🎄 Stitchy News: Holiday Special 🎄

It's that time of the year again, and the Holiday Rush is upon us! It's the first time in forever that I've done a Stitchy News post, but I have some exciting news to share with you today, including an online stitchy advent calendar and a great giveaway! ❤🎄❤

Mary Corbet of Needle N' Thread is generously running her fabulous A Stitcher's Christmas giveaway series again this year, where she shares top of the line embroidery notions and supplies! She's currently on the 2nd Giveaway, so make sure to visit the website or sign up to her free newsletter (which sends you the blog posts as they are published) to keep up with the giveaways. If you're new to A Stitcher's Christmas, please visit this year's first post for more information on how it all works 😉

It's a super popular series, and there's often hundreds of entries for each giveaway, which can seem discouraging. But I was incredibly fortunate, and won the Inspirations Giveaway from 2017 , so if I can win, you can too! I wasn't blogging at the time so I haven't shared my kit finishes yet but I will soon. It was an incredibly difficult year for me, the first Christmas after my beloved Grandpa died (on Christmas Day 2016) and that prize made me pick up my needle and thread for the first time in over a year, and helped get me through a terrible time. Best of luck to you if you enter ☘

Laura at Bugs and Fishes has a super cute Retro Felt Baubles Tutorial for you, great for making last minute Christmas gifts! If you leave the ornaments unpadded, as Laura mentions, they would also be fabulous for sending in Christmas cards. There's all kinds of possibilities to pull out your embellishment tin and go crazy, and I think these would be a great way to use scraps of pretty trims and edgings!

DMC has a number of free holiday patterns, including this pretty Nordic Heart. It uses two shades of the shimmering new Etoile floss, but would look lovely in a single shade of variegated Coloris too! There's a cute Coloris Christmas Tree freebie as well.

The wonderfully imaginative Jo at Serendipitous Stitching is hosting her annual Online Advent Calendar Blog Hop again this year! The image above is one of my favourite finishes of Jo's, from her very first 2011 Online Advent Calendar 😃 This is such a great event, where stitchers share some holiday themed projects from years past and a bit about their own traditions. Make sure to hop along for some Christmas stitching and finishing inspiration! I look forward to it every year ❤

Finally, if you're looking for a super quick little ornament to whip up in a hurry, why not try my free Blackwork Poinsettia Ornament? It's two-sided, easy to customize, and doesn't need any backing fabric! I also have a full tutorial for the easy Whipped Chain Stitch Edging. This was my contribution to Jo's 2013 Online Advent Calendar.

In February, my friend Shannan from Bobbin & Fred stitched this gorgeous variation, and I had the pleasure of interviewing her about her finish for the blog! This remains one of my favourite patterns and can easily be made in a weekend. If you do stitch up a version, I'd love to see it, and feature you here on the blog if you like! 😊

Are you making like Santa Claus and doing any gift making this year? I don't have mine all lined up yet but I'm thinking about projects - unfortunately, they're all Super Secret!

❤ Whatever you're making for the holidays this year, may your Christmas be Merry & Bright, and may you Jingle All The Way ❤

Meet Annabelle, my Autumn Songbird!

Annabelle, the Autumn Songbird
Adapted from a Free Vintage Transfer (Vogart)
Tester for the Blue Washable Marker and Lazy Daisy Stitches

I have been in love with the vintage embroidery pattern that inspired this beautiful bird - whose name was chosen because Annabelle is Gaelic for "Joy" - for YEARs now:

Three Birds in a Tree
# 10007 / Animals & Insects / Vogart at Needlecrafter.com

Although it doesn't appear to have been updated since 2016, Needlecrafter is one of the best sites online to find free vintage embroidery transfers, and it is home to the pattern that I used for my first-ever embroidery, Bluebirds of Happiness.

I wanted a tester to try the Blue Washable Pen I recently used for Sammy the Squirrel. I was interested to see if having the full Lazy Daisy outline marked would help make my stitches rounder. When I'm using a permanent transfer method - lead pencil, fine-tipped Sharpie marker or iron-on pencil - I usually only put dots in place of the bottom and top tips on each petal.

