Art and Design

Why do cross stitch pattern design?   It can be daunting to try and design a cross stitch pattern for the first time, especially if you’ve seen how complicated some patterns are. A cross stitch pattern chart is usually made … Read More

What’s a Kokeshi Doll?   A kokeshi doll is a lovely traditional Japanese doll, and originally they were made of wood. They’re so simple but so pretty, and for some reason I’ve been really fascinated by them recently. I used … Read More

    I realized that possibly turning my photographs into drawings and then turning the drawings into cross stitch patterns was making the details harder to read in a smaller pattern. I decided to do a bit of experimentation and … Read More

As I mentioned last week, I just finished the big cross stitch piece that I’ve been working on for the past nine months. I wasn’t sure whether to start a new stitching project or whether to work on some new … Read More

Having just moved into a new apartment, I thought I would share how I created my gallery wall and how I hung some artwork on a concrete wall. I’ve got a mix of art from paintings, drawings, needlework, prints, and … Read More

Today’s post is about a topic I brought up in my last newsletter – having way too many ideas and not knowing how to organize them or be able to work on them all at once. I know this is … Read More

Recently as I’ve been finishing up my big Michelangelo cross stitch (which still has a bit to go but is almost there), I’ve been thinking about other ways to render drawings in stitching. I really like the way the cross … Read More

  So as I’m nearing the end of stitching my current work in progress (my big Michelangelo piece pictured to the left), I’m considering what I would like to do for my next design. I don’t really need to stitch … Read More

This week I decided to go to an exhibition I’d seen posters for around town – The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great. I’m completely batty about Greek and Roman art, as it is the basis of Italian Renaissance art … Read More

  This video is a little different than my other ones – this one is more focused on ways to create crafts and artworks around any physical limitations you might have. It might be an injury (like me), an illness … Read More

As promised, here’s a post about how I decorated the photo frame project I made as part of my video about how to cut a mat board frame. I have some books (from a dollar shop of course, but they … Read More

I’ve noticed recently that many people are talking about the amount of money that they’re spending on framing cross stitch pieces. I’ve always done my own framing – I learned how to do it in art school years ago – so … Read More

I decided tonight to sit down and start a drawing of a sepia flower image I created in this post, but just as I was about to turn on my iPad and open up ArtRage I thought about what the … Read More

So in the past few posts I’ve been talking about using ArtRage again, and in conjunction with photo editing software. I’m thinking I might work on the sepia-toned flower photo I did as a sample, but I wasn’t sure what … Read More

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I spent a few hours last weekend working on a gift for some friends (I’ll do a blog post about how I did it once they get the pressie). I ended up with … Read More