how did you start?

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Rose
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Rose »

Sounds like loads of fun and what a bonus to have fellow stitchers to share with!!!!!! :dance:
If you are looking for some one to help change you, look in the mirror
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bluebird 13
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Re: how did you start?

Post by bluebird 13 »

I started when I ended up working in a stitching shop - I had never done cross stitch before but thought I'd better learn if I was selling it! The rest is history lol.
Frenchiejo
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Location: Sheffield, UK

Re: how did you start?

Post by Frenchiejo »

I started cross stitching back in the late 80's when I was about 17. Some neighbours who I did babysitting for - the lady did cross stitch. One day I commented on some lovely Christmas ornaments she was making. She got everything out and showed me how to cross stitch.

A few weeks later I had to go into hospital to have my tonsils out. Knowing I would be out of action for a couple of weeks, I bought a very small kit to try. After that I was hooked!

I always remember, at the time, cross stitch was very new in the UK and most things came from America. There were no magazines, no internet - the only literature you could get was a few Leisure Arts pattern books from our local small craft shop! Amazing how it's grown in popularity!

I do lots of different crafts - card making, scrapbooking, rubber stamping etc, but I always come back to cross stitch. I find it so relaxing and it will always be my first love! :D
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Country Cottage Needleworks Frosty Forest
Chatelaine Japanese Moss Garden
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Tea-lady
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Tea-lady »

I'm really new to cross stitching. Last February I was down in Kent visiting a friend who always works on some sort of needlework after the evening meal while watching TV. Be it knitting, sewing, crocheting or cross stitch.

Well she gave me a tiny xmas robin project from Hobby Craft so I too could be productive in the evenings. I worked on that each evening for a week and really enjoyed it. Before I left to go home, she set me up with my first real chart ... A Beatrix Potter birth chart for the birth of a new baby in April. I didn't have it finished in time for the birth but instead worked on it for the Sept.1st Baptism.

I'm just about to start in on my new project which will be a Xmas chart for my neighbour. This will be my first time using a filament, so a wee bit nervous.

I'm so glad I have this relaxing hobby to enjoy in my retirement years.
It's never too late to start. :)
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" Love And Joy Come To You " ... ( Stoney Creek Collection, 1985 )
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fccs
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Re: how did you start?

Post by fccs »

Tea-lady wrote: I'm so glad I have this relaxing hobby to enjoy in my retirement years.
It's never too late to start. :)
I have been stitching for a long time, but now that I am retired, I am able to really throw myself into it. My stitchy bug deserted me for awhile, but he came back jut in time. My kids were moving out of state and I knew I would be missing them like crazy, so I picked my cross stitching back up a couple months before they left. They've been gone for two months now and my stitching has kept me busy, relaxed, and sane.

Oh, but I am counting the days 'til I get to go visit them for Thanksgiving. :-)
Debby

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Angel of Love
Book of Mythical Creatures
Cache la Poudre
Past Present Forever
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Sarah H
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Sarah H »

My grandmother taught me to do simple crocheting when I was around seven or eight. She used variegated thread and I made simple bracelets for myself and tiny purses and things for my bears. My mother did embroidery in that more free-style way that was popular in the 70's but I never knew anyone who cross-stitched.

Around 2001 I discovered cross-stitch online and spent a lot of time looking at different charts. The lady at my LNS (now closed) insisted that I start with a very small kit instead of rushing right into the TW and Mirabilia designs. My next project was a Peter Rabbit alphabet banner spelling out my neice's name. It was really cute! I completed about six projects most of them small. I tried needlepoint but really missed the silky feeling of floss.

I'm not sure exactly why I stopped stitching, just time constraint and getting involved with other interests.
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Oriental Poppies by TW (just a few more *^%# lazy daisies!)
Spring Sampler (almost done except the larger hardanger section)

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asunshineday
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Re: how did you start?

Post by asunshineday »

I started in April when I was given a kit by a friend for my birthday because she used to cross stitch a lot and I always loved what she made, but didn't know where to start. Now I couldn't imagine not doing it! :)
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Hetty1989
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Hetty1989 »

It is hard to imagine not picking up my cross stitch project most evenings!!

I found out about it as my aunt used to stitch 'lowry' designs and it just fascinated me from day one!! That was 10 years ago now!!! How quickly time flies!!!!
1bulletburner
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Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 11:43 pm

Re: how did you start?

