Tag: Random Corner

Someone aptly told me when I started this blog nearly a year and a half ago that cross-stitch was a “gateway craft”. And boy were they right!

I’ve been stitching since I was eight years old… which is about twelve years ago now. I’ve known since then that I love needle and thread – it’s art in a way I can do, create a masterpiece that can last for generations in a skill thousands of years old. People have sewed since (if not before) they picked up paint and made cave art. And I was always lousy with a pencil or a brush. I’m the type who always perfectly visualizes how a project should be, but don’t have the skills to execute. I’m waiting for the day when you can 3D print things with your mind! That’ll be great!

But in saying that, cross stitch is just one type of needlework. Historians believe it to be one of the oldest, but there are at least a dozen other forms one can take independent of all the others. Embroidery has so many different stitches and so many different techniques, and then there’s knitting, crochet, sewing in general… I know a lot about cross stitch and very little about everything else.

But I want to learn! I enjoy everything about the art of needlework, and when I hit a wall with one project it would be great to say “I guess I’ll go knit this instead!” It’d be fun to be a Jack of all (needlework) Trades. A “Stitching Guru”, so to speak.

The one thing holding me back? Time and space. Time is an obvious one, we never have enough time, but it’s also easy to fix – you make time when you need it. Note to self: if you don’t check Facebook every five minutes you’ll free a lot of time in your day. Space is my only major concern. Why? Well, stash of course! I know from my cross-stitch experience that if I get into a new craft, I’ll want all the goodies. The fabric, the kits, the yarn, the extra bits and bobs, all the pretty things… I’ve already got four boxes worth of kits and two boxes worth of charts and magazines for cross-stitch, and I’m struggling with space as it is! Imagine if I added all the supplies for knitting and crochet and sewing onto that?

Maybe it should be more motivation to stitch and clear up more room in my stash.

Or maybe I should just get a bigger house. 😉

I have come across a curious thing in recent months.

As readers may know, I do a segment on my blog called Friday Finishes, which is where I describe and outline all of the cross stitch pieces I’ve finished. The second finish I EVER completed was a piece called the Love Bug, which you can read about here: Friday Finishes #2: Love Bug.

And then, around six years later, I found another, newly designed version of the same kit. I bought it and stitched it, and it became Friday Finishes #11: Love Bug 2012.

Now, these kits were not distributed by the same people. The original was NeedleMagic, Inc., and the newer one was Janlynn. I figured one bought the design from the other or perhaps the designer sold the design to both companies. They aren’t the same kit and separated by at least six years, if not more, but you can tell they’re the same motif. A lady bug with the words “Love Bug” make the two kits very similar.

And then, I recently bought a bunch of things on a trip to Hobby Lobby, and lo and behold, look what I found:

Once again, a kit by a totally different company, Artiste, with a lady bug and the words “love bug”. Called the exact same thing as the other kits. This is starting to get eerie now. And I know there has been at least one time prior that I went to Hobby Lobby and found a kit called “Love Bug” that wasn’t any of the above three. Plus, I found a fabric at work with lady bugs and “love bug” written on it!

Is the “Love Bug” design a super common motif that I don’t know about? Or is this design silently creeping into kits of all shapes and sizes?

Not that I mind. I personally love this motif and I get excited every time I see a new version of the kit I did as a child.

Have you seen this design before? Do you own one of these designs, or ones not even shown here? Do you know why there are so many different versions of this piece? Leave a comment and let me know!

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

So, after much procrastination and delay and the purchase of more thumb tacks, I have finally finished display the majority of my small kits, and thought I would share!

The mini cork board strip on the whiteboard above my desk was overflowing with my mini kits. I had them piled one on top of the other on the hooks, and I needed a better way to display them. So! I finally got more thumb tacks and hung up the ones that won’t fit on the cork board. 🙂

If you’re curious, here are the articles on these finishes, with information about the kit and the design:

Friday Finishes #2: Love Bug

Friday Finishes #12: Love Bug 2012

Friday Finishes #16: Frog and Bee

Friday Finishes #17: Snoozing Kitty

The Dragonfly and the two Christmas bears don’t have articles yet! I will update when they do!

That “Welcome Home” house is one of my favorite finishes. There will be an article on that soon!

The only finish pictured here to have an article is the Seashells:

Friday Finishes #20: Seashells

The other articles will be coming soon!

My Sleepy Moon finish is still missing – I haven’t been able to find it. 🙁

Friday Finishes #13: Buzzing Bumblebee

Friday Finishes #15: Noah’s Ark

I have more finishes displayed around the room, but I like to keep all my mini kits in one place, so this is where they all ended up. 🙂 The humming bird doesn’t have an article, but it will soon!

