Spring!

It seems like spring is really here to stay!  The flowers and trees are blooming and we have not had snow in at least two weeks! Hooray!  Our What’s new page at http://houseofstitches.com/whatsnew.cfm has mostly spring designs.  There is one very ambitious Christmas design from My Big Toe.  It is called Hymns of Christmas and if you start now you might have it finished in time for the holidays this year.  It is in my someday stash; would you like to add it to yours?

Today we received the latest charts and kits from Lizzie Kate.  It was too late to add the pictures to this update but you can see them on the Lizzie Kate blog: http://lizziekateblog.blogspot.com/.   The Double Flip charts are in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Lizzie Kate Designs!  The years have really flown by!

And speaking of how time flies; in only six months it will be Halloween!  To give you a jump start we are having a 25% off special on Spook of the Month kits from Val's Stuff.  The kits contain everything except the floss and are as cute as can be.  To see them, go to our catalog http://houseofstitches.com/search.cfm and type Spook of the Month in the key word box.  The shopping cart will not show the discount but we will subtract it and let you know the adjusted total.

Does figuring the finished size of a design frustrate you?  It is pretty simple with your handy dandy calculator.  If you have a cell phone there is probably a calculator right there.  All you need to know is the number of stitches in your design and the count of your fabric.  For example, if your design is 148 X 49 stitches and you are using 14 count fabric, you would divide 148 by 14 (10.57”) and then divide 49 by 14 (3.5”).  That tells you the stitched area is 10.57“ by  3.5”.  You will want to add a margin of fabric to all sides for finishing.  We usually recommend 3” on all sides if you are planning to frame your finished piece.  The means you need to add 6” (that is 3” on the left and right and 3” on the top and bottom) to the design area.  In our example you would want a piece of fabric at least 16.57” x 9.5”.  If you know you want a mat and frame, it is a good idea to add 4” on each side instead of just 3”.  The only other thing that might be a tad tricky is if you are working over 2.  Then you need to divide the linen count by 2 before you figure your design size.  28 count linen is figured as 14 count fabric, 32 count linen is figured as 16 count fabric and so on.   I hope this makes starting your next project a little easier.

I will let you get back to stitching or shopping for stitching and say farewell for now.