Craft Blog|all things crafty & creative

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Jennifer at Sweet Pea Stitches and she asked:

What is the most complicated piece you’ve ever completed?

*completed* would be the keyword in that sentence. See I’ve started big and complex pieces like TW’s Guardian and not yet finished them. I’ve completed big pieces like Dracolair’s Ouroborus, but I didn’t find it complicated at all, in fact I found it soothing to stitch and the design just flowed right off the needle. I think the most complicated piece I have *finished* all the way to the end would actually be TW’s Tempest in a Teacup - and it’s a free design available on her website!

Here are pictures of my finished Tempest which resides in my kitchen so I can see his handsome face daily.

Why do I consider this my most complicated finish? It was the first time I stitched a Teresa Wentzler design all the way to the end. And if you’ve ever stitched a TW you know that there is a reason she is dubbed the queen of the blended needle. This may be a small piece but she sacrifices no detail! There are blended colors and little enhancements all over the design. It was a joy to stitch, maybe complicated isn’t the right word for me to use. It was a learning experience for me to stitch as well.

Visit this weeks SBQ and add your own answer to the question of the week!

Technorati Tags: sbq, stitching bloggers, question of the week, tw, teresa wentzler

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This week’s SBQ was suggested by Terri and is:

What items do you consider essential to your needlework that you keep in your stitching bag?

My bag stays pretty basic.

Project fabric and floss
Pattern
Highlighter
Pencil
Scissors
Needle and extra needles….

that’s all no fluff n stuff

What’s in your bag?

Yazzii Quilted Tote Bag
Price: $19.99
Quilted Black Craft Tote Bag: Great tote bag that can be used for your craft projects, as an overnight carry bag, a shopping bag etc. It has a large zippered pocket on the outside and a small zippered pocket on the inside. Dimensions: 13.4”X 17”X 8”

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This week’s SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

Are there other crafts that you have tried and abandoned? Why do you
like stitching better?

Yes! OMG, yes. Big huge yes. I love crafts in general, but stitching has always been my favorite. I think the one that stands out in my mind as “tried and abandoned” is scrapbooking. I just could not get into it. I don’t know why, I usually like paper crafts, and I like taking pictures, but scrapbooking and I just didn’t mesh together well. I have since played with digital scrapbooking, and that is going a little better for me, but still not totally loving it as much as I do cross stitching and needle crafts.

Technorati Tags: sbq, stitching blogger, question of the week, crafts, needle crafts, scrapbooking

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Today’s SBQ was suggested by Kathryn and is:

Have you ever helped anyone else learn to stitch? Have you ever helped anyone learn a new stitch or technique?

I taught my husband and my oldest two boys how to stitch. And quite a few of my friends along the way I’ve taught myself how to do new stitches and techniques … does that count?

Technorati Tags: SBQ, stitching bloggers, stitching, cross stitch

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This week’s SBQ is interesting, even if it is a bit longer than usual. It was suggested by Heather, and I will suggest visiting the original SBQ posting to read the full details about the questions presented.

What would your stash tell others about you?

That I am a procrastinator and don’t finish things? And that I like sparkly hand dyed fabrics.

Most of us stitchers joke about having reached SABLE (stash acquired beyond life expectancy), but have you thought about what you’d like done with your stash after your death? Do you want it to reach other stitchers who will love it, too? Would your family know what to do with it or recognize its value?

I haven’t reached SABLE yet, my stash is actually kinda small in comparison to a lot of stitchers I know. Only because my budget and space are both seriously limited … if I had more room and more dollars to spend I’d have reached SABLE twice by now

If I don’t use all my stash I would like to see it go to my kids if they are still interested in it, otherwise the family is instructed to divide up among my message board members here at STNA ~ yes I plan on having the message board in existence forever and ever and ever.

How well organized is your stash –would someone be able to come in and put together a sale easily, or would it require lots of organizing work ahead of time? What would you like to see done with the funds collected from such a sale, i.e., should funds go to your family, to a charity or charities of your choice, to a charity or charities of your family’s choice, etc.?

At the moment it’s not very well organized at all. It’s in a large moving box where I neatly piled it all over the summer when we moved to this townhouse. I haven’t yet found the perfect spot for it here.

