The Crafting Thread

Crawfish · Jan 19, 2020, 8:57 PM

For all my spoonies out there, myself included. I made a bunch of these.

ETA: That is the world's smallest anvil btw.

Macha · Jan 20, 2020, 2:36 AM

@SinCerely I totally want one.

Crawfish · Jan 20, 2020, 3:09 AM

@Macha I'll let you know when I list them again. Shouldn't be too long.

peasoupling · Jan 20, 2020, 3:10 AM

@SinCerely I would need a slotted spoon, for accuracy!

Crawfish · Jan 20, 2020, 3:12 AM

@peasoupling said in The Crafting Thread:

@SinCerely I would need a slotted spoon, for accuracy!

With the little holes in it???

peasoupling · Jan 20, 2020, 3:17 AM

@SinCerely said in The Crafting Thread:

@peasoupling said in The Crafting Thread:

@SinCerely I would need a slotted spoon, for accuracy!

With the little holes in it???

Yes!

Not really. Though some are very pretty!

Crawfish · Jan 20, 2020, 3:19 AM

@peasoupling said in The Crafting Thread:

@SinCerely said in The Crafting Thread:

@peasoupling said in The Crafting Thread:

@SinCerely I would need a slotted spoon, for accuracy!

With the little holes in it???

Yes!

Not really. Though some are very pretty!

I can make one for you!

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 3:08 PM

I want something that will clamp to my desk and hold my cross-stitch frame/hoop.

I am struggling to google/search for such an item.

Surely one of you lovely people can help.

JinShei · Jan 20, 2020, 3:21 PM

@Auspice Like this?

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 3:22 PM

@JinShei said in The Crafting Thread:

@Auspice Like this?

That would work! I was thinking like, a clamp that I'd put onto my own frames. I hadn't thought of one that's its own frame. HMM. Thank you!

surreality · Jan 20, 2020, 3:30 PM

@Auspice Michaels has a stand thing. There's one with a frame built in, and one that clips to an existing frame. Would need to sit next to the desk, but those 40% off coupons are kinda handy for such things.

https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Edmunds-Universal-Craft-6111/dp/B000YZ7M0W/ <-- Michaels has this one.

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 3:32 PM

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

@Auspice Michaels has a stand thing. There's one with a frame built in, and one that clips to an existing frame. Would need to sit next to the desk, but those 40% off coupons are kinda handy for such things.

https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Edmunds-Universal-Craft-6111/dp/B000YZ7M0W/ <-- Michaels has this one.

I was just looking at one on etsy that's the 'sit on' kind and like meh, that'd be a pain. Plus, wouldn't hold the new scroll frame someone gave me (!!! she wasn't using it!).

Might have to add to my next Michaels order for sure.

That scroll frame is the main reason I want one. It's the perfect size for the HP cross-stitch, but it's been awkward to stitch. I can already stitch left- or right-handed, but holding it is still kind of a pain. (But not having to deal with oodles of fabric hanging out of a smaller hoop is nice)

surreality · Jan 20, 2020, 3:43 PM

@Auspice There's a slightly more expensive one at Michaels that has a built-in scroll frame, but that one is likely a better bet, and is honestly cheaper and looks more versatile. The other one is PRETTIER, I think, but... meh.

I am a not-hoop-or-frame-using asshole (as in, I am an asshole for not using one) in most cases, but if I was going to go there, I would proooooobably save up for one of these: https://www.embroidery.com/ez-stitch-oak-lap-stand.ec?efid=3064

It's worth checking out that product line, though no handy coupons unfortunately.
https://www.embroidery.com/Easy-Ez-Scroll-Frames.ec

As my poor cat well knows, I have no lap to speak of since I'm short and made of boobs, but that one angles all manner of ways and can be set up on a desktop. There's also a shit-ton of different size bars and side rods you can order. It just only works with its own pieces and parts, though. My office is also like 'hahahahahaha girrrrrrrrl like you have space for that!' so it's not a priority.

I have an old one living in storage out on the porch from Lacis, but it was a heavy nightmare, required basting, and isn't very flexible. It's lovely but like... it's the sort of lovely that I think I'd just use to put something in to display some day and call it done. (I think that one was mostly for tambour work, which I love in theory but never really got into beyond dabbling/enough to justify this thing standing in the middle of the floor all the time.)

The bad person part of my brain is like: 'Come on, girl, how hard would it be to build one... ' and I need to tell that part of my brain to STFU, since if I don't have space for the stand, I certainly don't have space to build a stand.

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 3:46 PM

@surreality I need a hoop/frame because I like the fabric to be TAUT as I work. It's an OCD thing. I think I spend more time adjusting the hoop/frame than I do stitching sometimes (upside: my fabric ends up very soft/supple by the end).

