch and 14 threads on the top and bottom, this will keep the pincushion square.

For both:
Place the embroidery right side down onto the backing, for the fob you need to remember to tuck the cord - see below for instructions - into one of the corners. Sew the seams using a back stitch over 2 or 3 threads to make sure the filling can't escape, leave an opening of about 1 - 2" on one side so you can turn the work. Tip: if you finger press each side of the the whole seam line of that open side down you will mark where your stitching line is for closing the seam later. Trim the corners to about 1/16" away from the seam lines to reduce bulk.

Carefully turn the items and use a chopstick/knitting needle or something similar to carefully poke the corners into place. Stuff them and close the seams.

Cording:
Use 1/4 of the skein of craft thread to make the cording and tassel for the fob, just loop it round a chopstick that's either held by someone or slide it behind something that will let you stand on the other side to twist, like the slatted back of a chair. Twist the thread till it's really tight and carefully fold it in half. don't let go of the end you held while twisting and take the end that was around the chopstick in that hand too and tie a knot to avoid it coming loose again. You will need a section of 6" for the fob loop and the rest will be used around the fob and for the tassel.

For the cord of the pincushion take the left over thread and fold it in half, then fold it in half again and put the chopstick through the side with 2 loops, twist as before to make the cord but this time use a paper clip or bulldog clip to stop it from unravelling.

For the fob start at the corner opposite the loop, for the pincushion you can start at any corner. Leave 3/4 of the end of the cord loose as you will need that to make the tassel. Cord is best stitched in place by letting the thread follow the curve of the cord - just let your thread show you where it can go between the ridges of the cord and make the stitch so the needle comes out at the beginning of the next place, this will make your stitches almost invisible. At the corners of the pincushion make a loop that's 3/4" and using the thread that's on the needle wrap it around about 10 times before continuing along the sides. When you reach the end bring both ends together and wind the thread around 10 times before fixing the stitching thread in place and cutting it.

To make the tassels: cut the cord of the pincushion at the half way point, unravel the cord and then use a needle to pull each individual thread loose. For the fob and the starting corner of the pincushion cut the starting end so it can unravel and then do as above. Trim the ends to 3/4".

I hope you enjoy these patterns, please do share a link to yours if you make them!

Ornament of the Month - April And Tons of Tiny

This month's Birthstones are Diamond and CZ. As they are both more or less the same thing to look at with the untrained naked eye (I'm sure there are people out there who can tell the difference at 10 feet but I for one can't tell the difference unless an expert tells me hehe) I decided to do just one colour this month. The inspiration was diamonds themselves and how they have facets and sparkle so much. This resulted in a LOT of backstitching, a bit more than I like to be honest which is why this blog post is so very late, I kept thinking "I'll be done soon and can post both together". However the back stitching seemed to last for months!

Here you can see how much back stitching there is - over 60 inches of it! But I have to admit that it really looks nice once completed. This being the garland finish it's 2 1/4" square. This month I finished the edges with some of the beads Carla sent me as they looked perfect for the job and the pendant is one of the string of Swarovski bicones my bf sent me as a surprise in March. I did the stitches of the "diamond" elements a bit differently on the garland finish than I had done for the ornament that I'd finished first as I decided to do all of the stitches into the centre instead of huge stitches across going round in a circle.

Here you can see how I'd originally intended it, but in a way it's nice to have small differences in these things and shows there is no one way to do it. As always I have made the ornament finish a bit bigger by using the border I made for the wall hanging around it which makes it 3" square. I used the same beads and bicone for the decoration of the ornament.

Both designs are stitched on 16ct antique white Aida with 3 colours of DMC - pattern can be found here: Ornament of the Month - April - The hanging loops are made with DMC 762

The more curious of you might be wondering how the garland looks by now - I had the same thought so got them all out, strung them together in the order I made them and hung them on my obliging apple tree and this is the result:

They might seem a bit far apart but if you consider that they may be draped around a Christmas tree or hung across the room and there will be only 12 of them then you can see why I'd want them to be spread out a bit.

