Favourites: 5 Modern Cross Stitch Designers

If you have been following my blog for a bit you know that I love to do some cross stitching every now and then and I thought I'd share some of my favourite contemporary Cross Stitch Designers with you. I have mentioned quite a few of these designers on this blog in the past but it's nice to see them all together in one post! In no particular order:

1. Emily Peacock designs beautiful needlepoint patterns and kits and  I love the vintage/retro feel of her work! The Meeting Place is a cross stitch design, worked with crewel wool and is one of her easier designs. It's available as a kit. 

2. What Delilah Did. Stylish, dreamy patterns and fabulous kits like the Wise Owl kit pictured above which is a pattern from Sophie's enchanting book Storyland Cross stitch (read my review) Patterns and kits range from easy to stuff for the more determined. ;) 

3. Frosted Pumpkin Stitcheries A bunch of cute and Kawaii-style patterns. The Sampler pattern Subscriptions like this Fairy Tale themed one are especially irresistible, even though I can never keep up with them!

4. Satsuma Street It's no wonder that Jody's fun patterns have gained a lot of popularity in a relatively short time. I for one am a huge fan of her colourful, fresh retro designs. Currently I'm stitching the Pretty Little London pattern. It's not a difficult pattern but it does take a while to finish so I guess a determined beginner could work these patterns too. :) 

5. Wee Little Stitches, home of the Original Pixel People. Many of Jacqueline and Christopher's patterns are inspired by popular culture and if you grew up (or were a slightly geeky teen) in the 80's (I was!) you'll love the Labyrinth and Pretty in Pink Patterns. Generally the patterns are easy to stitch, so perfect for cross stitch novices. I interviewed Jacqueline in Fall 2012 about Wee Little Stitches.

If you would love to try one (are more likely all) of these designs but have never done any cross stitching then don't worry: it's very easy to learn. Sophie has some great information on her website to get you started.

Happy (cross) stitching everyone!

A Bear & Fish update

I couldn't wait to start stitching the bear's kerchief! I think it came out pretty good, maybe a little too smooth? But I kind of like that too. A little while ago, and I'm not sure if I mentioned his name here before, I stumbled upon the work of Stephen Mackey. He makes dreamy, slightly odd paintings and drawings. Somehow I'd like to bring some of that dark, slightly threatening feeling his work has into this embroidery piece. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to go all murky on the background though. I have also started to stitch  some Foxglove on the left. Beautiful plant but quite poisonous too...

So far I'm very happy with the cotton satin fabric I'm stitching on. I'm pretty sure it's all I will use from now on for these really time-consuming, detailed pieces.

This was (is) my original Bear & Fish pattern my piece is based on by the way. Still available in the original, simpler, version. :)

So unless something really exciting comes up, I think I will be back her on the blog after Christmas. I always like to do a small(ish) project over the Christmas period. Last year I made this and for this year I was contemplating stitching the cute polar bear that's on the current issue of our zine except that I forgot to buy the beads. Any suggestions for nice, easy cross stitch patterns are welcome! Which reminds me that you all should check out this special Wee Little Stitches pattern to help raise money for the Sandy Hook School Fund and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

Hope you will all spend this Christmas the way you like best!

P.S. Don't forget to enter my 'Inspirations' magazine giveaway

Cool Colours

While I was browsing through the photos I made this year and stumbled upon this Polar Bear & floss pic. The cool palette suits the current weather conditions perfectly as we had our first snow of the season today. Much to the amusement of my kids (snowball fights) and the cat (watching snowflakes from her comfy and warm spot on the kitchen radiator).

I made the Polar Bear photo for the Scandinavian Issue of &Stitches (available here!) for our 'Colour by Numbers' feature, but we chose to use the other picture (the Danish Teacup you see in my header) I made. Anyway, the top one of the six-stranded flosses in this photo is a favourite of mine. No. 747 is one of the most wonderful icy blue colours DMC has to offer: a cool blue with a hint of mint... The floss in the middle is a subtle silvery grey colour (DMC 762) and the mid shade of blue is DMC 598.  

