My first finishes of 2010.

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a lovely New Year and are enjoying 2010 so far!

I have not been doing much stitching in the first two weeks of January as I have been quite busy doing other things, but I did manage to put the finishing touches to this box and contents that I started in Nov/December last year.

I designed the needlebook, (pattern now available here) , square cross stitched pillow, the felt pillow and the bottle cap pincushion myself, the round rose embroidered tuffett was not my own design as I have seen many examples of this design on other blogs. I made the pins using Swarovski Crystals and the box was a modified design of a tutorial I found on another blog, the tutorials and more photo's are available in this post below.

Stitching news

I have set up a blog called lynnscrossstitchtutorials here , I have been asked quite a few times how I have completed my cross stitch projects so I thought I would put all of my tutorials in one place.

My first giveaway of 2010

I am currently planning and stitching my first giveaway for 2010, it will be published on the 25 January. I know that sounds very specific but I will be taking part in the One World One Heart giveaway that starts on that date, if you wish to take part in the One World One Heart event all you have to do is sign up on the 25th January and promise to give away a prize to one winner in your own blog draw.

I am looking forward to seeing my old friends visiting and hoping to see some new friends too, so don't forget pop back and see me on the 25th, if you like what I have stitched then leave a comment and you could be a winner!

I am also currently planning and stitching my first 2010 personal exchange that will be sent at the end of January, obviously I cannot show pictures yet, but I am really looking forward to sending it, I will show pictures once my exchange partner receives it.

  

Collage in my last post

I have been asked a couple of times how I created the collage in the last post - I downloaded Picasa 3 from the internet, it is a free photo editing design that allows you to create collages.

The cording was handmade out of DMC thread using a small drill.

I used four pieces of dmc thread and twisted it with the drill until it was really tight and then started to kink, when that happens fold the twisted threads in half and all of the threads will coil around each other and make this matching cording for all of your projects.

Edited: You can now see a tutorial for making hand made cord on my finishing blog here 

Instructions and patterns

The box was made following basic box instructions, you can see my tutorial on my finishing blog here although I did change the design by altering the top and adding a drawer.  

The Needlebook 

The pattern for the needle book is available here

The bottle cap pin cushion 

I found this lovely tutorial showing how to make these cute pincushions here  by Jen Segrest, she has also  published some of her pincushions  in the book Pretty Little Pincushions, I bought the book after seeing her tutorial for the bottle cap cushion, it really is worth buying as there are some lovely ideas in there. 

The Pins Pillow pincushion is my own design, I have put the pattern instructions together to make the larger pillow measuring about 10cm x 7cm. If you would like a copy of the pattern ( excluding materials ) just leave me a comment with your email address and I will happily send it to you. 

Thankyou for leaving such lovely comments in my last post, I enjoyed reading them all.

Happy stitching everyone!

Happy Holidays everyone!

To all of my blogging friends - I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas and are all looking forward to a

Happy New Year.

I thought I would show you most of my creations that I made in the year 2009, I have not included a couple of projects because I could not locate the photo's, if there is one thing I have learned from blogging, it is to put my photo's in folders that are a little more organised!   

I have made over 50 items and I have thoroughly enjoyed making all of them. I have stitched quite a few items for blogging friends and I am looking forward to stitching some more projects for personal exchanges that I have already planned in the New Year, and I am also hoping to concentrate on some of my large work in progress as I have been neglecting them lately.

Thankyou for all of your lovely comments throughout the year, I hope you will continue to enjoy visiting my blog in 2010!

See you in January!

My favourite ornament in different colours and exchange received from Patti.

Hi everyone, I thought I would show you my latest obsession!

I just love stitching this ornament from the Just Cross Stitch 2008 Magazine designed by Nancy Boyarsky of Glory Bee. I have stitched it about eight times now, I gave two to my sister, one for an exchange, and I made a purple one for a giveaway last Christmas that you can see here.

Don't you thing it's amazing how different they look by just changing the colour?

I think the reason I like it so much is because I can stitch it in one evening and it is so effective, and I love stitching the rhodes stitch in the middle of each star design.

Here are the ornaments showing a close up view, you can click on the photo's. 

I think I stitched these on 32 count linen

I have also received a beautiful exchange from Patti in the Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange group.

Patti made me this lovely thread holder in 40 count Permin linen in 1 over 1 stitching and included a scissor fob and some threads, I was thrilled with it, thanks again Patti!

Stitching news

My exchanges are all complete for 2009 and I am now planning one of my first private exchanges for January 2010, I have quite a few planned for next year and I am looking forward to all of them.

I am currently making another box to store some of my pins, needles and threads, I will show a picture when it is finished.

Hopefully I am going to work on The Porch Swing by Paula Vaughan as I have neglected that one lately.

Have a lovely stitchy week and thankyou for all of the lovely comments on my previous post.

Finishing instructions for cross stitch box and random act of kindness for Lizzie.

Hi everyone, I thought I would show you my recent random act of kindness that I sent to Lizzie from the Stitching Fairy's Rambling under the Willow Tree.

