Posted by ModernxStitch on 2008-05-12 10:10:16
Post Subject: Cross Stitch Shop on Etsy and Ebay
Hey y''all!!
I just opened a new shop on Etsy and Ebay for art-inspired cross stitch patterns. If you like to be challenged in your needlework, these''ll definately do the trick :)
http://ModernxStitch.etsy.com
Thanks for the discussion on how to promote! The ideas were great and I will definately have to try some of those!
Posted by craftylikeafox on 2006-04-03 13:23:41
Post Subject: I've been a busy Vixen! Crafty Like a Fox NEWS
Ok kids, come with me on my journey! I've started a blog:
craftyfox.blogspot.com
with the goal of making Craft the ultimate feminist/humanist/political art medium!
Also, craftylikeafox.ca has some news:
New stores in Canada, new websites in the states, new cross stitch patterns, new crafty ideas, oh my god, can you handle it?
And, coming soon:
The Softcore Chick series - cross stitch kits
The Archetypes - PAINT BY NUMBERS! It's true
Posted by brdgt on 2005-03-08 21:35:06
Post Subject:
I really enjoy those needlepoint and cross stitch patterns that you can get at craft stores. Time flies when you are concentrating on them, but they don't take too long and all the supplies are right in the kit.
Take a trip to your local craft store and wander the aisles, I bet you'll come up with all kinds of neat things :)
If you knit or crochet, try a new yarn, maybe something for yourself - or get a super head start on holiday presents and do some small projects like hats, scarves or dishcloths.
Posted by delqc on 2007-06-09 14:02:55
Post Subject: seeking cross-stitch patterns. HELP!
Hello all:
I'm looking for a few very specific cross stitch patterns. I've embroidered two baby afghans for family members in the past, one in a Winnie-the-pooh theme and the other in a baby animal theme. Finding the patterns for both of those was easy. For Pooh there are tons of things available, and for baby animals I found a Noah's Ark chart and adapted the elements that I wanted to fit the design theme of the blanket.
Now I want to do a third (gender-neutral) one, and I have two possible themes in mind. The first is a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme, where I'd like to maybe do a fancy moon in the top right hand corner, and have falling stars around the edges (i.e. a variety of pretty stars, some followed by an arch or tail or something). To do this I would need a pattern with a variety of delicate, cute, fancy star shapes and the moon. I could also do a "cow jumping over the moon" nursery rhyme theme with the falling stars as well, which I think would be lovely.
The second option would be a "baby toy" theme. I would stitch around the outside edges perhaps a motif of a wooden toy train, a rocking horse, and perhaps a pull toy, rattle, or fancy teddy bear.
My problem is this: I have no problem finding motifs of stars and toys, but I can't seem to find ones that are appropriate for baby's room and with the chart complexity that I want. The toy patters I can find are either TOO detailed (i.e. a HUGE chart, just of a very fancy toy train) or too simple (blocky shapes, no backstitching, no shading, etc). I can't really find what I want. I also don't really have the skills to draw what I want into a program like PC stitch or anything... well maybe I could do that for the stars, but I much prefer to work of a pattern. I'm happy to let someone else have the artistic talent to come up with the image, and to reproduce it in floss myself.
SO: does anything spring to mind of baby-appropriate patterns that you've seen that fit either of these themes, with a bit of adaptation? I'd hoped to find a "twinkle twinkle" or "catch a falling star' pattern and adopt it, or a "baby toys" pattern and adopt that, but no luck. Boo.
Thanks very much craftistas! I'm hoping you can help ... or at least be extra eyes in case you see something that would be appropriate. :)
Posted by my_small_space on 2004-06-20 00:30:12
Post Subject:
i second the quarter stitch. fancy yarn (some basics, but mostly amazing things I had never seen anywhere else) and cool needlepoint/cross stitch patterns. (no geese in bonnets) can be expensive, but totally worth it. and the staff is really, really cool.
it is just off jackson square, on charters. if you are looking at the cathedral, it is on your left.
there is also a new yarn store uptown (on magazine, close to where it becomes one-way) but the only time i was there was right after they opened, and they were still sorting everything out. there are some great stores in that area, including House of Lounge, and jaun's flying burrito has guac so good it hurts.
