Strawberry Stitches

A tutorial on Stitches on a Strawberry Pincushion Thingy.

What you will need.

A longish sharp needle.

Thread you like.

Sharp scissors.

Oh, and a thimble. I forgot about it till the end when I realized I didn't want to puncture my finger.  Imagine that.

Thread your needle using two strands of floss. Make a big knot.

Insert your needle at the top of the strawberry to one side of the seam. I am using my right hand so it is at the left of the seam. I'm taking pictures with my right hand and holding the berry with my left. Confusing enough yet? I try.

Depending on how big you want your X's go down some and put your needle in the fabric about 1/8 to 1/4 away from the seam and out the other side the same amount.  Pull the thread through.

Bring your needle back up and put it in the fabric lining it up with where you started and coming out a smidge below where the thread is coming out of the strawberry.

Go back down to make another X and put your needle in  1/8 to 1/4 inch from seam and come out the other side like you did before.

Pull thread through. It will look like this.

Go back up and put your needle in the previous hole of the last stitch. Bring the needle out right below where the thread is coming out of the strawberry like you did before.

Go down to make another X. 

Continue along. I"m watching X-Files right now.

Using the upper last stitch as your guide to put your needle in, it keeps your stitches looking even.

It goes pretty quickly once you get your rhythm. I can't decide which season of X-Files is my favorite. I own all of them on DVD and know all the episodes by title which scares my husband for some reason.

I made my stitches big, sometimes I make them little.

Getting towards the bottom. Keep going the same way until the last stitch. It changes then. Tooms is my favorite episode in season one.

Here is where it changes. At the end go further down below the thread nearer the tip of the berry.

Now when you go back up and put your needle in the bottom of the last stitch bring it out to the side of the last stitch as shown.

Put the needle in the berry horizontal to where the other side of the stitch is. Hope that makes sense. If not the picture should.

Bring your needle out at the end of the berry. Now you are going to begin to end the thread.

Take your thimble or anything you might have laying around and shove the needle back up into the berry and come out in the middle of the seam somewhere.

Like this.  I didn't like the reboot of the X-Files.

Put your needle back into the seam and bring it back down and out of the tip of the berry.

At the time, X-Files was the longest running sci-fi show ever, nine years. 

I'm full of useless trivia, and a huge geek.

Snip your thread close to the end.

YAY!

BAM!

You are done! Look at you! You have great looking Strawberry Stitches. 

And you learned a bunch of crap about X-Files you didn't know before.

Brain Arguments and Two New Designs

I try to be in step with the seasons.

Really, I do. 

My brain tends to argue with me in the middle of the night.

It whispers.

Brain: "Hey, I have a really neat idea for a flag deal."

Me: "It's time to start designing for Halloween, the 4th of July is past."

Brain: "So."

Me: "Dude, you don't understand how this works. People expect certain things at appropriate times."

Brain: "When have you ever been appropriate?"

Me: "You have a point there."

Introducing My Brain Doesn't Understand Seasonal Designing

1776 Pennant & Embroidered Bell

~Gotta hand it to Brain, it's a good one~

Instructions for the Bell are included in the pattern.

Fun Stitches.

Lazy Daisy Stitches and French Knots are a beautiful combination.

The second new design is Checkerboard Sampler

I love the simplicity of this design.

You can buy both of these in my etsy store.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeathByThread?ref=hdr_shop_menu

The 15% sale is still on till the 31st of August!

Use Summersend2016 coupon at checkout

Sale in my Etsy Store ~ 15% off Storewide!

Are you tired of summer?

Looking for a reason to stay indoors in the air conditioner?

I'll give you one!

I'm having an sale in my etsy store!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeathByThread?ref=hdr_shop_menu

15% off storewide! 

WHAT?

Type in coupon code Summersend2016 at checkout.

The sale lasts from right now till August 31.

Tell your family to get their own dinner and sit and stitch while binge watching X-files on Netflix.

Here are some of the wonderful designs you will find in my shop!

Button Eyed Pumpkin Punch

Get started on your Fall Punching! Comes with Weavers Cloth!

Tiny Acorns ~ another fall favorite! Check out my finishing post on this one! http://deathbythread.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-finishing.html

Merry and Bright is a fun stitch for Christmas! X-files may have to be pushed aside. Slip in White Christmas for this one!

I love my 1582 Sampler. Sense and Sensibility would be a good watch for this one. 

Do you like my viewing recommendations? 