My mom has a standing frame she no longer uses (because she crochets and doesn't stitch now). I intend to demand she bring it to me next time they drive out here.

I DO have a lap. And it is occupied p much constantly. Black cat is obsessive over my time.

surreality · Jan 20, 2020, 3:57 PM

@Auspice I keep getting nothing done since I have armrest cat now. Armrest cat: best deterrent to posting on MSB, even!

In my dream world, I'd have someone who knows how to wood build one that can not just tilt up/down, but angle, since I angle a whole lot. I always did with drawing/painting, too, so it's just... nnngh.

The test piece of the eye gradient is not huge, but not small, and it's too big to work with on a qsnap in my workspace really with all the cat interruptions. (Read: I knock shit over all the time when I have to quickly put it aside, and sometimes that shit is coffee or a lit clove, eeeee.) The full size eye... nnnnngh. I'm grateful I have to dye stuff for it. Maybe I'll win the lottery before all the materials are assembled and I can have someone build a nice floor stand. (ETA: I just checked... the one where I accidentally missed adding in two of the colors for the repeats would be a little over 24 inches wide, and is 42 inches tall... so probably 48-50 tall once they're in. AUGH.)

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 3:57 PM

@surreality

Ike either sits in my lap or drapes on my shoulder. The latter usually gets her set on the floor.

I love the q-snap in general, but for this piece....... yeah. No. At 21x21 inches there was too much spare fabric for an 8" q-snap.

I have to frog stuff tonight tho. I did a whole bunch last night one row off. I dunno if I'll just cut it out or try to back it out. Even so, SECOND TIME I have to frog a whole section. I'm like, 2 steps forward 1 back on this damn thing. It's cursed.

I might go to the Star Wars blackwork just for a change of pace, even tho I'm damning myself by doing that whole thing in metallics (it'll look soooooo gooooood when I'm done tho)

surreality · Jan 20, 2020, 4:04 PM

@Auspice I focused on the stripey weird stitch pattern for a bit while Gothsbane is wandering the wilds. Black aida and brights and a white cat? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... nope. She barely sheds, which amazes me, but it's still barely, and barely is enough.

Michaels also has their version of qsnaps pretty affordably, fwiw. I have a nightmare of a time getting those clips off, though, damn.

I figure, at least at the end of this I'll have a nice strip of something I can use to make a crochet hook roll or maybe the world's biggest needle scroll or somesuch. Shouldn't be hard to find some nice batik or something to bind/edge it with. I am being BAD re: seam edges, though. It's... real close to the edges, but since I know I'm going to bind them by hand later I'm not stressing it.

Also, omg I need to know where you found the marked tape, because working with white artist tape is a pain in the ass. What I wouldn't give for a serger...

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 4:09 PM

@surreality said in The Crafting Thread:

Also, omg I need to know where you found the marked tape, because working with white artist tape is a pain in the ass. What I wouldn't give for a serger...

lol people always comment on that tape.
It's just some cheap packing tape with purple stripes that I got on a whim yeeeeears ago to see if I could do anything with it and this is literally all it gets used for.... unless I need packing tape. I THINK I got it at Walmart? Like I literally couldn't tell you now because it was so long ago!

But that's all it is. Decorative packing tape. But since my edges fray so much I was like 'fuck you slapping this on there' and people are like THAT'S SUCH A GOOD IDEA and I flail like uh thanks I just did a thing in a panic.

surreality · Jan 20, 2020, 4:15 PM

@Auspice The lines are doubtless super frickin' helpful to get it on there straight is why I'm like 'THAT IS GENIUS!' -- they should make that stuff for this, truly.

^ Notice how none of these actually work (mayyyyybe the olive one?) but this is why I'm not allowed to go to fabric stores unsupervised, there's a lot of 'but it's a small cheap piece and it's SO PRETTY!' (In fairness, the Japanese pieces are to go with a different project pile I've been assembling over the years when I find nice bits.)

Irony: I got the batiks to test this design in a much more open pattern over something so the design would show through... and forgot the stabilizer I need to mark over the top of it. Another trip to the fabric store looms in the future. (Sadly, that would have to go on a frame, grump grump grump.)

Auspice · Jan 20, 2020, 4:28 PM

@surreality

I get free squares off of spoonflower regularly in the 'this could be fun to embroider on' p often. I have a tentacle one now where I'm satin-stitching over the suckers. You can barely see it except at an angle, so it'll be more a textured piece than anything.

And I need to re-buy the Middle Earth map because the fabric they were offering at the time is teeeeeeeeerrible for stitching, but I still wanna do my idea.

So, yeah, I've got tons of fabric for embroidery that's bad for embroidery.