This is because I find it difficult to make my stitches perfectly match the lovely even teardrops of the pattern designs. But when you have a lot of Lazy Daisy stitches close together, all those dots can be a little confusing, especially since I usually have French Knot dots marked in the middle of the flowers too. It's like playing Connect the Dots - and sometimes it's frustrating to figure out where everything goes 😂

Please click the image to enlarge and save at full resolution

So I decided to focus only on one bird; this is my variation! I made some changes: altering the branch, adding another tail feather, changing the beak and adding extra French Knots and scattered Detached (Single) Lazy Daisies in the body for some extra colour. I also added another leg, because only one didn't look quite right!

You may notice the colours look a little familiar. That's because I loved the colour palette from my Lolli & Grace Autumn Leaf SAL so much that I just had to use it again! I made some minor substitutions in the original colourway and I kept those for this project. If you'd like to stitch your own Autumn Songbird, here is the Colour & Stitch Key:

Please click the image to enlarge and save at full resolution

The Blue Washable Marker (mine is the Unique Brand, from Walmart, that I used for Sammy the Squirrel) worked like magic again! A quick dip in a plastic container of cold water and Abracadabra! Shazam! Bibbety-bobbity-boo!!! A beautiful, joyful Songbird!

One teeny tiny minor quibble: my fabric choice was not the best. I have seen this pretty and unusual mustard yellow colour everywhere this Autumn, and when I found some fabric on the bargain wall, the same type of linen I used for The Joyful Jester, I was thrilled! That project was felt applique, so I've never actually embroidered on this fabric before. The loose weave means that it's easy to overstretch, and although I tried very hard not to do so, I distorted the fabric. Significantly.

I was SO proud of my Satin Stitch in this project, especially the Tail Feathers:

Smooth, right? This was the first layer I intended to use as padding but it worked out so well that I kept it to the single layer. The leaves were Satin Stitched inside as well. Out of the hoop, unfortunately, that fabric distortion means that all my painstakingly-stitched Satin Stitch went wavy and wonky 🙄 So it has to be stretched in a hoop or a frame.

Lesson learned!

Thankfully, my other major achievement - the Bullion Knot feet - emerged relatively unscathed 😊 Those teeny tiny toes are so cute!

Verdict: The Blue Washable Marker wins again! I'm so impressed with this embroidery transfer method. It really did help take the guess work out of my Lazy Daisies, although again the linen was not a good fabric choice. The nubby texture means that it was harder to mark the fabric and I had to go over most of the lines twice. Also, because I couldn't mark smoothly on the textured surface, I couldn't really get the teardrop shape of the Lazy Daisy stitches and they ended up more like straight lines LOL!

I really love the flexibility this marker gives you - you can change elements, as I did with this project when I reshaped the beak, you can add or omit parts of the pattern. Not having to stick to the pattern lines gives you so much stitching freedom!

And my Lazy Daisy stitches do look a little rounder than normal, which is a definite plus since mine usually turn out kind of skinny. In all likelihood, this had nothing at all to do with the marker and just happened because I was paying extra attention to them, but I'll take all the help I can get 😄

I'm so pleased with how Annabelle turned out, and I think she's lovely. A little songbird to sing a happy, joyful tune on these golden late Autumn afternoons while the leaves fall, reminding us that Spring will come again once Winter has its turn 🍂🕊🍁

Vintage Embroidery Pattern Resources

After my last post about my little Happy Bluebird, which I stitched from a vintage iron-on transfer "tester" design, I'd thought I'd share some of my favourite places online to find free vintage embroidery patterns! The photo above was my very first attempt at embroidery, my Bluebirds of Happiness, and it is also a vintage design :)

The Hoop Love Vintage Transfers Group on Flickr

If you're interested in vintage embroidery patterns at all, this is the place to start! Although you do have to create an account to access the group, it's free and easy to set up and once you do you can search the giant collection of over 8,000 images!

