Using Wikipedia for colour inspiration

 Hello again Stitchers ! This week , I wanted to talk about something that I stumbled upon whilst going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole , as we all have done.  I think that the information that I found will help to enhance your embroidery projects.

I found a series of Wikipedia pages that contain a list of colours in both alphabetical order and in shade order. Importantly , the Wikipedia pages contain the RGB  values of all of the colours and this allows you to enter them into Threadcolors.org to find the nearest DMC shade. I think that these pages will help you to make more varied and interesting colour choices as you will be able to see the wide breadth of interesting colours that are available to you. 

 The pages are linked below :

List of colours (alphabetical)

List of colours by shade

List of Crayola crayon colours 

List of colours : A-F

List of colours :G-M

List of colours : N-Z

Happy Stitching XOXO

Happy New Year

 Hello Stitchers ! I hope that you had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have had a nice time away and I am looking forward to getting back to this blog and sharing my favourite embroidery tips and tricks with you.

I will be back to my usual posting  schedule next week.

Happy Stitching XOXO   

Tips And Tricks - Bedside table needleminder

  PLEASE NOTE : I AM NOT BEING SPONSERED BY ANY BRAND OR COMPANY AND ANYTHING THAT I SAY ABOUT THE PRODUCTS IN THIS POST IS MY HONEST OPINION

Hello again stitchers ! Do you like to embroider or cross stitch in bed ? I know I do and as you know one of the downsides of embroidering in bed is that if you loose your needle , you are liable to have a very uncomfortable  night's sleep. 

Last week I talked about the benefits of needle minders and how that they help to prevent hazardous situations. However , what happens when you cannot find any needleminders ? I have come up with a solution that will help all of you. I have created a 'needleminder' that is permanently fixed to your bedside table if you have one.

What did I do ?

 In order to create my permanent 'needleminder', I simply stuck a magnet to my bedside table with adhesive backing ( the magnets that I brought are linked here). The adhesive that I used come with the magnet and takes the form of circular stickers that are the same size as the magnets. Please Note : make sure that you attach the magnet to a clean surface. 

 The way that you attach the adhesive is attaching the circular sticker to a clean surface and peel off the top. This activates the adhesive and once this is done you simply press the magnet onto the adhesive and then you will be able to use the magnet like a normal needle minder.

 Why did I do it ? 

The reason that I decided to create a bedside table needleminder is that I thought that it would be more convenient for me to have a permanent place for me to store my needles. As much as I love needle minders , it is very inconvenient when you loose them. I decided to mitigate this problem and I hope that you find this advice to be helpful.

Happy Stitching XOXO 

Needle Minders - What are they and What are their benefits

 PLEASE NOTE : I AM NOT BEING SPONSERED BY ANY BRAND OR COMPANY AND ANYTHING THAT I SAY ABOUT THE PRODUCTS IN THIS POST IS MY HONEST OPINION 

Hello again Stitchers ! This week I wanted to talk to you about an embroidery accessory that you may find to be inredibly useful - this acessory is a needle minder. In this post I hope that I can convince you of the benefits of buying a needleminder  

What Is a Needle Minder ? 

A needle minder is a magnetic tool that can hold your embroidery needle in place while you are working on a project. They can be made of plastic , wood or metal and they come with two magnets - one is permanently stuck to the decorative front and the other goes on the back of the fabric and holds both the front and the needle in place. Please note that not all needle minders come with two magnets anhd these ones are designed to hold your needle on the side whils you are completing your projects , as opposed to being stuck to the fabric itself. Below I have inserted a picture of one of my own needleminders that you can buy from DMC - there are other magnets in the packet but I preffer to have the needleminder away from the project as  I find that it just gets in the way.

The front of the needle minder can come in almost any shape and I bet there is one that suits every embroiderer so if you are looking for a useful stocking filler for the embroiderer in your life then please consider buying a needle minder.

The Benefits 

I find that one of the major benefits of investing in needleminders is that my stitching space is a lot safer because having a needle minder greatly decreases the risk of steping on your embroidery needles. Additionally , if you have any pets I think that a needle minder is a wise investment as it keeps your needles from becoming lost and possibly being swallowed , causing serious internal injuries or death.