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Now for the Tons of Tiny section! What is Tons of Tiny? In short it's a SAL where you stitch small projects and talk about them and hopefully also send your used and useful patterns on to someone else who might enjoy them. Last month I offered 4 tiny cat patterns and Carla was the person who asked for and will be getting them! Linda, sorry I keep meaning to sit down and translate the instructions before sending the Paddington patterns to you - I will make it happen this week!

This month I have done a bit more than I will count now as I have not yet posted about them and want to do them in a separate post, I will count these next month.

Since my last Tons of Tiny post I have been busy making things. Of course my Ornaments that you can see above are part of this but I won't post the photo's again so close to the others hehe.

 Then there is the needle book I made during the last IHSW - you can find the pattern here: Pattern: Blue floral needle book

There is my double sided scissor fob for the Fob a Month project, you can find the pattern here: A Fob a Month - 1.
Carla has decreed that a double sided fob counts as 2 Tiny's so this project counts as 2.

And last of all the Sophie Card that was a freebie from the CrossStitcher magazine a couple of months ago, there is stitching under the dress that was ironed on with fusible interfacing but you can't see it on the photo - I even back stitched a belly button!

All in all I added another 6 Tiny projects to my total which brings my overall total to 17.

This month's patterns that are on offer are a clown with a balloon (I don't have a cover photo on hand so used the actual embroidery for the photo) and Miffy with a ball. Neither pattern has a colour code but I will give suggestions for each and you could even do the clown using colours of your own! Please note that these are used patterns that I coloured in with pencil and have since used a rubber (that's an eraser for the American's out there ;) ) to remove as much as I can - the patterns are still legible.

I will be sending one of these to 2 people, just comment with which one you'd like and I'll get in touch with the new homes for snail mail addy's some time next week (at the latest by the next Tons of Tiny post). Please note that you are only supposed to request one of these if you are planning on making it yourself as part of the Tons of Tiny project, these patterns are not for resale! If you were given a pattern in the month before you can still join in!

If more than one person asks for the same pattern I'll write the names on a bit of paper, drop them in a jar and let one of the kids pull a name.

Ornament of the Month - April

It is at last the first Friday of the month and with that comes the next ornament - April. April's birthstones are Diamond and CZ which were a bit of a challenge to choose colours for but after a long time looking at photo's I decided that overall they were shades of grey, with darker greys and lighter greys and very very sparkly. I would suggest that if you wish to have a really sparkly ornament you use some Kreinik blending filament "Solar Silver" 001L as that has a nice shine to it as well as the multi colour sparkles that real diamonds have.

SFS - March

For more information as to what Stitch From Stash (SFS) is, please click the button above.

From last month the carry over was € 8.14

This month:

Month: March
Spent: € 42.83
Earned: € 25.50
Carry over: ( € 25.50 + €8.14 + € 25.00) - € 42.83 = € 15.81

My spending:

Unfortunately the Kreinik Solar Silver I got last month was not enough to complete the stitching of Wolf so I had to order more, of course when ordering one wants to at least make it worth while, so a few additional bits found their way into my basket.

In addition to the 2 spools of Solar Silver, a spool of petite facets as well as DMC Memory Thread 6200 (not in photo), DMC Colour Variation Thread 4025 and 4240 (neither in photo) were added. Total cost: € 19.27

It also became clear that I had nowhere near as many beads as I needed for Wolf so I had to go and get more.

I got 2 x 2 different types of dragon beads to add to what I had already and as I was planning to bead another section of Wolf I got some beads I thought would suit, sadly this was not to be, he didn't like them and I ended up stitching the area. To get the free shipping I spent a small amount extra (which is less than the shipping costs so worth it) and got myself the white beads. I also had a 5% coupon which I used for this order. Total cost: € 20.66

I also found that the shop that sells the cases got them in so I was able to order them too - as well as more boxes, though after Carla's gift (see below) I had to order even more cases and boxes! These do not count fortunately or I would really have issues money wise hehe.