The group is the gift of many members dedicated to scanning and sharing digital images of mostly iron-on transfer sheets - from as early as the late 1800s to about the 1970s - and most photos have been digitally cleaned up into line drawings that are ready to print and use! Here's a quick overview of how to search the Pool:

When you sign in and go to the Hoop Love Group Page and then to the Photos tab, you get this screen that shows the most recent image additions at the top:

To search within the images, use the search box directly across from the blue "Add Photos" button, next to "Contributors". If you use the search box at the top of the page, it will search all of Flickr! I searched for "bluebird" and here are my results:

From this page, there are several ways to narrow your search, including by colour or pattern, but these don't apply since the majority of results are all B&W designs.

I selected the first pattern, which takes me to the page for that photo. From here, you can Download the image by selecting the icon of a down arrow over a line at the far right hand corner of the screen, which brings up a drop-down menu where you can select the size of the photo and save the file to your computer. And that's it!

To edit or re-size the photo, I suggest using an imaging program on your computer, such as Microsoft Paint or a free online program like Pixlr Express.

Some of the contributors to Hoop Love also host patterns on their own sites/blogs.

Needlecrafter Free Pattern Library

This is a wonderful site that, while unfortunately no longer updated, has some of the cutest patterns out there! Including the Alice Brooks pattern "Bluebirds on a Branch" that was the basis for my Bluebirds of Happiness :) And there are two other designs in the same set: "Bluebird and Birdhouse" and Bluebird and Fountain".

It's searchable by keyword and also has themed categories you can browse.

French-Knots: Free Vintage Patterns

This is a blog dedicated to sharing public domain craft patterns, including crochet, knitting, quilting and sewing. But the majority of the content is embroidery related. It has a post search box, and also a very detailed list of categories that make for happy browsing :) The Flowers section is large, and includes this pretty posy.

There is also a helpful Embroidery Stitch Guide that uses vintage stitch illustrations!

Doe-C-Doe

Although all of the over 300 patterns she has shared are on Flickr in her Vintage Embroidery Transfers Album, this is the personal blog of Gina, a graphic designer, Etsy seller and fervent thrifter. She includes vintage patterns in some of her posts, so the best way to find them is to browse her Embroidery blog tag, which also brings up all kinds of contemporary embroidery inspiration, her own work and fun posts.

It's well worth spending some time looking through her blog because Gina has shared some of the most unusual and interesting vintage transfers out there!

This amazing button hoop is one of my very favourite projects of all time, and has been high near the top of my To Be Stitched (TBS) List forever and a day :) Although it has a lovely vintage feel, with the pretty flowers, it's a new design of her own.

Vintage Transfer Finds

Floresita, who is also on Flickr and blogs for Feeling Stitchy, has compiled her vintage patterns in this easy-to-use blog format. It features category tabs across the top which are a quick way to browse. She specializes in the cute - like this pretty little kitty - and quirky, and has scanned several Days of the Week dishtowel sets.

Tipnut > Crafts > Embroidery

Tipnut was a free weekly newsletter filled with household tips and projects that started in 2006 but stopped updating a few years ago. This section of the site shares whole sets of scanned vintage patterns, including several for stamped cross-stitch. Most are for dishtowels, including Days of the Week sets like these cute Busy Bees.

Q is for Quilter: Embroidery Transfer

Martha makes beautiful quilts, many with hand-embroidered squares, and has some great vintage transfers on her blog, including an unusual trio of picture frame designs and this glorious peacock!

Antique Pattern Library (APL): Embroidery

The Antique Pattern Library is a fabulous resource for all things vintage and crafty, and although I've spent lots of time on the site in the last few years, I know I've only just scratched the tip of the iceberg. The sheer amount of information can be a little overwhelming, especially since the Embroidery category includes counted thread work (like cross-stitch and Berlin Woolwork) and specialty techniques.

