🍁 A New Start for Autumn 🍂

Has there ever been something that you would absolutely love to stitch but have never been able to buy for some reason (or have bought but haven't had the time to start)? Dimensions Gold's Fall Fairy has been at the top of my wishlist for years! I've loved it ever since I first saw it on the cover of a Herrschners mail order catalogue when it was released several years ago (unfortunately, I can't remember the exact year - if you do, please let me know! I'd really appreciate it). 

Most of my stitching has been gifts for others, and I rarely do large projects - and never one for myself, as of yet, although I have several planned in my Stitchy Stash. They require a much larger commitment of time, energy and resources - and space! 

And Dimensions Gold kits are expensive, because the designs are complex and intricate - in my opinion, they're the best mass-market cross-stitch kits available, although I've ever only worked one: my Twilight Angel (which is a smaller Gold Petites kit), which is still unfinished (but not forgotten - I'm still waiting on finding the perfect frame to finish stitching on the background scattering of stars and sequins and the embellishments). 

To my surprise and delight, a very kind friend - who isn't a stitcher (yet!), but who happened to remember my love for this kit from a passing conversation - gifted me the Fall Fairy for my birthday this year, and I'm so excited and grateful to finally have a chance to stitch her! It's an amazing feeling to get your dream project in your hands 😃

This design is based on Ruth Sanderson's amazing artwork:

Although the cross-stitch version is cropped and simplified - the fairy is missing her butterfly wings, and the many little pixies and sprites have vanished - she retains the lovely joyful exuberance that I also feel for Autumn. You can almost feel the magic wind she's creating whirling the leaves and whipping her clothes! 

And the Fall Fairy is part of an informal seasonal series of Dimensions Gold Sanderson artwork adaptations!  I absolutely love designs based on the Four Seasons 🍂❄🌷🌻

There is also the beautiful Woodland Enchantress (Winter):

Thanks to my Stitchy Guru Mother, who gifted this kit to me a few years ago (she was looking for the Fall Fairy to give me but it was out of stock at the time), I also have the Enchantress in my Stash and she will make a wonderful companion for my Fall Fairy! 

She's a kit I've put off stitching because, frankly, the design is very intricate and a little intimidating 😆 I also thought I would need a dedicated space to leave her set up  - and an actual needlework stand of some kind - but I'm finding ways around both with my Fall Fairy. So if I can finish this kit, this will be the next big project I tackle 😄

Also, there is the delicate Spring Fairy, playing a flute (I love her wings!): 

And finally, there is the charming Fairytale (Summer), which unfortunately seems to be out of production at the moment:

Although I don't think these were meant to be an official set, I do think they compliment each other perfectly! For anyone who has wondered what comes in a Dimensions Gold kit, I thought I'd do a quick run down. The kit contents come in clear plastic folder with a large full-colour photo on the front:

The charts have changed, and are now on shiny paper. I was concerned at first that this wouldn't take highlighter well (I mark off the stitches as I do them to keep track of my place), but thankfully it does. Both pages are double sided, with no overlap. There is a small inset for the detailed backstitch on the face. The symbols are large, clear and multi-coloured. There is an additional page with instructions in several languages, a legend for floss and materials, and stitch diagrams and order.

My favourite part of Dimensions Gold kits are the presorted threads!

There are 38 colours (with 8 blended colours) and a single-stranded gold metallic. They come already affixed to two cards with a small image of the colour and the colour number. Extra threads for some colours come in additional bundles labelled with the colour number only. I love these, and I make my own versions for nearly every project. 

The only thing that could be improved is including the stitch symbol by each colour! I try to draw my own on, but they're always wonky 😂 I also use a hole punch to add a parking spot for each thread colour on the opposite side, in the white space. For the blended colours, I'll be making my own little thread card to keep them tidy.

The kit comes with a gorgeous blue-gray 16 count Aida - the colour of a blustery Autumn sky - and gold beads. There are also two needles, one tapestry and the other crewel (for beading, I think, although it's a little thick). I'm using a 17x17 Q-Snaps style frame (mine is made by Unique / H. A. Kidd) instead of a hoop.

