This beginner needlework tutorial was first posted on my old blog several years ago. Many things have changed since then :) I no longer have time for embroidery, but I keep promising myself that one day I'll get to play with all those colorful boxes of meticulously sorted floss bobbins and a stash of beautiful linen fabric. I still have the pictures, so I'll attempt to recreate this very simple visual step by step tutorial how to make a square pillow pincushion with tassels attached to all four corners. The number of tassels and the embroidery design (or any other decor!) are completely up to you. The most important part is to get your backstich border right - the number of stitches must be exactly the same on both parts of your pincushion (and on every side if it's gonna be square). Here I used a pattern with square cross stitch border that helped me count the stitches, but if you make just a small ornament, please double check that your borders match up. Tassels are attached to the corner point, and the

Inspiration for MAKING a pretty life!

Cross-stitch pattern for pillow “Prunes” Gorgeous pattern for cross -stitched pillows. You can make a couple with a pillow from the page “Free Cross-Stitch Pattern...

Is your cross stitch project turning into a mess? Here are some quick, helpful tips and tricks on how to cross stitch neatly.

Cross-stitch pattern "Spring blooms" for draught excluder.How to make a draught excluder 1 Cross stitch your design in the center of your piece of fabric ...

Not too long ago I was deep in the thicket of the internet, in search…

The cross stitch crochet stitch is usually crocheted in the round but you can also crochet it in rows. Great for home decor project or personal projects.

These awesome projects by the members of the subreddit r/CrossStitch will prove that cross-stitching is not a boring hobby!

These cross stitch patterns are completely inappropriate (also known as subversive cross stitch.) They have bad words in them and some have mature themes. Please only click through if you are looking for inappropriate cross stitch patterns.

For instructions, click here: http://ergahandmade.blogspot.gr/2015/06/crochet-stitches.html Via: http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/larka77/post226573883/

Written by Pam Cirincione for Stitching the Night Away

A few people were interested in getting a pattern for my scrappy cat pillow top. If you search for tessellating cat quilt patterns, you'll see all sorts of versions. Here's a graph and link to this page which is similar to mine. I saw one a lady made and she said she got it from the Oct. 2009 McCalls magazine. I'm getting motivated to try this again. Here are some unfinished dimensions in inches for the cat sections for mine. You can cut out and assemble intuitively, using a few instructions I included below. Ooops. I already see a mistake-- the body piece should say 9 1/2 x 4 1/2". Ear sections background Ears 2" square (draw a diagonal line) 5 x 2" background and apply the 2" squares to each corner, sew on the diagonal line and then trim off leaving 1/4" seam. Head 5 x 3 1/2" Body 4 1/2" x 9 1/2" Flank (on the lounging cats) 3 1/2" HST (half square triangle cut 3 7/8" squares (one main cat and one other cat colors) and sew into two HSTs (trim to 3 1/2") Straight Tail 7 1/2 x 2" plus two 1" squares marked with diagonal line and sewn to create the curved end. Curved tail See diagram and cut out each piece. a. To the 2 1/2" squares apply a 1 1/2" square with drawn diagonal line to one corner and sew along the diagonal and trim leaving 1/4" seam. Press back. b. To the 4 1/2 x 1 1/2" (yellow section on diagram). Sew 1 1/2" squares with drawn diagonal lines to each end, sew along the diagonal line, trim, and press. Sew curved tail sections (including the haunch) together. Probably needs some testing so good luck! Linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River

The thing about crochet, as opposed to knit, is getting a nice clear straight pattern is pretty near impossible, since the stitches form diagonal lines. This can be a good thing, sometimes, but whe...

For those of you that don’t know me personally, I have a tendency to be a little bit high strung and anxious. I over analyze to the point that it drives my extremely laid back husband crazy – and I’m currently worrying that you guys will hate this pattern and unsubscribe! When I discovered hot yoga, […]

Free knitting charts of campaign awareness ribbons that can be used for any charity or awareness projects.

Cross stitch on linen is gorgeous, and it's easy enough for beginners. Learn tips and tricks for stitching on linen in this post.

For those of you that don’t know me personally, I have a tendency to be a little bit high strung and anxious. I over analyze to the point that it drives my extremely laid back husband crazy – and I’m currently worrying that you guys will hate this pattern and unsubscribe! When I discovered hot yoga, […]

In this post, I’m sharing how to prepare your cross stitch project before you even start stitching. Planning your cross stitch and preparing your fabric.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of those links I may receive a small commission. Last week I had the privilege of taking over the Craft Yarn Council’s Instagram page for WING IT! I had to spontaneously come up with a project that could be completed in a da

