Creating Patchwork Cross Stitch from Leftover Embroidery Threads

Look what I finished!!

I started this patchwork cross stitch project way back in 2014, as a way to make use of those scrappy bits of leftover embroidery thread (floss) which aren't quite big enough to be worth keeping and winding back on the bobbin but which still have a few stitches left in them.

I saved up the threads in a compartment in my embroidery thread storage box, then would sit and do a whole batch of stitching in one evening - slowly building up the patchwork design in blocks of colour. It was a super relaxing process!

 

As I wrote when I blogged about this project last year, "I guess I could add a block at a time, each time I have a piece of leftover thread, but I quite like spending a few relaxing hours working on this from time to time. Plus, adding a bunch of colours at once helps me make the randomness of this project more of a controlled randomness - I can spread out the colours more easily, and get a more pleasing mix of tones and shapes than I think I would end up with if I added a block each time I had a scrap of thread to use up.

I like the randomness of this project and how the colour palette (and the speed at which it's growing) is entirely dictated by what other projects I'm working on, and the luck of what size thread scraps I'm left with... but I also want it to be something I love the look of when it's finished!"

To read more about how this piece has developed, click here to read all about how the project has progressed over the years and see lots of in-progress photos.

I'm really pleased with how the finished piece has turned out - someone pointed out that it looks like a tiny quilt, and it totally does! It's about 6 inches (15 cm) square and absolutely jam-packed with colour. Loads of happy hours of stitching have gone into it, but it also represents even more hours of stitching as, of course, these are all just the leftovers from other projects!

And - to think! - all those threads would otherwise have just gone to waste. It's going to be really hard breaking the habit of keeping my scrappy bits of thread now... maybe I'm going to need to start another leftovers-themed project? Hmm...

Want to make your own patchwork design from leftover threads? Simple! Just start keeping your own leftover threads, stitch them in blocks and just keep on going until you've slooooowly filled up a whole square with colour.

A patchwork design like this is also a great way to use up a whole bunch of embroidery threads from your stash, you don't specifically need to be using leftover threads. Just have fun playing around with colour combinations and shapes!

Last year several people asked me for the pattern for this design, which isn't really something I can properly share as I've used to many random colours making this piece. BUT, I have drawn out a chart of how my design ended up, in case you like how the arrangement of blocks look and fancy replicating it. You can use my photos as guide when picking colours and/or use felt tips or coloured pencils to colour in your printed chart to help guide your stitching.

Click here to view the chart in a new window or tab, make sure you're viewing it full size then print.

P.S. For even more scrappy goodness, check out my Patchwork Mini Squares blanket, knitted from yarn left over from many years worth of knitting projects.

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Fifteen Felt Christmas Ornaments Finally Finished!

Oh, hello, what's this? Another blog post about getting things finished?? HURRAH.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you'll know that I was working hard to finish lots of my personal creative projects last year, including a patchwork blanket, a couple of quilts, and a set of felt Christmas ornaments I was making from Alicia Paulson's lovely patterns.

I bought several of Alicia's kits way back in 2012 and 2013 and had really made very little effort to devote any focused time to them... so, unsurprisingly, most of the designs were still sitting in pieces, unstitched, in a drawer in my flat many years later.

Well now, happily, I can say that all fifteen ornaments are finally finished! Woohoo!

Don't they all look fabulous together?

That photo ended up being my most popular Instagram photo from last year - and, indeed, my whole time on Instagram. Watching all the "likes" roll in for this project was a weird and fun way to finish the year!

Fancy a closer look at the ornaments? The first batch was the slowest to finish as they technically took me 5-6 years to complete...

... then it took me just a month to get another four finished this autumn...

... and the final four were ready just in time for Christmas.

I completed the sweet Gingerbread Girl in early December - I probably could have managed it slightly earlier but I wanted to make sure I was super focused and in the zone when I stitched her face to get it juuuuust right. She is so charmingly folksy, I love her.

The next two got finished in the middle of the month, while watching made-for-TV Christmas movies (I love made-for-TV Christmas movies). There's the cute (double-sided) Notevena Mouse (as in "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse")...

... and the lovely (single-sided) Lighted Window.

The very last design I stitched was the Whistling Tea Kettle which is the one I took most liberties with when it came to not following the instructions.

There was a lot of satin stitch in Alicia's original design and I a) do not enjoy and b) am terrible at satin stitch, sooo my version looks slightly different to hers while still keeping to the same overall pattern. Could I (should I) have used this project as an opportunity to improve my satin stitching? Probably, but never mind!

I deliberately missed out a row of blanket stitching on the kettle, too, because I was finding it frustrating and honestly just wanted this thing finished. I'm pretty pleased with the end result, though, even with the changes.

Just like the other big projects I finished last year after years of them being just works in progress, it is hugely satisfying getting these ornaments completed! I've been meaning to finish them "in time for Christmas" for so many years (and so many different Christmases) that it felt wonderful finally having them ready in time for one.

Having said that, though, I have a confession to make: although I basked in the glorious feeling of getting these ornaments finally finished (which was an excellent Christmas gift to myself), I didn't actually hang any of them up at Christmas!