For this project, I decided to do something I've never done before: I gridded the fabric!

Although I've seen gridding recommended for larger projects, I've never tried it before. Because the design is fully stitched (also a first for me!), I wanted to make the counting easier. It took some time to set up but I'm so glad I did - it's really helped! 

There are many different ways to stitch a grid pattern on your fabric, and several different special materials available, including guideline threads. Most tutorials recommend an easy-to-see colour not used in your project (frequently bright red) and a stiff thread, like fishing line or monofilament.

Since I was impatient to start my Fall Fairy, I used sewing thread to grid, using the Over 8, Under 2 method to make 10 stitch squares. I chose this design because it keeps the majority of the thread visible on top the fabric, so it's easy to adjust the tension and there's less chance of getting the gridding thread caught up in my cross-stitches. I only gridded the vertical lines, and that works well for me - again, less gridding thread to catch in my stitches, but a great guideline for positioning them. 

As you can see, I started the threads on the front side of the fabric from the bottom, gridded up and over and then back down, in a U shaped pattern. I let the ends dangle so they are easy to adjust and hopefully easy to pull out once my stitching is finished!

The blue star pin is marking the middle of my fabric, the point where all four sections of the pattern converge. I later changed it out for a less pointy (and therefore less thread-catchy) green heart pin. I left the gridding threads a little slack so they float over the cross stitches; it's easy to make them tighter or looser by pulling them out with your needle, and I just nudge them aside when stitching close to them.

It took a bit of time to adjust to working in this new way and it was awkward at first but I'm only sorry I never tried it before! It really does give you a way to double-check your placement and avoid counting errors. I've made a few small ones but the grid has made me catch them much faster than I would have otherwise.

Here's my start so far! I'm really enjoying stitching my Fall Fairy during her Season, it makes it extra-special 🍂 What's your dream stitchy kit or project? And do you enjoy seasonal stitching? I hope you'll follow along with me on this new stitchy adventure! 

🧩 Puzzle Review: Sewing Room 🧶

Continuing on with my current love of crafty jigsaw puzzles, this is Eurographics' Sewing Room, with beautiful artwork by fantasy artist Ciro Marchetti! 

Although they're really not at all similar, it reminded me of a Dimensions Gold kit I've always liked called Maggie the Messmaker (with artwork by the late Charles Wysocki):

Both feature a mischievous cat let loose in a craft room, lying next to a beautiful vintage sewing machine. I'm not a cat owner (fiercely allergic in fact) but cats and creative pursuits just seem to compliment each other - most of the crafters I follow online have feline "helpers" who adorably lend a paw (or two) in photos 😸

I absolutely loved putting this 1000 piece puzzle together, the colours are so vibrant:

I really liked the other crafts included: the patchwork pillows, the balls of wool and knitting needles, the pretty floral hats and the tatted lace doilies. The rolls and bolts of fabric were especially fun to put together. The portraits of two lady seamstresses were a lovely touch. And there are all kinds of cute little details - I especially loved this little mouse sneaking up on the sleeping cat:

The pieces are a regular grid design but fit together very nicely. I highly recommend this one, and it would make a lovely gift for that crafty puzzler in your life 😊

Do you craft with help from a pet?

EKSuccess Brands Contest!

This is a quick post to let you know about a contest being hosted by EK Success Brands, the umbrella crafting corporation that includes Dimensions cross-stitch and needlework kits, Martha Stewart Crafts, Jolee's scrapbooking supplies, Jolee's Jewels (which has recently been rebranded as Create Your Style With Swarovski Elements) and Perler Beads, among many others.

Although it's been running since June, I just received information on this contest today, via the multi-brand Newsletter (you can select the brands you wish to follow).