And that’s it! How do you display all your mini kits? Leave a comment and let me know!

Once again, here is the Christmas article I promised about how I managed to stress myself with my Christmas projects.

I will admit it – I am a slow stitcher. I have a stitching bug that comes and strikes me so I stitch for several hours in a row (although I’m not supposed to) but then not stitching for weeks at a time. Under most circumstances, that’s totally okay! I stitch mainly for myself as a stress-reliever, and a way to make beautiful pieces of art.

But what’s the point of creating art if you can’t share it with anyone? This past Christmas (Christmas of 2013, to be more precise, since we’re three months along since then) I had the great idea of stitching a few pieces for my family. A stuffed animal bib for my nephew, some pillow cases for my sister, and my first attempt at a needlepoint project of dragonflies for my mom (she loves dragonflies, and these were blue, her favorite color). My plans were originally much broader, as in stitching a small piece for everyone, but I decided against it at the last minute.

I had everything gathered and ready to go by the end of October. By the middle of November, I had finished the stuffed animal for my nephew, and started on the needlepoint project for my mom.

I guess that’s kind of when I hit a wall. I was making good progress on the needlepoint, but it wasn’t going fast enough. I wanted to get the needlepoint done before I started on the pillow cases, because those would be easier to work on and get done quickly, so I could finish them during a crunch. As December 24th drew nearer and nearer, I started to panic. I definitely wasn’t stitching fast enough, or often enough. I couldn’t afford to waste days, but some days I didn’t want to pick up the needle. What was I going to do if I didn’t get then done? I didn’t exactly have back-up gifts to replace them.

And then: total disaster.

I realized I was almost out of one of the colors, which was strange, because there was still a lot of that color to stitch. So I took a closer look at the thread list and realized… I’d used the wrong color. I was absolutely gutted. I couldn’t frog out the color mistake because it was such a huge section I’d stitched, and I didn’t have enough left to stitch the parts that did require that color. If I left it and continued on with the right color, there would be an obvious color switch between the two (subtle, but there) and I didn’t want a project I was doing as a gift to have such a big mistake in it. If I stitched it for me, it would be different.

I was distraught and at this point, totally stressed out I wasn’t going to finish in time. I wouldn’t have time to fix this project, finish it, and finish stitching the pillow cases all two weeks before Christmas. It wasn’t possible. I worked a full schedule every week (retail, yay) on top of trying to finish everything in time for Christmas.

I told all of this in a moment of stress and frustration to my boyfriend, who gave me a strange look. “Calm down! They aren’t going to care if you don’t finish it in time. You shouldn’t be stressing out over presents. It’s Christmas, just enjoy it.”

That’s exactly what I needed to hear. Cross-stitch is an art, and it’s meant to be a stress-reliever. In trying to finish on time, I stressed myself out over something I didn’t have to worry over. My family would understand if I didn’t finish on time. They know how much work and effort goes into stitching. I had to tell myself to relax and not worry if I didn’t finish on time. Which I didn’t.

In the end, I wrapped up the cover picture of both pieces and gave it to them as an IOU, and an example of what the piece will look like when it’s finished. At this point, the Christmas presents will probably be birthday presents! But it’s the thought that counts, in the end.

Have you ever stressed about finishing a project before? How did you overcome it? Did you end up finishing the project on time? Leave a comment and let me know!

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

This is part 2 of a multi-part series. This article was originally posted in August of 2013. All information below may have changed!

Read Part 1: Looking For a Cross-Stitch Community? Try Facebook!

One of the first articles I wrote for my blog revolved around the various cross-stitch groups I had just discovered on Facebook. And people are still reading it, almost nine months later! So, I wanted to do a follow-up to the previous article. I’ve found a lot more groups since December of 2012 and discovered a lot more about my groups. Skip around to the ones you want to read and maybe join!

• I cross stitch and I’m not ashamed of it

There are 5,902 members in this group at the time of this writing. (There will probably be over 6,000 by next week.) It is one of the fastest growing (and fastest moving) cross-stitch groups on Facebook. I have yet to find one with as many or more members. It was the first group I discovered and the first group I was a member of.

This group is closed, meaning you can’t see the posts until you become a member. That’s not a bad thing! It means that your friends and family can’t see what you’re posting, so if you want to post a picture of a WIP that you’re making as a Christmas present for your family, they can’t see it and you can post without needing to wait.

