Easter basket cross stitch pattern

Hello, everyone. I am coming with a cross stitch pattern for a small easter basket.
I was struggling a bit with figuring out how to do this and unfortunately I have no time to stitch it now to try it out but I really hope it will work. Please, if you try it, let me know how it turned out.


The basket has a hexagon as a bottom and six side pieces that have cross stitch on them. Click on the picture to get the downloadable pdf.

I figured out two ways to finish the basket - in my head.

Method 1 - sewn by hand

The 6 side pieces are embroidered and backstitched around. Then cut out with an extra 1 cm around it. Fold the fabric along the backstitch and whipstitch the sides together sewing only through the backstitches, not in the fabric. (This is how biscornus are stitched together, if you are not sure, you can google that and find intructions.)
The bottom could be Aida, but only stitch the backstitch around, no need to stitch the letters. Or you could cut a piece of fabric the same size. Basically, it needs to be a hexagon with sides as long as the bottom of the basket sides. And I hope I drew the shape well enough to fit the sides, I can tell you, it was not easy.

This way you will have the raw edges of the seam allowances and the back of your embroidery on the inside of the basket. Fold some tissue paper or a napkin in it to cover them up.


Method 2 - sewn by sewing machine and by hand, using lining fabric

No need to sew the backstitching around the pieces, instead draw the lines with a water erasable pen - on the back of the work. Put the embroidery right sides together with the lining fabric and sew with the sewing machine, following the drawn lines. But don't sew all the way around, leave a hole on the bottom to turn it inside out. Before you do that, clip the corners. Do the same for the bottom piece.

You will have 7 two-sided pieces. Fold in the seam allowance for the holes and iron them. Then sew the pieces together by hand with invisible stitch (ladder stitch) or small whipstitch or blanket stitch. Make sure to close the holes at the same time. The whipstitch or blanket stitch can be decorated with tiny beads, too.

You can make two small handles from braided yarn or fabric strips and sew them on.


Of course, feel free to use the pattern for something else if you wish. Use just one element to make a card or a small wall hanging or a picture. Enjoy.

Happy stitching.

Zipper pouch with a cross stitch panel. Free tulip pattern

I had Easter break last week. And of course, I got sick. Luckily, just a little cold, it didn't turn into anything nasty, but for a few days I was not doing much, just resting. I didn't have the energy to continue with my patchwork projects, and needed to put down the knitting for a few days because my hand started to hurt, so I took a piece of Aida and started a cross stitch project. It's been a while since I last did cross stitch, and I was really missing it.
Found a small tulip motive on my computer that I drew ages ago, and quickly turned it into a repetitive pattern that almost covers the whole fabric. I was just going to see how it looks, but then couldn't stop :D After four days, I finished it last night, and today made it into this zipper pouch. I really love it, I think this will be my favourite from now on.

Here is the pattern. Just repeat - or leave out - as many elements as you wish. It is only two colours, so it is really easy to pick your own colours, too, and I am sure that variegated threads would look great as well.

Easter bunny free cross stitch pattern

Easter is coming! Spring is here! I am so excited. Went for a walk today and saw the first blåsippa - that is anemone hepatica, or liverwort, kidneywort or pennywort in English (according to Wikipedia). Here are a few pictures from my walk. The pink flowering bush is something we try to find every year, but I forgot the name, I will ask Stephen when he wakes up :D

I thought this is something to celebrate, so that's why I made this pattern for you. It is simple and easy, and there is still time to stitch it for Easter. It is small, so you can use it for a card or put it on a cushion or on a door hanging. Lots of colours, bunny and flowers - I hope it will lift everyone's spirits. It certainly made me happy. :D

Click on the picture to get to the pdf file.

I was busy lately, but somehow didn't manage to write on the blog. Let me make up for it. Here are a few things I have been working on.



Serendipty II is finished:

I got a new mobile so I made a new cross stitched mobile phone case.

I did lots of English paper piecing, love these hexagons. They are also perfect for using even the smallest scraps.

I think this photo I made of the hexagon paper templates turned out to be really cool. :)

I continued working on the quilt I am making for my daughter, made of 7,5 cm (=3 inch) half square triangles, I was totally crazy when I decided on this. :D But it is going to be lovely.

I also made a quilt top from some cool panels.

I am hopin to be able to finish quilting these myself. I started learning free motion quilting.

I made some softies, like this kitty...

...and this bunny.

And this is a summer bag, for going to the beach.

I also did some knitting:

a scarf,...

double knitted hat and mittens, with my own pattern...

as well as these hats. I am going to publish the pattern for these soon.

I also learnt how to knit from top down. For this little sweater I followed a pattern. Unfortunately it became smaller than expected, but I will find someone who can use it, and I am planning to knit another, slightly bigger one now.

Whoa, I got tired just from showing you all this - and this is the result of the last three months. Not too bad, is it?
I also have some more things that I started but they are far from being finished, so I will show you later.

HAPPY SPRING! :D

Christmas ornament

Hello, dear Friends,


Christmas is upon us in just a few days. I am sure most of us are busy preparing for the festivities. But if you need a bit of me-time, a bit of relaxing, or perhaps a last-minute gift, here is a small Christmas pattern that you can stitch. It works well for an ornament, a card, or a decoration on something like a doily, a bag etc.