The major problem is that all the listings are for books - many of which concern multiple techniques - and not for the individual patterns themselves. And most of these patterns are really old, in a very different style, but even if they're not to your taste or suitable for following exactly, they can serve as stitchy inspiration :)

Mary Corbet of Needle n' Thread recently wrote a great post about her favourite books on APL for embroidery, and has some good tips for navigating the site. She also has an interesting post about her process for digitizing old embroidery patterns.

Finally, for an intriguing look at how the vintage paper transfer sheets actually are before being scanned and digitized, see this post, and this concise history of iron-on transfers and the companies that made them, along with a free pattern!

I hope you enjoy these resources and find them helpful. And if you have any other sites to suggest I'd love to hear them :) Happy Vintage Embroidery Pattern Hunting!

Merry Christmas!

Best Wishes for A Very Merry Christmas 

and a Wonderful New Year!!!

Happily, I'm taking a little break to visit with family, but I'm greatly looking forward to catching up with all my favourite blogs and stitchers in 2015!

Don't forget to visit The 2014 Online Advent Calendar at Serendipitous Stitching to see some stitchy holiday goodness! There's still two days left to go.

I participated for the first time last year, and I made a free Blackwor Poinsettia Ornament with Finishing Tutorial that is perfect for some last minute stitching:

Click on the photo to go to the post and download the pattern :)

Important: I just noticed that the Dropbox site that hosts the file now comes up with a pop-up window asking you to sign it - you do not have to sign in to view or download the pattern - just click the "x" in the corner! Sorry for any confusion.

If you don't have the time to stitch both sides, either design would be nice on its own!

Exciting News: Jo is also hosting a new SAL this year called Gifted Gorgeousness:

Just click on the button to read all about it and sign-up if you wish! I think this is a wonderful incentive to stitch all that Very Special Stash that has been gifted to you. I've joined in myself with the great casual monthly drop-in option! I've been very fortunate to have received some lovely stitchy gifts over the last few years, and I'm hoping to squeeze in at least one or two among the Sampler of Samplers next year :)

Happy Holidays!!! Hope Santa is Good To You ;)

ES SAL: Yvonne's Stitching Finish!

Wow, it's so hard to believe that this is the last day of July already!!! I don't know where this summer has gone. Mostly it went with me wishing for snow, LOL! And *that* is something I'd never thought I'd say :P The last few weeks have been unreal, although thankfully nothing like the severe heatwaves elsewhere in the world.

A nice, warm summer day here in Newfoundland is usually 22 to 25 degrees Celsius, with the humidity making it feel two or three degrees warmer. But lately we've had high twenties/low thirties temps with the humidex often up to *ten* degrees higher! So it feels like high thirties/low forties. Ugh. Yesterday was a nice break (11 degrees!) and today isn't too bad but the weekend is going to be yet another scorcher. *sigh*

For most people, the unexpected heat has been a great treat, but unfortunately I just find it really uncomfortable, so I haven't been able to do much except sit in front of the stand fan! I've not been around much online either because my poor little laptop is older and suffers from the humidity too - it keeps trying to overheat! So I'm sorry I'm so behind in my blog reading but hopefully this warm weather will break soon :)

In very happy news, Yvonne sent me a lovely photo of her *beautiful* bookmark:

Isn't it GORGEOUS?! She used two strands of floss for her impeccably neat stitching, and it really lends a crispier look to the design (I used three strands). You can see her basted outline in this photo too, which I think is incredibly clever! A very neat trick I'm definitely going to try in the future :) I'm forever accidentally skipping or adding one stitch here or there and find keeping track a bit of a chore, so this would help!

Wonderfully, Yvonne told me that she is intending to stitch Spring Garden *again* in black now! So she will be the second, after Emma, to make two bookmarks and the first to stitch both colour and monotone versions :) I can't wait to see them finished!