Post by 1bulletburner »

I used to scrapbook and ran out of photos. We are not doing much to take photos of anymore. A scrapbook of just random photos was boring. So I am heading to the scrapbooking weekend next week were I get together with my friend and needed a new hobby. I will stitch my first stitch on Friday and am so excited to get started!! I was researching cross stitch and was impressed with the stuff you can cross stitch. My favorite are HAED and Mystic Stitch. I have ordered my first project and am so excited to start it next weekend. I am going to do "Light House of Dreams II" by Mystic Stitch. I have no one to ask questions to and came across this site in my cross stitch research on how to cross stitch. I found this site to be a wealth of knowledge and am excited to have a way to communicate with others who like to cross stitch. I am still trying to figure out how to communicate with others here. I have discovered how to post a question and how to reply in general to a post. I have not figured out how to communicate back and forth with one particular post/person.

Thank you everyone for all the useful information!
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karen4bells
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Re: how did you start?

Post by karen4bells »

1bulletburner, I've sent you a message about how to communicate here in the forum with other members--you should see that you have 1 new message listed just under the forum banner at the top :)
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Dimensions Passion Flower Angel
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vicsg
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:56 am

Re: how did you start?

Post by vicsg »

I was at a summer camp when I was 13/14 and we had to pick an activity one day and I didn't fancy anything else on the list!!

I did a bookmark that day and when I got home the following week I went and got some small kits - can't remember what they were now.

I've always had something on the go ever since
Shespeach
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Shespeach »

Started at 17 when my best friend asked me to help her make a quilt
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MichaelaNC
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: how did you start?

Post by MichaelaNC »

I started when I was 11. My mom told me to "just make x's on the blocks" and she just let me teach myself. The more I did it, the more I learned. After my first project I read a tutorial guide in a Just Cross Stitch magazine and found out I was basically doing everything right. The back was neat, I did half stitches first, and all the crosses were the same way. The only thing I learned from the tutorial was about the waste knot. I do waste knot and loop, depends on how I feel. My mom said she was impressed for my first project. My mom said the only "odd" thing I do is I constantly turn my project when I work on it. I turn it in 90 degree angles so the thread tail falls in a direction that doesn't interfere with my stitching. I don't pull all the way through the back, I stab the needle in and then stab it up right away so the only way I pull is up. I just think it's faster, my mom says it's odd though... anyway if the thread piled on top of the stitch area I'm doing, it tangles.... does that make sense?
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Gypsy57
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Gypsy57 »

I used to do little long stitch tapestries when I was about 7 or 8ish. Then one day my mom got excited and got me a "proper grown up tapestry". It was way too hard and I never did it but I kept it shoved in a drawer for about 20 years. Then about 3 years ago I was living back at home for a couple of months, and I decided to have a clear out of my old room- going through old letters and stuff and I found it out. As I had nothing else to do, I thought "I'm just gonna do it!". Now I live in China and here you can only really find cross stitches, so I turned to that and I've never stopped since!
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Bella
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Bella »

My best friend in high school's mom did all kinds of crafts. My girlfriend one day decided to cross stitch a birth announcement for her sister. I was so intrigued by it, that I asked her mom to teach me. That was over 20 years ago !!!!!! My friend and I still laugh, that I stuck with it and she only did that one project. I did a few different pojects, for my mom, a friend who was having a baby, ect.... But then I finally did the first one that I would keep for myself in 1994 and this is the one that really got me hooked. I finally just had if professionaly framed 2 years ago. It is to date still my favorite one !!!!!!!

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Bella

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Happily Ever After - Dimensions
NY Rangers Logo w/Statue of Liberty
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Coffee Tree - Pattern
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fccs
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Re: how did you start?

Post by fccs »

That's beautiful!!
Debby

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Angel of Love
Book of Mythical Creatures
Cache la Poudre
Past Present Forever
Fishing Friends
jstrawson
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Re: how did you start?

Post by jstrawson »

I had tackled a few stamped cross stitch stocking patterns for my kids, and then earlier this year my Aunt, who was an amazing sticher, passed away leaving my brothers stocking partly started. I have just finished it and now am hooked!
cdrake
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Re: how did you start?

Post by cdrake »

Just started in October - with a Christmas stocking for my daughter
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fccs
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Re: how did you start?

Post by fccs »

cdrake wrote:Just started in October - with a Christmas stocking for my daughter
So you've been stitching since October...are you addicted like the rest of us? I find it so relaxing. It also keeps me sane and happy, especially after my son and daughter-in-law moved to a different time zone.

I hope you'll share pictures of the stocking.
Debby

(main) WIPs
Angel of Love
Book of Mythical Creatures
Cache la Poudre
Past Present Forever
Fishing Friends
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Chellie
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Re: how did you start?

Post by Chellie »

I learned to cross stitch when I was 8 or 9. I dabbled in all types of arts & crafts. In my late teens/early 20's a stitched a few hand towels and then nothing until a few weeks ago, I am now 33. I was cleaning out my basement and found a plastic bin filled with books and charts and a few kits, and so I began... again :wink:
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~Live, Love, & Stitch~
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