I ran short of black floss so got some more as well as some needles and a new type of needle threader, which has so far proved it doesn't break as fast as the wire ones. As only the skeins count for SFS the cost was: € 2.90

Gifts:

This was my lucky month! First of all my bf surprised me with these large 6 x 8mm Swarovski beads

The shop where I bought all the storage boxes gave me these: 

If you want to read all about the storage of my beads have a look here: So.. I got organising...  

The shop where I got the dragon beads gave me these:

Last, but certainly not least, Carla blessed me with the Gift Of Stash - and more! The photo below is a tad hazy, it was a quick excited photo made with my tablet shortly after it all arrived. The 3 patterns are Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath's Rescue the Rain Forest, Graphworks International's Age of Romance: Beauty and the Beast, and Sitka Stitches Designs' Totemic Whale.

If you look carefully you can see the amazing DRAGON! I have never had a needle minder before so will need to see how that works for me. I later found out that the ribbons and lace were from her friend Leah - such an awesome gift!

 

This is what it all looks like after bobbinating and sorting into bead boxes - 65 in total so you can see why I needed to get more. It has all been merged into my stash now giving me even more options when I make things.

My subscription stuff:

I have a monthly subscription at Jodyri for the monthly hand dyed fabric, monthly hand dyed thread and a subscription for a set of 5 threads from the standard collection, however it's not yet arrived so I can't show it now.

My earnings:

This is the place where I make my spending somewhat less scary and where you get even more pretty photo's to look at! 

The March ornaments:
This month I finished 2 ornaments using the pattern I've made for my Ornament of the Month SAL. The fabric is 16ct antique white Aida that I got last summer when I was in the UK and the threads are from my stash, most of which were collected before 1995 though of course I have since added any new colours and topped up colours I finished. The beads I used are also from my stash. The thread I used for the hanging loops is craft thread my bf gave me last September. 
















The bigger ornament is 47 stitches square and the smaller one 35 stitches square so each ornament earns me $ 4.00 each for a total of $ 8.00 which according to the currency converter today is € 7.29



Celtic Wolf:
I finished all of the cross stitching and back stitching this month so decided to use those stitches now as earnings rather than waiting for the beading to be completed as they do not count. I checked with Mel, who confirmed that the beads don't count as they are new and said that to cover for the fact that the fabric is new and not from stash we are counting half of the stitches, which I think is fair.

I adjusted the size of the grid to remove the area that might have been covered with the beads as they don't count anyway and took half of each side's stitch count which came to 67 x 77 stitches. This means that I can count $ 8.00 for Wolf which converts to € 7.29

The Fob a Month March edition:
I have started a second SAL: a Fob a Month where each month I stitch a scissors fob and share the pattern here on my blog, with the main aim being to use what I have to hand and try and avoid buying anything new. This month I made this:



The fob is 24 stitches square on each side which gives it an earnings value of 2 x $ 2.00 which converts to € 3.64

The Sophie Card:
I also stitched a freebie from the CrossStitcher magazine: Sophie Card. I added more of the accessories than perhaps was intended by the creators but it was fun doing so.

It is 35 x 37 stitches which gives it an earnings value of $ 4.00 which converts to € 3.64

The needle book: 

And lastly during the IHSW I designed and stitched this little needle book, which you can read about here: ISHW end report & a finish. You can find the pattern here: Pattern: Blue floral needle book

The embroidery part is 35 x 48 stitches which gives it an earnings value of $ 4.00 which converts to € 3.64

This brings my total earnings at:  € 7.29 + 7.29 + € 3.64 + € 3.64 + € 3.64 = € 25.50

I need to get better at using my stash for things, preferably the older stuff!

Pattern: Blue floral needle book

On Wednesday I posted photo's of my needle book that I'd designed and stitched during IHSW. Today I'm back with the pattern and finishing instructions for it. I'm a big fan of adjusting patterns to colours that suit you so please do change them to something you like! If you don't have something look in your stash and see what you do have that might work, it's how this embroidery came about too.

