how did you start?

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Jax4alfie
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Jax4alfie »

Having been allowed to give up needlework at school because I was so bad at it (I was allowed to take in knitting to do instead LOL !), I avoided it like the plague for a long time.

A girl at the office started banging on about counted cross stitch and when she eventually brought some in to show me I immediately thought "I can do that". Not knowing any better I chose a kit because I liked the picture and dived straight in. As I now know, it was on linen with lots of french knots ! However, a love affair with stitching was born and I've now been an avid cross stitcher for about 25 years. Stitching and the stash collecting that goes with it keeps me sane with all the madness that goes on around me LOL !

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Darlene
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Darlene »

I wish I could remember my "Epiphany" regarding how fabulous cross stitching could be! But, alas, I cannot remember when I started to stitch. I know that I began sewing clothes during high school and that sort of started me on the road to being crafty. My first foray into crafting was latch hooked-stitch rug/pillows. These were easy and fast success-oriented projects, and I could listen to T.V. while I did them. Somewhere along the line I needed more of a challenge and tried stamped cross stitch -- ugh! Sorry if I offend, but I could not follow the stamping correctly and it showed through! So then as I was checking out the stitching store (now sadly gone) I saw counted cross stitch and the rest is history! For my recent wedding (30 years now!) a cousin made us a sampler of our date and I saw how something so relaxing and creative could actually be used as a pretty neat gift, and I've since done tons, baby records also (my 3 kids have way too many) as do our friends; especially once I "created" my own design.
When we moved to Chicago from Washington, D. C., I did a skyline design from a kit, but added the building my husband was working on (and the one that brought us to Chicago), since then however (1992) I didn't do too many as I was sewing clothes for my two daughters and then son, but about 10 years ago I started the Last Supper and the soon after I went back to work. I've since picked up the Last supper (about 8 years later) and am happy with my progress in the last several months. I hope to finish by Christmas -- wish me luck!
So I guess I've been crafting for about 40 years (I'm 59) but it doesn't seem that long and I hope to teach my grandchildren as my children seem to have missed the crafty gene (actually they just say "mom can you do....")
darlene
p.s. thanks for the suggestion for this post, how fun!
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Heather
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Heather »

My mom bought me a cross stitch kit when I was little that has horses on it, but I don't know where it went :( I never finished it. My Grandma taught me how to knit and I've always been interested in needlework. A couple years ago I happened to be in a Michael's and was looking for something to take my mind of school work, and found a cross stitch kit. Been doing it ever since.

So many nice stories here about mothers and grandmothers passing their crafts down :)
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mysterystitcher
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Re: how did you start?

Post by mysterystitcher »

I don't know, if you Americans have those sewing pictures in which there are holes. You punch them first. Then you need a needle. You go around first once, then you go around again the spots you did not make the last time. That kind of projects I made, when I was less than a school girl. But later I got a kit of "Praying Child", when I was from 9 to 12 years old. I started to stitch it but, then I tossed it aside for years. Many years later I finished it. And after making a few projects with Penelope canvas, there has been no turning back. Stamped Penelope canvas is my favorite, and I keep stitching on it. Even now I have one project under processing.
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corby_stitcher
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Re: how did you start?

Post by corby_stitcher »

I started about 4 1/2 years ago. When my youngest daughter was born. A family friend used to cross stitch and i liked what she did. One day she came over an gave me a stitch by numbers kit which she brought from the £1 shop. And ive not looked back since. Here is the finished kit, i added the name of my oldest daughter to it.
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MissJenni
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Re: how did you start?

Post by MissJenni »

I am 26 now and this is my second more sucessful attempt at sticking with it.

The first attempt!
I was about 9 and was inspired by my mother's general crafting abilities and took pleasure in the peace and quiet I would get when I was left to draw or sew, the complete opposite to my twin sister and older brother who loved being loud and found my hobbies boring. I used to sew Disney kits and I wished I had appreciated them more - I remember the Winnie the Pooh - Hundred acre wood map which I approached in a rather slap dash way.

I would love to be able to do that again but god knows where all my old kits and patterns are...Anywho my whole teenage years got in the way (as did the university drinking) and things got put away never to see the light of day again.

