Cat Rotation #2, God Sent Special Things, Week #1

This is the second project in my Cat-Themed Rotation, “God Sent Special Things” by Janlynn.

I have had this kit for quite a while now, I don’t distinctly remember buying it but it must have been on one of my usual kit-buying sessions. I have always thought the kit was really pretty though! Before I decided on doing my rotation I was seriously considering doing this piece on its own. I love the cat motif and the colors are pretty and appealing and I only hesitated with not starting it before because of the size, 5″ by 7″, because I’m used to doing lots of little projects instead of one larger one.

As with the “I Don’t Do Mornings” piece, the project started in the center on the white part of the mouth, but it was close enough to the tan of the face that I just moved up a couple stitches and started there instead. This piece has a lot more quarter stitches than the other, which of course sucks to do on aida, so I had a little bit of trouble getting them to turn out all right. The eyes were the most disappointing, I wanted to fill them in before I moved on to other bits of the kitten and when I went to do it I realized all of the eyes are done in quarter stitches and back stitch. Sigh. Looking at the cover photo now I see that the eyes aren’t just blocks but I was hoping I could have finished it off without having to break out the back stitch to do it. Here’s my progress so far:

Once again I got through the majority of the stitching on this in one day because it was the only time I could find to sit down and stitch. I think I’m done with that kitten entirely besides the white of its body and some of the grey shading, which of course I’m going to try and avoid as much as possible until I get the basin done and can just fill in the empty spaces. Before I move on to anything else I’ll probably be breaking out the back stitch and filling in all those ugly quarter stitches because it makes it look a little shoddy to me. And I’ve got some white in that corner that I could fill in now since it’s surrounded on all sides.

This is the project I’m taking on vacation with me, so by the time I get back I hope to have a lot done on this! We’re expecting a thunderstorm on Monday so we’ll probably be stuck inside, the perfect opportunity to break out the needle and thread and begin. I almost had a scare though – I packed everything into a plastic bag, decided to put it all in a clear Ziploc bag instead, and realized that the needle for the project was missing! I searched the interior of the plastic bag and the other bag I had it in before packing it and couldn’t find the needle, but I took the one from “I Don’t Do Mornings” which works fine. Whew, it’s a good thing I checked though! Would have sucked to get all the way to an island in Florida with no LNS nearby and then discover my needle was gone. And you can’t stitch without a needle.

Cat Rotation #1, I Don’t Do Mornings, Week #1

The first piece in my Cat-Themed Rotation is this one, “I Don’t Do Mornings” by Dimensions.

I picked up this kit on my first (and so far only) trip to Michael’s, where I was determined to walk out with a kit of some kind. I am a cat person so I loved cat-themed projects, and I love the phrasing on this since I’m not a morning person in the least, and one of my cats Shyloh essentially does this every morning once you open your door: climbs all over you chattering saying, “good morning, good morning, good morning!” and demanding love and attention the moment you roll out of bed. So I can definitely relate to this poor mother cat!

Of course, once again I had to start out with white stitches on a white background. I have a hard time with that – it’s hard for me to see the white on white aida while I’m stitching and I often miscount because of it, so whenever possible I save the white as the last color for the project. At least when it’s surrounded by other colors I don’t have to worry about messing up because I can’t tell the thread from the fabric. But the project starts with a small section of white, so I started with it and switched to the other colors when I had enough completed. Here is my current progress:

I did most of the stitching on this in a day… it seems like all my time to stitch comes and goes before I have a chance to sit down. I could have done a little bit more on it but I was so busy with school that week I didn’t have the chance. I still feel I got quite a bit done, though, and I look forward to working on it again when the next week rolls around.

You can definitely tell there’s a cat there now! Already a good deal of the mother cat is done – I still have to do her ears and feet but other than that she is mostly completed! I am probably going to move on to the red kitten on the right next once the mother cat is all finished, I’m getting tired of all the greys!

DIY: Ort Jar

An ORT Jar is one of the easiest crafts to make, and it can be done with nearly anything for nearly any kind of craft. Mine is specifically centered around the Threads ORT Jar that people often do with cross-stitch, but you can do one for any type of craft you’re involved with that can fit in a jar.

Don’t know what ORT means? We have a Term of the Week for that! Term of the Week: ORT.

The materials you’ll need:

1. A jar of some sort. Most people use clear jars with an attached lid, similar to a canning jar or the kind of clear jars you can keep sugar in. I picked this jar because I loved the patterned glass, and once it is stuffed to the brim with thread I thought it would compliment the colors. I also didn’t have any other suitable jars at the time I was looking. You can use any jar you’d like, just depends on your style and preference and what you want your jar to look like.

2. The jar-filling material of your choice. In my case, I am filling my ort jar with my ort threads, so I only fill it with leftover bits and ends of thread. It’s a slow-going process as I don’t stitch rapidly or that often, and I usually conserve my thread as much as possible so I don’t have a lot of leftovers.

How to Make It:

There is only one step – fill it up! An Ort Jar is like a change jar: you fill it up gradually over time, and once it gets full, or once you need some of the materials inside, you can empty it and start over.

