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Sunday 31 January 2016

I Like Pie

And I'm sure you all do too!  So let's start with the January Pie:

You can see what I spent most of January working on!  And here is the progress photo:

Stitched on 32 count Oceanic Fantasia by Crafty Kitten

I've only actually got two colours, the backstitch and beads to do.  But there is a LOT of each of those two colours!  Thankfully the patterned fabric means I don't have to stitch all the charted background.

Stitch from Stash is no longer running but I thought I'd track what I'm spending this year anyway.  So far I have purchased the Crescent Colours for the letters and paid for a quarterly magazine subscription.

Threads:        £ 20.80
Magazines:   £   8.72
Total Spend: £ 29.52

I also promised you the photos for how I made my cube finish for Poinsettia Christmas by Acorn House Designs.  This design featured in Just Cross Stitch magazine Christmas Ornie Special 2013.  I stitched it at the end of 2014 and it sat there waiting for me to finish-finish which I finally did this January!

First all of I cut out four pieces of thick mounting board.  Two were 14cm by 14cm and two were 7cm by 14 cm.  I'm using cm because you can be more accurate without going into fractions of inches!

In the first photo you can see the sparkly evenweave facedown on the table with the left and right edges taped to the back of the mounting board.  I put a piece of wadding between the fabric and the board to give it a nice padded feel.  You can see I have cut a thin sliver off the other piece of square board. (about 4mm) this is to make the back slightly smaller so the cube will tilt back just a little and not fall forward on its face!  It makes it easier to see the stitching too.


Then I chose my backing fabric and taped the left and right edges to the board.  I use double-sided tape for ease and because this is not an heirloom piece, it's for my pleasure now.  If you want it to last 100 years, then lace the backs properly.


Next I used tape along the 14cm edges of the side pieces to fix them to the front and back pieces so we have a long jointed piece.


 This photo shows all four pieces joined together into a parallelogram shape!


I don't have a photo of the side piece laid out but basically it's a long piece of thin card covered in the same backing fabric.  The card is 60cm long allowing for four sides of 14cm plus an overlap.  I could have used more wadding to pad the sides but I didn't have any more!

You can see the bottom of the box isn't covered with fabric.  Because the back of the box is slightly smaller, the edge piece will meet at an angle on the bottom of the box so you will need to trim it to fit.  Then I used a piece of dark green felt to cover the gaps and make a nice base for it to stand on.

I taped the card to the top of the box and to the bottom on the box.  That's when I noticed the sides gaped.

At this point I realised my no-sew-cube was going to have to be a low-sew-cube!

This photo shows me using invisible thread to whip stitch the edge of the evenweave to the backing fabric and closing the gap.  I also did the same on the back of the box.


And voila!  The finished piece:


The clay poinsettia is available direct from Acorn House Designs.  I attached it using more invisible thread around the lower petals.  The ribbon came from a box of chocolates and was in my ribbon stash box.

Side view:


And the back:


Because I used thick mounting board for the main piece it stands very well as it is.  But you could weight it down with some kind of stuffing.  Old clothing is suggested in one place which seems like a good recycling idea.  I have plenty of pairs of Small Boy jeans where one leg would fill a box nicely.

I hope you enjoyed the photos!  It's a nice project for a Sunday afternoon.

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Finally,  the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop will be taking place on Valentine's Day.  Full details can be found on this post but basically you email me a photo of something suitable for a lovely friend and I send you a photo from a mystery friend which you post on your blog to wait for your Secret Stitching Sweetheart to find you from the list of participants on my blog.  Have a look at last year's Hop to see how it all worked:




33 comments:

Christine said...

It looks great Jo. I wouldn't have thought of doing it like that

Rachel said...

Mmm, pie! I love your monthly pie charts and it's easy to see which has been your favourite project this month. She's looking good! Thanks for the finishing tips and photos too; I may give it a try... one day! :)

Sherry said...

I love your Pie Chart. What a great idea! That is so neat how you put together your cube.

Julie said...

Great tutorial for your cube, a super finish.

