Bloomtopia Fundraiser Stitch Along by Fat Quarter Shop

Posted on January 14, 2020January 14, 2020 by Jan Hicks — Leave a comment

Bloomtopia Fundraiser Stitch Along by Fat Quarter Shop

I have been asked to help host the Bloomtopia Fundraiser Stitch Along by Fat Quarter Shop. They have done quilting ones for a number of years and have decided to add a cross stitch fundraiser this year as well. Every year, they do these stitch alongs to raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Central and South Texas.

I am thrilled to have been asked to join with the group of people hosting this. Bloomtopia is a sweet design but the colors were a little too orange for me. If you’ve been visiting me for any length of time, then you know that orange is not my favorite color. Besides, I always like to change things up to make them more unique!

So I spent some time looking at floss, and I came up with my own colors, using mostly Weeks Dye Works overdyed flosses as well as a different color of linen. The design is charted in both DMC and Aurafil flosses. Here is the original DMC palette.

And here are my choices.

The fabric is a 32 ct linen by Wichelt in Water Lily. As you can see, I have pinked up the colors just a tad. I am so excited to start stitching this and see how these colors work out!

The stitch along starts on Feb. 1. Fat Quarter Shop is suggesting a $15 donation to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Use this link so that your donation will be credited under their fundraiser. Their goal this year is $30,000! Wow!

You can find out all about the stitch along here.

Here is my list of the colors I chose with links to them on Fat Quarter Shop.

Wichelt Water Lily 32 ct Fabric

Gentle Arts Picket Fence (White)

Weeks Dye Works Dolphin (318)

Missus Sedas Silk Floss Aqua (3766)

Weeks Dye Works Morris Blue (747)

Weeks Dye Works Meadow (471)

Weeks Dye Works Daffodil (726)

Weeks Dye Works Sunset (722)

Weeks Dye Works Hibiscus (352)

Weeks Dye Works Bordeaux (3705)

Fat Quarter Shop has some other fun accessories to coordinate with your project. A project bag, needle minder, and key chain fob!

You can find those here:

Bloomtopia project Bag

Bloomtopia DMC Thread Pack

Bloomtopia Needleminder

Bloomtopia Scissor Fob/Keychain Charm

I hope you’ll join me in this sweet little stitch along that is for such a good cause!

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Jan Hicks — 14 Comments

Jan Hicks Creates – Flosstube #50 – Cross Stitch WIP Parade for Stitch Maynia 2019

Started working on Shades of Gold by Northern Expressions Needlearts after reskeining the large skeins of silk from Missus Sedas into smaller, more mangeable skeins for stitching.

Colorway Darling from Missus Sedas on Etsy

Two new Flosstubers to check out:
CreatedtoCreateBH – has great multi-media ideas for finishing cross stitch
Cynthia Brew Creates – is a fairly new cross stitcher and has jumped in with both feet. Lots of lovely projects.

And now, my list for Stitch Maynia 2019. A new stitch with me video everyday, featuring the following projects.

May 1 – 16thcentury English Garden
May 2– Aloha
May 3– Aloha Hawaii
May 4– American Farmhouse
May 5– Blessed Bee
May 6– Brick House Sampler
May 7– Colorful Deer
May 8– Do-Re-Mi Sampler
May 9– Four Seasons Street Scene
May 10– Fractal Bookmark
May 11– Grace Quaker Sampler
May 12– Green on Green
May 13– Guiding Light
May 14– Hibernation Day
May 15– History of Sheep
May 16– Hoity Toity
May 17– Home For Christmas
May 18– Jacobean Tree
May 19– June
May 20– Leeds House Sampler
May 21– Louise and Henry
May 22– Luz Gonzalez
May 23– Midsummer Garden
May 24– Mr. PeacockMay 25 – Mushrooms
May 26 – Om
May 27 – Paradise Floral
May 28 – Phillip Foster House
May 29 – Pink Etude
May 30 – Pretty Little Hawaii
May 31 – Pretty Little India
June 1 – Quaker Four Seasons
June 2 – Quilter’s Cottage
June 3 – Sally Spencer
June 4 – Schoolhouse Lessons
June 5 – Sea Glass
June 6 – Seasons – Summer
June 7 – Small House
June 8 – Spring Door
June 9 – Taj Mahal Mandala
June 10 – Things Unseen Sampler
June 11 – Tree of Dreams
June 12 – Vitreous Art No 2
June 13 – Welcome Friends
June 14 – Shades of Gold

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Jan Hicks — 4 Comments

Jan Hicks Creates – Flosstube #49

Flosstube #49

Photo courtesy of Tempestry Project Blog – Tempestry display at North Central Michigan College