Revenge of the Stitch
My boyfriend (now fiance, but I haven't really taken to calling him that) Is the most artistic person I know with such an amazing talent for all things, he often zones out and doesn't speak for literally days when he gets into some work so I needed something to occupy my time.

My sister was getting married so I decided to bring out the cross stitch again and make her a 'tatty teddy' wedding sampler and presented it too her on her wedding day - it was a pretty big deal for both of us There has been some serious relationship issues with us throughout her engagement and we spent a lot of time not talking - there is still a lot of stress and she and a few other things put me into counselling!!!

I can sort of smile about it now but I think when she realised all the hours that I had put into making this (not to mention all the hours I spent trying to find a perfect 'shabby chic' frame to match her home's decor) Then I think she took a step back and reassessed a lot of things that she had done and said.

Why I carry on...
My boyfriend has moved away from me, to the National Film and Television School near London, this has pretty much left me house bound apart from going to and from work. I will not leave the house on my own. its sad, I know I should be stronger but I really don't want to do anything with my life - why should I bother if he isn't here?! So the whole cross stitching has made my voluntary house arrest seem ok. If that makes any sense?!
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JazzeyBear
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Re: how did you start?

Post by JazzeyBear »

I actually taught myself to stitch last summer. I found a kit in the house that I was working at and nobody claimed it so I picked it up and started to stitch. I stitched my name, and than started a bigger project that I never finished because I messed up. I put it away so that one day I will go back and fix what I messed up and actually finish it. I've started another one that is currently 3/4th finished but than I started on a Christmas present for my best friend which was extremely easy and finished it within a few weeks. I am currently working on Tinker Bell and I have about 2 weeks left before I am finished with all of the back stitching and french knots, which I am not very good at. I love to stitch when I have time, its relaxing and to me its fun.
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carolanne
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Re: how did you start?

Post by carolanne »

I don't think there is enough cyber space to hold my stitching/crafting story. But I've been doing various things since I was a child (just yesterday). These stories kept reminding me of all the various things I've tried, successful and not so. When I was first married, I worked during the day, while my husband went to school, and then he worked in the evening, so I started collecting stash and things to do. That was very close to 50 years ago. Some of it still exists. I became enamored of counted cross stitch in the 80s I think, when I was expecting the first grandchild. Still at it and other things too.
anashenwrath
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Re: how did you start?

Post by anashenwrath »

These are some great stories. I got a little misty here and there!

My first memory of cross-stitch is a sampler on my grandmother's wall that I used to practice reading outloud as a wee one: "Some grandmas ride in limousines, and live in houses fit for queens. But my grandma is the best by far, because she fills her cookie jar!" :wub:

Just one of those childhood memories that got implanted in my brain. I wish I had held onto it after she died.

My mom taught me all fiber-related things I know EXCEPT cross-stitch. I've been knitting, spinning, and felting since I was about 10. When I saw a sampler online, memories of my grandma’s cross stitch came flooding, and I just decided I wanted to learn now.

Here’s my funny newbie story: I’ve been learning through a little kit I grabbed at barnes and noble. It’s great, but the instructions border on “too simple.” For example, it just tells you to thread your needle with 2 strands of floss, but it doesn’t clarify that a “strand” is actually just one piece in a skein of 6 strands. So, thinking I was taking two strands, I actually took two full skeins (12 strands), jammed them through a needle (defying physics as I went) and began stitching! I had almost completed a row, with the Aida fabric straining against the massive volume of floss being pulled through it, before it occurred to me that something was not quite right. :doh:
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megan_bright
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Re: how did you start?

Post by megan_bright »

My grandmother used to cross stitch names of friends that matched up with bible verses, and she taught me how to do it when I was about eight. Then she developed Parkinson's disease and couldn't do it as much anymore, so I helped her finish the last few she made before she passed away. I didn't really do any cross stitching except here and there until I was about 18, and now at 21 I've been stitching almost every day lol.
My husband is in the army and has been deployed to afghanistan the past 10.5 months, and he still has a month and a half left! So I've been going to school full time and stitching in my free time. It's not really too common here in the US anymore I don't think. The idea that some of you took stitching classes in school is amazing; I would have loved to be able to do that! I really want to learn how to quilt as well!
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Pengwenn
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Pengwenn »

I started from crochet. When I was 12 my church group decided that 12 year old girls needed to learn how to crochet. At the time soda cans had the pull tab ring tops and plastic rings to hold a 6-pack together. We had to collect those. The plastic rings we made into a spice bell pull sort of thing. I made two of those. And the soda can rings were made (I never finished mine) into the arms and legs of a monkey. You crocheted around the rings and then put a bunch of rings together to make the arms/legs or the spice bell pull.