There are two admins, Margaret and Robin, and they do fantastic jobs of running the group for only two people to 6,000 members. All in all it’s a group I highly recommend! 6,000 members post a lot so there’s always something new to see in this group.

• Completed Cross Stitch Projects

There are 1,706 members in this group at the time of this writing. This group is dedicated as a group to host all of your finished pieces and display them for others to see and fawn over. Each member is asked to post the name of the pattern, the designer, the fabric count, and all that good stuff when you post your completed projects.

This groups is open, meaning that you can see the posts if you aren’t a member. It also means that friends and family can see what you post when you post in the group. It will show up in their news feed like you had shared something on your wall. (My boyfriend often complains because I post my articles in all my groups, and it shows up on his news feed in the open groups for each one I posted in.)

There are six admins in this group, Rebecca being the main one, and they do a great job of running the group. If you like looking at other people’s finishes, then this is the perfect group for you! It’s a great place to go when you’re looking for some stitchy motivation (or to increase your stash)!

• Wednesday UFO Cross Stitchers and Support Group

There is only 132 members in this group at the time of this writing, but despite that this group is my absolute favorite. This group is dedicated to completing UFOs as well as acting as a stitching (and general life) support group. This is the group Birdie Stitching originally wrote about (and how I discovered Facebook cross-stitch groups!).

This group is closed, meaning you can’t see the posts until you become a member. That’s not a bad thing! It means that your friends and family can’t see what you’re posting, so if you want to post a picture of a WIP that you’re making as a Christmas present for your family, they can’t see it and you can post without needing to wait.

There is one admin, Micki, and the group’s creator is Elizabeth. They are both absolutely fantastic and very supportive of everyone who posts in their group. I would love to see this group grow! It is a tight-knit but welcoming community and we would love to have more stitchy members. 🙂

• Creaheaven – <3 cross stitch and other creative activities

There are 50 members in this group at the time of writing. This group is small, and dedicated to all things creative, though it was made with cross-stitch in mind. It’s mostly a group of stitchers but posting about other crafty things are allowed and welcome!

This group is closed, meaning you can’t see the posts until you become a member. That’s not a bad thing! It means that your friends and family can’t see what you’re posting, so if you want to post a picture of a WIP that you’re making as a Christmas present for your family, they can’t see it and you can post without needing to wait.

There are two admins, Jane and Susan, and they are both extremely active within the group. This is a nice group and I would recommend joining it if you are interested in all things crafty, not just cross-stitch!

• The world of cross stitching

There are 1,300 members in this group at the time of writing. This group is just about sharing the love of cross-stitch with one another, asking questions, sharing your WIPs and finishes, and everything else. This group loves to acquire more stash!

This groups is open, meaning that you can see the posts if you aren’t a member. It also means that friends and family can see what you post when you post in the group. It will show up in their news feed like you had shared something on your wall. (My boyfriend often complains because I post my articles in all my groups, and it shows up on his news feed in the open groups for each one I posted in.)

There is one admin, Dianne, who is very quick to accept any new members who are looking to join. This group is always looking for more members and would love to have new stitchy members!

• Counting All Cross Stitchers

There are 1,130 members in this group at the time of writing. This group’s goal is to have every stitcher on Facebook join it, in an attempt to count how many stitchers there are on Facebook. They’re still quite a ways off, but if you’re a stitcher, you should join this group to help the count! They talk about all things cross-stitch all the time.

This groups is open, meaning that you can see the posts if you aren’t a member. It also means that friends and family can see what you post when you post in the group. It will show up in their news feed like you had shared something on your wall. (My boyfriend often complains because I post my articles in all my groups, and it shows up on his news feed in the open groups for each one I posted in.)

There are two admins, Carrol and Bianca, and they are wonderful in interacting with the group and its community. If you are a stitcher you need to join this group and help their count of how many stitchers exist on Facebook! It’s an interesting experiment and they should have more members. 🙂

• Cross Stitch Club

There are 1,225 members in this group at the time of writing. This group is just a fun club that’s open to all stitchers to join. They like to hold community events that are totally free to join and not mandatory to participate, just a fun thing to do.

This groups is open, meaning that you can see the posts if you aren’t a member. It also means that friends and family can see what you post when you post in the group. It will show up in their news feed like you had shared something on your wall. (My boyfriend often complains because I post my articles in all my groups, and it shows up on his news feed in the open groups for each one I posted in.)

There are three admins, Lisa, Heather and Amanda, and they are all very nice and are quick to add new members who want to join. All in all a fun little group to join. 🙂

• Cross-stitching, it’s my thing

There are 2,802 members in this group at the time of writing. This group has been around for nine years and is still going strong today. It’s a very welcoming community – no negativity is tolerated! (Unless it’s about the dreaded frog.)