The Sewing House

I also have a finishing tutorial on this one!

http://deathbythread.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-what-heck-is-going-on-finishing-of.html

Bird and Arrow

This is one of my personal favorites!

It was fun to design and a blast to stitch. I put the heart key around the birds neck as a tribute to my dad who was retiring from being a locksmith that year. Just a small thing only I would know, but now you do too!

Have fun shopping!

Witchy Mother

 I had a request to do a witch cross stitch design.

So I did.

Her she is!

Witchy Mother

I like the wart with hair coming out of it on her nose.

GROSS.

The thought of doing a portrait of a witch with the word Mother underneath it cracked me up.

She has a couple of grey hairs too. Along with some bad green makeup. I love her.

I went and found a suitable ratty frame at Hobby Lobby before I even started the design.

I wanted her to fit in there perfectly.

You can find it in my etsy store!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/471777081/witchy-mother?ref=shop_home_feat_4

Colonial Flag Sampler

I have a new sampler!

Colonial Flag Sampler 

I have a 'thing' for the colonial flag.

I love the round star field and then all the stripey goodness going on.  Betsy Ross was a fine designer of our nations flag.

You can find it here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/456806262/colonial-flag-sampler?ref=shop_home_feat_3

SEW Pincushion is in the HOUSE

SEW Pincushion

There is a link ~ up there.

I love how bright and fun this pincushion turned out to be.

There is a funny story behind that.

I was picking out the colors and I had everything chosen except for the words. I was thinking purple but wasn't sure so I threw in a dark brown.

I was running my color choices past a friend of mine and she liked everything. We got to the words color.  I handed her the dark brown. "What the hell is this?" she asked. "This is crap." 

I died laughing. 

I tossed her the bright purple.

She liked it.

Picnic Fail

This is what I like to call...

TRUE STORY TIME

My Facebook fiends are all too familiar with this.

Sit back and I'll tell you a little tale. A true tale.   

I had a dream.  A small dream really. It looked like this.

A picnic. 

Ok, that looks elaborate. 

I just wanted to go on a picnic. I had never been on one. 

Ok, that's a lie. I had been on sorta a picnic.

Once.

We had just moved to Bermuda and we went to the beach. 

This is Horseshoe Bay Beach in Bermuda. It does look like this. 

Mom was going to make sandwiches but she got stung on the hand by a Portuguese-Man-O-War Jellyfish and didn't quite feel like it. Dad had to pee in a cup and she had to soak her hand in it to take the poison out ~ NO LIE. This prevented her from making lunch. Apparently, I was unhappy about this turn of events. OK, I was 15 and had teenage angst  about being wrenched away from the United States and plopped down on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

But I digress.

I wanted to go on a picnic as an adult with my own family. My girls were toddlers at the time. I had visions of lemonade and sandwiches, the sound of children's laughter as they ran and played amongst the flowers.

I had bought a picnic basket, outfitted it with everything I could think of. I was ready.  We had recently moved to Virginia and we didn't know the area. This was in ancient times before the internet. I bought a paper map.  I found our street.  I saw a park, Dale Memorial Park. I said to my husband "Sunday we are going on a picnic!"

Sunday arrived and I had the car all packed up.  We headed out.   We pull up to the entrance to Dale Memorial Park.

No where on the map did it say it was a cemetery!  The kids were howling with laughter. There, of course, was one road in to the place and we had to drive all the way through it to get out. My mortification was complete. We went home and ate lunch. 

A Rose 4 U

A Rose 4 U 

She is ready!

Just the preview of this little lady created such a wonderful response! 

Now she is ready be popped into your stitchy hands!

Click on the huge link at the top of this page to go to my etsy store!

I found this frame at Hobby Lobby.

She is stitched on 40 count Legacy by Picture This Plus linen.

This is a 5 x 7 frame by Green Tree Gallery.

It fit perfectly!

Take out the glass though!

HEY! Wait a minute Mr. Postman!

I lost my crap at the post office. 

I had to mail some stuff.

 A friend of mine came with me.

 I had to put a box together. 

This doesn't go well on a normal day and I was having a very hard day.

 We managed to figure out how this SMALL Priority Mail box went together, FINALLY.

 We were standing behind a kiosk.

 I started laughing and almost crying as I begin flailing the box against the countertop.

 My friend was laughing so hard she could barely stand up straight.

 I finally stopped and pulled myself back together. 

She couldn't stop laughing and had to go and stand by the door while I mailed everything.