Concerned about climate change and the effect it’s having on our world? I have come across an organization that has put out a call for people to contribute to adding to the understanding and knowledge of climate change, using knitting or crochet as a medium to create a visual representation. This organization, called the Tempestry Project, has teamed up with the National Parks something something to help raise awareness of the impact of climate change on National Parks. You can learn more about it here: National Park Tempestry Project.
Want to join me and knit or crochet a National Park Tempestry Project? I have chosen Haleakala National Park. What Park will you choose? National Park Tempestry Kits

Other news – new to me Flosstuber – Linda Klinedinst

Need new readers? Check out Readers.com. Lots of different powers, up to +7.00. Different special sales offered, including 25% off your first order.

Cross Stitch Finishes (click on images for larger version)

Grateful Hearts by The Trilogy – stitched on 28 Ct. Lugana.

Linen and Threads Mystery Sampler from 2017 – stitched on 32 ct unknown linen. Colors I used can be found on my Color Conversion page.

Cross stitch WIPs

Seasons Summer by Lila’s Studio

Paradise Floral by Kooler Designs Studio

Winter Morn by Shepherd’s Bush

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Jan Hicks — Leave a comment

Jan Hicks Creates – Flosstube #46

Flosstube #46

Michelle Bendy Stitchy -Remember to find Michelle Garrette and subscribe to her new channel

Double the Stitchy Fun – thisnanastitches – Tamara and me chatting and stitching from opposites ends of the country!

WindyBay – Doris, fairly new to Flosstube

Mike’s crazy kitchen – video of making chili and watch for his video on how to make yogurt in the Instant Pot. Coming soon!

Projects this week: (Please click on image to see a larger version.)
Grateful Hearts by The Trilogy

Fractal Bookmark 705 by Cross stitch Collectibles

Green on Green by Rosewood Manor

Aloha Hawaii by Jeannette Douglas email info@jeannettedouglas.com for information on how to get this design.

Sea Glass by Carolyn Manning Designs

Posted on March 19, 2019March 19, 2019 by Jan Hicks — 2 Comments

Flosstube #45

Check out CZookStitch and her wonderful fabric choice for Harbor Haven. It’s going to be magnificent!

Flosstube #45

Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.” – Aberjhani

A review of my Birthday Bash 2019 new starts:

Aloha – 28 ct = 2 over 2 using same hand-dyed blue as Harbor Haven. Pattern can be found in April 2019 issue of Cross Stitch Crazy Magazine.
Peonies – 32 ct unkn creamy/yellow linen – Stitched 2 over 2
Spring door (Sweet Home – Spring) all four doors – 1 over 1 on 25 ct.- fabric
Aloha Hawaii by Jeanette Douglas – 30 ct murano with some of the called for silks as well as some substitutions of cotton hand-dyed floss. If you’re interested in getting this pattern, you can email Jeannette at info@jeannettedouglas.com.
Om – Indian Elephant – 28 ct. Dense Fog Jobelan stitchisn’t 2 over 2. This link is to an Etsy shop called LoLaLottaShop. If you have never been to that shop, I highly recommend you get a drink of your favorite beverage and spend some time browsing through the hundreds of gorgeous patterns! Gorgeous designs from many Russian designers!
Guiding Star Lighthouse kit – 30 ct fabric from Jackson Fabric Arts on Etsy. Stitching over 2.
Pretty Little Hawaii by Satsuma Street – Using same fabric as Pretty Little India 36 ct. white linen
Ranunculus Bouquet Punch Needle by Michelle PalmeR
Lila’s Studios Seasons – Summer – using all the called for fabric and flosses
Green on Green by Rosewood Manor – 32 ct. burnt bronze fabric from Under the Sea Fabrics and 3 colors of Silks4U floss. See my Color Conversion page for details on the silk colors.
Fractal 705 Bookmark – stitched on 28 ct. evenweave 1 over 1. This is March’s free pattern. I don’t know how long these remain available.

Posted on March 5, 2019March 6, 2019 by Jan Hicks — 2 Comments

Jan Hicks Creates – Flosstube #43

Slowly making progress on several of my BAPs (Big-ass Projects!) and my little WIPs, too. Check out this week’s YouTube video here.

Flosstube Channels to check out:

Stitching in Doo Dah
Fiber Talk

This week’s projects:
Grateful Hearts – this week saw a little more progress on the one over one block. (This chart is from 2000. I don’t know if it is still in print. You may be able to find copies on EBay, and of course, I will be giving mine away when I am finished with it.

