A new year signals a new start for a lot of us – that resolution to exercise more and finally lose weight, to be kinder, to begin meditating – the possibilities are endless for self-improvement. For stitchers, the new year may be time to finish projects, organize stash, learn a new technique, or begin a new project. Well, I’m here to help!
I have offered stitch alongs before, and thought it was about time to offer another one. This one is being presented as a mystery, one stitch at a time. And, it’s a mystery to me as well since I haven’t completed the design or pulled all the threads. We’ll discover this together!
I have selected a size and made a general outline of stitching areas. For the canvas, cut a piece of canvas 12″ x 12″, and mount to stretcher bars. The design itself will be no larger than 6″ x 6″, so this should allow plenty of room for finishing when we get to that point.
You may have noticed how many tacks I use. There’s a reason for this: tacks or staples should be no more than 1/2″ apart. This holds the canvas tightly with less chance of sagging or distortion. A tight canvas is easier to stitch because you aren’t dragging the canvas up and down with each stitch. Taking the needle straight up and down through the canvas also causes less wear on the thread.
I have selected the first thread to use, a Gloriana stranded silk floss. I would encourage you to use threads from stash, but if you need an excuse to go shopping, I’m happy to enable! I have pulled a couple of other threads, but most likely not all that I’ll be using.
The first motif fills the center of the canvas, and is a braided heart. You can read more about canvas and thread selection, and the stitch, along with full diagrams and instructions, by clicking here: Stitch Along Part 1
You’ll find the diagrams and instructions by clicking on the link. I’ll be adding as I design and stitch the next elements.
What fun to embark on a new project! I hope you’ll join me!
9 thoughts on “A New Start for the New Year”
Sounds like fun Debbie. I hope I can keep up.
You should be able to, it’s a relatively small project and I’m only doing one stitch at a time. I’m not tying myself to a regular schedule but hopefully I can keep up as well!
Hi, Debbie,
It took me a minute to get into this page but I’d like to try. As you may have noticed–I’ve got a very large stash of purple and I want to play with it. And I need something small-ish. And I do have canvas…..
Un grand merci pour votre générosité, Debbie, je me laisse tenter par l’aventure !
I will be doing the project . Waiting on canvas to come in .
As per usual, your instructions were easy to follow and the stitch was fun to do. I look forward to the next one.
Heard from the girls and will be starting this soon
I’ll be doing the project. I have a stash of threads from the Jean Hilton Gleneagle squares I’ve done so the color family is already set and includes flosses and pearl cottons. Thank you for doing this and it’ll be fun.
Hope to get started soon. Waiting on my stretcher bars. I have 2 pcs. of canvas. One is a real stuff grey color in 18 count but ii is a soft canvas that I can cut to size. Another piece that is 11 1/2 inch high and 14 wide. We do not have a Needlework Shop here so if need any thread I need can I order some from you if I need to. Get our Mail every Wed. and Sat. I think I will cut the bigger piece fabric as it will be a new piece I haven’t worked on. will have to use more tacks. I want to do this since I have been away from doing Needlepoint for several because of working