Doctor Who?

More needlecraft!

I played around with cross stitch, but now one of my favorite quilting websites, Fandom in Stitches, is having a Doctor Who Stitch Along!  We'll be stitching 12 blocks, and then putting them all together into a quilt, one block per week.

After searching the google machine for instructions on everything having to do with embroidery, including how to transfer a pattern, how to stitch, how to start and end a thread, I started in on the first Doctor, William Hartnell.  He performed Doctor Who from 1963 - 1966.

I was hoping to get someone else to join me on the stitch along, and Sara decided she'll give it a try too.  Now we're going to have two Doctor Who quilts at the end of the project, but having too many quilts is a problem I can deal with.  For the record her first block is much nicer than mine.  However, I'm not worried, because when I learn something new, I can see my early attempts being sloppy, but I learn from each block and get a little better.

I have to say embroidery seems easier, and more free form than cross stitching.  I think I'll be switching over to doing more embroidery in the future.  

The designer for this block recommended two strand split stitch, so that's what I used.  It took me about three to four hours in total.  The next block is the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, and the designer for that one recommends three strand back stitch, so that'll be how I'll be doing my second block.

TV Cozy

A few years ago I saw something on the internet that I just had to have, and I'm not sure why, because it's not really practical for anything.  But it looked simple to make and it was when I was starting and was looking for unique projects.

It's a TV Cozy!  I made it by taking a picture of a TV station that had the test pattern running, and then holding my phone up to the fabric choices at JoAnne Fabrics to get matching colors.  Back when I made it my TV was sitting on a TV stand, like most TVs in the world.  Once I had a toddler in the house who was at the age of not listening, and had a TV within her reach, I came up with a cunning plan of attaching the TV to the wall.  But this has the consequence of making my TV cozy unusable, since there was a bracket behind the TV.

The toddler just turned three, and we had a party.  I always wanted to fix the cozy, and with a simple clip clip, and a little sew sew, I can once again hide my TV.

Cross Stitch

So I was looking for something to do while I'm watching TV since my other crafts require me to "hide out" in the basement / crafting room. I tried knitting a while back, and I just didn't seem to enjoy it at all. Maybe I'll try crocheting someday, but not today! Today I decided to give cross stitching a try. I ordered one of the few non girly starter cross stitch kits from Amazon, a robot.  The directions were pretty bad, but luckily Sara and Google have done it before and they could help me with the basics.



 It was pretty easy, and didn't require much thinking. This is something that can be done while watching TV.  I already downloaded a pattern from the Internet based on the IT crowd, and maybe after I finish it I'll design my own pattern next.

We already decided that the wall on the stairs to the attic is the perfect place to put my completed cross stitch projects.