Are there certain items in your stash which are rare and highly desired by stitchers that might make a much larger amount of money if sold on eBay? Have you done anything to designate which items these more valuable ones are to guide your family in how to handle them? Who would you tell your family should handle such a sale so that they don’t have to do it themselves? Have you done anything to make these thoughts known to others, either through discussions or through a codicil to your will?

I don’t think I have anything rare. I have some autographed Fantasy Faire patterns and another autographed chart booklet from Jennifer Aikman-Smith. I wouldn’t sell them on ebay even if they were worth lots of money because they are more about me enjoying them and having charts signed by my favorite designers.

I can only hope that whoever gets them when I’m gone will appreciate them and love them like I do.

Have you ever attended a similar sale of a passed stitcher’s stash? How did it make you feel? Did it encourage you to make any changes in your stitching lifestyle?

I’ve never been to one of these. I’ve seen a few random pieces at estate sales, just never an obvious stitcher’s stash out for buying.

Technorati Tags: stash, stitching, SBQ, stitching bloggers question of the week

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When you have to frog out stitches, do you reuse that thread or do you
start over with a new strand?

Hey that’s an interesting question! It depends, if it was just a few stitches and the frogging goes easily then I’ll just rethread the needle and go right back to stitching with it. But if it was backstitching, or I’m doing blackwork or something that has much detail I tend to grab a new strand of floss.

Now that I think about it, no wonder I always run out of kit floss ~ LOL ~ I make a lot of mistakes and frog a lot!

Technorati Tags: frogging, stitching, sbq, stitching bloggers question of the week

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Wow, I’ve missed a few SBQ’s. Time to get back on track again.

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Ternezia and is:

If you were a cross stitch designer, what would your design style be?

I guess for me that’s not really an if. I do have designs that are my own. Most of the things that come out of my head are of a sampler style. And I particularly like to design ornaments, fobs, etc. I feel like each little design is an expression or an emotion. I haven’t designed anything in awhile, and I blame that on being emotionally messy the past year. LOL that sounds a little weird when I say it out loud, but that’s just how things have been.

So, what would your style be? Stop by SBQ headquarters and share with us.

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This SBQ was suggested by Jennifer

How did you get started stitching? Was there a person that inspired you?

I got started stitching when I was 8 years old. I was a girl scout at the time (can you believe I was a girl scout?) and our troop had to pick a needlework type of project to work on. I think it was my mom and another troop mom that came up with the idea of cross stitching something.  None of the troop moms were big cross stitchers themselves so it was learning experience for everyone involved.  The project was a white goose and we were stitching it on a red sweatshirt using waste canvas.  Talk about your first project being difficult, using waste canvas is a bit more complicated than using aida or evenweave ~ so for a first project it was tough. 

I was one of the first done and I asked my mom to get me some more cross stitch things.  I was happy to find that there were actual fabrics for cross stitching and not everything used that darn waste canvas!  She did and I’ve been stitching ever since! I’m sure that original sweatshirt is still in my grandparent’s house someplace. I ended up giving to my grandmother as a gift, very proud of my creation and she never threw anything out. It’s sure to be hiding in the basement somewhere.

Technorati Tags: sbq, stitching blogger, stitching blogger question of the week, question of the week, cross stitch, waste canvas

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Have you ever thought of getting a rider on your household insurance
to properly cover your stash (some of us have quite an extensive
stash that an average household policy wouldn’t fully cover) in the
case of some sort of damage to your house that would destroy/ruin
charts, fabrics, floss, etc?

Well, I don’t have household insurance at the moment, but I have considered it in the past just because I have read the awful stories of fires and floods and all the pretty stash that has been lost and not replaceable.  Although, I don’t think my stash is currently in a position to be insured.  I haven’t bought anything to add to it in quite some time. 

Technorati Tags: sbq, stash, stitching bloggers, stitching bloggers question of the week

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Which project (finished or in progress) are you most proud of? Explain why.

I’m going to go with my finished pile. Which, sadly I have not added anything to in awhile. And I’m going to go with Blackwork Dragon (Dragon Dreams design) as my pride and joy. It was my first blackwork piece, and it was my first large project that I finished on hand dyed evenweave, and stitched with hand dyed threads. The whole project was a big experiment for me and my stitching and I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. I get compliments on it all the time too. Now, maybe some day I’ll decide on a framing layout and get hung on the wall so I can admire it more often.

Technorati Tags: sbq, stitching bloggers question of the week, stitching bloggers, finished cross stitch, blackwork, blackwork dragon, dragon dreams

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