Findings–05/27/16

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

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Gosh, how did it get to be Friday again already? Hope you have some good plans for this Memorial Day weekend. My husband and I plan to do some serious bicycle riding this weekend, if the weather permits. But, before we get to that, it’s time for another link roundup!

 

Video of the Week

This week’s video is a lovely animated promotional spot for the River Otter Ecology Project in California.

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WIP Weds: Just Keep Swimming

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

My stitchy bug didn’t really leave me this past week. It’s more like it stood by with it’s arms crossed and pouted while I was busy doing other things. So, I did not make a whole lot of progress on my “Let go and let God” cross-stitch project. I can see the finish line, however, and that keeps me going.

just-keep-swimming

I finally had some down time to spend stitching on Tuesday evening. I am nearly finished with the lettering. Then I just have some back-stitching left to do:

let-go-let-god-wip

Next week maybe I’ll have a finish!

Needless to say, perhaps, but the stumpwork project has not been touched. Insert sad face here. I am eager to get back to it, though.

 

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Findings–05/20/16

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

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Findings is my weekly roundup of links about art, needlework and literature from my wanderings around the web. Here are this week’s links:

Video of the Week

“This is what it sounds like when 1999 people pay tribute to Prince and sing ‘When Doves Cry.'” I’ve kind of become obsessed with Choir! Choir! Choir! on YouTube.

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WIP Weds: Progress on “Let Go”

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

This will be a short post because I have not had a lot of time to stitch in the last week. This has made me slightly cranky, but I do feel a bit better after looking back at last week’s post and realizing that I have made some real progress on this project. So here is where I am at now with my “Let go and let God” cross-stitch pattern:

Progress on the Let go and let God cross-stitch pattern

I am nearly there! I just have the final letters and a little back-stitching to do. It would be lovely to finish this by the next update.

I did not pick up the stumpwork project this week, so I have no progress to share. I only have my one half-finished flower petal taunting me, still in its hoop. I’m not sure if I will get a chance to work on it this week. That depends on whether I finish “Let go” or not.

Finally, I am still plugging away at the next “Alice in Wonderland” pattern, which features the White Rabbit’s pocketwatch, which I shared a couple weeks ago. I started on a draft, but then was unhappy with some of the elements, so I scrapped a lot of it and am back to drawing board (literally) to redo some parts. Fortunately, the pocketwatch itself is safe for now.

 

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How I Travel with My Cross-Stitch Projects

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

This week I wanted to share some of my project bags and how I travel with my cross-stitch projects, even if I’m only travelling to work and back.

I have seen so many fancy bags and travel cases online, including some incredible hand-sewn and hand-quilted bags. But, the bags I use for my cross-stitch projects are plain and utilitarian.

cross-stitch project bags

I own about 5-6 bags like this. These are the three smallest, and I have at least two bigger ones. Although they are different brands, the bags are very similar in construction–a simple polypropylene pouch with cotton mesh embedded to give it some structure and strength and a zipper along the top.

Sometimes you can find them at hobby shops. The middle one above I purchased at a local needlework store. I don’t care about the three-ring holes because I never keep it in a binder, but the size (and the price) was right. I also like the bags from Blick Art Materials, which are super cheap.

And what do I keep in the project bag? The bag must be able to hold everything I need to work on the project. This includes:

  • the pattern
  • fabric
  • all threads needed for the pattern
  • needle(s)
  • hoop
  • pair of scissors

This is the bare minimum I need. Here is how it looks with my current project:

what's in my cross-stitch project bag

Not all of the threads are shown in the photo, but they do all fit in the bag. (I will cover how I organize my threads in a future post.)

I try to keep things as simple and portable as possible. The bag above measures 9″ x 11″ so it is small enough to throw into my work bag or carry just about anywhere. So, if I have a few free minutes on my lunch break, I am ready to spend that time stitching.

And if I don’t have a project bag handy, I can go even simpler — I just throw all my supplies into a gallon-sized Ziploc-type bag.

I love to drool over fancy craft organizers and project bags (love all the little compartments on this one!), but this simple system works for me.

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Findings–5/13/16

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

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Findings is my weekly roundup of art, literature and needlework-inspired links from my wanderings around the web. Here are this week’s links:

Video of the Week

If you are feeling a little down this weekend–or any time–watch this adorable mixed-media stop-motion animated short. I’ve watched it multiple times this week, and I giggle every time. So cute!

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WIP Weds: Adventures in Stumpwork

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Hello! Last week is a blur. I am finally feeling back to normal after working nights last week, but I was so out of it last week that I had to look back at my own blog posts just now to remember where I left off last Wednesday with my cross-stitch projects.

First, I am still charting my next “Alice in Wonderland” pattern. I have not made much progress on that in the past week, but I hope to have a decent working draft finished by the end of this week.

I did make some progress on my “Let go and let God” stitching. Here is where I am at now:

let-go-progress

I still have a ways to go, but I made a fair amount of progress last week while I was sitting in the library at 4am.

Finally, over the weekend I started a new project. About a month ago I decided I wanted to try to do stumpwork embroidery. I had seen some beautiful projects on Instagram and Facebook from embroiderers doing gorgeous stumpwork, and I thought it might be fun to try it. Fortunately, Carol K. from my embroidery guild offered to help me. So I gathered the supplies I needed, including muslin fabric and 28-gauge wire, and attempted a start.