Posted by sparklingallison on 2005-02-21 12:51:43
Post Subject: Free xstitch design program!
I just found this program and started using it -- so far, so good. It takes pictures, clipart and any other type of image and converts them into cross-stitch patterns. OR you can use it like a paint program and design you own free-hand.
Posted by delor68 on 2004-09-21 07:44:36
Post Subject: New Craft....
Hi, I'm new to the group and wanted to ask a question. I have done counted cross stitch for the last 13 years and have dabbled in plastic canvas, woodworking, clay, beading, latch hooking, crocheting, just about everything. I love counted cross stitch but it is very hard to turn it into any type of business since the time involvment is so long. I would like to do a craft that not only is fun and creative but also one that could turn into a business. I have millions of cross stitch patterns and would love to use them for another craft. I often use them for plastic canvas and latch hook. Any ideas? Thank you.
Posted by crossstitchpro on 2007-07-17 08:54:53
Post Subject: recycle jeans into a hand-bag
I just found this site with free patterns.
At the top of the page, there are free cross stitch patterns, and down near the bottom, there are instructions for making a handbag from old jeans.
The site is written in german, but there's a button on the right side of the page to translate it into either russian or english.
Posted by crossstitchpro on 2007-08-17 12:51:47
Post Subject: Baby Boy Crafts
Congrats! Raising boys can be a challenge, but it can also be a lot of fun. I had a baby boy 28 years ago....he's still a lot of fun!
As far as crafting for boys...ummm....how about cross stitching some booties with boy themes(you can buy premade booties for cross stitching. You can also get some free cross stitch patterns by doing a web search)
Or how about sewing a simple blanket and matching crib bumper pad?
How about making/decorating matching father/mother/son t-shirts (maybe use onsies for the little one)
Posted by sparklingallison on 2005-01-30 23:02:47
Post Subject: Cross-stitch patterns?
Hi there,
Any ideas for where to find hip cross-stitch patterns? I'm looking for something inbetween your grandmother's patterns and Sublime Stitching.
Also, any help on how to convert pictures into cross stitch patterns? Do I need to buy a program for this, or is there a way to pixelate the picture into a grid pattern?
I'm sure all you craftistas have some help for me!!
Posted by spiderlady on 2006-05-26 13:05:34
Post Subject:
I live in a two-bedroom apartment, and my daughter Miriam occupies the larger room, so all my crafts are in my bedroom. Which is okay, because I have a loft bed with a large desk underneath. Half the desk is my sewing area where my machine lives, and the other half is my computer and printer's home. There's a three-drawer filing cabinet underneath that holds nothing but my cross-stitch patterns. My duct tape, sewing supplies and notions, beads, and cross-stitch supplies live in the other corner of the room on the two top shelves of a large shelving unit, which also holds most of my DVD's, and the two bottom shelves are my tarantularium, where all my eight-leggedy ladies live. They like the shade down there. I get a lot of living and crafting done in that little room!
Posted by KittenHasAWhip on 2005-01-31 18:51:42
Post Subject:
I've actually had some luck just looking at generic craft shops and their cross-stitch patterns. I'm sure if you can find a local specialty shop you can find even more. I've had luck with the leaflets that have 50 _____ (insert random item here, flowers, shoes, birds, etc.) I actually found a shoe leaflet that looked boring but they had a pair of ballet slippers that would've made the perfect birthday card (had I ever gotten around to actually making it) and it had a cute li'l purple high heel that looked pretty in it's own li'l cute frame hanging on my purple wall (which I of course then painted orange a few months later so it stopped matching. But it was nice while it lasted). A designer that I think is between Sublime Stitching and your grandmother's cross stitching might be Lizzie Kate? It's a li'l country-ish at times but her winter designs, at least the ones I've seen on different sites, are cute and funny and there's some other designer that does sayings inside borders that I'm forgotting about. It'll come to me later. But definitely try a cross-stitching store's website and look through their selection to see if you find anything that strikes you :)
And if you find anything fabulous please do post about it! :) Merci!
Posted by anthrogirl on 2006-10-24 11:05:02
Post Subject:
I find that kind of advertising offensive too, even though I understand it.
