Loveheart Pincushions II

As promised - another one rolls off the production line, each time I get neater with my stitching!!

When I got the huge amounts of cloth from a former acquaintance in the States, she said 'You won't get much use out of that piece,' how wrong she was!!

More to come soon folks!

Loveheart Pincushions

My latest production is the beginning of my 'Loveheart Pincushion' range. A very simple design that can be easily replicated, the only snag is sewing the thing up!

Anyway, after a trial piece which is not going on sale, I put together two wee cushions which I am very pleased with.

Autumn Leaves (above)
Fiddle-dee-dee (below)

Also figured out that filling it from the bottom of the heart with self-coloured thread is the best way of disguising the fabric which isn't turned in.

So - it starts with two pieces of heart-shaped cloth:

Sew them back to front - remembering to add any embelishments like buttons, sequins etc to the front of the heart and put it inside as you sew up. I've double-sewed just for security, first just loop stitches around the pieces of cloth to fit them together, then backstitch all around under the looping.

Then, leave a space for filling - best at the bottom - turn right side out. I stuffed with quilting, but you can use cotton wool. The quilting is far less lumpy than cotton wool, and I've even used old tights in the past! If you are going to scent the innards with essential oil, be SPARING with two or three drops of lavender or rose. I was a bit liberal with the first bit of oil and it leaked everywhere, fortunately it all dried.

Use tiny stitches to sew it up, et voila! One cute cushion.

If you are hanging it up, then add a ribbon loop to the top. I left a space for a loop at the top of the heart. Again, try and be neat.

The two completed cushions are for sale on Folksy, which I've designated my hand-made shop, for £6 each.

I'm planning some more soon, here are the cut pieces to give you some idea, from the top 'Blue Blossoms'; 'Stripey Green' and 'Life is a Bowl of Cherries'

Photo-stitch

Yay! Managed to get a FREE copy of DMC Cross Stitch Designer online after a hiccup with my Amazon order.

It does exactly what it says on the box!!

Here are some of the colour-block designs with their originals, and then I'll tell you how I did it and how you can buy your copies!!

This was the first design - in fact, my signature one, the 'Flower Power' heart. The program uploads the image and breaks it down into pixels to be used as the colour blocks to show the design.

And here's a good one - the RGU 'bothies' installation, c.2006 in Aberdeen's Castlegate.




























I call it 'Invasion of the Wee Hoosies' simply because they appeared overnight and looked as if they'd just dropped from the sky!! The colour-block version is ok - I wonder how long it would take? Seems massive!

Anyhoo - to the patterns...

With all of them, you can have the option of just printing the colour blocks, or coloured symbols, or, as I prefer, being used to commercially made patterns, black and white symbols with black lines.

This is a close-up of the heart pattern















You can see just about that each square of stitching contains a symbol - which has a corresponding colour on the chart of DMC thread/floss.

















The whole b/w pattern looks something like this one above.


























And the second page contains the key and any instructions or info about the origin of the photo/image or copyright details.

All the symbols have their DMC colour name and numerical code so you can just pop into to your local craft shop and pick up the right thread from the DMC rack!

'Red Line' at the top of Union St across from the Town House in Aberdeen has some, so does John Lewis.

There was a knitting/ craft shop in Rosemount, the descendant of the once famous Wool Shop of George Street, but I'm not sure if it's still there.

If anyone knows of other shops you can get craft supplies in Aberdeen, let me know, I'm going to do a post about it soon.

So - if you want your very OWN pattern to stitch the heart, or any of the four designs on show at my newly-launched Etsy shop, go to:

http://www.artyquine.etsy.com

Click on the pattern you want - then click 'Add to Cart'. Yes, sorry, the prices are in US Dollars, but the site promises to get that sorted eventually. Each pattern is $8, which is round about £4.90 just now - obviously we are at the mercy of the exchange rates! Payment is either by Paypal or cheque. IF you're in the UK and sending a cheque, please just write it POUNDS STERLING - if you're unsure how much the rate is - email me and I'll check it with the site I use, which is XE.com and I'll let you know. Otherwise, Paypal will just charge it in dollars and work out its own exchange, whatever that is.

Once the payment has been confirmed, I'll email you the PDF file - which you of course need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print. It's freeware that you can download at Adobe.com.