Kerryp77 said...

Great tut for the cubes. It looks so lovely finished off. Invisible thread can be a godsend!

Vickie said...

Great job on the cube. I have found my Secret Stitching Sweetheart pattern!!

Rhona said...

Great way to do the cube....thanks for sharing!

♥ Nia said...

I always thought doing that with a styrofoam cube but after all there's another way! :D Well done ;D Look so pretty!!
Nora C 'ate' almost half of that pie :p heheheh Looks beautiful :)

Lili said...

Thanks for the tutorial! Lovely progress on Nora design.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for the tutorial on your beautiful Box finish. I really am going to try this. I will be sure to let you know my results.

Please advise if the reply is now working. Thank you for all your help stitching, finishing and other

Preeti said...

Beautiful progress on your project. Thanks for the cube tutorial!!

Linda said...

Nice progress Jo. Your cube is beautiful. The tutorial is great but still beyond my poor old brain.

Linda

Susan said...

Very nice pie! I like the way you finished the cube and a great reuse of ribbon.

Tiffstitch said...

Lovely work on C, no wonder you can't put it down, and thank you for the tutorial!

Heather said...

Great finishing job! I've never done a cube but if I ever do I love your idea of tilting the box

Blu said...

Great finish! Thanks for the detailed photos.

Justine said...

I can see which is your favourite project! Thanks for the tutorial, I always thought these finishes involved polystyrene but I guess not!

stitchersanon said...

A beautiful finish. I love it!

Thoeria said...

That is a lovely finish! Like Justine, I had also thought that it involved some kind of polystyrene cube that gets covered with stitching! It's such a clever way to finish something....thanks for the tutorial!

Bea said...

Really enjoyed the tutorial, thank you so much. Even I can handle that amount of sewing! lol

'C' is looking terrific and I love the pie.

Jacqueline Morris said...

Pie!! Love it! Interesting... Gosh no idea what my pie would look like if I did it?! I would have an added slice for the pie itself as I would probably spend the most hours on the pie getting it to look right!! Ha ah
Oooooh your stitching a Nora Corbet too... The more I see of her designs the more I actually think they are stunningly beautiful.
Your cube is brilliant, love how you have constructed it.... Genius!!
Smiles :)

rebelrosecreations@gmail.com said...

Love this finish! Thank you for the tutorial. Happy Stitching! :)

Barb said...

The cube turned out lovely. Thanks so much for sharing the directions.

Anonymous said...

beautiful work ♥♥♥
Thanks for showing how you make your cubes ☼

Brigitte said...

You made some considerable progress on the Nora Corbett letter. And to continue the SFS plan for yourself and keep track of what you spend on your stitching hobby is a great idea. I have been doing so using my stitching diary for it. And since I have been browsing through my charts and magazines for the Alphabet Club posts I know much better than before what I have - a real eye opener, lol.

Your tutorial is absolutely clear and easy to follow. Thanks for taking all these pictures and explaining the how-to. I have already bought the double sided tape and will use it on my next pinkeep or when I try my first cube instead of glue. Thanks for the tip.

Leonore Winterer said...

Great progress on your letter fairy! Thanks for the boy tutorial as well, I always enjoy reading about new finishing ideas :)

Mii Stitch said...

Your take on the cube is lovely!
I did a few with cardboard too & they look just right :)

Katie said...

Well your cube is totally different but it would totally work that way too. Great job! Love the progress on your C and love your chart. Great job!!

D1-D2 said...

Thanks for the step by step instructions. I'm going to save it for the future ;)

Kaisievic said...

Great tutorial and yummy pie - your Nora Corbett is really starting to take shape now - lovely!

Sarah in Stitches said...

Love, love, love your cube finish! Thanks for showing us how you did it :D

Stitching Noni said...

Love your cube finish! What a neat way to make such a great shape! I am no good with geometry so having your pics will be a great hand when I finally get around to attempting one myself! :o)
Hugs xx

Shebafudge said...

What a lovely finish for your gorgeous poinsettia. It looks fantastic!