I remember going to the craft store to get something with my mom (she sewed almost all our clothes) and I saw a small kit to make an ornament with Santa's face. There were several different ones and I couldn't decide which one I wanted. Not even knowing what they were I got them all. I read the instructions and did a pretty good job for my first try (not all my stitches when the same direction either). I still have those projects. One I did with 1 strand backstitch and another with 2 and what a big difference. I later bought a larger xmas ornament that I made for my Grandmother (first gift I gave away) and I've been hooked ever since.

In 9th grade in sewing class we had to make a pillow case with 3 different kinds of stitching on it. Everybody struggled with the cross stitch and backstitch but they were easy for me. It was the Lazy Daisy stitches that I had problems with, but I had already been stitching for a couple of years.

I stopped stitching in high school and college. I didn't think it was a cool thing to do. :oops: After college when I got a good job with some extra cash in my budget I decided to get back into stitching. A few kits back then have turned into a whole room in my house dedicated to cross stitch and crochet. I'm sure my stash would have grown on it's own but this forum certainly sped that process up greatly.
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Fljotsdale
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Fljotsdale »

I think we might have had another thread on this topic, but must have been an age ago. So, my mom always stitched. She did crewel work embroidery when I was young, and tried to teach me, but I wasn't good at it, I hated the clumsy look of my stitching in comparison to hers, so I didn't continue with it. Learnt knitting instead! Much easier! Later on in her life, mom did less and less embroidery as her fingers got less sure, and she took up tapestry instead, which was easier for her to do. As I got older, I wanted to do something as well, but not tapestry, cos it was mom's thing... you know?
Anyway, browsing round little craft shops I spotted a cross-stitch kit of 3 little cottages, very pretty, and I thought something small like that would be a nice introduction. Found out later they were classed as 'intermediate'. Never mind. I did 'em. Without ever marking the charts, and they seemed full of confetti :shock: (only I didn't know it was called confetti till I came on here, years later!). Been going at it ever since, gently, but it wasn't till I found this site that I found out all the things I didn't know and had blindly and inaccurately contrived by myself! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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caitief
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Re: how did you start?

Post by caitief »

My mom always stitched a couple projects every year for holiday presents. I thought it was cool, but never had much of an interest.

When I was in high school, I wanted to give presents to friends, but didn't have much money to spend. I asked my mom how much a project cost her to do and she said around $10. We went to a store, got some ornaments for me to make and she taught me how to do it.

I made four that year and started a big project for my mom as a thank you for teaching me.

Then life (and college) got in the way. I decided I missed it and finished the lighthouse. Now I am addicted agaiN!
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LastingAllure
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Re: how did you start?

Post by LastingAllure »

Well my mom didn't start cross stitching until she was in her late 30's. My auntie had been doing it for years and my mom always said she would NEVER do it. But then she found a pattern she liked and my auntie taught her how to do it. So my earliest memories was of my mom cross stitching. I was maybe 4 and every time I saw her doing it I would say "I wanna do that!" and her reply was "when you're a little older sweetie." So I have always been interested in cross stitching.

My mom though figured she should teach me once she came home from work and I was 6 and had arranged her DMC threads in colours instead of numbers...she spent a while reordering them into number order lol. She said I was really proud of what I did but she was horrified because she couldn't remember what colours numbers were! Now her and I can be like "Do you know where 956 is?" "That's a medium pink isn't it?" We don't bother winding them onto spools anymore, easier just to throw them into a small ziplock and then organize them into bigger ziplocks by the numbers then put them into a bin...