 She kept saying she wished she had filmed that.

Speaking Pirate in Real Life

I changed my Facebook language to Pirate. 

I don't speak Pirate on a regular basis, contrary to popular belief. 

 I might start now though.

"Ahoy there! Matey! Might  Captain Dr. Blah Blah be stowed in his cabin?"

"Excuse Me?"

"ARR! Ye gut loving swabby! I need to speak to ye Captain!"

"WTH?"

"An audience with ye Captain I require. Be quick man!"

~CLICK~

Follow me on Facebook if you dare Me Hearties!!

Sneak Peek and Finished Items For YOUS

Yous Guys! I have a sneak peek for you!

A few new designs will be released in the next few weeks.

What do you think??

A Rose 4 U

SEW Pincushion

Here are some finished goods I have for sale in my etsy store!  

You will notice I used the same quilt in the backdrop. Don't hold it against me!

A large Strawberry Pincushion made from an antique quilt topped with wool a mother of pearl thread ring and scrumptious crinkly seam tape. I'm SOLD!

A pincushion made from an antique jello mold.  Gold velvet and recycled sari silk topped with a ghost pin I made will hold you sewing pins safely. 

Happy Holidays finished piece. Designed and sewed up by me into a wonderful holiday bowl filler. Filled with crushed walnut shells so it is nice and heavy. I'm SOLD!

Be My Valentine finished piece.  Designed and sewed up by me into a wonderful bowl filler. Also filled with crushed walnut shells! 

I love, love, love scissor fobs!! This one is made by me from mother of pearl faceted beads and a big topper made from turquoise recycled sari silk. Scissors not included! I'm SOLD!

There is a huge link at the top of this blog to my etsy store where all this can be purchased!!

Modern Sewing Advice

I found this gem on Pinterest the other night while fighting insomnia. How relevant! I decided to share with you, my dear readers, how I follow this advice to the letter and beyond. 

Let me Bullet Point this for you.

* Prepare yourself ~ I obsess for days about what I"m going to do with my piece before cutting into it. Forget about flippantly doing anything. Apathy does not dare enter my crib! I stare at my project and whisper "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I worry and wring my hands. I make copious lists of how, when and where I will sew up my project. I spin hand picked cotton into thread, I sharpen my scissors with a handmade lath and forge my needles like my grandmother used too. I plot the time of day I will sew, where the sun will be in the sky so I can get maximum natural light. I check my horoscope the night before. Nothing is left to chance.

* Clean your house ~ Call me MRS. CLEAN. OH YEAH. I whip through my house with a bottle of bleach. You can eat off the floors I scrubbed with a toothbrush before I get to my sewing machine. Heaven forbid I try to craft before my bed is made. Dirty dish? I laugh at the thought. Not a speck of dust shall be found. I would have to take a vat of Xanax if I tried to sew with an untidy house. Just the thought sends me into vapors.

* Make yourself attractive as possible~ OH! YES! Of course! I live in constant terror that a visitor might drop by and catch me in my wherewithalls. Excuse me while I don my sequined evening gown and strap on my seven inch heels. Do I have enough FRENCH CHALK POWDER IN MY WIG BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE. I decided to keep it there since I will be constantly adjusting it to make sure it is on straight, therefore killing two birds with one stone. I have a tube of lipstick strapped to my sewing machine with some Velcro. I'm set for when my husband unexpectedly drops in for a "visit."

I have all of this down girls. Follow my example and you also will enjoy your sewing while having a sparkling clean house and a wildly happy significant other.

New Patterns For You!

I have been a busy bee and have a few new designs for you to stitch!

Bee Hive and Hollyhocks

I love bees!!!

Eyelet Sampler

I love the eyelet stitch. It is such an easy stitch and goes along so quickly.

1582 Sampler

This was a fun sampler to design.  I love the roses!

USS Mermaid & Lobster Scissorfob 

I recently taught this class at Notforgotten Farm and Lori graciously said I could release it right away due to demand!  Instructions for finishing are included.

The beaded edge is so much fun and can be used to finish almost any project.

Her hair is going ocean crazy!

You can find these in my etsy shop. 

There is a huge link at the top of this blog!

I have some new designs at my model stitcher.  My finger is not healed from the TOMATO CAN INCIDENT.   This is making me rather nervous I have to say.  

I am working on a new series called Holiday Hearts. 

SQUEEEE!!!! I'm so excited!!!

There will be 13 in all. 

I bet none of you are surprised by that.