This groups is open, meaning that you can see the posts if you aren’t a member. It also means that friends and family can see what you post when you post in the group. It will show up in their news feed like you had shared something on your wall. (My boyfriend often complains because I post my articles in all my groups, and it shows up on his news feed in the open groups for each one I posted in.)

There is one admin, Lauren, and she’s very awesome about running and maintaining the community. I have spoken to her first hand and she is always receptive to any issues you may have about something in the group. She handles things quickly and quietly. This group is very friendly and I highly recommend it!

• Embroidery, Cross-Stitch and Needlepoint

There are 2,238 members in this group at the time of writing. As the title says, this group is for all types of embroidery and needlework, not just cross-stitch. It’s a great group if you’re looking to get into needlepoint or into cross-stitch! They cater to anything you can do with a needle.

This groups is open, meaning that you can see the posts if you aren’t a member. It also means that friends and family can see what you post when you post in the group. It will show up in their news feed like you had shared something on your wall. (My boyfriend often complains because I post my articles in all my groups, and it shows up on his news feed in the open groups for each one I posted in.)

There are six admins in this group, Jolene, Grace, Holly, Cynthia, Christina, and Emma, and with that many admins they have a good handle on running the group! All the admins are friendly and inviting, and because there are so many, you’re sure to get accepted into the group quickly.

• Addicted to Cross Stitching

There are 1,473 members in this group at the time of this writing. This group is all about cross-stitching and how addictive it is! It’s also a group dedicated to teaching others about cross-stitch and other forms of embroidery, as well as expand the horizons of other stitchers.

This group is closed, meaning you can’t see the posts until you become a member. That’s not a bad thing! It means that your friends and family can’t see what you’re posting, so if you want to post a picture of a WIP that you’re making as a Christmas present for your family, they can’t see it and you can post without needing to wait.

There is one admin, Michele, and she is very quick about accepting new members! I think I was accepted within an hour of requesting an invite (which is just Facebook’s fancy way of people joining groups). I really like this group and what it stands for. If you like it as well, you should join!

And there you have it: a comprehensive list of every Facebook group I have been a part of. There are many, many more that I’m not in, and I’m sure there are even more that I don’t even know exist! If you have any groups of your own, feel free to share, either in a comment below or on our Facebook page.

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular weekly schedule. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

This is part 1 of a multi-part series. This article was originally posted in December of 2012. All information below may have changed!

Read Part 2: Facebook Cross-Stitch Groups Revisited

My mother taught me how to cross-stitch when I was 8 years old. She bought a little cartoon smiling flower, showed me what to do, and let me at it. It took a very long time to finish for how simple it was, I would guess around a year – but that’s what you get when you’ve got an eight year old trying to do a task that does require some time and patience. But finish I did, and after my mother did the backstitch for me (and added a tongue on the smile per my request) I proudly stuck it on my wall for many years.

I faded in and out of the craft until I was 17, after a rough year where I dropped most of my hobbies and activities and was looking for something new to set my sights on. Once I got back into it I got back into it bad. I fell in love with everything about, devoured project after project, and made stores like Joann Fabrics (which I was blessed enough to have only five minutes away) my new favorite place to shop.

But do you know what I believed? Beyond my mother and my grandmother, neither of whom cross-stitch anymore, I never met one person who cross-stitched or even knew what cross-stitch was. I knew I couldn’t be alone in liking it, considering there was still a market for it, but I figured there couldn’t be anyone in my area as I would’ve run into them in the last ten years, surely.

I first discovered that there were cross-stitch groups on Facebook through a blog called Birdie Stitching, my favorite video game cross-stitch blog by someone I had been following on deviantART. She mentioned a group she was in in one of her weekly blog posts, and I decided to check it out.

It was the best decision of my life! For the first time I had a group of well over 5,000 people who all loved and adored cross-stitch as much as I did. I loved seeing all their work and seeing answers to questions I had. From there I discovered several more groups and joined them all as well. I now have a community to share my passion with, all for the first time!

So, if you’re searching for a cross-stitch community to share your passion with, and you’re on Facebook, join one and give it a shot! Here are some of the groups I’m a part of:

Note: All of these groups are “closed” to non-members. This just means you can’t see what people have posted in the group unless you’re in the group as well. This is so people can post pictures of presents they’re working on that they don’t want the present receiver to see. 🙂 You can still join all of them!