Furthermore , needle minders can prevent signifcant delays in a project , as they keep your needle(s) in one convenient location so that you will be able to easily pick up your project. As someone that spends a lot of time stitching , I have found that the needle minder is an invaluable tool in the completion of my project.

Conclusion 

I hope that you have found the advice in this post to be useful and that you will at least consider investing in a needle minder to assist the completion of all of your projects.

Happy Stitching XOXO 

Product Review - SZCXDKJ 6 Sizes Colorful Round Embroidery Hoop Set Plastic Circle Stitch Hoop Rings for DIY Craft Sewing,Including 16pcs Gold Eye Sewing Needles,Embroidery Hoop

 PLEASE NOTE : THIS POST IS NOT SPONSERED BY THE MAKERS OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY WAY. THIS IS MY HONEST OPINION

Hello Stitchers ! This week I wanted to try somthing new by doing reviews of some of my favourite embroidery products that I have brought over the course of my stitching journey. This week I am going to be reviewing some platstic embroidery hoops that I have purchased and I will be giving you my honest opinions about this particular product.

You can purchase the hoops on Amazon UK here

What Is It ? 

This product consists of six embroidery hoops that come in the sizes 27.5cm, 24.5cm, 20cm, 16.5cm, 12.7cm and 9.56cm. All of these hoops are made of a sturdy plastic and a pack of gold needles is supposed to come with your purchase. All six of these hoops cost £10:24 at the time of this post. 

The Good

• The screw fitting at the top of the hoop can be fastened with a screwdriver. This enables you to tighten the hoop more than you could with a normal screw fitting.
• The two parts of the hoops fit together very snuglly , ensuring that the material is pulled as taught as a drum which makes it the optimal surface to stitch on.
• There is a wide variety of sizes to choose from. This means that regardless of the size of the project that you have planned , there will be a plastic hoop in this pack to accommodate it.

   The Bad  

• In my set , there was supposed to be a pack of gold needles that never arrived wit the hoop and although they weren't essential and their absence didn't upset me that mutch , I thought that I would at least mention it just in case you wanted to purchase the product.

Conclusion

Overall , I think that this is a great product and if you are in the market for a set of good quality plastic embroidery hoops may I humbly reccomend these hoops due to the superior quality of the product but I am unable to give them full marks due to the inability on the part of the manufacturer to fully deliver on the advertised promises.

I rate this product 4 out of five stars ☆☆☆☆ 

Happy Stitching XOXO

Announcement - Product Reviews

Hello Stitchers ! This week I wanted to make a big announcement about somthing new that I am doing on this blog. I will occasionally be making reviews of physical embroidery products , as I hope to guide you in your purchasing options by giving you my honest opinion about the products that I have purchesed.

The first post goes live tomorrow , but before then there are a few things that you should know :

• All of my review posts are based in my own personal opinion , if you do not like any of the same products that I do that is perfectly fine - all that I ask is that you are civil to both me and each other in the comments.
• NONE OF MY REVIEWS ARE SPONSERED BY THE MAKERS OF THE PRODUCTS. I intend to give a honest review and I can reassure you that no exchange of money or goods took place in order to get me to write any of the reviews on this blog , wheather it be for digital apps or physical products.
• I will be rating the products on a star system , with one star being the worst and five stars being the best. This is so that you will be able to make a concise decision.

With all that being said , I hope that you enjoy my product reviews , and please remember that this is just my honest opinions .

Happy Stitching XOXO 

Personal Announcement - Time off

 Hello Stitchers ! I just wanted to wirte a small post to tell you that I am just taking a week off this week because I am working on something big which I will announce to you soon. I hope that all is well with all of you.

Happy Stitching XOXO

How I chose Hours Tracker in order to track my stitching time

 Hello Again Stitchers ! Today I think I am going to talk about how I chose the Hours Tracker app that I have previously talked about and I will go into detail into why I chose this particular app and the methods that I previously used.