There are many different things you can do with your ORT Jar. Here are some suggestions:

1. Use the jar as a display piece. Some people will fill their jars with thread and fabric and then set them out for display as display pieces. Be careful though! If it is a clear jar and often in direct sunlight, sometimes the jar can catch fire to the materials inside. I have seen pictures of an ort jar with all the fabric inside burned because of the sun shining reflectively through the glass.

2. Recycle the materials inside. One woman told me of how, every Spring when her jar is full, she takes it and empties it outside for the birds and other critters to use in their nests. Other people will use the pile of threads as padding or stuffing for pin cushions and little mini pillows.

Ort Jar, Day 1

Ort Jar, after 2 weeks of stitching

My own ort jar is slow going. I am hoping to fill it completely and use it as a display piece, and while I have plenty of loose threads I will probably never use that I can put inside, I want to try and fill it with my leftover thread from stitching, so it doesn’t all go in the trash. So I slowly work away, adding threads when I can, and as you can see above, that’s all the progress I’ve made some far… I plan to do lots of stitching on vacation so hopefully I’ll have it filled up more!

Have you ever made an ORT Jar before? Was it for threads or did you make something else? What did you do with it? Leave a comment below or head on over to our Facebook page and tell us all about it!

Progress Report: My Cat-Themed Rotation

Welcome to the first article in our newest segment, Progress Report!

I am a fan of small projects. I am impatient and will often have a hard time getting through larger projects because I don’t feel that I make as much progress in one sitting as I do with small projects. This is why I have a huge pile of small kits to do and a slightly smaller pile of the finished products. These motifs are usually animals or little phrases, and I have a small Bucilla kit which is of a house (that I really want to do). However, lately I’ve been having a strong urge to not only do a big project, but do more than just an animal or a cutesy little phrase.

As I have said on other articles, I am a chronic kit-buyer. I can’t pass a kit up if I see it, especially if it’s on sale. So I end up with kits like the ones above in droves, and as I have a hard time starting and getting through large projects, I needed to come up with a way to a.) decide what kit to do, and b.) find a way to stick through it. So I decided, hey, why not try a rotation? I very, very rarely have more than one project going at a time (one UFO being an exception) and I couldn’t decide which of my many cat-themed kits I wanted to do, so why not pick three and do them all? (There is one 5 x 7 that sadly got left out. It will be part of the next Cat-Themed Rotation!) This way I won’t get burned out on one, and eventually I’ll be done with them all in a timely manner.

So these are the three I ended up with: “I Don’t Do Mornings,” by Dimensions; “God Sent Special Things,” by Janlynn; and finally, the BAP, “Cats in the Kitchen,” by Janlynn. “Cats in the Kitchen” is the largest project I have ever done by an inch, and surprisingly a lot of the background is un-stitched, so there’s a little bit less to it than one would think.

My schedule for the rotation is as follows: “I Don’t Do Mornings” is worked on for one week, usually Wednesday to Wednesday, the first week of the month; “God Sent Special Things” is worked on for one week, Wednesday to Wednesday, the second week of the month; and finally, since the project is the largest and it’ll take more stitching on this to equal the same amount of progress on the other other two projects, “Cats in the Kitchen” for the final two weeks of the month, Wednesday to the Wednesday after next. (Wednesdays are tentative, just what I happen to be going by right now!)

As of this writing, I am in the second week of “Cats in the Kitchen,” so I’ve gotten through the first weeks of all three projects and so far they are going well. This post is just an overview on the rotation and what I hope to accomplish; from now on you’ll be getting direct updates every week on the projects themselves. And hopefully that will encourage me to work on each one equally until I get them all finished!

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Progress Report is a weekly update on all my stitching habits, from the kits to the stitching to the finishing process! Right now I am featuring a Cat-Themed Rotation of three cat-themed projects I hope to complete in a timely manner.

Friday Finishes #4: Queenie

Welcome to the first Friday Finishes article! Woo!

The first thing you are probably thinking as you view this is, wait what this is the first article, it says number four up in the title, that doesn’t make any sense? Well Friday Finishes is meant to be a review of the cross-stitch pieces I have done throughout my life, and this piece happens to be the fourth piece. I can’t really start with the first three because I don’t have the information on them and the third one I never finished (I plan on probably tossing it and buying the kit again and starting over). So instead of starting with the traditional number one, we are starting with the more awesome number four!

Name of Piece: Queenie

Designed by: (The kit does not say, it’s a hit or miss on whether Janlynn lists the designer on their kits.)

Distributed as a kit by the Janlynn Company, under their “Designs for the Needle” series.

Kits Contains: 14 ct. Aida, floss, needle, chart, and instructions. Finished Size: 5″ x 7″ or 12,7 x 17,8 cm

Queenie WIP

The Story: I have a bad habit of being a chronic kit-buyer. I love kits more than charts by a mile, mainly because everything is already supplied to me and I don’t have to hunt everything down and cut the fabric and all that jazz, but I have a bad tendency of buying up kits whenever I find them, especially when they are on sale. As you can see, this particular kit was 50% off and I could not let it go for that price. I bought this not long after I got back into stitching and I didn’t have many other kits, so I believe I started in on this one almost immediately. I had a 7 inch hoop it fit beautifully in (as it so happens it’s my only one and I need more) and I even took a progress picture of it, which is rare for me to do, and was a non-existent habit prior to this project.