What I used to make mine:

• A piece of 18ct Aida or 36ct linen that is about 6 1/2" x 9 1/4" (After embroidery it needs to be cut to 4 1/2" x 7 1/4" if you are comfortable with less space around as you stitch that is the minimum you need)
• A piece of fabric for the inside of 4 1/2" x 7 1/4"
• A piece of batting of 4" x 6 3/4"
• 2 pieces of felted wool of 3 1/2"x 5". I used 2 colours but one is fine.
• A button to match that's not bigger than 1/2"
• Sewing thread
• DMC variegated threads:
• 67
• 90
• 101
• 103
• 122
• DMC Colour variations:
• 4020 - Tropical Waters
• Kreinik Silk Mori Milkpaint:
•  0416 - Very Dark Hemlock
• Kreinik blending filament:
• 085 - Peacock

You can find the pattern here

Instructions:

• Fold the Aida in half and make a crease, then fold the right hand side into 4 to find the middle. This is the place to start counting from to stitch.
• Count 10 stitches to the right starting from the last cross stitch on the right and make a button hole stitch loop, I used only 1 strand of floss for the starting loop but more is perhaps more practical. A nice tutorial showing how to do this can be found here: Ysolda.com: sewn button loops
• Once the stitching is done press the embroidery carefully with a not too hot iron - you don't want to accidentally melt the blending filament.
• To trim the embroidery to 4 1/2" x 7 1/4" you need to start by measuring 1/4" from the stitch after the loop you just made. Mark this line.
• Next count 12 stitches down from the lowest flower stalk/leaves on the bottom, add 1/4" then mark this line as well.
• The 3rd cutting line is found by counting 13 stitches above the last stitch of the tall flowers and add 1/4", mark this line.
• The last cutting line is found by measuring 4 1/2" from the butterfly. Mark this line and then cut out the embroidery.
• Place the batting on the back of the lining fabric making sure it's 1/4" from the edges on all sides. 
• Baste the batting in place making sure that if you knot your thread the knot is on the good side of the fabric so you can easily remove the basting later. You can also use temporary fabric adhesive for this.
• Place the fabric good sides together onto the embroidery making sure that if your fabric is directional it's pointing the same way up as the embroidery. Turn it over so the embroidery side is facing up and pin the layers together.
• Stitch the layers together starting about 1" away from the middle lower seam. I used a back stitch as I like to be 100% certain nothing will come loose.
• Stop stitching about 2" away from your starting point, you need quite a big gap to get it all through and if the hole is too small you might damage the embroidery fabric making closing the last bit very complicated (it happened to me so umm yeah...)
• Cut the corners off at the diagonal making sure you do not damage the seam so you get nicer points once turned.
• Carefully turn the needle case the right way round, use a knitting needle or chopstick to press the corners out.
• Make sure the batting is nice and flat before carefully sewing the last bit of seam closed.
• Remove the basting.
• Count 9 stitches from the butterfly on the left. Mark this with a line that goes from top to bottom line.
• Count 11 more stitches from this point and mark that with a parallel line.
• Using one of the blues make stitches using 2 threads that go through all 3 layers, make sure you do the stitches over 2 Aida squares or 4 threads and skip the same distance before making the next.
• Leave the thread loose at the end as you will need to go back in a moment.
• Do the same with the other line. 
• Place the needle book embroidery side to the table.
• Fold each piece of the wool felt in half and finger press to find the centre line. 
• Place this line onto the line of stitches you can see on the inside. Make sure it's centred top to bottom - about 1/4" from the edges.
• Pin in place. Turn the needle case over again and rethread your needle. This time make the stitches in the spaces you left open making sure you also stitch through the felt. Finish off the thread and then do the same with the other piece of felt.
• Sew the button onto the back edge making sure it's not too big for the loop and is centred.
• If you like you can now mark your pages with the needle size.