Next up we have Quilter’s Cottage by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet. You can find it for sale at the Fat Quarter Shop here. Interesting side note: Fat Quarter Shop is starting to sell other designers’ patterns, such as Little House Needleworks, Country Cottage, Hands On Design and more! Does this indicate a growth in the industry? Let’s hope so!

The color conversion for this piece can be found here.

The BAPs I worked on this week were Grace Quaker Sampler. I love how quickly each little Quaker motif stitches up. I feel like I got multiple finishes on just this one piece! (Please watch the video to see the true colors of this piece. The photo really washed out the pink fabric. The fabric is 40 ct. Ash Rose from xJuDesign on Etsy. The flosses are all from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.

The small letters and numbers on this piece are all stitched over one fabric thread. Stitching over 1 one 40 ct. is quite a challenge for these older eyes!

While I enjoyed the progress I made on Grace, after 3 days I was ready to put her away and pull out the next piece, A Peacock’s Garden by Linen and Threads. This is the Mystery SAL for 2019, and I am so happy I decided to join in on this one this year. I love it so far!

The colors used in this piece so far are Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Thread (VMST) Tropical Wonder, Gentle Arts Sampler Threads Island Blue, Weeks Dye Works Ocean and an older Needle Necessities colorway whose tag I have lost.

March Fractal Freebie shown in video is from Cross Stitch Collectibles. You can find it here.

Hope you enjoyed this update! See you Friday for my weekly Stitch with Me!

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Jan Hicks — Leave a comment

Jan Hicks Creates – Stitch with Me – Quilter’s Cottage

Join me out on the lanai for more discussion of changing colors and fabric in a project!

Click the above image to be taken to the video. If the link for the image is broken, please click here.

Posted on February 24, 2019February 24, 2019 by Jan Hicks — Leave a comment

I’m Back!! Weekly Progress Post – 2/24/19

Time to revive my blog and start using it again. Not only am I going to keep notes for all of my YouTube videos here, I will be making weekly progress/new start/finish posts in order to keep track of my progress while I’m working on so many things. These weekly posts will also help me keep track of what I’ve worked on each week, and provide a place I can point you to, when I’ve made color conversions. It’s a great place to just keep it all together, right? So, let’s get started!

This past week, I spent some time on Four Seasons by Soda Stitch, a Korean company. This is where I started:

And this is where I am now:

This morning, I put Four Seasons away and pulled out Leeds House Sampler by Rosewood Manor. This is where I left off the last time I worked on it:

This week, I also started Quilter’s Cottage by Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet and The Fat Quarter Shop. This is one of the patterns they sent me as promotional material. While I think this is a super cute pattern, I feel the colors lend itself to more of a country feel and I prefer a more beach cottage feel. So it was time to change the colors. I have done several videos on the color change. This one shows my process for choosing fabric and converting floss colors. This one is a Stitch with Me where I talk more about what to think about when you want to change the colors in a pattern as well as tools you can use to make that process easier.

Here is the original pattern:

Super cute, right? But I wanted the colors to coordinate with my Wish Upon a Star piece. Wish Upon a Star is a design from 1987. The colors were totally 80s. Think soft pinks and blues, mint greens and peaches. I needed to punch up those colors. This is what I came up with and the colors I wanted to use for Quilter’s Cottage, so they can be companion pieces.

This is what I have so far and I’m quite pleased with it. I jumped around a little bit in order to try out the different colors.

Here’s my color conversion if you are interested in this look yourself. (The DMC color is listed first, and my substitution second.)

817 = Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe Threads (VMST) Black Cherry
3705 = VMST Southern Belle
760 = VMST Holland Tulips
435 = Gentle Arts Sampler Threads (GAST) Cottage Blue
743 = VMST Yellow Green
703 = VMST Southern Mint
702 = Mystery Variegated Green from my stash
964 = Cottage Garden Threads (CGT) Earl Grey for window panes/VMST Southern Belle for other areas
825 = VMST Easter Special 2018
535 = VMST Slate
169 = CGT Earl Grey
Ecru = WDW Whitewash
Tree Trunks = VMST Primitive Stone

And that’s it for this past week and going forward into this week! Happy stitching and be sure to find your joy!

Posted on February 24, 2019February 24, 2019 by Jan Hicks — Leave a comment

Jan Hicks Creates – Changing Floss Colors and Fabric of a Design

Using the design Quilter’s Cottage by Lori Holt/Bee in my Bonnet Co Designs, in this video I show you my process for changing up the colors of floss used and how to decide what size and color of fabric to use. Hope you find this helpful!