Fall Blog Tour Stop 3

Welcome to another stop on The Floss Box Fall 2012 Tour of embroidery blogs! This time we are making a stop to visit Amy of SewAmy. Amy does a variety of stitching and quilting and combines them into her beautiful creations!

Fall 2012 Embroidery Blog Tour Stops
Stop 1: Sew in Love
Stop 2: Isabell on Flickr, aka ColourinStitch
Stop 3: SewAmy
Stop 4: coming soon!
 
1. How long have you been embroidering?

I have only been doing embroidery for a few years, 5 or 6 maybe.  I started cross stitching when I was a teenager and did it all the way into my late 20's. In my thirties I learned how to quilt. It wasn't until my late 30's that I learn to embroider. And now I am coming full circle and cross stitching again.

2. How did you learn? 

I learned by teaching myself.  I checked out embroidery books from the library and looked up how to do stitches on line. 

3. Why did you start?

 Because I was into quilting, I went to our local quilt show every year. One year I noticed a booth with quilts that had embroidery work on them. They were gorgeous. The company was 'Bareroots'. I bought my first pattern and fell in love. The pattern is called ' What color is Spring?'.( I included a picture of it)  I've since stitched and made many of Bareroot's patterns.

4. What are your favorite types of embroidery? To stitch embroidery, my favorite is just the plain ole 'back stitch'. But to look at embroidery...  any type.I am loving cross stitch right now too.  Crewel work amazes me and I'd love to learn how to do it one day. 

   

5. What are you favorite projects?

My favorite projects are when I get to stitch by hand and I add a bit of 'me' into the project. I made a camping wall hanging (pattern by Bareroots) and I changed some of the embroidery from the pattern to fit the way we camp, which is in a VW bus.  When I made my Jacob's Ladder Halloween quilt, I added embroidered spiders webs and spiders to it. When I cross-stitched up a little 'Science Lab' (pattern by Bent Creek) there was a pumpkin under the lab table. I had to change it to a frog because I have a big thing for frogs/toads.  I just love when my projects have that personal touch to them.

6. What do you do with your finished stitcheries?  
I've only framed a few. I really like making my stitcheries into usable things... like quilts, pillows and pillowcases, needle cases and Christmas ornaments.

7.  What other hobbies and interests do you have?  
I love to camp. My family camps in our 1970 Volkswagen camper Bus 8 months out of the year. Being a mom, I am always looking for things our family can do together before the kids grow up.  I do paint a tiny bit, but stitching is my favorite so anytime I have any extra time I am stitching.  My favorite way to stitch is curled up , watching a movie (mostly chick-flicks) and sipping wine.

Be sure to visit Amy and see all of her wonderful creations!! Stay tuned for more stops coming soon!

The Quilter Cross Stitch

August has flown by. I think because I spent a greater portion of it digging around in a blueberry patch! I lost count of how many I collected, but it must have been upwards of around 50 liters. A new record! The freezer is bulging of berries.

The picking stole time from everything else, pretty much, but now the berry's days are passing, so it's time to get back to stitching and other fun things. I started The Quilter Cross Stitch maybe in February or maybe it was March. Quite some time ago, in any case. I got distracted by many things, so I just decided it had to be finished.

Actually the main reason I had to finish is because some new cross stitch projects have to be done, but they are top secret. Yes, I am getting published, in a book ,even! It's a Christmas book, but I am not certain when it is to be released. I am furiously working on stitching my pattern, so I can ship it off. Then next up is another cross stitch pattern for another publication. More on these when the time comes.

About The Quilter here then. The inspiration came from my mother who is a quilter. I wanted to do a little celebration of the quilted arts in a fun way. This design was the result. I felt I really must stitch this one to do the full honor to my mother!

Now August is winding down, time to think about the embroidery journal project before I throw myself into more cross stitch!

Cross Stitch WISP

I haven't been as fast as I had hoped, but I am making steady progress!  Enough so to justify a little update.

I made this design in honor of my mother who is a quilter. So of course, guess who I am stitching this for. I just have to be done by June, which I can surely manage! It's a nice project, and I already know she is going to like it!

Europe is in the midst of a deep freeze, but it's perfect for staying inside and getting lots of stitching done!!  Next I have to catch up a little on the TAST stitches. I got behind. Also time to think about this month's embroidery journal project. It feels like winter should be my subject, but I don't know about that. I am counting the days until spring starts!

Summer Stitch School Week 12: Cross Stitch

Welcome to the final week of Summer Stitch School!  This week's stitch isn't so exotic.  I picked the humble cross stitch.  Not many stitches manage to have a full industry based around it, but the cross stitch has managed this, and it's probably what you think of when you hear "cross stitch".  Today's goal is to show you that it much more than that!  It is in fact quite a versatile stitch as you will see.

The cross stitch
Cross stitch is very straightforward, simply make two straight stitches that cross.

That's all there is to it.

Variations
Now you know cross stitch can be both a filling and a line stitch, so I am not taking time to show a bunch of x's lined up.  Instead the goal is to show you that there are many ways to use this simple stitch to create interest and texture.

Variation 1
The basic stitch. Traditionally, the lower and upper stitches are made in the same direction. Of course, one is free to turn that upside down and experiment with that. I will leave that to you though and focus on shapes and uses instead.

Variation 2
Stitch a row on top of another. Adds a lot of interest, especially when you use two floss colors. Also shown are some single cross stitches with variations on the layering.

Variation 3
Change the height and width of your stitches. Also, a line of cross stitches are quite pretty when spaced out a little.

Variation 4
The cross stitch can be wrapped, threaded and whipped like many other stitches. In the upper example I have threaded the x's in alternating directions as shown in the photos.

 Also you can whip the x's. Just bring the needle under each x from the same direction.

Variation 5
The legs of the x don't need to be the same at all. Vary the angle or vary the length. Line up two rows of x's with varied angles for an interesting pattern.

Variation 6
Cross stitch is a great stitch to use when couching. Use it to couch down yarns, ribbons or perhaps an odd material such as a rolled up candy wrapper.

Variation 7
Cross stitch can be used to stitch on beads. In this example I have widened the x so that it shows a bit under the bead. The x can be small so that it is not seen too.

Variation 8
Turn the x on it's side and make an upright cross stitch.

Variation 9
More layering of stitches.  This time a regular cross stitch on top of an upright cross stitch.

Variation 10
Size is another important way to vary the x's. When making a row of x's, try making some larger. Adds interest!

I hope this has been an interesting lesson!  I've certainly done my share of "normal" cross stitch, so this way fun to see the stitch in a new way.  This is the last lesson, but I will make a summary post!