I hope you enjoy the pattern and have fun making one yourself! If you have any questions please do ask, you might just not only help yourself but someone else too.

ISHW end report & a finish

 

So as it happens I didn't post on Monday about what I did during the IHSW nor on Tuesday - but today I am so all is good in the world again! What I didn't do was add more beads to Wolf. I also didn't finish the Dylon project nor did I do a single stitch on the tiny I have going. So far all we have is a lot of stuff I didn't do however I did do something else! I designed a new pattern while chatting with Carla in her hangout on Saturday, then I stitched it while talking with her and later with my bf on Skype and I completed it while again chatting with Carla in the hangout! Quite a productive series of person to person chats I have to say and I'm very pleased with the results.

It's made entirely with materials I had to hand as the shops were closed so I was unable to do any shopping. I used mostly DMC variegated threads as they are more natural for flowers and stems. The tall stems of flowers each use a different colour of thread to add even more variation. I have some Kreinik Silk Mori Milkpaint 0416 in my stash and decided to try that out - it's the darker green thread for the flowers at the bottom. Last of all I used some Kreinik blending filament 085 peacock to make some back stitch butterflies.

I used a bit of 18ct white Aida left over from another project. I used some wheat Hoffmans Bali batik for the inner cover and 2 pieces of wool fabric I have had for many years - they came in one of the Moda fabric tins many moons ago. The button I found in a basket while looking for something else and thought it was a nice shiny blue that would suit the embroidery. I included a layer of thin cotton batting to give the cover some oompf

Top view where you can see that the 4 pages of the book completely fill the spine.

Side view: Unfortunately the light is gone so I can't re-take this photo as it doesn't actually have this squished together look when it's laid flat, it's just that I forgot to adjust it a bit before taking the photo.

Open - the numbers on the pages are the number of the needle size so I know which is which, added with felt tip pen so probably not the best method.

If all goes to plan I shall be posting the pattern of this on Friday.

Oh btw - for those of you who know Carla but have lost her, it's because the name changed on her blog and Blogger now thinks it was deleted (instead of being clever and redirecting people to the correct place), the right place is here: Alaska Wolf Pack. Please adjust any bookmarks, buttons to her misc projects etc if you haven't already, Thank you!

IHSW & TUSAL

It's been a while since I last did a IHSW post, not really sure why - it's just not happened. If you are wondering what IHSW is just click the button above and you will find out all - and hopefully join in too! This weekend I plan on having some fun with Dylon paints and some fabric and thread as well as complete a tiny I'm working on and maybe also add some more beads to Celtic Wolf. The last time anyone saw Celtic Wolf he looked like this:

The whole bit of unstitched grey is to be covered in beads - if I stitched it, it would be over 4500 stitches but it will be a lot less beads hopefully!

I shall return with a report of what I've done over the weekend on Monday.


Now it's time for the TUSAL part of this post. Please click the button above to find out more - it will explain all about this slightly mad but ever so fun SAL.

I've been a busy bee the past month working very hard on Celtic Wolf - most of the shiny thread you can see in my jar is from him, as well as the darker reds, blues and greens. I took some time out from him to work on my Ornament of the Month, which added some lighter blues to the jar.

This is, for those that don't read my blog often, a SAL I host over on another site: Nerd Central Command International Headquarters - or NCCIH for short, which is also slightly less of a mouthful. Click the button to the left to be taken to the first 3 free patterns.


After I'd completed the cross stitch of Celtic Wolf I started the beading, which I can only do in daylight due to the sparkly nature of the beads and my eyesight, so I started stitching some other things in the evenings. Initially I made a new fob which is the first of my new Fob a Month series of free patterns that I host on this blog: A Fob a Month, which added a lot of bright colours to the top of my jar.

Right at the very top are the threads of the Sophie Card kit that I am stitching right now - it's almost finished as I only need to complete the back stitching and then decide which clothes I want to add.

So all in all a very productive TUSAL month! On the less productive months I'm even more happy I keep track of my threads as I can then remind myself that I did actually do something.