A free hand embroidery stitch guide to download

Challenges / Have a Cuppa / Resources

Hi all I was so busy and over excited about the fact that I was teaching at An Adventure in Crazy Quilting alongside famous Crazy quilters such as  Allison Aller and Betty Pillsbury that I totally forgot my 6th blogaversary!

I thought since it was my 6 years and one month mark I would release a treat for my readers. That is right, if you check the archives I have been sitting at my key board happily tapping away, most days for 6 years! I guess I am no longer a baby blogger…

screenshot of tutorial

A free gift …

I have put together a free stitch guide! 12 Surface Stitches for Beginners is the 12 basic stitches that new hands to surface embroidery need to know. These same stitches, are also the basic stitches that crazy quilters use and build on. So anyone new to crazy quilting should find the file handy too.

I have edited down the instructions so that the stitches fit 2 to a page. This means a small print out which is easy to carry around or keep with you.

I have also taught all these stitches to children. So if ever you need to organise an activity for children you might find this file handy. So thanks for being a reader, download, stitch and enjoy.

Note: 12 Surface Stitches for Beginners is a PDF file which means you will need Acrobat Reader to open and read these files. You can download  a free reader on the Acrobat site

What is going on recently …

There are quite a few things cooking at the moment so it is worth doing a bit of a round up. So make a cuppa and if you have not touched base here for a while its worth scanning over what is going on as there is a lot!

I started a newsletter as too many people who swing by only occasionally emailed me about it. Sharon B’s Stitching News is an announcement only newsletter used to let people know about challenges, community events, classes and special bibs and bobs such as when stuff gets given away 12 Surface Stitches for Beginners.

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An Adventure in Crazy Quilting – I am teaching there!

The really BIG news is that Maureen Greeson is organising  An Adventure in Crazy Quilting  in Glastonbury, Connecticut, of the United States.  I am teaching there!  People have oodles and oodles of time to save their pennies as it will be in April, 2011 but if you are interested do drop Maureen a line. Other teachers that will be there are Allison Aller and Betty Pillsbury … this is going to be a really good event.

At the moment Maureen needs to know who is interested. So contact her if you are thinking of joining us.

TAST 2

TAST 2 is fast approaching as the first TAST stitch for 2010 will be announced Tuesday March 2nd. There will be a new stitch every week until the end of the year. These stitches are all surface embroidery stitches. To make that clear they are not canvas, evenweave,  pulled or drawn thread stitches. This means many crazy quilters will be interested in these stitches.

All skill levels are welcome  but I will be working under the assumption that people know at least the basic stitches. Those that did not do TAST 1 check out 12 Surface Stitches for Beginners and the first series of TAST  stitches to get an idea how people explore stitches see the stitchin fingers group and the flickr TAST site

The fact that I have found enough new stitches to run another challenge like TAST has me quite thrilled. I am sure many will prove to be new and interesting and a little different for people.

The Challenge:

Each week I will take  a stitch and suggest people experiment with it, push it a little and see what possibilities the stitch holds.

If working a challenge stitch every week scares the daylights out of you. Take a deep breath …That is OK we understand… Last time some people simply worked the stitches that interested them. From my point of view I am happy to see people stitching and sharing what they learn. So if you want to swing in and out of the challenge as life dictates that is fine.

How to join:

To sign on leave a comment here with your name, and blog or flickr account.

If you don’t yet have a site to post images to you will need to set up one. You will need at least a flickr account or somewhere to have your images on the web. If you don’t have one go to http://flickr.com and join it is free and not difficult to use. The point is the share what you do so other stitchers can see what you have done.

The way it will work is when you have experimented with stitch you come back here, and leave a comment to say where you can see what you have done.

The start date:

Tuesday March 2nd

Skill level: 

All skill levels are welcome but see what I have said above.

Spread the Word

If you have a blog, if you enjoyed TAST or simply reading about TAST, spread the word and a list of those who are participating and guidelines page up soon I promise!

 

Wipes brow…That is it!

I think that is all … wanders off to make  another cuppa … you can bet I forgot something!

