Stitchers Blog Questions...

A few weeks back, I joined a yahoo group designed specifically for cross-stitch related blog questions, called SBQ. Since I was busy with "the moves", I wasn't participating... but now I can finally get to them. :) Questions are posted roughly every Wednesday.

Since there are many in the archives, I'll probably work backward through a couple of them every week. This week's question, "What do you do when you have some sort of obligation stitching to do, but don't want to do it?" doesn't apply to me, as I've never done any obligation stitching to date... so here are a few others from the archives...

7/6/05- Do you think that you stitch neater on Evenweave than you do on Aida cloth? If so, why?

My quarter stitches are definitely neater (for obvious reasons to anyone who's reading this that knows what Aida and Evenweave *are*), but otherwise I don't think my stitches are that much neater on Evenweave. If I have one strong fault with my stitching, it's that I'm not as adept at keeping my thread tension even, so my stitches often are uneven, no matter what I'm stitching on. Hopefully that will change with time and increased experience.

6/29/05 When starting a new project, do you start in the middle? If you do, once you've worked down to the bottom, do you turn your chart and fabric around so that you are stitching the top section downwards again or do you just stitch upwards from the middle?

I always start in the middle. I don't work to the bottom, though-- I honestly kind of go all directions from the middle when I work. I try to find identifyable forms to set stitching goals, and work that way.

As for turning my chart and fabric-- as odd as it sounds, I always work with my hoop upside down when I stitch (the chart stays upright), but turn it back upright when I am backstitching. It's really, really odd. But the artists and designers in my department at work have suggested that I do it because I'm focusing on the individual details of the stitches when I'm actually stitching crosses, rather than the finished image as a whole. When I'm backstitching, I'm finishing the image.

It's really screwed up, but if I turn my hoop upright, a lot of times I get completely messed up as I read charts. Clearly, my brain needs some rewiring.

6/22/05 Are there any types of designs that you won't stitch?

Unless it were for an obligation piece for a friend, I won't stitch Christian or Bible-related pieces. I'm not Christian, so I have no purpose for them.

The ONLY exception to this rule would be a stitching of the Footprints poem, which is Christian in origin, but has a bit more universal appeal. I find the poem inspirational. I expect to eventually have some form of this in my rotation, most likely as a gift to my mom (who really loves the poem).