WIP Wednesday: Knock Knock

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Heather

Who’s there? A finished door!

All Hearts Come Home Stocking, designed by Dimensions (WIP)

All Hearts Come Home Stocking, designed by Dimensions (WIP)

I admit that I didn’t make quite as much progress as I was hoping, but I suppose some progress is better than none. Actually, I’ve been pretty engrossed in my canvaswork project… (Are you following me on Instagram? I’ve been posting lots of pictures there.)

My goal for next week is to finish the bows on both sides of the garland and then do the pieces of garland that come out from them. And, if I get really ambitious, I will start working on the pillars that the bows are attached to.

15 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Heather

Happy Valentine’s Day, Stitchy Friends!

victorianvalentinecupid

Today I’m taking part in Jo’s Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop.

Heart collage

I’ve been sent this lovely heart-themed picture. Did you stitch it? If so, please let me know in the comments. Edit: My secret stitcher has revealed herself. Deborah of A Patchwork of Crafts stitched this wonderful design.

Secret Valentine. Who stitched this?

Secret Valentine. Who stitched this?

Why not head over to Jo’s blog, Serendipitous Stitching, and check out some of the other lovely Valentine’s Day projects. Take some time to check out some of the other participants, and maybe see if you can figure out which Valentine I sent.  Jo has also provided a fabulous list of Valentine-themed freebies.

20 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

Shuttle Tatting Giveaway Winner

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Heather

Hello again, Stitchy Friends! Thank you for all the interest in my little shuttle tatting giveaway, I greatly appreciate all the advice that I received from experienced tatters, and the encouragement I received from everyone else. My goal is to have 12 little Christmas ball toppers finished by the first of December.  We shall see if that actually happens though…

Shuttle Tatting Giveaway

Shuttle Tatting Giveaway

Anyway, I’m sure what you’d really like to know is who won my little shuttle tatting giveaway. The random number generator selected:

Clara Eldridge of Alaska Wolf Pack

Congratulations, Clara! I hope you have much better luck with shuttle tatting than I did.

SmallsSAL2016

Smalls SAL Reminder

Don’t forget that February is a short month. The Smalls SAL check-in day will be here before you know it. The post will go live on my blog on Thursday, February 25th. You can sign up for an email reminder right here.

7 Comments | Posted in Giveaway | Tagged

WIPs Wednesday – All Hearts Home Home

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Heather

Good morning, Stitchy Friends! I’ve decided to jump on the WIPS Wednesday bandwagon and show you what I’m working on.

All Hearts Stocking, designed by Dimensions (WIP)

All Hearts Stocking, designed by Dimensions (WIP)

I am still stitching away on my dad’s Christmas stocking, slowly but surely. My goal is to have the door finished and to have made significant progress on the greenery swag above it by the end of the week.

Creative Persuasion, designed by Carolyn Mitchell

Creative Persuasion, designed by Carolyn Mitchell

If you follow me on Instagram (@stitchinglotus) you have probably seen pictures of this piece. It is Creative Persuasion, designed by Carolyn Mitchell. It was taught as a class at the fall 2012 Creativ Festival, and, to be totally honest, had been sitting almost completely untouched since then. I’m so glad I got it out again because it is just lovely. The different textures of the fibres look wonderful together, and the colours are perfect. I can’t wait until it is finished and hanging on my wall.

That’s it for this week! I know you know I have so many other WIPs, but if I shared everything we would be here until next Wednesday! 😉

Happy stitching!

12 Comments | Posted in Canvaswork, Cross Stitch | Tagged , , , , ,

Tool Review – FriXion Highlighter

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Heather

How do you handle your chart when you stitch? Do you work off a digital chart on your tablet? Do you work from the original, or do you make a working copy? Do you mark your chart or just keep track of where you are mentally?

[poll id=”7″]

Generally speaking, I work from the original chart and don’t mark it. When the chart is complicated (or I’m having trouble concentrating), I will occasionally mark the chart with a pencil. I can’t stand the idea of leaving a permanent mark on a chart. Yikes! 😛

When it comes to my knitting patterns, pencil is really hard to follow, and I like to use a highlighter, but I’m worried about marking the wrong instructions and making the wrong size. (It has happened…)

FriXion Highlighter

FriXion Highlighter

This is my new favourite tool. It is a Pilot FriXion Light Erasable Highlighter. It works just like a regular highlighter. (The chart is Dragon Love, a freebie from Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams.)

Highlight your chart just like normal...

Highlight your chart just like normal…

Except you can erase it.

...and erase your mistakes.