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46 Comments

  2. Hi Sharon

    Thanks so much for the '12 Surface Stitches for Beginners' downloadable guide. I really found it useful. I last embroided when I was in High School! which was ages ago! And I'm pregnant now with my second little bean on the way and thought I'd use some of my spare time during my maternity by doing some nice embroidery for the kids rooms and making them little felt bears by hand which often costs an arm and a leg in the shops here in Cape Town. It's a nice refresher for me, cant remember all the stitches..let the stitching begin:-)

    xxx
    love from Cape Town, South Africa

    Anita

    Anita
    Reply

  11. Hi Sharon, I would love to join TAST 2 as well. Looking forward to the challenge. Thank you so much for making this possible, also congratulations on your 6 year "blogaversary"! , and thank you for been so generous with the time you have spent helping and encouraging so many embroidery/quilting /textile enthusiasts. My flickr account details are below.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/smg1955

    sue
    Reply

  12. Hi Sharon.
    I completed TAST 1 and I a have a binder of all our stiches – it is a great reference. I’ve missed the weekly introduction of new stitches and look forward to TAST 2. You may recall that I work in art quilts use the stitches in non-traditional ways.
    Thanks for doing this! You have raised the popularity of hand embroidery and increased our knowledge of the stitches – worldwide!

    vivian
    Reply

  16. Happy bloganniversary Sharon and thanks for learning us so much. I have registrated
    for the Adventure in Crazy Quilting and am so much looking forward to it and of course meeting you! Hope I can make time to join TAST2.

    Wilma from the Netherlands

    Wilma
    Reply

  18. Hello,
    Happy Anniversary. Six years is a great accomplishment and also a very generous gift that you have offered everyone and anyone. Thank you. I have just found you recently, but at a time when I am thinking of pulling out needles, thread, ribbons almost daily. Thank you for the added inspiration. I am thinking of sharing in your TAST 2. I will have to start a new blog or flicker account. If I follow through I will come back and let you know. It sounds wonderfully fun. Thank you, Tammie

    Tammie
    Reply

  20. Congrats on 6 years! Thank you for the print out. I’m printing it and putting it in a duotang folder as a go-to resource. Maybe I’ll join TAST 3?!?! I’m pretty new at surface design and need to make more time for it in my schedule to enjoy and learn it. I took a studio journal course from you last year and am still enjoying the results:) Here’s to more great blog posts!! Thanks again.

    Sarah Vee
    Reply

  27. Happy Bloggiversary and than you for the stitch guide! You make the world wide web so much more wonderful. 🙂

    I’d love to play around with TAST 2 when I get a minute here and there. I never seem to be able to really keep up with challenges but if it is acceptable to pop in with work on an irregular basis, I will do so. I’m also trying to make a rational decision about whether or not I can actually make it to Adventures in Crazy Quilting, it sounds like a wonderful conference.

    Also, thank you for including my little rambling blog on your ‘L’ segment. I’m honored. 🙂

    Virginia
    Reply

  30. HI Sharon! Doesn’t blogging time fly? This June will see me marking 5 years in the blogosphere!

    The stitch guide looks great and I will be passing on the link to a lady I ‘met’ on-line from back home whose just getting into embroidery.

    I think I’ll try and give TAST2 a go, although I can’t promise to be too regular with it. I’ll try though.=) Blog in the usual place.

    Elizabeth
    Reply

  39. Hi Sharon, please include me in the TAST2 group. I not only enjoyed the first round but learned many things about stitches and how they work with different threads.

    Thank you for the Basic Stitch freebie. I’ve printed it out for my visiting young GKs and sent the link to DD Catherine for her school projects.

    Your freebie calender looks great on my desktop and is the handiest thing for remembering the day at a glance. LOL

    Maureen

    http://crazyqstitcher.wordpress.com/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyqstitcher/

    Maureen Bond
    Reply

  42. Wow, you have so much going on I have no idea how you manage to fit it all in! Congratulations on your 6 years of blogging and thankyou for including me in your "M" list of interesting blogs ………….. it is really exciting to get a mention!

    Shelley
    Reply

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