Important Information About The SAL Pattern:

After a great deal of thought, I have decided to retire the SAL design (Blackwork Spring Garden) after the last finishes of the SAL Participants come in, whenever that may be (since everyone is stitching and/or finishing at their own pace now), or on the Autumnal Equinox on September 21st (the end of Summer), whichever comes first.

Since this wasn't a competitive SAL and there were no prizes (although I did really want to send everyone a little something, it's just wasn't possible), making the pattern a limited edition is my way of thanking the SAL Participants for stitching with me :)

That said, I have recently gotten several lovely e-mails from people who wanted to stitch Spring Garden, and I have sent them the patterns since they took the time to inquire. I realize that there were those who were interested but couldn't participate for a variety of reasons, and so if you send me an e-mail before I retire the pattern, I will send it to you; I'd also be happy to post any photos you'd like to send here on ES!

Although I haven't been able to do much stitching in the heat, I have been working on some small projects I hope to be able to share soon! And there is one good thing about sunshine - like this freebie says, at least you don't have to shovel it, LOL!

P.S. A really HUGE "Welcome Back!" to Karyn, of the awesome video-game themed A Riot Patch of Pixels, who has returned to blogging after nearly a year away!!!

The Return of Stitchy News!!!

Lots of exciting news this time! There's more tidbits to read than usual since this is the first edition of SN that I've done in a while. When I was looking back through the Archives, I couldn't believe the last SN was in August 2010! My, how time does fly. The most obvious change you might note is the new graphics. I hope you like them :)

Hippity Hippity Hop - Summer Blogging Fun with Lots of Stops!

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching has started her Summer Blog Hop! The theme for 2013 is "There's No Place Like Home", which is very true indeed :) Jo hosts a number of Blog Hops throughout the year, and you can read more about them here.

This particular one goes all Summer, right up until the end of August, and the first "Postcards" (stitching pictures) have already been exchanged. Although I've never participated in a Hop, I hear that they are a great way to meet new bloggers, and if I can find a themed piece to share I'll be joining in the fun ;)

A Great Giveaway - Closing Soon!

Speaking of Jo, thanks to one of her posts last month I discovered a beautiful blog: Meggie's Cross Stitch Cottage! Meggie does lovely stitching and finishing work, and is also hosting a very generous 200 Followers Giveaway right on the heels of her 100 Followers Giveaway! And at 299 now and counting, she's going to be surpassing 300 very soon :) The Giveaway is open to new Followers too, and closes on July 31st, 2013! Meggie will also adding new items as she goes along. I've entered ;)

Yearning for New Floss? Dye Your Own!

EDIT: The DAB site is currently moving and these links are broken; I'll be updating this item with the new links when they are available:

The blog is currently down but is being attended to. So sorry for any inconveniece. #movingtowordpress
— Allison Murray (@AllieBigDreamer) July 31, 2013

EDIT: The Links and Photo Have Been Updated! August 5th, 2013 :)

Emma Broidery over at the DMC Threads Blog has compiled three very interesting tutorials on Tie Dying Floss! The process is a little labour intensive, but the results are so cool! The second part of the tutorial at lifestyle blog Dream A Little Bigger includes a FREE Embroidery pattern, a fun swirly paisley floral design:

I think this pattern, which is worked entirely in Backstitch, would look wonderful with variegated or overdyed floss too, for those (like me!) who aren't ready to try dying floss yet :) This is a great project for some quick Summer stitching!

A Fantastic Felt Needlebook and The Cutest Little Book Ever!

Speaking of embroidery, Mollie at Wild Olive took inspiration from a vintage souvenir needlebook and designed a super-cute felt version! It has a crossed felt pin and needle on the cover and holds a rainbow of felt pages with easy pinked edges. Best of all, there's a comprehensive FREE tutorial and downloadable template too!