I am using a free pattern and tutorial from The Floss Box. I have also been looking at other tutorials online for additional help. I traced the flower petal shapes onto the muslin and couched down the first wire around one of the petals. Now I am doing buttonhole stitches all around the wire to hold it in place. It doesn’t look like much right now, but here is where I am at:

stumpwork-project-start

You can see the full pattern peeking out in the middle bottom of the photo. I included my embroidery stitch pocket guide because I’ve done so little surface embroidery that I needed to look up how to do a buttonhole stitch to refresh my memory.

Here’s a close-up of the petal that shows the tiny buttonhole stitches better:

stumpwork-closeup

I went to my guild meeting on Monday and showed Carol my progress. She also brought two stumpwork books to the meeting which she let me take home and borrow for the month:

stumpwork-embroidery-books

Both books are filled with stunning projects, and they also include detailed instructions, so I have a feeling I will be consulting them heavily over the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading!

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How to Calculate the Size of Your Fabric for Cross-Stitch

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Yes, there are many websites that have cross-stitch calculators that make it easy to figure out how much fabric you need for your next project. In fact, the online cross-stitch calculator on the Yarn Tree website is a personal favorite.

You can even download a cross-stitch calculator app onto your phone or tablet.

But, I would hate to see people paying money for an app for a simple equation one can easily do on the calculator that comes pre-installed on most devices.

So, let’s take the mystery out of how to calculate your fabric size.

What numbers to do you need to know?

First, you need to know the size of your cross-stitch pattern. How many stitches high is it? How many stitches wide? Usually this information is printed on the pattern somewhere, but if not, you can count the squares in the pattern to get these numbers.

Next, you need to know the what kind of fabric you are using and the the count of the fabric. Is it 14-count aida? 32-count linen? The count just refers to the number of threads per inch in the fabric. If you’re not sure about the count of your fabric, grab a ruler, place the ruler against your fabric, and count the numbers of threads between the edge of the ruler up to the one inch mark. (Yes, I’ve had to do this when I’ve lost fabric information!)

Now, all you need to do to calculate your base fabric size is divide the number of stitches by the count of your fabric.

Ah, but there’s a catch! If you are stitching over 2 threads on linen or evenweave, you want to divide the count of your fabric in half before calculating. For example, if you are stitching over 2 threads on 32-count linen, divide the number of stitches by 16, not 32! However, if you are stitching over one thread (as many HAED stitchers do), then, yes, divide by 32.

Let’s say your pattern is 80 stitches high x 120 stitches wide and you want to stitch it on 28-count evenweave over two threads. Here are the basic equations:

80 ÷ 14 = 5.7 inches high
120 ÷ 14 = 8.6 inches wide

So, the pattern will require at bare minimum 5.7 x 8.6 inches of fabric.

But, you also need to add some extra space around the design so you can frame or finish your piece. Most stitchers add 2-3 inches of extra space around the design.

If you want two inches of extra space all around your design, add 4 to both the width and height of your calculated fabric size. So, in the example above, you will need a piece of 28-count evenweave that is 9.7 x 12.6 inches. (I usually round up, so I’d cut a piece of fabric that is 10 x 13 inches just to be on the safe side!)

Helpful? Too complicated? The Yarn Tree calculator is really good if you just don’t want to bother with the division yourself.

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Findings–5/6/16

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

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My sense of the passing of the days is really off this week. I have been working overnight shifts all week because the university library where I work is open 24 hours during finals.

Staying up all night hasn’t really been the issue. The real challenge is getting any kind of quality sleep during the day. I draped a bath towel over the curtain rod on the bedroom window to help block out the light, and wearing a sleep mask helped, too, but I still slept fitfully, woken up by the sounds of daily life–a neighbor’s lawnmower, traffic noises, my husband coming home from work, kids laughing and talking outside as they walked home from school.

But, when this post goes live, I will be heading home from my last overnight shift. Then I will try to sleep for a couple hours before staying up the rest of Friday so I can try to get back on a normal sleep schedule. Wish me luck.

Here are this week’s links:

Video of the Week

I heart Michael Franti, and I never get tired of listening to this song.

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WIP Weds: Drawing Pocket Watches and a New Start

Posted on May 4, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

This week is finals week at the university where I work. The library is open 24 hours during finals, and I am working the overnight shifts. I’m not really a late-night person, so working from 10:30pm to 7am has been challenging to say the least, although the hardest part is trying to sleep during the day. I have two more nights of this, but in the meantime I have been doing a little stitching.

I did start a new project. Here is where I am currently at:

Let go and let God cross-stitch design

This is another original design that will eventually read “Let go and let God.” There will be some back-stitching around the lettering above, too, but I am happy with it so far.

Next, I have started charting another design based on “Alice in Wonderland.” This one will feature a quote and some motifs inspired by the White Rabbit. I sketched multiple pocket watch designs, and I still cannot decide which one to use. I have narrowed it down to these two:

sketches for the White Rabbit's pocket watch

I prefer the one on the right because I like the perspective and the three-dimensional feel of it. I enjoy the challenge of trying to capture depth in a design rather than just a flat motif. But, we shall see how it works out in the actual pattern.

I have not made any progress on “Anhinga Blues” in the past week, but I may try to pick it up again and work on it a bit in rotation with “Let Go” above.

 

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