Then you can stitch it as many times as you like!!

I will work on some simpler Xmas designs soon, so they'll go up by December.

Do have a go - but these aren't for the faint-hearted - the DMC program can be set to put as many colours as they have threads. The heart is a bit mental, but it was my first go. The other three are all under 50 colours.

This is the Etsy shop front - I called it Celtic Heart because the heart is the signature symbol and it means I can do Irish and Welsh themed stuff as well as Scottish.

Visionary Stitchery!

I'm currently planning a new product - cross stitch designs from my photos. I've been searching for a suitable computer program to help do the job rather than the scary prospect of using graph paper and a wheen of DMC* thread to match the colours!

It would seem that there are very few new packages that do the job for anything above Windows XP - that suits me perfectly fine, having stuck with Win98 for years before being forced to make the move to XP, but the programs available are mainly for Mac OS X and above. Not that I'm against Macs - fabulous machines for art, but not ideal when you've used a PC for eons!!

So with a little help from Google and Amazon, I've sent off for the old DMC Cross Stitch Pattern Designer - released in 2002 and 5th most popular of this type of craft program on Amazon UK's list. Looks just fine for my purposes. I don't want to do anything complicated like half or quarter stitches yet.

I quite often used to draw a picture outline in pencil on a piece of aida cotton and stitch in the colours as I went. Might do that again, but note the colours and stitches used. For now, keeping it simple is the best option!

I had a wee shottie at the demo of a program called Cross Stitch Professional Publisher - does the job, but demo doesn't even let you save your designs. And at over £300 it was waay too dear for my liking, so I'm not even going to link to it. Still, it let me see what these programs do, so here's a screen shot using my favourite fishing trawler image - the Banff-registered Caspian, in all her shiny red glory! That's going to be a wonderful pattern!

If this is anything to go by, the patterns should be fine. I presume they print just as colour and you use the DMC numbering system to select the threads? The palette you see on the left of the picture shows the colours, and rolling your mouse over them shows the name and number of the colour.

So, we shall see - watch this space for further developments!! I may even offer a bespoke design service. Cross-Stitch is another hobby I had to abandon due to being back at university, but happily can indulge once more.




* DMC of course being the wonderful folk who make the cotton thread or 'floss' as the Americans call it. They started in the 1920s, but the company had its origins in 18th Century Europe and an artist called Jean-Henri Dollfus. It was his nephew who would set up the business name of DMC with his wife, creating 'Dollfus-Mieg & Compagnie'. Yay for them! Learn more about their history on DMC's own US home site.

Arty Quine Scottish Products is launched!!

http://artyquine.pbworks.com

Scottish and Scottish-inspired art, design and photography on various products by local designer Jane Swan, Aberdeen. And incase you're wondering, a 'quine' is a girl, the Doric Scots word, based on the Scandinavian word 'quean' which means the same thing. 'Doric' is the particular Aberdeen dialect of the Scots Language, and the one I speak, and sometimes write in! So, an arty quine is an artistic young female!

A new range of mugs, stationery, t-shirts, bags, etc. is slowly building up on my Zazzle site for sale. All of the designs are original from my photography or art. I have recently returned to these things after leaving university and I hope to have pictures and designs that promote Scotland's real 21st century identity, rather than the tartan-fest touristy one that the government agencies would have us believe in.

I have no formal art training, but just love landscapes and images. I tend to work with digital photography and in pencil and watercolour with art. I also do a bit of cross-stitch embriodery too, and hope to create some patterns to sell also, based on the photos.

I'd be happy to hear from anyone with ideas for places to photograph - just send an email to the address in the sidebar, or join my Facebook group, or indeed 'friend' me, Jane Swan, on the same site.

This blog will feature new designs and products as they come on-stream and will direct readers to the wiki site where they can link to Zazzle.

for now, here are some of the products for sale.

best wishes
Jane

Caspian - Macduff Trawler (Postcard Series)
£1.25 each; £8 for a pack of 8

Fisher Hooses - Fittie, Aberdeen (Postcard Series)
£1.25 each; £8 for a set of 8

'Invasion' - the 'Bothies' art installation, Castlegate, Aberdeen
(Postcard Series) £1.25 each; £8 for a set of 8

Hibiscus - Red and White 'Ringer' Mug; £14.00 each

all on sale at Zazzle