Also, Mollie has declared that July is "Book Month", and is putting up free projects like these very cute FREE book plate printables :) When I first saw the little book on her calendar printable, I thought it would look adorable stitched. So imagine my excitement when I learned that Mollie has kindly made that cute little book not only into a FREE embroidery pattern, but also offers a fantastic tutorial for turning it into a bookmark too! This is definitely a project I'm going to try, hopefully soon! :)

Inspiration: Quilting and Embroidery

In more embroidery news, the blog &Stitches recently ran a guest post by Allegory at A Thousand Needles showing how to make a quick and funky sampler out of a single Dresden Plate quilt block! There's a nice close-up of one of the seams in this post.

I've been intrigued with quilting, especially paper piecing lately, which I blame on both Emma's hexagons - like this cute bag! - and Imaginesque's FREE pattern series! But I can't imagine committing to a quilt, even a small lap one. So the idea of taking a single block and making it the basis for some stitchery is very interesting to me!

Another great idea I came across a while ago is a the lovely FREE embroidery design by blogger Amy at Nana Company that uses the "petals" of a Dresden Plate block to effectively frame a lovely little saying - "Do Small Things With Great Love". It's actually a quote from Mother Teresa, one I'd not heard before :)

The template for the block isn't given, but there are a *ton* of tutorials online, most of which use special quilter's templates and are sewn by machine. This great photo step-by-step hand-sewing tutorial by Liesl Made (part of her Mini Patchwork Quilt Tutorial Series) shows how to make your own template out of paper!

Quilting is definitely intriguing to me, and just within the realm of patchwork and paper piercing there are so many different styles it makes my head spin! I'm not ready to commit yet but I am *very* curious so we'll see what happens :)

A Fun New Monthly Embroidery Stitch Along (SAL)

In yet more exciting embroidery news, Julie from Button, Button (who also writes for &Stitches) recently wrote a very thoughtful and inspiring post about starting a monthly small sampler project to help her to try out new techniques and keep motivated. I think this is a fabulous idea! Happily, she has decided to open her new stitching adventure to others! Here's what she has to say:

"I doubt I could manage to lead a formal stitch-along for a whole year, but I will do everything I can to informally make sure you can follow along if you’d like. I’ll share resources, links, materials needed for each samplers, patterns if applicable, etc. Which sounds a lot like a stitch-along, now that I think about it — but less organized and step-by-step-y."

Sounds great to me! This quote comes from the start of Julie's first sampler post on Huck Weaving, where she stitches a test piece to try out her threads. While I likely won't be trying out Huck Weaving since you need a special fabric, I'll definitely be watching the SAL as it progresses and hopefully I may be able to join in for a month!

An Amazing Embroidered Heirloom Wedding Gift!

For some lovely embroidery, check out Moonsilk Stitches' beautiful wedding gift - a strawberry ring pillow! MS has chronicled the project from her hand-drawn design to the stitching (here and here) and the stretching right to her amazing finish! It's really inspiring to see the entire "life cycle" of a project like that, and her gorgeous work is sure to become a heirloom piece that will be treasured for many years to come!

Getting the Vintage Look with Variegated Floss!

My friend Karen, of Karen's Colourful Creations, recently revisited her first stitching style and finished an inherited stamped cross-stitch kit! The final finish is *amazing*, and has a truly vintage (what I always think of as "happily loved" LOL) feel due to Karen's truly *genius* creative decision to use variegated floss! It has the very pretty gently faded look but the modern threads will give some new life to the old fabric :)

Designer Spotlight: Brooke Nolan of Brooks Books

Thanks to a recent profile at DMC Threads, I have discovered a designer that is completely new to me, who is producing lovely, intricate and unusual works! The designer is Brooke Nolan, and her company is Brooke's Books Publishing.

