Valentine's Heart - a Free Little Cross Stitch Pattern!

Hey y'all! As a way of saying happy Valentine's day I've got a free little cross stitch pattern for you.

This little heart is pretty simple and fast to stitch up (not having any half stitches) but looks fun with it's alternating colour bands and varying stitch motifs. 

After stitching, I starched and ironed, trimmed the piece down leaving a 1/4" on each side of the heart and sewed it down onto a pre-made blank card. I'm giving it to my mumma when I see her on Monday!

I'm sure that there are loads of other ways you could use this little motif - maybe use some waste canvas and stitch it on to a scarf or cardigan, or integrate it into another craft project such as a mug rug or tote bag. Do you have any other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this pattern is no longer available for free due to changes made on various platforms. It is now available for a minimal fee through my Etsy shop.

Scrappy Stitched Season's Greetings

So, I have another new fun pattern out! This one can be found in the Holiday 2012 issue of Stitch Craft Create on newsstands now!

Eeek, don't you just love the cover?! The centre embroidered piece there is done by the super-talented Mollie of Wild Olive and the pattern is included in this issue.

My pattern is called Scrappy Stitched Season's Greetings! I've been making stitched cards with fabric scraps for a couple of years now, but these specific cards were not only inspired by the holidays but also by the fact that I know some SCC readers asked for more projects featuring small scraps.

I made four cards which are featured in the magazine - presents, Christmas tree, ornament, and dreidel (y'all know we celebrate Chrismukkah around here, right?) - there are full instructions for the tree card and then notes for creating the other three using the same techniques and added embellishments.

I just love this picture of the cards on the mantle - the styling in SCC is just fabulous! As you can see the cards are all lined with cardstock to cover the backs of the stitching and there are instructions in the pattern for how to achieve that nicely.

The dreidel card also got it's own little special mention at the end of Sara Dahan's Hanukkah Stars & Hexagons bunting pattern.

The cards feature all kinds of scraps from my hoard! Both the tree and ornament cards have lots of scraps from Sheri McCulley's Have a Sherri Berry Holiday collection which came out a few years ago (some of the same fabric was used in both my Countdown-to-Christmas and Winter in the Woods patterns). There's also some Joel Dewberry (I am so going to cry when I run out of the herringbone and wood grain fabrics) and Sandi Henderson, along with some other random bits I had.

Actually, mentioning Countdown-to-Christmas made me think of something - Sheila took a fabulous picture of it at one of the recent TMQG meetings!

In this picture you can see the actual colours in my advent calendar for the Pretty in Patchwork Holidays book. Unfortunately the picture in the book is incredibly washed out and the calendar just doesn't look as cheery as it appears in real life! I'm glad Sheila took this picture because I don't think I took any pictures of it other than one sort of quick shot when it was completed.

Anywho, yes, so this issue of SCC is on magazine stands now and will be available until about midway through December (I believe the next issue comes out sometime around December 13th or so) - some of my favourite parts of this issue include the Alabama Christmas spread, the fun guide on what to put in a crafter's stocking, and Corey's Fresh Forest quilt pattern. Get it while it's hot!!

Be happy. It's one way of being wise. -Colette

A couple of weekends ago Alex and I headed up to the blue mountain for our friends' wedding - we had a grand time and it was a really lovely celebration. I decided to make myself a clutch for the occasion since I didn't own a small purse that matched my dress.

I used Anna's Envelope Clutch pattern and made the small version with a pointed flap. I didn't have a swivel clasp on hand (and no time to head to the fabric store) so I inserted the wrist strap directly to the pouch while sewing it together. I used Essex linen/cotton in natural for the body and some Liberty of London tana lawn in Caesar for the flap. The Liberty was a gift from the super-awesome Jo and is actually available in her Etsy shop right now!

For the interior I used the turtle bay print in aqua from Tula Pink's Prince Charming collection; I also used the same print in cream for creating the little accordion pocket (which I think I messed up by the way, but it still works). I included one of my labels that I printed through Spoonflower... ya know, just in case I forget who made it *wink*!

As always, Anna's pattern was well-laid out with lots of pictures and great instructions! I really enjoyed making this clutch and will definitely be making more in the future. I want to make a bigger version with the other flap style for carrying around day-to-day when I don't need my huge purse; I also want to try a version with piping since I've never tried it before!

I also made Tim and Julie a card to go along with their wedding presents. I absolutely love using small fabric scraps for making cards and have made quite a few in the past - it's especially great for using up little bits of fabric that are too small for actual patchwork. As you can see there are some small pieces of original release Flea Market Fancy in there that I've been keeping; I keep all of my teeny pieces in a sandwich sized zipper bag so that they're easy to access when I'm card making.

If you stay posted to my little space here you just might see some more cards coming in the near future... just sayin' *double wink*!!