My holiday decorating style is, these days, best described as very minimal. I put up a few decorations around my flat along with all the cards I'd received from friends, but I don't put up a Christmas tree... and even if I did, it would have to be a VERY big tree to fit these ornaments on it as they're quite large (though you might not guess it from the photos). The Gingerbread Girl, for example, is about 17cm (almost 7 inches) high.

Also (and it's embarrassing to admit this) there's a bit of me that's a teeny bit worried that I'll have them on display and someone will come round to my house and think I made and designed them and say something nice which ends up feeling not so great. I've had this happen several times before with handmade-but-not-by-me things and honestly hearing "oh wow this is the best thing you've ever made, I love these so much!" about something that isn't your work is super awkward and slightly devastating! (Even if you yourself think they're nicer than your own work, too!) (Ugh, maker feelings are so complicated).

So, I think I'm going to end up giving some of these as gifts to friends and family in the run up to next Christmas and possibly just keeping a few of my favourites to hang on doorknobs and other suitable places in my flat. (If you're a friend of mine please do feel free to drop hints about which ones are your faves!)

I'm going to give myself the year to think about it though - who know, by the time next Christmas rolls round I might have decided that I can't bear to part with any of them and I'll have found the perfect places to display them all! We shall see...

Want to make some of these ornaments for yourself? Click here to find all the patterns (and much more loveliness) over in Alicia's shop.

For lots more Christmas crafting ideas, visit my archive of free tutorials.

Making a Christmas Quilt: the Finished Quilt!

Waaaay back in 2014 I decided to make a Christmas quilt for my sister. She loves Christmas and I thought a cosy, festive quilt would be a perfect, special gift.

I decided to hand sew the whole quilt... and massively underestimated how long that would take! After many, many hours of hand stitching I finally finished the quilt this spring, and gave it to my sister (hurrah!) and now I finally have lots of pics to share with you guys (double hurrah!).

This isn't the biggest thing I've made (that would be my double-bed-sized giant granny square blanket), or the longest-running work-in-progress that I've completed (that title is currently held by my mini patchwork squares blanket, which took six-and-a-half years from start to finish), but it's still a huge thing to have finished and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Luckily my sister likes it, too!

You can read about the making of the quilt here and here, or just scroll down for lots of photos of the finished quilt in all its festive glory...

 

 

 

 

P.S. I might have finished this quilt but I'm not done with quilting! My current work-in-progress (although I've not been making much progress on it during this hot summer) is another patchwork quilt - click here to read all about it.

Take to the Sea: a Nautical Embroidery Project

UPDATE: this embroidery pattern is now available in my Patreon pattern library.

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I finally finished my "Take to the Sea" embroidery! Hurrah!

I had so much fun stitching this project, and I'm really pleased with the (slightly wonky) end result. Brace yourself for an avalanche of photos...

Back in early July I decided I wanted to stitch something in celebration of the late, great website The Toast - as a gift for a Toast-loving friend.

I started with a sketch: one of the unofficial mottoes of The Toast - "take to the sea" - plus some abstract waves and a little boat with a T (for Toast). I wasn't sure how I wanted to stitch it (or even what materials to use) but eventually settled on embroidery.

I traced the design in pencil onto some white fabric and stretched it in an embroidery hoop. I started with the motto, sewing the letters and the outline of the boat with backstitch and half strands of very dark blue embroidery thread (floss). I then began slowly stitching the waves.

I used half strands of blue embroidery thread for each wave, sewing curving lines of backstitch to gradually fill the space.

I started at the top of each wave and worked downwards. When I got near the bottom of a wave I'd sew the top line of the next one to make sure I could then sew right up to the new colour.

I have to admit that I got slightly addicted to working on this, and stayed up late several nights in a row working on it!

It took a lot of hours of stitching to complete all the waves, but it was such a relaxing process - and so satisfying seeing the piece develop. 

I ran out of thread a couple of times and had to stitch some of the waves in two similar shades. When this happened I made sure to make the dividing line between each block of colour a nice organic wave shape to fit in with the rest of the design.

Sadly my chosen hoop wasn't tight enough and the fabric got pulled about a bit as I stitched so the original circle shape got a bit distorted, but who cares?

Okay so the perfectionist part of me is kinda bothered by this, but for a first attempt stitching something this detailed I'm very pleased with how it turned out. And this is the joy of personal projects (as opposed to things with deadlines and paychecks) - you get the chance to experiment with new things and it doesn't matter so much if they don't turn out 100% "on brief".

Once I'd finished the waves, I used white embroidery thread to "colour in" the little boat and its sail.

This is what the back looked like when the whole piece was finished: so much thread!

After the excitement of finishing the embroidery it took me a couple of weeks to get round to tidying up the hoop, trimming the excess fabric and finishing the back neatly with a circle of felt to cover all the mess.

Here's how it looked before I packed it up and popped it in the post...

A little different to the original sketch, but close enough!

 I love the texture of all that dense stitching. Lots of work, but totally worth it. 

I kind of want to spend all my spare time embroidering things now! Mmm... embroidery...

Fancy a stitchy project of your own? Click here to find all the free embroidery patterns I've shared on my blog.