What annoys me about it is that so many of today's needlecraft projects in those kinds of books are tacky, stupid, useless, or downright ugly. Yes, a granny square rug made from cheap acrylic yarn in eye-shattering colors is pretty ungly, and many grandmas made things like that. And I don't like toilet paper cozies make with cheap doll torsoes. But do we really need an entire book of cross-stitch patterns with says meant to 'sarcastically' offend the reader? Is the world a better place because someone has come up with a pattern for knitted robot shapes? Is a crochetsd or knitted lettuce decorating a dishcloth really more ugly than a carefully made pattern of a skull and crossbones on a potholder?
Many of the new patterns scream 'I'm a big dorky kid' to me. They are still centered in the idea that consumerism, particularly indiscriminate, mindless, selfish, disposable and wasteful consumerism, is an ideal. However ugly that cozy might have been, it sat in the bathroom for years, had a certain inoffensive charm (tasteless though it was), and did its good work without complaint. How long will it take for a person to grow up and get tired of skulls, snarky sayings and robot pillows, so that a new set of everything has to be made- creating more waste?
And the way things become passe- I've seen books making fun of 60s and 70s fashions. Well, those fashions weren't considered ugly at the time by the people who wore them. They weren't necessarily dorky. The same is true about clothing now. A lot of it will look very dorky in 20 years. Can you imagine about what teens will say when they come across pictures of their parents with piercings, trying to look cool? About the same thing teens say now when they see photos of mom in tie-dye and dad in a macrame vest. Fuddy-duddyism is that the next generation thinks the last generation was.
As an 'older' crafter myself (I'll be 45 soon), I already find a lot of the patterns in these books and magazines to be idiotic and self-conciously hip. They are narcissistic and reflect the lack of taste and herd mentality of youth, just as those awful tie-dyes and jean bags did when I was a kid. They have no staying power. My desire is to actually learn victorian crochet patterns, which are often extremely complex and can be adapted into truly unique and beautiful clothes and accessories. Nothing ages a woman more than walking around in skull covered shirts and clothes with rude sayings once she hits 30, and I have no desire to age myself. Instead, I want to create items I can't find for myself in stores, because our present youth-oriented culture has made it almost impossible for me to find beautiful, timeless, and yet avant-garde clothing at an affordable price, so that I can look like the person I feel I am inside and not like an aging circus clown.
Funny that craftfetish should be mentioning crewel. I was predicting the same thing the other day. We haven't even gotten near the crest for crochet, though. Even needlepoint is still a drop in the ocean.
Posted by Chelsea on 2005-04-29 18:46:59
Post Subject:
I'm Chelsea, 25 and I live in Evansville, IN. I just got married 6 months ago and we've been together 10 years. I have two kitties, Loki and Isis.
What I like:
- reading (Roald Dahl, Chuck Palahniuk, books about homicide research and dead human bodies and what happens to us)
- movies (current favorites - Sin City, Dawn of the Dead, Matilda - Can't wait for - Land of the Dead (EEP!) and Devil's Rejects
- finding new crafty things to do
- christmas decorations
- free stuff
- finding great deals
- my keeties
- wandering through Michael's and Hobby Lobby.
- playing with flowers at work. :)
- storms
- finding cross stitch patterns I like (Kats by Kelly is my favorite)
I work in a grocery store and I'm in either the floral dept or the general merchandise/drug dept.
I don't have any kids, but we're working on it. :)
My crafting:
- I learned how to knit a week ago - can't figure out the purl stitch yet though.
- I do cross stitch (mostly the black cat "Kats by Kelly" designs and Christmas stuff)
- I just started collecting plates to make some mosaic pieces. I plan on making flower pots, purple and green coasters for our living room, and possibly a small table for our balcony.
- I am very interested in collage. I just discovered it a few days ago when I was looking through the craft section at Barnes and Noble.
- Painting with acrylics on canvas and small wooden or plaster pieces that end up being christmas decorations or magnets.
- I would LOVE to learn how to sew, but one thing at a time! (well, kinda a "few" things at a time really, but you know what I mean)
- I would also love to do beaded jewelry too.