Anywho it took me about two years being into it and not into it until my mom realized I wanted to do the more pretty patterns and not so much the patterns directed toward kids....then it took another few years until she realized I wanted to be working on linen and not Aida because I didn't like the look of Aida (No offense to anyone who uses it, it does stitch things up quickly I find! But I like the finished look linen has to offer :) ). Then throughout highschool I would do bits here and there but we weren't in an area that had a place to just go out and buy threads and fabric to start so I just lost interest and would get back into it when we went to visit my nan and granddad in Vancouver. Now though my nan has my mom and I working on all these patterns she wants done, its cute we go to visit her and she will have the pattern and all the supplies ready for us and we tag team cross stitch :) .

But now since I am not in university anymore and living with my parents with access to all of my cross stitch supplies and not really knowing anyone in the area I have been cross stitching a lot more. And now in the process of designing my own from paintings I have made. I hope to someday have a cross stitch book published with a bunch of my designs in them :) .
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starshine123102
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Re: how did you start?

Post by starshine123102 »

I have always done crafty projects with my mother while I was growing up but it was always making stuffed dolls or painting. One year for Christmas, I bought her a cross stitch kit that she had said she wanted to make and after a year she still hadn't started it. I was going on a trip to Canada with my father and wanted to keep me busy while we were in our hotel room at night, so I decided to take the kit and try it out and teach myself.

I made it half way through the design over the next few months and then put it down for nearly three years. I finally finished it and had it framed, then once again didn't touch a single project for another year or so. I decided to pick up cross stitch again when I moved off campus so I had something to decorate to apartment with and made two small kits, one for my bathroom and the other for my kitchen.

After completing this I took another hiatus for about two years and once again picked it up to have something to do at work since I have a lot of down time. I completed one kit and then someone asked me if I could make them a pin up girl in cross stitch. I said yes, and for the past 3 months I have been working on it and have gotten nearly 1/4 of the way through it. Hopefully this time I continue to work on new projects as I complete them!
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galeadenise
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Re: how did you start?

Post by galeadenise »

I did tapestries and crochet when I was little but I never really stuck with them. My grandma did do tapestries but I must have been very little when she stopped because of her back. She was getting sore after stitching.

When i graduated as a nurse I was working in an elderly home and every staff member cross stitched there so I took up the hobby. I started again lately, had stopped for 5 years because of wrist issues and general lack of time. I really hope my wrist keeps co-operating this time.
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angiec73
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Re: how did you start?

Post by angiec73 »

My grandma taught me when I was in 6th or 7th grade. After a couple of easy projects (the first was a goose that had the words "goose the cook and she'll cook you"), we did a version of "Footprints in the Sand" together.

She pronounced me ready to go and my first real project was a silhouette of a bride and groom under a rose arbor. 8x10, all black except for a few red roses.

She's been gone for almost 14 years. I make a point to sew at least one color in every project using the thread from her stash.
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Mabel Figworthy
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

angiec73 wrote:I make a point to sew at least one color in every project using the thread from her stash.
What a lovely idea!
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Sarah Gixxer
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Sarah Gixxer »

Mabel Figworthy wrote:
angiec73 wrote:I make a point to sew at least one color in every project using the thread from her stash.
What a lovely idea!
Aww, a lovely idea indeed.
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shauniew
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Re: how did you start?

Post by shauniew »

It's lovely reading everyone's stories.

My mum was always knitting and mending clothes and even worked in a factory that made socks so textiles were a big part of growing up I suppose.

One of the things I remember though was these skeins of old anchor threads that were in the sewing stash. The colours were so nice but when I was little, I never really knew what you did with them. They were never used either, having been handed down from someone who'd died probably and no-one really did any embroidery.

I loved crafts at school and I remember once running my work through the over-locker, taking the pins out as i went, when the lady who was kind of a support teacher queried why I hadn't basted the work together first as if a pin went through the machine, it would damage the knife. I must have looked a bit blank and she went over to the teacher to grass me up - the teacher took one look up and said "Oh, he's alright" and I carried on taking the pins out as I went with a nice smug feeling 8)

I did my first bit of cross stitch when I was about 17 I reckon. I bought a little cat design, about an inch and a half square. That was wholly unsatifisfying so I bought a big Disney kit to do.

I stopped in my twenties but these last few years, I've gone back to it and I'm absolutely hooked. I love the colours, the precision of the craft and am amazed at how someone can take a picture and convert it into a chart to be turned back into a picture again.

I tried paint by numbers but that's just not for me :D
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