Monthly Archives: April 2017

Apr 25 2017

Just Cross Stitch Halloween 2017

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I just received an email from my sales rep at Annie’s, letting me know the 2017 issue of Just Cross Stitch Halloween will be out soon. So far only the cover photo has been released:

2017halloween

As soon as I receive more photos I will post them here. Hearing this news, I decided to get out my copy of the 2016 issue and take a look at it again. When it came out, I had other things going on so I didn’t do much more than glance at it. Now, looking through it again, I found a project I really MUST stitch! It is a sugar skull and was designed by Breanne Jackson.

sugarskull

As soon as I saw this design, I knew exactly what fabric I wanted to use. I have had a piece of Aida in my stash for a few years, not knowing what it should be used for. It is a gorgeous lime green, and it needed just the right project. Now I just needed to find the prefect floss for it. The pattern calls for all black, but that’s not my style. I love colors! I got out my bin of silk floss and found something perfect. It’s called Ada’s Rainbow and it is from Gloriana. I have only used silk one other time, and never on Aida, so this should be interesting.

greenaida

I think the bright colors will really pop on this fabric, and I think they would make a wonderful sugar skull. I can’t wait to get started, but I am feeling guilty about all of the projects I have lined up. There’s the red haired mermaid, the bright butterflies, the primitive pincushions, and of course at least a dozen Egyptian designs. It’s already been a month since I received the magazine that had the mermaid in it, and I have made very little progress on my pyramids. Oh, why can’t there be more hours in the day?

XXX
Carrie

Apr 20 2017

Primitive Pincushions

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The June issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine arrived, and it has several great projects in it. One of them that I was immediately drawn to is this set of pincushions by Nicoletta Farrauto of Nikyscreations.

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I especially love the one on the bottom, with the two girls. The pattern is quite easy, and I think the whole thing could be worked up in a weekend. It also would be a great way to use up small scraps of linen, and I love the fact that it uses regular old DMC floss. I have the full line of colors, but this would be so easy to adapt to whatever little bits of floss you have leftover from another project. My husband is always agonizing over my lost needles, so I think this would not only look good sitting on the end table where I keep my supplies while I stitch, but it would be functional too. I do have a magnetic needle minder, but one of these pincushions would be great for when you are working on a larger project and have lots of needles threaded, ready to go.

You can visit the Nikyscreations blog at http://niky-nikyscreations.blogspot.com

XXX
Carrie

 

Apr 18 2017

DMC floss price increase

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Sadly, the rumors going around online are true. DMC is indeed raising the MSRP of their 6 strand embroidery floss, from 77 cents to 87 cents per skein. The change took effect on April 6, 2017. I have waited until today to raise the price on my website, from 44 to 47 cents. I hated to do it, but since my price went up I had to pass along the increase to my customers. But stay tuned; I plan to offer special discount coupon codes to readers of my blog in the near future. And, my price is still lower than many online retailers, who went up to 52 cents per skein. You can view the full selection of threads that we carry at http://www.crossstitchers.com/floss.htm

DMC-Logo-0001

XXX
Carrie

Apr 15 2017

Cross Stitch – a Dying Art?

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I am so bummed about all of the cross stitching magazines that have ceased publication recently. First, Cross Country Stitching published their last magazine in December 2013. Then Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly went out of business with the release of their Fall 2015 issue. Their sister magazine, Just Cross Stitch, has since published some articles and samplers in their issues, but it is just not the same. Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine, which has seen many name changes and publication changes over the years, first went to a quarterly format and then decided to cease altogether at the end of 2016. In exchange for the remainder of my subscription, I was given a gift certificate to Herrschners, which I am not sure what I will use on. (When you own a needlework store, you sort of have access to everything that every other store sells!) Most recently, the British magazine Cross Stitch Collection went out of business after the February 2017 issue. This came about a year or so after being bought out by another publishing company, and I just don’t think the new publishers cared much about the fate of it. It was a wonderful magazine, full of great patterns and articles, and it will be sadly missed. Since it is a British magazine, and therefore quite expensive to get in the States, I subscribed to it through Zinio (a digital magazine platform). I will treasure my back issue collection, and luckily I was given the remainder of my issues for that magazine in a different title (Cross Stitch Gold, which I was also subscribing to on Zinio). Back in 2011, Stoney Creek Collection changed to a quarterly format but they are still going strong. I believe Just Cross Stitch is the only other American magazine still in publication. I am hoping that our beloved hobby is not dying out. At least I have a stash of patterns to last me several lifetimes!

XXX
Carrie

Apr 6 2017

Gods of Egypt

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I am so excited! After months (years?) of searching for the missing portion of the Gods of Egypt chart from New Stitches magazine, I found the digital copy online! You can purchase this chart (and many others) from stitchdirect.com. The chart will be in pdf format and you will be given a link to download it about a day after you purchase it.

godsofegypt

This will be a large endeavor, but it actually looks pretty easy to stitch. Mary Hickmott’s New Stitches magazine was known for their full cross stitch only charts, with no half or quarter stitches and a lot of the time there is minimal backstitching. But this does utilize metallic threads, which will be a challenge. I can’t wait to dive in! Now I need to decide, after I finish the Pyramids, do I start this or the mermaid? Or the butterflies? I also need to finish the deer in the woods, A Summer Ball, and put my little hedgehog pincushion together. Oh, why can’t there be more hours in the day?!

XXX
Carrie

Apr 3 2017

More stash finds

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While going through my stitchy supplies I found a kit that I had forgotten I had ordered off of Amazon around Christmas time. I had been interested in this chart for about 2 years, after having seen it in a British magazine as a “subscriber gift”. But the advertisement never mentioned what it was called, or where you could purchase it. Finally I decided to do a little sleuthing with Google images, and after a while I found it! I was really happy to see that Amazon had it for only $11 including shipping, whereas other stores were charging up to $27 just for the kit. Yikes! I had Amazon gift cards saved up, so it ended up not costing me a dime. The kit is by DMC and it is called Butterfly Garden. The kit is number BK1545 and the designer is one of my favorites, Susan Bates! Normally I see her designs in the British magazines and she is affiliated with Anchor, so this was kind of surprising. I did not know who the designer was until after I bought the kit, but now I am not surprised that I was drawn to it and couldn’t stop thinking about it for a couple of years.

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I just love the bright colors of this, and it would look so great by my computer to keep the dreariness of my location away. Yes, even in April it is gray, cold, and not very nice looking outside. Once the snow is completely gone, the bugs will be out and the trees outside my window will be nothing but shades of green. So, I could definitely use a bit of a color pick-me-up! I’m not sure if I will start on this right away after finishing the Pyramids, or if I will work on another WIP or start on the mermaid. Choices, choices!

XXX
Carrie