I have been AWOL. I had the beastly Summer Influenza (if there is such a thing) and it took three weeks of my life away. I am so pleased to be back, stitching as madly as ever and back to blogging and floss tubing (another term for making cross stitch videos on YouTube).
2015 has seen me delight in stitching on Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED). I have two on the go.
First up is the HAED Mini Alice and Snow White, artwork by Jasmine Becket-Griffith. This is stitched on 25 ct Magic Guide Evenweave, two over one tent stitch. The pattern is the large format pages and have nearly finished the second page of 16 pages. I am so happy with how it is stitching up. I have stitched the top of Alice in Wonderland's head and the hair of Snow White is starting to appear. It is a joy to stitch on. I started it on December 1st 2014.
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| HAED Mini Alice and Snow White |
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| HAED QS Treasure Hunt Fox to Dragon |
After failing miserably stitching a HAED several years ago I have worked out a way that works for me when stitching on them:
1. Pre-gridded Fabric
The pre-gridded 25t Magic Guide Evenweave purchase at www.sewandso.co.uk has been a lifesaver. It is a nice quality and not too stiff to hold. The gridding has helped me from some major mistakes and saved me hours from gridding it myself. I use a purple marker pen (ink disappears in a few hours) to mark the 10 by 10 grid (as the even weave is divided into 20 by 20 blocks).
2. Reading the pattern from an iPad
My mini iPad has been so valuable. I don't have bits of paper floating around me. I bought the HAED pattern as a PDF and use PDF Expert Application to read my pattern from. I can enlarge the 10 by 10 squares which makes it so easy to see what stitch I am up to.
3. Parking Threads
Carolyn Mazzeo's video on parking is brilliant so check her channel out on YouTube. I stitch on my HAEDs in 10 by 10 blocks working down a page. I leave my threads (parking) in the next 10 by 10 block below if that colour is used in the next block. Parking allows me to continue using the same thread without stopping and ending threads so it is time-saver.
4. Highlighting my Pattern
So I don't get confused I mark my stitching offs on my PDF pattern in the PDF Expert App with my finger with a pink dot. That way I can keep track of my progress. I mark my parked threads on the pattern on the iPad using a yellow dot. It is a good idea to mark the parked threads as it makes it so much easier to know what colour it is without doing lots of counting or colour matching to find out. With these types of patterns there are often graduated colours used so keeping track of which colour is which is easier if the pattern is marked.
5. Starting a Thread- Front Loop Method
The reason I am using two threads to stitch my HAED with is for a selfish reason; previous tutorial on a loop method but it the thread is put through the loop on the front of the work not the back. The advantage of this is that one doesn't have to turn the work over or view the back of the work. It is a very quick way of starting a thread.
I only want to start a thread using the front loop method. This is similar to my
They are labour of love but I am so pleased I gave HAEDs a second chance.
Happy stitching and thanks for visiting...
Jan x