Intro 

You may remember that last week I wrote a post about the app Hours Tracker (post linked here) and how it is a great tool for any Stitchers who want to keep track of the precise amount of time that they spend stitiching. I discovered it when I was looking for a convenient way to keep track of the hours that I spent embroidering , as prior to that I was using a timesheet template that I had dowloaded from a website called Smartsheet and although I have found using the app to be more effective , I have decided to link to their varous timesheet templtes so that you can see if the spreadsheet option works for you.

Why I prefer Hours Tracker 

The reason that I prefer using Hours Tracker  is that it is easier to enter the data into the app. On the spreadsheet you have to enter the data manually , by hand , whereas the Hours Tracker app allows you to scroll up and down to input the hours that you have spent embroidering , which makes this app very user friendly.

 Furthermore , the Hours Tracker app gives you the exact numbers of hours and minuets that you have spent stitching , whereas if you are using the spradsheet method  , you will have to work out your hours for yourself and the result may be inprecise and if you are a professional this is an important thing to have a precise record of , because if you don't , you could charge the wrong amount and it could put your proffessional reputation at risk.

Aditionally , you are able to put your hourly rate into the app and it will automatically calculate both the amount that you should be making on any given day , it will also calculate your total weekly earnings and this is very helpful to the independent embroiderer who may not be able to afford any facy invoicing tools and it ensures that they do not overcharge tthier customers in any way.

To Conclude 

I drastically prefer Hours Tracker to any timekeeping methond that I have used for my embroidery and I personally reccomend the app to anyone who wants to keep note of the precise amount of hours that they spend stitching.

Happy Stitching XOXO   

Apps That I recommend for Embroidery - Hours Tracker

 PLEASE NOTE : THIS POST IS NOT SPONSERED BY THE HOURS TRACKER APP. THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL REVIEW

What is it ?

Hello Stitchers ! I don’t know about you , but I have recently gotten into the habit of logging the exact number of hours that I spend stitching. Finding the perfect tool for this task has entailed some trial and error but I have finally found the perfect app that I am going to recommend to you all. This app is called Hours Tracker. 

How does it work ?

The app allows you to input the number of hours that you spend a week on a given task  and then it provides you with a weekly total at the bottom of the screen. If you are a professional who charges by the hour, it also can automatically calculate the amount that you should be charging for that given week if you input your hourly rate.

Additionally , the app allows you to export the data so that you can keep it for your records. The data can be exported in two formats , Text (CSV) and to Excel (XLSX).

My Personal opinions 

One of the most important things to me is that none of these features are locked behind any sort of paywall so that they are accessible to Stitchers from any background , regardless of their economic circumstances. This is an app that I will continue to use for the forseeable future and I hope that this app will be useful for you.

Happy Stitching XOXO

Availability 

 iPhone - requires iOS 11 or later

iPod touch - requires iOS 11 or later 

Mac  - requires macOS 11.0 and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.

Happy Stitching XOXO

Embroidery Floss Pulling tips to prevent tangling FOR DMC ONLY

 

FYI THE FOLLOWING METHOD ONLY WORKS FOR THE DMC SIX STRANDED FLOSS , I AM NOT SURE IF IT WORKS ON OTHER THREAD BRANDS

Hello again Stitchers ! I just wanted to drop a quick post letting you know about a trick that I have begun to use when pulling a thread out of the skien. I find that it is really annoying when you are pulling a thread and it gets all tangled up - it just wastes valuable time that you could be spending stitching your heart away on a project that you are passionate about.

I first heard of this tip from Stitched Modern , which is a website that sells embroidery kits , patterns and supplies - I did not come up with this tip and I have linked the original article here.

How to do it 

A skien of DMC floss has two labels , a small one at the top with the DMC logo , and a large one at the bottom which has both the barcode and the colour number printed on it.  

If you want to prevent tangling when you are pulling your thread ONLY PULL FROM THE BOTTOM END WITH THE NUMBER. It took me many hours of frustration to learn this trick and if you wanted to use DMC threads I thought that I would save you all the headache.

Below There will be a handy photo that will show you which end you should pull :

Happy Stitching XOXO