I have never seen anything like her cute dimensional designs! They are meant to be worked on perforated paper, but the kits state that there is an extra chart included for fabric stitching too! I've tried working with paper in the past, with horrid results. So I think it's wonderful that there is a fabric option included! Brooke's Books' Spirit Angels collection is just *gorgeous* and includes some lovely crafty Spirit Angels:

The three Cross-Stitching Spirit Angels:

And the three Angels of Crochet, Knitting and Quilting:

It's well worth clicking on the photos for the larger image, because it is the little tiny details that make these works so amazing. The wings on Knitting, for example, are white cable stitches! And each Angel carries all the tools of her craft strung along the ribbon she's holding between her hands, from little tiny scissors to itsy bitsy tomato pincushions studded with microscopic pins! They are really charming :)

The other good news is that Brooke's Books has a number of FREE designs available as .PDFs, including a Stitcher's Alphabet series which has just concluded with the letter "Z"! Several of the blocks or motifs (like the cute C for Crochet, and the K for Knitting) could be stitched on their own, and would make lovely needlebook covers!

There are also a number of seasonal projects, including this lovely trio (all maples!) of green, red and gold Sparkling Autumn Leaves (direct PDF link) that is particularly timely for stitchers who want to look ahead to Fall-themed projects :)

FREE Cross-Stitch Design: Blanket Biscornu

Over at Unnumbered Stitches (formerly Tintock Tap), Lesley turned an upsetting event - someone charting one of her patterns and sharing it without her knowledge on a forum - into a positive achievement by releasing her own official version of the design and sharing it for FREE! Both sides of the biscornu are charted :)

Important and Helpful Information for Bloggers!

I'm always on the lookout for new blogging tips and tricks, and I have two really great tutorials to share that are useful for anyone who deals with images online:

Carina (of Carina's Craftblog, also co-founder of &Stitches and designer of Polka & Bloom) recently ran a wonderful three-part tutorial showing how to watermark blog photos. This is something that I've been thinking about doing for a while but keep putting off. Often, watermarks can be very in-your-face and intrusive, but Carina's see-through watermarks are much more elegant and seem amazingly easy to make!

The tutorial uses the free downloadable image editor Gimp (Note: Gimp was made for Macs and although it can be run on Windows there are known issues), but the idea could be used with free online editors like the Pixlr Editor. I'll be experimenting in Pixlr myself :) Here are the posts in order - Part 1: Four Reasons You Should Use Watermarks; Part 2: Adding Watermarks in One Easy Step; and Part 3: Making a Transparent Watermark File. Here's a good example of Carina's technique:

This is a pretty picture of a new crochet project from a recent post. When I look at this photo, I actually see the yarn first! The watermark is faint but visible to anyone looking for it. Carina's series gives lots of great food for thought :)

And Pardalote Makes has an excellent tutorial on how to search online for an image's original source - using the image itself!!! This completely stunned me, as I've done *tons* of sifting through links trying to follow things back to the source over the years. Honestly, I'm pretty good at tracking things down. Or at least I *thought* I was, LOL! And I had no idea that it was possible to *use the image itself* as your search term in Google Images! Well worth reading. I'll definitely be trying this out!

And as Pardalote points out, with easy sharing on agrgregator sites (like Tumblr and Pinterest) and social media (like Facebook), most images lose all context. Not only is it important to credit the original creator, but I like reading more about a project - discovering how it came about - and, of course, finding more pictures :)

Another Tassel Tutorial: Stitched & Tied Scissor Fob

Over at Feeling Stitchy, the Bobbypin Bandit has posted an unusual scissors fob that consists of not one but *two* tassels: one embroidered on a little rectangle of felt, and a coordinating simple tied floss tassel. The combination is quirky and cute!

Announcing "Stitchy Stationery"!

And finally, I'm very excited to share some very happy news: My friend Crazy Cross-stitcher (aka CS) has opened her first Etsy store, Stitchy Stationery!!! Right now, she's focusing on hand-stitched greeting cards, using lovely Kreinik metallic threads, but hopes to branch out to other products in future. You can read all about it in her official Announcement post! I suggested the name and helped with the graphics :) Head on over and visit, I'm sure she would love to know what you think!

Whew! That's it for this edition. I'm hoping to make Stitchy News a semi-regular (i.e. whenever the mood strikes, LOL) feature again, so please let me know if you'd be interested! And if you have an idea for a future SN post, please e-mail me :)