Project: The Princess and the Pea Designer: Marion Scoular Type of needlework: Blackwork and Hardanger Photos: 12 Marion's instructions for this project can be found on the NeedleArtworks website. LEGEND: First, let's read what Marion Scoular has written for us concerning the legend about THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA. Once upon a time there was a Prince who longed to marry a real Princess. He searched all over the world to find her. There seemed to be plenty of Princesses but for one reason or another, the Prince could never be sure that they were, in truth, what he sought. Disconsolate, he returned to his castle. Slowly he grew paler and thinner, pining for a real Princess. One evening there was a terrible storm. The wind blew, lightning slashed the sky, thunder crashed and rain lashed the countryside. Suddenly a knock was heard at the castle gate. The guards hurried to the gate, holding their lanterns high above their heads. There at the gate stood a Princess. Rain had soaked her hair and streamed in rivers from her gown to her toes. But she was a Princess ... a real Princess ... she told the guards, and had become lost in the storm. "A real Princess?" asked the Prince, in disbelief. "We must make sure," said his mother the Queen. She prepared a bed for the Princess, made with ten mattresses filled with the softest eiderdown. Beneath the first mattress on the boards of the bed, the Queen placed one small dried pea. The Princess, unaware of this, climbed up to sleep on top of the feather mattresses. In the morning, everyone in the court gathered to hear the Queen ask her how she slept. "I hardly slept a wink," moaned the Princess. "I am bruised all over. My bones ache as if they were broken. There must have been some frightful object in my bed". "She is indeed a real Princess," proclaimed the Queen. "No one but a real Princess could have such tender skin!" The delight of the Prince knew no bounds. The King and Queen were well pleased. The Prince married her the very next day because now he knew she was a real Princess. And the pea can be seen on a pedestal in the Royal museum to this very day. (end of story) Comments: This is really a project that I enjoyed stitching from start to finish. The design is beautiful and I guess it brought back the child in me with this lovely legend. The brochure is very well written and it was not difficult to follow Marion's instructions. I was blogging pieces at the time which would explain why I have so many photos to show you today. (Photo showing the bed with the first 2 mattresses and if you look under the first mattress you will see the little round pea, which has not yet been stitched ) (3 mattresses now) (4 mattresses) (Going up to 5 mattresses) (6 mattresses) (7 mattresses) (8 mattresses, getting pretty high) (9 mattresses) (10 mattresses - this is as high as this goes - would not want to fall from that height myself) (This photo shows the blanket, hardanger canopy, canopy drapes, tassel and the Princess herself) (Fun frame for this project - Don't forget to look at the little pea under the first mattress - you may also have a look at the very first photo way way up this post so that you can have a good view of the little pea)

Turn an embroidery project into a throw pillow with this easy DIY project.

This is a request from a Ravelry member - I hope you like it :) PDF files which include zoom charts are available from Ravelry here. 90 x 90 Square Charts: 60 x 60 chart: Download PDF

While at imm this year, I briefly had a chance to look around as I ran from my lecture to the book shop - but at least I spotted a few things on my sprint! I snapped a few photos on my iPhone for future blogging and one of those photos had a pouf from GAN . Here's a glimpse of the good stuff... R

Happy Monday Friends & Folk! ~ we have had thee best weather here as of late ~ with yet another high & dry one scheduled for today... I have been putting the good weather to good use, working on finished items for upcoming shows, … and models for upcoming classes. this is but one of the projects that has leapt from my needle & graced my hoop; I like to switch between my favorite DMC floss colors and Valdani threads to give my folk art needlework more movement & depth… what you are seeing is the back of my project-in-progress, thus the stray threads ~ most of the time, I will wind my DMC floss around one of our thread winders to keep my threads from tangling… or I like to use one of our Farmhouse Ball Jars to hold balls of Valdani perle cottons as I punch; ~ but ~ when I'm in the throes of a creative-frenzy there is no organization for me! {{ as you can tell by the nest of cotton floss close by my work }} I just thread that needle and punch! here is a view of the front of my sun; notice the dimensional-effect it has ~ from the different height adjustments on my Ultra Punch Needle… I will begin filling in the background and this will be adhered to an old zinc sap bucket that I found on my travels here in Virginia. I have a total of 4 buckets to put use for more of my finished punch-work, and they will accompany me to the Summer in the Valley show in Fishersville, VA on July the 9th. {still have to trim away stray threads from the front} This week, I will be happily preparing the supplies for the "Sturbridge Peony" Class that I'll be teaching this Saturday, June 25th at Ye Country Mercantile in Sturbridge, MA {class project is below} Joan & I are super-excited to visit with Doreen Piechota at her beautiful shoppe: Ye Country Mercantile click HERE to visit and we are also looking forward to seeing those of you who have signed up for the class!! I promise to behave and be on my best behavior ~ but I can get a little crazy ;) Have a glorious 1st day of Summer my friends ~ may it be filled with sunshine for all! ~ Blessings from the Farm ~ Lori

I enjoy embroidery, and these little cushions are (relatively) quick and easy to make. For the examples above, I used odds and ends of Anchor and DMC embroidery cotton and 22 count Aida cloth. I wo…

On a whim I decided to give my front room a makeover. I guess I didn't think I had enough to do. Or maybe that is just how my crazy mind works. But then I accepted a book deal and so the "quick and simple makeover" has been limping along. It gets ignored for the most...Read More

This beginner needlework tutorial was first posted on my old blog several years ago. Many things have changed since then :) I no longer have time for embroidery, but I keep promising myself that one day I'll get to play with all those colorful boxes of meticulously sorted floss bobbins and a stash of beautiful linen fabric. I still have the pictures, so I'll attempt to recreate this very simple visual step by step tutorial how to make a square pillow pincushion with tassels attached to all four corners. The number of tassels and the embroidery design (or any other decor!) are completely up to you. The most important part is to get your backstich border right - the number of stitches must be exactly the same on both parts of your pincushion (and on every side if it's gonna be square). Here I used a pattern with square cross stitch border that helped me count the stitches, but if you make just a small ornament, please double check that your borders match up. Tassels are attached to the corner point, and the

If you're like me, you're aggressively searching for fun but QUICK Valentine's Day makes because you love to be crafty, but don't have much time. I got you covered with: the mini pillow.

Back when I was a kid and I was first starting with hand stitching I did a lot of cross-stitch projects. Can you say, Precious Moments? I was all about the kits. :) But as I got older I kind of got out of the habit and just moved onto other things. Lately though I ... Read More about 21 Creative Cross Stitch Projects