how exactly does waste canvas work? I always thought it would be fun to try and stitch letters on a sweatshirt.

I love needlepoint. It is very theraputic to me. I can sew and think about things or I can sew and think about nothing. Wish I had more time. I sew a lot when I am doing a play, especially if I have a lot of time between scenes or acts.
My cousin the Pi Phi used to own a needlepoint store and we used to joke about my $200 a month needlepoint habit. Unfortunately, the bad middle aged eyesight is taking its toll. Cross stitch is too stressful for me because I have to pay too much attention to what I am doing following a chart.

I recently started doing cross-stitch and I love it. I like knitting too. It's so hard to leave Michael's with just one thing. It's a crafty person's heaven.

for those of you who have never heard of ac moore...it is like michael's. i have both near me and it is a wonder how i ever have money to pay bills.... :D

We have a crafter's heaven right down the street... Hobby Lobby. I could live in that store. They have a lot of finished, framed cross stitch patterns above the kits, and I'm sure my husband is glad I don't have enough free time for them. We'd be flat broke otherwise.:p

I used to cross-stitch and do needlepoint when I was younger (like 8-12). I did a cross stitch bib for my cousin when she was born. I also did a few random projects that my mom has stored somewhere.

My mom also used to cross-stich, embroider, needlepoint, etc. She made a beautiful embroidered Christmas tree skirt with the Night Before Christmas on it. Santa's beard is done with individual French Knots! Its beautiful, but one year, we were going to water the tree and spilled water on it, and some of the red dye from the thread bled on it :( We still use it though. She also made me a "baby's first christmas" cross-stich stocking. And she and my grandmother made me a Raggedy Ann and Andy christmas stocking that was Applique and embroidery.

Maybe one of these lives I'll get back into it. I tried to do scrapbooking but it was too expensive and I lost interest pretty easily. I would still like to finish the book I was doing of my college years.

Santa's beard = individual French knots?! WOW. She must have the patience of a saint. I have such a hard time with those.

She seriously worked on it for years. It probably took 5 years to finish, just because she didn't have the time to sit and work with it continuously. We were *really* pissed when the red embroidery floss used for the words bled all over the white background of the skirt. Hmm...wonder if OxyClean will get it out...

I can totally understand. I wish I could tell you what would remove the dye. Unfortunately, I don't know of any good tricks for that.

waste canvas is really neat. You have what looks like needlepoint canvas but its for cross stitch. You place it on the fabric where you want the design to go. The directions say to baste it down, but I don't bother. The hoop holds it until you get enough of the design in place to hold it. When you're done, the waste canvas just pulls away from between the stitches and the fabric and volia there's your design.

PM me if you want any more information....

AZ, thanks! I am definately going to try waste canvas this break!

all i have to say is ... YAY MOD PODGE!!!!

Mod Podge ROCKS!! :D

seems like we have a crafty crowd here @ GC :)

have any of you thought of making crafty things to sell?

Yes, I've thought about it, and I actually did sell some of the photo albums. My mom and I made them as a team, and my dad would set up at the flea markets to sell them -- along with all the other stuff they wanted to get rid of.

That worked pretty well, but I haven't tried to sell anything else yet. Maybe in 50 years when I have enough time...