Finishing Ideas for Handcrafts
Freebie Link
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If you haven’t checked out Club Point de Croix get over there soon! It’s a great source of free patterns (each day a new freebie is posted, and it remains free for five days!), as well as patterns for which you must earn points (points are easy to come by). I stopped in today, and highly recommend Le p’tit sac (there are three more adorable animals in the chart) and Oursons marins. You can click on the link in the right hand column, or if you prefer the page translated to English, click here: Club Point de Croix.
OK - I know this is not a finishing idea - but they have great charts, and you’ve got to stitch something before you can finish it, right?
Please let me know what you think of this site. Thanks!
One Last Hurrah from the Monkeys
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It occurs to me that some might like the entire Monkey Alphabet in a PC Stitch file.
Or that some might like just the monkeys in a PC Stitch file so they can use them on their own alphabet or perhaps in another setting (the observant may have noted that there were 26 different monkeys - the differences might have been small, but each was different!).
So, for a short time (I haven’t decided yet for how long), leave a comment telling me which you would like - the alphabet, just the monkeys, or both - and I will email the PC Stitch Standard file(s) to you. All the usual legal copy write stuff - please acknowledge my work, don’t post the patterns elsewhere (direct your friends to this site, please, so they can get their own copy), or claim them as your own. You may stitch the monkeys for yourself, for gifts, or charitable works, but if you want to sell a stitched piece containing them, please ask my permission (I’m pretty easy-going, but I value politeness - lol!) And if you do stitch one or more - I’d love a picture!
It’s the end of the Monkeys :-( W X Y Z
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Here are the last letters for the monkey alphabet. It’s kind of sad having them come to an end ;-(
Please, if you stitch any of these letters, send me a picture - I’ll happily post it!
Without further ado - The Monkey Alphabet - W X Y Z:
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- The Monkey Alphabet
Almost Done - The Monkeys are Winding Down - S T U V
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The end is in sight - here are four more monkey letters!
BTW, the slight delay in posting this week is because I have been caring for my MIL following her total knee replacement. The surgery went well, but she went home too early (her choice) and didn’t tell us she had no one to come stay with her during her at-home convalescence. She ended up hospitalized again with pneumonia. She’s an 83-year-old in generally good health, but stubborn does not begin to describe her! DH and I practically kidnapped her when she was released on the 24th, so that we can help her get back on her feet. We hope to have her back in her own home shortly. We take her to the doctor’s tomorrow for an x-ray to check on her recovery from pneumonia and to her surgeon later in the week to have her knee checked, and then we will see. Do pray for all of us, please!
M N O P Q R Hey, Hey It’s the Monkeys
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Are you old enough that this title means something to you? Yeah, me too - lol!
It’s bonus week - six letters for the price of four (and you can’t beat the price!)
Enjoy!
I J K L - The Monkeys are Playing Again!
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No, I did not get the finishing done on my Altoid tin last weekend. As soon as I do, I promise I will post the directions.
But here are the next four letters of the Monkey Alphabet - Enjoy!
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- Monkey Alphabet
A Stitch in Time
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I had believed that this proverb was attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Imagine my surprise, when I began to research it (so that I might attribute it to him for this article) to discover that it was not! Oh well, it’s still a good saying.
My DS, seeing me work on this small chart, said “That doesn’t make any sense!” When I explained that my sense of this proverb is that taking one stitch when it is needed, saves having to take nine stitches later, he said “You left out the commas.” Sigh.
But I think it’s a good proverb anyway, and appropriate for my purpose, which is to make a small sewing kit for my handbag. If you’d like to make one, too, you are welcome to use my design. Today I’m giving you the chart. If, as I hope, this weekend I get the finishing done, I’ll post the instructions next week.
I stitched this on 14 count white aida, a scrap I had left from another project (Waste not, Want not - right!) BTW, I used DMC 115, not DMC 815. At the time I created the pattern, I had not yet discovered how to create new floss lists in PC Stitch Pro. And now, even though I have discovered how to use that feature, I still haven’t created a list for DMC Varigated floss. You may, of course, use any colors you wish - lol!
Please, if you stitch this, send me a pic. I’d like to start a Gallery page. As an incentive, if you are the first to send me a pic, I’ll send you an empty Altoid TIn. Really! You can send me your address in a separate comment, which I won’t post.
More Monkey Alphabet
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Here are the next few letters. Once again, the single letter patterns are in color, while the double letter patterns are symbols only. Enjoy!
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- Monkey Alphabet
Monkey Alphabet
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A few weeks ago, a member of the EMS Cross Stitch Board was looking for a Monkey Alphabet. Curious, I did a Google, and couldn’t find hide nor hair of one! Well, that just can’t be! So I set myself down with my PC Stitch Pro and designed one. Warning - there are lots of fractionals in the monkeys!
Over the next several weeks, I’ll be publishing it here. The single letter patterns are in color, while the double letter patterns are symbols only. Enjoy!
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- Monkey Alphabet
Mama’s Violets
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What do you give a Mama for Mother’s Day? My Mama is in her seventies, lives in a small home with very limited wall space and has a life-long dislike of “dust collectors”. But she loves flowers and violets are one of her favorite flowers. So I stitched up this little freebie from ABC Free Cross Stitch Patterns (I saved it back in 2004, but when I just checked, it was shown on their Free Patterns page). With the addition of a simple heart and leaves border on either side (using colors from the chart), I made this pocket tissue holder
I used four threads (2 threads for backsitiching) on an 11 count beige aida, which has gold threads woven throughout (the pictures do not even hint at how sparkly it is!) – the manufacturer is unknown. I received this fabric as a lagniappe from an Ebay vendor when I purchased some round plastic frames for Christmas ornaments
Here are the critical dimensions: Border areas are each 1-5/8 X 5-3/4 inches (4 X 14.5 cm). The main area is 3-1/4 X 5-3/4 inches (8 X 14.5 cm). Allow at least ½ inch (1.5 cm) to turn under at the borders for the opening and for side seams.
BTW, even though I serged the edges of this fabric, and sewed it by machine, it is entirely possible to do all the finishing by hand.
Wash, block and iron the finished stitching.
For items that will be handled, I like to iron on interfacing to the wrong side. It serves the dual purpose of protecting the stitching and helps prevent any thread from working it’s way loose.
Turn under hem at each border edge. I top-stitched the hem with a 
neutral color thread, but you might want to use a color from your design and hand stitch a decorative hem.
Fold the border edges to the center of the design, wrong sides together. Stitch the seam on each raw side. Trim and finish the seam by serging, zig-zagging or overcast by hand (we don’t want pesky little threads coming out each time a tissue is pulled from tissue holder, do we?)
Turn the holder right side out and press. ( A knitting needle is useful to turn those corners!)
Fill with pocket tissues. In a pinch, you can fold regular size tissues to fit.
Turned out that the opening gapped with tissues inside - so I added a button and ribbon loop to help keep it closed.