And if you are looking for a project to use these shades, check out this wonderful free 'woven' star pattern Carina posted on the &Stitches blog.

I have a winter-y freebie pattern on the &Stitches blog early next week.

Wishing you all a fun and crafty weekend! 

Winner of the weelittlestitches patterns!

Wow, you guys (well girls mostly) really like the weelittlestitches patterns. There were many fabulous ideas for new pixel people patterns. I would definitely love to stitch a Sherlock pattern for example! Lots of comments too, and lots of comments on comments which made finding out the true number of comments to feed to mr. Random.org a bit difficult. But I managed to figure it out in the end...

(edit: had to do a re-draw. B Greene is the winner of the second draw) 

& many thanks to Jacqueline and Christopher of weelittlestitches for making this awesome giveaway possible! :)

Pattern parade: weelittlestitches Trilogy Giveaway

Hope you all enjoyed meeting the folks behind weelittlestitches yesterday! Clearly many of you are weelittlestitches fans too, just like me.

I'm actually in the process of stitching their Labyrinth pattern. My cross stitch skills are not all that great so don't hold that against them because the pattern is fabulous. It's detailed and gives you tips and instructions for stitches and colours. After this pattern I think I will stitch one of weelittlestitches Harry Potter patterns for my youngest as we have just started reading the first Harry Potter book to her and she loves it. :)

So...who would like to win a fabulous trilogy of weelittlestitches PDF patterns? (me! me! but I can't enter!)  The trilogy holds a super cute Kawaii sampler, a Star Wars 'New Hope' pattern (with the good guys) and a Harry Potter Pattern. (see picture above)

To have a chance of winning this wonderful set of patterns, please leave a comment on this post and let us know who (or what) you would like to see turned into a weelittlestitches pattern!

This giveaway ends on Monday the 3rd of December, 12 AM Amsterdam time. Remember to leave a trail so I can contact you or check back next week to see if you have won!

Good luck everyone!

Meet the people behind the Pixel people: weelittlestitches Interview

Jacqueline & Christopher

Meet Jacqueline and Christopher, the husband and wife team behind weelittlestitches, a business that (in their own words) 'was born out of our love of needle and thread'. weelittlestitches makes contemporary cross stitch designs (both custom design and patterns) and is home of the famous Pixel people. Many of their (sometimes slightly geeky) patterns are inspired by film and tv personalities and pop culture from past and present. weelittlestitches are also the generous sponsor of a fabulous giveaway on this blog starting tomorrow! Woohoo!

Harry's friends (2)

Tell us a little bit about weelittlestitches

weelittlestitches is the cross-stitch design company/Etsy shop I started with my husband, Chris.  We've been open since 2010 and are lucky to have customers all over the world.  We're based in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada - only about twenty kilometers from the famous Niagara Falls.  This past January I was able to quit my "real" job as a fashion merchandiser/window dresser to concentrate on weelittlestitches full-time - it's been wonderful!  When Chris isn't working at his job as a zookeeper he's helping to design new patterns and stitch finished pieces for sale.

work space

Where does your passion for cross stitch come from?

My Mom taught me to cross-stitch when I was just a little girl - only five or six.  I think it was her way to get me to sit still for more than three minutes at a time. I grew up in an "artsy" household - my Mom knits, cross-stitches, and sews beautifully, and my father paints watercolours and is a DIY handyman with a passion for fixing up houses, so I was raised around an endless supply of fabric, floss, paint, wool, and tools.  My parents always encouraged me and my four siblings to be as creative as possible.  I did move away from cross-stitch for a good long while as I was growing up - I taught myself to knit and crochet, I dabbled with scrapbooking and embroidery - but I ended up coming back to cross-stitch again in my 30s - a real "full circle" moment for me.  Shortly thereafter my husband expressed an interest in learning cross-stitch too - so I taught him and we've been stitching together ever since.  I love that cross-stitch transcends language - I could walk in to any craft store anywhere in the world and purchase a chart and be able to immediately sit down and stitch it - there really aren't too many other crafts that can say the same thing!  I adore the process of creating something wonderful with my hands.  I love seeing the picture grow stitch-by-stitch.  I have a terrible time just sitting still without anything to keep my fingers busy (I guess I haven't really changed from that five year-old little girl!) and cross-stitch fulfills that need for me.  I find it meditative and relaxing. I was worried after I opened my shop that I would grow to hate doing so much stitching every day (anywhere from 4-10 hours a day) but my wonderful customers fuel my passion for it and through their enthusiasm I just love it more and more!  

