Stitching and sampling

For today I have decided to take a break from blog sampling and will spend a little time on my newest craft, cross stitching. I have already explained in an earlier post about my my little cross stitch kit that I found at a dollar store and today I will further on that topic in todays insallment.

I  found really early on that cross stitch is not as easy as people have made it seem and that while it is indeed a satisfying hobby, it is in so way an instant gratification. I though that I would do a cross stitch pattern in a few days and by that weekend I would display it proudly in my craft room. Little did I know that my first project would be a disaster. Where do I start? My first pattern was a scene with butterflies and flowers. I found my starting point and decided to do the border first. Disaster! My counting is not as good as I thought it was and this resulted in a frame that did not match up to its starting point. "No problem," I thought "let me just pull out a few stitches and back track" Okay now I was a few blocks off but that was okay by me, I would just move a few motives around to make it fit. So another great idea was to do all the black detail first and fill in the rest. Great idea, only that I ran out of black thread and my butterflies were more like a Picasso on a bad day. Needless to say I gave up on that pattern and decided to try something easier. That is when I came across the cutest little Deery Lou pattern. Now this I could do. So I bought another cheapo kit, threw away the naff pattern and invested in some proper thread this time. This pattern was much easier and even though I was totally off in some areas, the fact that the surface space of my little deer was so big, gave some room for mistakes. I am confident with this pattern and so far so good. What do you think? It is not done yet but at least it looks in proportion. I think I might want to get a tote bag made using denim and line it with pink gingham to correspond with the pattern and get a seamstress to sew the pattern on for me.

Deery lou in progress

Here is the link for a free pattern download by Raindropmelody on deviantart  http://raindropmelody.deviantart.com/art/Deery-Lou-Cross-Stitch-Pattern-169294096
So upon scouring the internet for some cool ideas, I found that a first project is supposed to a be a sampler. A sampler is an alphabet pattern that is usually very detailed and very embellished. I really do not want to do anything too old fashioned and dated, I would rather do something funky and updated like a neon sampler with cool icons like stiletto heels, cellphones and cupcakes  . I think what I might do is find an existing pattern and incorporate my own style into the pattern.Just an idea but I think it might work.

My stash has grown quite a bit too and I must say that out of all my crafting endeavors, cross stitch seems to be the cheapest. I have bargain hunted my threads, card bobbins, stash box and needles and have not spent all that much. A stash box usually goes for quite a bit but I found the exact same thing for a third of the price at the crazy store. By using a little imagination, you could really build your stash by using unconventional items. For eg, a friend of mine gave me some great advice and told me that instead of hunting around for card bobbins , that I could print my own on empty cereal boxes and just cut them out. There you have it, card bobbins that cost nothing to make.

my stash so far.

I really do hope to finish some cool patterns before I get into another craft and this one starts gathering dust. This may seem frivolous but at least I am honest and have come to terms with the fact that I will always be looking for newer and more exciting crafts to try out. I wonder what will grab my attention next? If you want to find out, stay tuned but for now...Chow!