I love to cross stitch! My grandmother taught me how when I was six, and I've pretty much been doing it ever since. I usually only do big, detailed pieces and I never keep them. Although I like doing them, having the finished product in my house has never really appealed to me. So...before I start one, I always have someone in mind to give it to. The ABC Bears you'll see below were a gift to my sister in law when she had her first child. The Dolphins below are going to be a wedding gift.
So now, here are some of the cross stitches I've done. I've done others, but haven't yet had a chance to scan in the pictures of them. I'll add more, as I do more, but be warned, they take forever!
This cross stitch kit was so much fun to do, I could hardly put it down! LOL It was done on a light blue 14 count Aida cloth, using about 36 colors. Now, usually when you cross stitch from a kit, you use 2 strands at a time to make your stitches. This pattern though, called for various numbers of strands per stitch. Some stitches needed two strands, some 3, some 4 and some 5...and most of the pattern was done using only half stitches. It gives it a real 3 dimensional look! And it took about half the time to finish than any other cross stitches I've done of this size. The backstitching on this one took almost as much time as the cross stitching, and I think it turned out beautifully.
The ABC Bears was great to do, as each bear could be done separately, and you could see your work "finished" one bear at a time. It's nice every once in a while to do a cross stitch where you don't have to wait until the entire piece is done to see what it's going to look like. :o) This project was done on 14 count white Aida cloth, using a hoop big enough to fit one bear inside the hoop. This was excellent because I didn't have to move the hoop around a lot to finish a section of the pattern. It took me about 6 months to complete this project.
1. If you are just starting out and exploring the world of cross stitch, start with a small piece. The ones above measured about 12" x 16", and for the beginner this can be a very frustrating task.
2. As you complete a stitch on your project or a section of stitches of the same color, use a light colored high lighter to color in the pattern sheet. This way you always know which stitches you've done and it's much easier to figure out what color or section you want to do next.
3. Always, always, start in the middle of the pattern. Why? Because then you know that your finished product will be centered on the cloth, and you won't run out of cloth before you run out of pattern. To find the center of your cloth, fold the cloth in half and then half again to make quarters and crease it a bit. Open it up and the crease(s) will lead you right to the middle. Most patterns have arrows, at the top, bottom, left and right to show you where the middle of the pattern is. Follow the arrows on the top and one of the sides until you find the center of the pattern and mark it lightly.
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