…and erase your mistakes.

The end of the highlighter has a little soft plastic nib that works as the eraser. That’s because the secret to these highlighters is that the ink is ‘removed’ by friction. What is actually happening is that the colour disappears when you rub it with the nib. (There is still a clear residue on the paper, but you can’t see it.)

More highlighting, including over pen ink.

More highlighting, including over pen ink.

And you can write over that area again with no problems.

There are also FriXion pens, in a few different sizes and colours. They have quickly become my favourite writing tool, and helped to sooth a few of my perfectionist tendencies. I’ve been using them for around two years now, without any issues developing because of their erase-ablility. (I do, however, use a “regular” pen for writing cheques, filling in important forms, etc.)

So, what do you think? Will FriXion highlights find a place in your workbasket? Do you think they are a useful stitching tool? Or, do you use something even better to mark your charts? Let me know in the comments.

19 Comments | Posted in Reviews, Tool Reviews | Tagged ,

Shuttle Tatting Giveaway

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Heather

Have you ever bought anything thinking that one day, one magical day, you will use it and become so great at whatever it is for that life will be amazing. No? Me either. 😉

Tatting Christmas Ball Cover (WIP), designed by Kim Beamish

Tatting Christmas Ball Cover (WIP), designed by Kim Beamish

Seriously, though, I’ve been trying to learn to shuttle tat since the last century. Waaaaaay back in university, sometime around 1999 or so (gosh, that looks like ancient times now, doesn’t it?), I took a shuttle tatting class at my then-LNS Golden Threads. I did okay, but I never really caught on. I tried books, YouTube tutorials, and even a class at Craftsy, but I still never got it. Thankfully, there is needle tatting and Kim Beamish. (You may recall I took a class from her at this past fall’s CreativFestival.) I am clearly meant to needle tat, not shuttle tat.

So, what to do with my shuttle tatting supplies? Why not give them away!

Shuttle Tatting Supplies - These could be yours! Leave a comment below.

Shuttle Tatting Supplies – These could be yours! Leave a comment below.

If you are interested in learning shuttle tatting, this is actually a really great book. Working with it was the closest I ever got to actually understanding what to do. And that is saying a lot. I’ll also send you three shuttles, two of which have never been used. (The metal shuttle is the one I’ve been trying to use for lo these many years, but it is still in absolutely excellent shape since I didn’t practice too much…) I will also include a lovely little ball of very fine tatting thread. And, lastly, I will include a little surprise.

If you’d like to enter, please leave a comment below. I will close the comments on Friday, February 12th at about 9pm Eastern and draw a winner. The winner will be notified via email, so make sure you fill out your correct email address. (Don’t leave it in the body of the comment, just put it in the proper field in the comment form.)

If you’d like a second entry, just post about the giveaway on your blog, Twitter or Instagram. You can tag me on Twitter as @silverlotus and on Instagram as @stitchinglotus. Then, hop back over here and let me know you’ve posted.

Good luck! And I hope you have more success with shuttle tatting than I did. 😉

13 Comments | Posted in Giveaway, Tatting | Tagged ,

Goldwork Dragonfly – Part 2

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Heather

I really enjoy trying new types of needlework, but there are some kinds that I find more intimidating than others. Stumpwork, for example, scares the pants off of me. Goldwork is another technique that I’ve wanted to try, but have been both afraid and not sure where to begin.

Goldwork Flower (class from Alma Laidlaw)

Goldwork Flower (class from Alma Laidlaw)

Actually, several years ago I took a little “teaser” class at the Creativ Festival and made the little piece above. We learned a bit about the types of materials used and a few techniques, but since it was pretty easy I figured that either I was missing something or that the instructor had left a lot out.

This winter I decided to try a beginner goldwork class from Alison Cole. I was really intimidated, but after the first lesson was complete I felt so much better. (I shared my progress in this blog post and on Instagram.) Having all the supplies and great instructions full of pictures was so helpful. It made me much more brave.

Here is the final result:

Goldwork Dragonfly, designed by Alison Cole

Goldwork Dragonfly, designed by Alison Cole

It isn’t exactly like the model. Unfortunately, I placed the ribbon flowers a little too low on the bottom wings and made the petals a bit too large. So I had to change the position of the sadi flower, and only make one instead of two. But, if you didn’t know that they were “wrong”, I think it looks fabulous.

I’d really love to try some more goldwork in the future. Alison has some really lovely kits and a couple of other classes I’d like to try. She also has a stumpwork book that looks very interesting…

 

18 Comments | Posted in Goldwork | Tagged ,