Free Witchalong for October

 

I was so excited about the drawing I made and the thoughts of joining all of you for a stitchalong in October and I was wondering how I would organise it. I also realised that October is my birthday month but it's been a few years since I last did a free pattern for my birthday. So to celebrate that (since I can't have a party this year) and to thank everyone for their support of my designs and me over the last few years I am offering this pattern for free and inviting everyone to join me for a witchalong for the month of October!!

I spent all weekend test stitching this little cutie so that I would have it all ready to share with you. I'm so happy and proud of how it turned out and VERY excited to do this stitchalong or witchalong ... I think I like witchalong better :D!

So how do you get access to this pattern? 

I'm going to offer it in two forms.

1. It's going to be available for download from my facebook group. It really is the easiest way to share PDF patterns.  As I release the parts (the cross stitching and then the next week the back stitching) all the pattern parts will be available there to download and for you to share your stitching as you do it.

2. But because I know not everyone is on facebook, I'm also going to send it out to everyone on my email list because I want as many people as possible to get access to the pattern. You can sign up to my email list from here. At the top of my blog page is a subscription box to sign up for my mailing list. 

 

 What will I need?

Well the pattern itself is only about 30x45 or so stitches so it's a little piece. You can use scrap pieces of aida or evenweave. Unless you want to play with the different colourways and try out a few of them and then you'll need a bigger piece of fabric. 

The pattern only uses 10 colours. With the 4 main ones being 4 shades of the same colour. When trying to decide on the colours to use to test it I ended up laying out a few choices and while I only had time to stitch one all these will be possible colours you can use (or you can use your own entirely.)

 

My tester was done in the blue but I'm also going to start a purple one because ... why not? And it's me and purple!

Thread Colours

Every colourway will use these DMC colours:

920 for the hair

945 for the skin and 841 for the cheeks. I haven't worked out what would suit for darker colours but if you go too dark you may need to change the backstitching colour... 

434 and 744 for the broom.

For the blue colourway:

797,798,799,800

For the Purple:

550, 552, 553, 554

For the Pink:

3802, 3803, 3687,3688

For the Green:

500, 501, 505, 562

 What else do you need to know?

So the first pattern will be released on October 1 ... if you wish to get all the patterns via email you must be signed up to the mailing list by then I'm not sure if I know how to resend the emails but I may be able to send the link out if you email me. 

I will release the backstitching on the 8th :D Which I kinda like the symmetry of as that is my birthday! An awesome present for me!! To give you wonderful stitchers the full pattern. 

The week after I will release an email talking about finishing techniques. Over the years I have written NUMEROUS tutorials on how to finish your cross stitch as everything from pillows to book covers and a few things in between. SO I'm going to dig out those tutorials and we can have a look at all the cool ways you can make this design look cuter. 

There is one thing I ask of everyone participating. SHARE. Please don't share the pattern itself but share about the stitchalong on social media. Share photos with me and with others. Let people know where they can get a hold of the pattern themselves. I want to see what you are creating. That is half the fun of a stitchalong. 

So Happy Stitching and I look forward to seeing your creations, 

Caitlin

Painting fun

 What do you do on a Saturday afternoon when you are 'bored' or at least not wanting to do what you have been doing all day? 

Well it appears I was in the mood to start painting. I had an urge to paint a witch and here is the result! 

I started by drawing a little character on the paper and then ... out came my watercolours. 

 

 I need to get a little better at drawing the outlines fainter... the more I got caught in the drawing the harder I drew. It's something I will have to work on. 

The hardest part with painting with watercolours I found was having to walk away and leave it to dry a few times before I tried to put other colours on the paper! It is so hard to do but here is one of the points where I knew I just had to walk away before I stuffed it up irreparably. 

I'm really proud of how she turned out. To the point where I then spent Saturday night playing with my cross stitch program and trying to turn her into a little cross stitch. I've got some more work to do and I want to play with the colours a LOT more. These are the colours the program gives me but I know they aren't right in real life.

 

 

I decided to keep the backstitching more subtle like the watercolour and used a grey instead of a black like I normally do. I will have to play with it a little more before it's ready but I'm hoping to have it good to go by October 1 in time for a special Halloween Stitch-a-long because who doesn't want a cute little witch to join them for halloween? 

 

 But to make this actually happen I have a bit of work to do :D I will start playing with colours and testing this out this week and we shall see if I can actually make it happen. Who would like to join me for a stitch-a-long? This will be a quick little stitch and I'm trying to think of a cute way to finish it that would look amazing decorating for halloween! 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin

 

Friday Finds: Diana Ankudinova

 So as you've probably worked out by now ... Friday finds seems to be me sharing a lot of the videos of singers that catch my interest. I stumbled across this girl on a reaction channel and OMG she is absolutely stunning! She is only about 17 I think and the depth of her voice is just amazing! Also she's Russian and sings in Russian, French, German, English and I think another language that I can't remember.

This song is called Rechenka and it's in Russian but absolutely amazing.

This song is called Dernière Danse I love the song it's originally by a French singer called Indila but I think I may love this version even more! She is a true Contralto and her range is AMAZING!

And because it would be remiss of me to not include at least one song of hers that is in English I hope you enjoy this one! It's called Wicked Game.

I hope you enjoy these songs :D 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin

Word Searches

 I have taken to making some word searches in French. Figured I should share them with you too.

Sorry the second one doesn't have a word list. But you can find the French words around the web really easily! 

A little bit of fun if you are bored :D 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin

Stitching Update

 I've been a bit sick this last week. Ended up with a couple of days off work and it just hasn't gone to plan. It doesn't help that I have absolutely no energy thanks to having been sick. I often get home from work and just collapse. You know those days? I've got all sorts of amazing goals and thoughts going around for my stitching but I am really struggling to actually follow through and finish them. 

 

Some of what is coming IF I can get myself to actually follow through on my goals. 

 - I'm trying to write a book. It is a book to help beginners with techniques and talking about what you need and don't need to know to actually cross stitch. I want it to be the ultimate resource for people to go to if they need to know something. It will have a selection of exclusive patterns to teach each of the techniques and I'm so excited. I have been adding more words each week so it is something that I am really working on but it may be months more before I have everything written. I want it to be comprehensive and give as much information as possible. I want to do it right. So if you catch me asking questions about techniques you want to know about please give me answers because it's probably for this book. 

- I'm playing with a tonne of new designs. I have a aussie summer design I'm looking to submit to a magazine that I need to work on ASAP. Also a mermaid pattern to go with my fairies which is pretty much done but I am testing out the pattern at the moment so I need to get that finished. 

- I have a tonne of drawings and ideas constantly going through my head. I just have to find time to do it all, which could be why I sometimes struggle to get anything done.I think I just need to focus on a couple of designs and just push through with those and then pick up the next ones. Just little by little! 

So what do I have to show you? 

Well my mermaid is currently looking like this ... so it's getting there. Honestly I don't know what is slowing me down! 

My book dragon has gotten more done on it. I'm missing a few critical colours at the moment and I need to organise to get them but the local store has a horrible selection!

I have also been sewing I needed another skirt for work so I tried out making an 18th century style petticoat. It's secured by Ribbons not buttons or zips. So it was a really quick make. I have worn it a few times to work and it's been perfect and exactly what I needed. I had the zip on one of my work skirts break a couple of months ago so I was getting desperate!

So this is what has been happening in my cross stitch and crafting life at the moment. So much happening at the moment! 

Happy Stitching, 

Caitlin