Cross Stitch Surprise And A New Designer

I'm glad that my last post helped solve the mystery of the little holes in shirts! I thought you all would think I had lost my mind with that different kind of post, but I'm happy that it proved helpful. Now let's get back to stitching.

I want to show you a sweet little project that I've been working on.

Cute, isn't he? This is my newest start, a pattern called "A Bluebird's Salute" by Luminous Fiber Arts. I'm stitching it on 32 count off white Jobelan. I'm mainly using the called-for colors with a couple of substitutions. That's my effort to stitch from stash.

The designer is Misty Pursel who I became acquainted with through our Flosstube channels. Misty is an avid multi-crafter, talented in cross stitch, knitting, crochet, quilting, and weaving. Last year, she delved into the design world and now her charts are available at her Etsy shop, Luminous Fiber Arts, as well as other sources.

Now you can see how adorably my bluebird is coming along. Misty's other charts currently include two more in the bluebird series, along with some holiday-themed designs. Other designers' charts, hand-dyed fabric, floss assortments, and needle minders are also available at her Etsy shop.

There are a lot of stitchers who prefer reading blogs over watching Flosstube, and I'm thankful for every one of my subscribers. However, if you'd like to check out Misty's Flosstube channel, go HERE. And you can locate my channel at CraftyCat Stitcher.

Now for the surprise! I'm going to do a giveaway for this chart, "A Bluebird's Salute". Here's all you have to do:

- Be a subscriber of my blog. 
- Be 18 years old or older.
- Make a comment ON THIS POST.

That's it. Easy, right? Also, make sure that there's a way that I can contact you. I will pull a name from the comments on Monday, July 8th and I'll post the name of the winner on that day.

Before I go, here's a picture of a sweet cookie jar that I have.

I see a little resemblance, don't you?

Holey-Moley! This Really IS A Thing!

This may be the most unusual blog post I've ever written, but I'll keep it relatively short. I've been noticing little holes in the front of my shirts near the waist. This has been going on for quite a while, and I could never figure out why this was happening. I got pretty good at mending these holes and can say that I had better luck on dark color shirts or shirts with a busy print. The mended spot on light color shirts pretty much scream "look at me!".

One day a couple of weeks ago, I was being particularly domestic. I put dinner in the crock pot, baked a loaf of chocolate banana bread, and did a good clean up in the kitchen. When I finally took a break, I looked down and saw a bunch of these little holes in my t-shirt. They weren't there earlier!

What?!! I guess this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I Googled "why are there tiny holes in my shirt?" and couldn't believe how many articles came up! Here's one of them. Other people actually had this same issue. They questioned whether their wash machine was the culprit, or maybe it was sneaky moths. One mom thought that it was from her toddler's shoes when she carried him. How about seat belts? I always thought it had something to do with leaning up against the counter top in the kitchen and have felt the underside edge of it to see if there was anything sharp there. Nope.

Here's the issue. When you're a particular height and your waistband hits the counter edge, your shirt rubs against the button your pants resulting in a hole. This mainly happens in lightweight knits. As it turns out, I am that very particular height for this to happen. The article I linked above has hints on how to prevent this from occurring. There are even little covers for your jeans button. My solution: I tuck my shirt into my jeans in the front when I'm working in the kitchen. Some might say that this is trendy; on me it looks ridiculous. But I don't care if it will save my shirts.

I hope you liked this little public service message. I know it was kind of strange but I felt I needed to get the word out. Oh and that chocolate banana bread was delicious. I really wish I had taken a photo of it, but here's the next best thing: The Recipe! 

Enjoy! I'll get back to our regular programming soon. Thanks for visiting!