• I cross-stitch and I’m not ashamed of it – This group is by far the most popular that I’m a part of. It’s a very friendly, welcoming community of over 5,000 people and growing every day. The posts move pretty fast but it guarantees that you see new WIPs and finished works every time you go to the group, and everyone is willing to answer your questions on their pieces. It’s a great place to look for inspiration when the “stitching bug” starts to die.
• Completed Cross Stitch Projects – This group is more centered around displaying the finished works and discussing them in greater detail. It’s also a great place to look for inspiration or ideas or to find a new project that you can see already finished. The community here is just as welcoming and the group doesn’t move quite so quickly as there’s less than 1,000 members.
• Wednesday UFO Cross Stitchers – UFO Wednesday is what’s known as a “stitching day”; you try to set time aside at least one day every week (Wednesday, for example) to get whatever amount of stitching done you can on old projects (UFOs) or WIPs. This group is all about that, everyone sharing their projects and encouraging one another and discussing their stitching week. The admin is very friendly and the community is personable, being just a bit over 100 members and small enough where you can easily be recognized by name after a few posts. This is my favorite group. 🙂
• I <3 Cross Stitch + Creativity – This is a group that centers not only on cross-stitch but really anything artistic and creative. The group is relatively new so it has less than 30 members, but the members who are a part of it are very active and kind. It’s nice to not only have a place for your cross-stitch but a place to find inspiration for anything craft-related.

Now that you’ve heard about a few groups, do you have any plans to join one? Or are you part of some already and have more to recommend? Make sure you leave a comment below with a link to the group!

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular weekly schedule. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

There was a poll posted in one of my Facebook cross-stitch groups last week. The question was, how old is everyone? There were some options – 30 through 40, 45 and up – and then people began adding their own. “Old enough” one option said; “retired with free time” said another. The majority was split between two groups – most were in their late 30s or early 40s, and then 55 and up. There were hundreds of comments discussing ages, when they started stitching, how much they stitch now, and more.

Out of a group of more than one thousand people, with hundreds of voters and comments, I was one of three people in the “20 and under” category.

I was introduced into cross-stitching by my mother and grandmother when I was eight years old, which was eleven years ago. I’m now nineteen. And prior to discovering that the Internet held groups for people who stitched, I was the only kid who cross-stitched. I never knew anyone my age who stitched. Most of them didn’t even know what that was. The ones who did knew it because it was something a grandmother or an aunt worked on and they had been given gifts.

Maybe my lack of fellow stitchers had something to do with the fact that my class didn’t have a Home Economics course in school; we were a transitional class, the old Home Ec. teacher having retired the year before, and the teacher that replaced her turned the class into an experimental “Life and Mathematical Sciences” class, where we made food once every two weeks and did math worksheets every other day. The sewing and “life skills” had been cut out completely. To this day I have a sewing machine sitting in my closet that I don’t know how to use. That class was such a let-down.

Counted cross-stitch is most often associated with “being old.” It’s something a grandmother does in her free time as she knits hats and sweaters and plucks away at her sewing machine. It’s reflected in samplers hung in frames on a wall from a long-dead relative and the bookmarks and pillows and holiday ornaments strewn throughout the house. I once rescued a gorgeous framed Paula Vaughan piece from being thrown away. It’s used in marketing and graphic design to bring up memories of home and “days gone by” – a cookbook I bought from a local festival had cross-stitch art as its cover design for “the best homemade recipes.”

Cross-stitch reflects back to the days when girls learned needlework in school and covered samplers and clothing and anything else with their own designs because that was how a girl demonstrated her sewing skills. She would have to make her own clothes and it was how she added detail to an otherwise plain design. (If you ever have the fortune to visit Ellis Island in New York, a lot of the cloth in the exhibits are covered in cross stitch.)

People may consider cross-stitching a “grandmother’s hobby,” but that just isn’t the case. Everyone has to start somewhere, and, like me, the majority of the group said they had been stitching since they were young children. I just happen to be a kid among history, one of the youngest to enter into the age-old craft. And at least among a group of one thousand there were two others like me. I’ve been stitching for eleven years but I’m still more than 30 years younger than the rest of the group! Where are all the other kids? Where is the rest of my generation, the ones who learned from their grandmothers and sit at home and stitch in their free time?

Maybe I am the only one. I certainly feel like I am at times.

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“Random Corner” is a place for all articles related to all manners of cross-stitchery and the cross-stitch community that don’t fall into the topics covered in the regular segments. There is no set schedule for Random Corner articles, they’re just random!

By the way – to keep up on Little Thread Crafts stitching news and get pictures, updates, and more that don’t appear on the blog until much later, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! I would greatly appreciate it!