Time to Complete: Around one month (after stitching all that white on the body I got to the pillow and dragged for ages)

Review: Janlynn is one of my favorite companies to buy kits from, and this kit did not disappoint. The floss was already sorted and carded which was nice, I have another Janlynn piece that was not pre-sorted and trying to figure out the different colors is a complete nightmare because they’re all so similar. I found that the kit was harder to do because of the white thread on white aida. I normally wait and do all of my white at the end because I have such a hard time seeing it unless surrounded by other colors, but the white was the majority of the project so I couldn’t avoid it. The backstitch was clearly marked on the chart and it was actually fun to do, because the cat really came to life once you began adding the back-stitched details. Despite all that white on white action I think I only made a few mistakes on the entire piece which I was easily able to correct (that’s why the eyes and nose are already stitched on the WIP picture, I miscounted the empty spots and had to stitch over the white before I forgot to do it and got lost later).

The Finished Piece

You will notice a glaring difference between the finished piece and the picture from the kit all the way up there at the top. Yes, the actual text saying “Queenie” is missing. That was my choice, albeit an accidental one. You see I had already been working on the kit for a month, and when I finally had the last push to finish the cushion and do the backstitch, I was so excited to be able to move on to another piece that I completely forgot about the text at the top! By the time I realized it was missing I had already washed, ironed, and framed (myself as you can probably tell) the piece and it was too late to try and add it in. I think it looks better this way anyway, don’t you?

Final Verdict: I loved the piece, I loved working on it, and I think it turned out great! I would definitely recommend this kit to other cat lovers.

Have you done this kit before? How did it go for you? How did you like it, or not like it, as the case may be? Did you remember the text? Leave a comment below or head on over to our Facebook page and tell us how it went!

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Friday Finishes is a segment where I catalog and review all the cross-stitch pieces I have ever completed. Some of the pieces I no longer have information on, or I don’t have pictures because I gave away the piece as a gift and forgot to take a picture, but I’ll do my best to be as informative as possible! Check back on Fridays for more.

Term of the Week: ORT

ORT

Our Term of the Week this week is a fun one, and one that can be useful to those who like making projects from bits and pieces!

The word “ort” means different things depending on the context it’s being used in. To stitchers, the word is an acronym (hence why I capitalized the letters), but before we dive into the stitchy definition let’s take a look at the common definition through Dictionary.Reference.com:

noun
Usually, orts. a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

The stitcher’s definition matches up for the most part with the actual definition. “ORT” is an acronym meaning “Old Raggedy Threads.” What are old raggedy threads? They are the bits and pieces, the “scraps” if you will, of the threads that you cut away when you’re stitching. They are the leftover threads from kits or extra bits and bobs of fabric and thread you have lying around. Really any leftover waste material that you cannot (or don’t want to) reuse is considered an ort. The stitcher’s definition is so close to the actual definition of the word (except referring to crafting instead of food) that some people don’t even think of it as an acronym

This is the fun bit: stitchers most use the word “ort” when they are talking about their ORT jars. What are ORT jars? Jars to hold your ort, of course! People will fill their jars with their leftover bits of fabric and thread. Some people will use them as display items when they get full, others will empty the jars outside for the birds to use in their nests, and others will use the pile as stuffing for pin cushions or mini pillows.

It’s a fun and creative way to turn what would otherwise be trash into a beautiful display piece. It helps the environment, and as I always say, save the stash from the trash!

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“Term of the Week” is a weekly blog post highlighting a new word or phrase commonly used among cross-stitchers but not found in an ordinary dictionary. These posts are to help explain the words’ meanings in context and provide a resource for anyone wondering what a term like “frogging” means. Check back every Thursday!

Articles through Spring Break!

Whew, it has been a long time since I wrote a regular article! I had a very lovely Christmas break through New Year’s, expecting the new year to be as wonderful as the last one, aaaand then my life blew up in my face in previously unknown ways. I took a bit of a break from stitching to get things back on track but haven’t been able to separate myself from what’s going on enough to feel better about the whole thing. However my lovely other half is whisking me off for a week in Florida for Spring Break, and I’m soo excited!

I won’t have any internet access to speak of where we’ll be staying, nor would I have my laptop to begin with, but during my break I made a list of around 12 or so articles prepared to write and go up on the site. There will be lots of content going up in my absence, hopefully a little of everything for people to enjoy. Progress Report is on its way, along with some Random Corner articles, some DIY crafts, a Friday Finish article, and a new segment about Salvaged Stash based on my Save the Stash from the Trash article (which, by the way, you should feel free to spread around. I want word to spread! I’m still seeing lots of people surprised to find things in thrift stores).

Hope you enjoy the upcoming articles, and I will be responding to everything when I get back!