Classic Movie Monsters

How did you come up with the Pixel people idea?

When I began cross-stitching again a few years ago it was partly because I was finding all these cool video game sprite inspired patterns online - those retro 8-bit characters that we grew up with and still love - characters like Super Mario and Pokemon -  and they were the perfect things to stitch up as gifts for my brothers, friends, and husband - all of whom are notoriously difficult to buy for!  Pixel People grew out of those old 8-bit video game characters - I wanted to stitch more modern characters in a similar simple pixelated style, but there weren't any patterns like that available.  So I sat down with a piece of graph paper and some pencil crayons and sketched one out - I wanted my designs to be simple, with the fewest possible stitches representing each character - not out of any particular design aesthetic, but because I hate big, complicated patterns.  I was always really great at starting new projects, but terrible at finishing them - so when I began to design I wanted my patterns to be as pared down and simplistic as possible.  The Pixel People represent that simplistic style to me - they're really very little more than basic stick people.

Initially when I began designing the Pixel People patterns I had no plans to sell them or base an entire business around them.  I was designing patterns for tv shows, comic books, and movies that I liked so that I could stitch them for my friends and family!  It was then that I began designing Pixel People patterns of my family and friends too, as gifts.  The decision to open a shop and offer those patterns to other stitchers actually came much later.

Describe your patterns/style in 5 words

Simple. Quirky. Easy. Fun. Wait... that's only 4.... um... Geeky!

What would you like to say to people who are afraid of trying cross stitch?

Don't be!  Compared to the supplies needed for most crafts (like knitting, quilting, or scrapbooking) cross-stitch supplies are cheap.  It takes a very small investment to get started and there are lots of simple patterns you can stitch (like ours) that don't require hundreds of hours of your time.  The beautiful thing about cross-stitch is that it's really just one stitch to learn!  There are thousands of really cool patterns out there and they are all based around one simple stitch.  My best advice to someone who is a little hesitant to learn is to ask around amongst your friends and family - I bet you know someone who knows how to cross-stitch and they can teach you in less than hour.  After all, if I could learn at five years old, anyone can.

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Thank you so much for this interview Jacqueline (& Christopher too)! Tomorrow I'll be hosting a giveaway in cooperation with WeeLittleStitches. Be sure to check back because we have put together an awesome set of three patterns for one lucky winner! 

Everlong...combining a few favourite things

I'm not going to bore you with how much I love the Foo Fighters' music but just in case you were wondering: Everlong is a song by the Foo Fighters that I have been listening to a lot lately. So this cross stitch started there.

I made the lettering in a cross stitch design program (a free trial version, I'm still in doubt whether to buy cross stitch design software) After stitching the first letter (the 'l', I started in the middle) I thought it would be fun to stitch each letter in a different favourite colour. When I finished stitching the colourful lettering I decided to add some cute elements. Bunnies and Ivy aren't very Rock and Roll I guess but they look all right in this design :)  I found the bunny in Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion and the Ivy/flowery thing is an adapted version from a design in A Rainbow of Stitches. I want to add a flying bird on the right side so if anyone has suggestions where I can find one, let me know!

Speaking of favourite things and cross stitch: I found this great Labyrinth pattern at Weelittlestitches.

Surely a must for every cross stitching Labyrinth fan! And because there was a 20% discount on buying two or more patterns (sale ends 8th of September) I also bought the Breakfast Club pattern. Weelittlestitches has a large selection of slightly geeky/nerdy patterns including LOTR, IT crowd, Star Trek etc The patterns were sent very quickly with detailed instructions.

Later this week I will be back with my finished cloud embroidery. Have you started yours already? Find the pattern and the tutorial here!