The Craft, Tell, Win! Contest offers two prizes of $250 (US) EKSuccess Brands "online gift cards", and entry is automatic upon completion of a product review. The full rules are in this .PDF document; the important facts are that the contest closes July 31st, 2011, and it is open to anyone in the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 or over.

Every completed product review submission counts as one entry, and you can enter as often as you wish. All entries must be written in English, and all the required information on the review from (signified by a red asterik - *) must be filled in for a review to be considered as complete, and thus eligible for entry.

Because I was curious, I went to a Dimesions kit and followed the procedure described in the ad; that is, I clicked on "Write A Review", and then created an account (you need to provide a name, e-mail address and password).

This opens up the Review Form, and it is one of the most extensive I've ever seen. You must provide a star rating, a summary, and a review (of 50 words or more). But you can then add pictures or videos of your work, you can link to 'related projects' on the website, and you can submit feedback to customer service about the kit!

The whole point of the contest, I think, is to get crafters on the product sites, filling out the review forms and making recommendations.

It seems that EKSuccess Brands is aiming to create a sort of crafter's social network, with their Spotted Carnary "community" site (Cross-Stitch and Embroidery is hidden under the General Crafts heading, by the way) which serves as the "Gallery" section of the EKSuccess home website where crafters can post pictures and text about projects made using EKSuccess product lines.

And since the Gallery posts link to the products used,the reviews are another level of 'advice from fellow crafters' to consider. It's an interesting idea, and if you're a crafter who uses EKSuccess products (I know a lot of us stitchers use Dimensions!), now is a good time to try out the review feature if you'd like to do so :)

If you do decide to enter,

And feel free to link to your reviews in the comments, since I'd love to see them!

Personally, I'd be a bit careful, because I can't tell if the review content will become EKSuccess property or not, and that's something you may want to consider before posting up pictures or video of your work, but then I'm paranoid like that ;)

Valentine's Day and a New Start



Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!
May "Love Brighten Your Life!" and many good things come your way!

I also have a new start to share with you! It's not far along, but here is my new work in progress, Twilight Angel, my first Petite Dimensions Gold kit:

This photo unfortunately doesn't capture the delicacy of the colours very much, but it is very hard to capture the right tones. The background is 16 count Aida, in an unusual colour called "dove grey" that is really more of a smoky blue-grey.

These few stitches are my progress for the last two days, and form part of the angel's overskirt (for reference, please see the kit image in my sidebar under WIP). The lightest blue closely matches the colour of the background, and the floss has an unexpected but lovely sheen to it, like a cross between cotton and rayon. It is also more 'springy' than DMC. That's the only way I can think of to describe it.

I have worked a Dimensions Gold Collection design before, a wonderful piece that I completely fell in love with, and that inspired me to pick up cross-stitching again a few years ago. At the time, it was called Elegant Roses, but is now called Rose Cuttings, and appears to have become part of the regular line. I do not have a photograph of my work at the moment, but here is the kit image to give you an idea:

(I have yet to find the right frame for my piece, but am envisioning something much more elegant than the suggested frame, with scrollwork, perhaps in gold)

The kits have improved a great deal since that time. They now come in resuable hard plastic folders instead of plastic-bagged, which is very useful to keep the materials that you are not currently using together and clean, and with pre-sorted threads attached to a colour card.

When I worked on Elegant Roses, the floss was very reminiscent of DMC, a cotton whose only discernable difference was a lesser incidence of pilling or 'thread fluff' when stitching. So I suspect that the floss has been revamped along with the kit design, and it took a few stitches for me to get used to it. It has a bit more fullness, and its slight slipperiness makes firm darning of the starting and end threads more important, as the ends have a bit of a tendancy to slip out if not darned tightly. But the consistency is in no way as difficult to work with as rayon, and I am enjoying the way the floss lies smoothly against the Aida, and the extra little bit of shine!

I will post a review of my stitching experience and my impressions about the kit when I finish. For now, I am quite happy to be starting a new design, and greatly look forward to attaching all the pretty charms and beads and sequins when it comes time to finish. I've got a long way to go before I get there, though. :)