I made two versions: one with a golden garland wrapped around the greenery and one without, if someone prefers simple.

The pattern says DMC 3854 for the "gold", but I would actually stitch it in metallic gold instead.
I think this would look lovely if the French knots were replaced by beads, too.

Happy stitching and happy preparation-time. Don't overdo it though! :D

Colouring pattern in cross stitch

Hi, everyone.

I was looking at some colouring books that are so much a fashion nowadays. I haven't really tried any of he adult colouring yet but have bought some and have some lovely pencils, too. Perhaps in the holidays.

By the way, I find this word "adult" a bit funny, don't you? When I first heard it I thought it was something else... :D

All these colouring books gave me an idea. And so here come the first (at least as far as I know - have you seen anything like this before?) colouring pattern in cross stitch.
I made the outlines in black, and you, dear friends, need to fill them in with colours. I think it might be a perfect way to use variegated thread, too.

I hope you give this a try and report back to me how it went.

I made one coloured-in version too, just to see how it looks in many bright colours. If you want to use that version instead, you can download that as well.

Christmas ornament freebie - and some heirloom embroidery from the Ukraine

Hi again, dear friends,


I have been busy with moving to a new flat and trying to organise my things. I am still not really done, but at the same time I started to get ready for the Christmas market so the flat needs to wait :)
I was actually considering not going to the market this year. It is lot of work, lots of stress and it is really not worth it, at least not financially. I learnt a lot while preparing for the markets in the last few years, and it was great fun, but I only made very little money, definitely not worth all the work I put in.

But then I got the possibility to go to the Christmas market in Uppsala Castle, which is organised by the Museum of Arts. So I thought I want to give it a try again and see what happens. It might be different audience from the small country markets where I went before.


I received a fantastic birthday present from my boyfriend. He found some really old embroidery on ebay or some other online place, from the Ukraine, from between the two world wars. They are really beautiful. Here are some pictures. I hope I will have time to write about them in more detail later.

And finally, I have made a small Christmas ornament pattern to share with you. I was thinking to sew the backstitch lines together, just like we do for a biscornu. But you can also use it in a card. I made it first in red only, then created another version with some green in it, too. Which one do you like better?

Enjoy!

Two mandalas - free cross stitch pattern

I haven't written anything here for a while - but I have a good excuse. I am moving flat next Friday, so I am busy sorting and packing things. Most of the boxes are filled with my craft books and stash. Luckily my lovely daughter could come and help me, otherwise I would have had even more problem with my back.

So I really don't have time to write now, nor to sort and organise my latest dyeing samples. But I managed to draw a little pattern for you.

These are two small mandala patterns in black-red-white colour combination. I really loved making them, there might come more later on.

You can use only the circles, I think they would work perfectly for cards. But I draw a backstitch frame around them, and added some small corner elements, so they can be stitched for a pincushion or a biscornu. What else do you think you can use them for?

Have fun, try different colourways.

Happy stitching, friends. Next time I will be writing from my new flat.

Bookmark freebies - and more eco-dyeing from the kitchen

The eco-dyeing saga continues. :D


After all the plants I collected during my walks (see the results here), I got back to the kitchen. I tried red onion skin. Cooked them in water for about an hour then drained them.


I put in the dye quite a few fabric pieces plus a few lace pieces (crocheted and store bought) as well, some of them not white. I simmered them in this dye for an hour then I left them in the pot for a few days. The result is really beautiful.

The darkest piece is some Aida fabric I had that was gray to begin with, unfortunately I don't have a picture of it before. I didn't like that gray, that's why I decided to dye it. The lace that became gray was a light blue originally, here are the two of them next to each other.

I red about avocado skin and pit giving a nice pink colour to wool. I was curious to see if it worked on cotton. I can report: yes, it does. It is really beatiful, at least I think so. Some of the fabric was mordanted with alum and some untreated.

One of the fabric I dyed with the roses before and didn´t like the colour (pale, liveless beige spots) I dyed again in the avocado bath, folding and tyeing it shibori-style. This is the result. Nice, isn´t it?

I also tried pomegranate, with the same method. The result is a lovely golden colour - much nicer than what it looks like in the photo.

Another experiment i did was with a lichen called salted shield lichen or crottle (Parmelia saxatilis, färglav in Swedish, talán pajzszuzmó magyarul, nem vagyok benne biztos). It is so fascinating when you take a bit of grey lichen and it turns things into yellow. At least it is supposed to be yellow on wool. My cotton fabrics turned more to a beige colour but it is nice, I like it. In the second picture you can see a piece that I didn´t wash right away after taking out of the dye but let it dry and only washed a week or so later. The colour has become stronger, especially in the creases of the fabric.

There is more coming, I have bundles in plastic bags and jars full of dye and fabric on my kitchen counter again. Watch this place for more eco-dyeing. :)

And here is another bookmark freebie, or rather three freebies in one pdf file. I loved making them, I hope you will also love stitching them.

Click on the picture for the pdf.

Happy stitching.