Quaker Rose Freebie - American Heart Month

Hello February! Our Quaker Rose freebie is designed to celebrate American Heart Month. Did you know that women in the United States and globally suffer from heart disease more than any other illness? It's a great time to think about our heart health! There are also several organizations that support the research of cardiovascular diseases that accept donations.  Quaker Rose would be a lovely gift for a Valentine, or would make a sweet pin pillow, ornament, or needlebook.

The design is available as a color chart as well as a black and white chart. Download the PDF below or on our Freebie page.

Quaker Rose freebie pattern download

Frances Sweetlove 1827

*This freebie offer has ended, thank you*

To celebrate the end of Sampler September and the start of my birthday month, I would like to make my new reproduction sampler, Frances Sweetlove 1827, available for free download until the end of October ❤! 

Frances Sweetlove is an English sampler. Besides several alphabets, this sampler has an interesting band made up of Zodiac and planetary symbols! It is stitched in two colors - most of it in a dark teal, but there is also a bit of greenish black, possibly where Frances ran out of teal thread. I picked out Classic Colorworks Erin Go Emerald and GAST Raven, but you can chose any colors you prefer.

There is an eyelet alphabet and a four-sided stitch alphabet. Those can be stitched as regular cross stitches instead if you like.

Frances Sweetlove 1827

And here is a mockup as a red sampler, my favorite! Wouldn't this be stunning all year, but especially "sweet" for Valentine's Day?

**Please note that copyright laws still apply and this chart may not be shared or distributed.**

P.S. Watch out for the 15th "I" in the first row. Frances did not follow her regular spacing!

Sampler Pinkeep

Really love my Sampler Pinkeep with its large basket of flowers on the front and personalized cartouche on the back. I’ve been meaning to officially chart this up but if anyone wants to give it a go, you can use my draft of the chart below.

Basket of Flowers:
Basket/Leaves- DMC 939

Red flowers - DMC 355

Tan flower - DMC 3828

NOTE: Leave an extra gap between the two sides of the pinkeep so you can cut them apart and assemble them into a pillow! Or stitch them on totally different fabrics :)

Cartouche:

Gray vine - DMC 3799

Gold flowers - DMC 831

Initials* - DMC 939

*For the initials I just looked for a free alphabet online that I liked and that fits.

Sampler Pinkeep (shown as crosses)

Sampler Pinkeep (shown as blocks)

Sewing Method Isolated Pin Stitches

Here is my "secure and carry" method that I use every once in a while for isolated pin stitches. This is not an official method but it seems to work. Give it a try and adapt it as you like!

In summary, I complete the top leg first and then secure the bottom leg by stitching it as two sets of quarter stitches. 

If there are many isolated stitches I just carry my threads between all of them (I dislike starting and finishing threads so frequently!) and then snip/trim all the carries at the end. Because all the threads' starts and tails are secure they don't need any additional weaving or tucking. 

When using DMC I may even carry as far as an inch or two(!), but with overydyes and silks I wouldn't go over an inch because it would waste too much thread. And of course, trim them all at the end.

If you are carrying over to the center of the second stitch....👇:

Sewing Method Pin Stitch

Here's a demonstration of my no-flip Sewing Method Pin Stitch.  I frequently start my thread this way when using the sewing method with one strand of thread. (If I am using two strands I use the loop method from the top of the fabric instead.)

**Note: If I am using the "stab" method rather than the sewing method, I insert my needle into the center of the stitch so I don't have to double up on quarter stitch from the previous step. But you can do whichever is more convenient because I don't think the doubling up shows up either way.

© Stone Street Stitchworks

Welcome to my blog! My name is Salma and I am the owner and designer of Stone Street Stitchworks. I create original needlework/cross-stitch designs and have my patterns available for sale on Etsy. I post most of my stitching progress - for my shop and for personal stitching as well - on Instagram. This blog is intended to share stitching thoughts and experiences that require more detailed explanations and for rambly thoughts about other creative interests like quilting, applique, and general crafts!