I knew that Lizzie liked Jane Austen so I decided to make the gift around that theme, I made a needlebook, pinkeep, (my pinkeep finishing instructions can be found on this page here)  polymer clay flowers and a polymer clay threadholder.

My recent visit to Bath where Jane Austen lived for a couple of years, allowed me to find some additional gifts to include, you can see my visit in this previous post here.

I designed the embroidery for the needlebook and used an alphabet pattern I downloaded from the internet, unfortunately I have forgotten where I got it from but if you would like a copy please leave a message on this post and I can send it to you. The pattern for the lady is a freebie, I am also trying to find where I got it from! Since downloading these patterns I have made a concerted effort to make sure I keep a record of where I get the patterns from!

  

I decided to make the same pinkeep for myself, I just changed the back of this one.

 

In my previous post I did say that I would show you how  I covered this box for the cross stitch Christmas ornaments box that I made for my sister, and here they are.

All pictures are clickable for a close up view.

You will need:

A box

Fabric or cross stitched piece to cover the lid - in this case I used silk that had a paper backing on to allow it to go through the printer, you can buy this fabric over the internet.

I found a lovely old Christmas image from the Graphics Fairy blog here and printed it on to the silk fabric.

Lining fabric for inside the box.

Mahogany wood paint/varnish and paint brush.

Wadding for padding the fabric on the lid.

Cardboard for mounting the fabric - I used 2mm thick white card.

Thin card for lining the inside of the box.

Cotton thread or quilting thread for lacing.

Glue that is suitable for fabric, wood, e.t.c

Trimming.

Place the cross stitched piece or printed fabric design face down and place the wadding and then card on top, lace the fabric with strong cotton thread as shown in the picture.

I actually backed the silk with thin cotton fabric because the silk was very fine.

Do not pull the threads too tight or it will distort the fabric from the front, keep checking the front of your design whilst you are lacing the fabric onto the card.

Do the same across the other side so that it looks like this and stitch down the corners neatly.

Again, remember not to pull the thread too tight or your design will become distorted and uneven.

You are now ready to line the box as shown in the photo below.

Draw around the base of your box onto a thin piece of card - I used a folder divider from a file.

Measure the edge of your box to cut off that amount around the edge of the card so that it fits snuggly inside the box.

This piece of card will be covered with your fabric - in this project I used cream silk. 

Place the thin card face down but only place glue on the edge of the card on the wrong side, do not put glue on the side that will be visible as it may show through the fabric.

Glue edge like this and trim corners.

Smooth some glue all over the card.

Turn over and your lining should now look like this.

Glue lining on the inside top and bottom of your box

Now you are ready to attach the top stitched piece to the box.

Put glue on the laced side, paying particular attention to the edges, but be careful not to put too much on the edge as you do not want the glue oozing out at the sides.

Place the cross stitched or printed piece on the top of the box and place some magazines on top to weight it down to ensure it adheres fully to the lid.

This is where you can go and make a nice cup of tea and put your feet up for half an hour or so!

And now for the fun part, gather yourself some nice trim to finsh off.

This is the most important part of the finishing and you must try not to rush it, as this can make or break the professional finish you are trying tlo achieve.

Start gluing the trim at the point where the join will be least visible, I started at the back of the box in the middle, you could always cover the join with swarovski crystals or beads to give a nice effect.

Bring the braid far enough up at the sides to cover where the top meets the box, you do not want a space that can be seen.

 

You should now have a lovely gift for yourself or someone special! 

All pictures are clickable for a close  up view.

I filled this with six of these ornaments and gave it to my sister in time for decorating her tree this Christmas.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask, I shall be glad to help!

Thankyou for all of the lovely comments on my previous posts, please call again.

Box for Christmas Ornaments, Tatting, RAK for Lizzie and an exchange.

Gosh, I have had a busy week this week with cross stitch, I have finished a Christmas Ornament box for my sister and filled it with ornament's that I have been stitching since last January, I found the image for the top of the box from The Graphics Fairy blog here, under the Christmas section.

I have also just heard that Lizzie from A Stitching Fairy's Rambling Under The Willow Tree has received my random act of kindness, and I have received a lovely tatting gift and an exchange in the mail.

Here are the contents of the box above, I gave it to my sister today and she was thrilled with it.

The box is covered and lined with silk.I have made a tutorial to show how I covered the box, you can see it here.

I received a lovely surprise in the mail this week, it was a tatting gift from Kate, she saw that I liked the idea of learning to tatt and she kindly offered to send me these goodies, needless to say I was thrilled with them, thankyou Kate. 

Here is my first attempt at tatting, only trouble is I  feel another addiction coming on! lol

Here is the lovely exchange I received from Sharlotte in the Hooked on Exchanging Group, thankyou Sharlotte, it is now hanging proudly on my fireplace!

I will show the pictures of my random act of kindness to Lizzie in my next post, for some reason I am struggling to upload the photograph's to my blog for this.

Thankyou for all of the lovely comments in my last post!

Happy Stitching everyone.