Cross stitching

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I love cross stitching and have been doing it for many years. I don't do the large ones so much now as I have nowhere to hang them, but I did all granddaughters birth samplers and height charts, also tooth fairy pillows. I stitched the apache marriage blessings for my son and daughter when they got married and have stitched several large ones for myself and my sister. I find that at the end of the day when all jobs are done I can put the tv on and quite happily sit down for the night stitching. I now concentrate more on stitching greetings cards, mostly Christmas so that I can sell them on ebay to give me some extra Christmas money. The only problem I have is finding aperture card blanks that are not the standard size.

That is beautiful Stangran, I hope you use your great knowlege and teach others. You can come here, I will be one of your pupils!

Yorkshiregel if you join Pinterest or Instagram you will find lots of pictures of arts and crafts.Pinterest is great as you can start your own boards for particular subjects.You can type your interest into the search box and the pictures give you links to tutorials,patterns,blogs,etc.
I was addicted to cross stitch and would stitch on anything from t-shirts to pillowcases as well as make cards and pictures.I can no longer do it because of brittle bones in my hand and wrist but I do manage to do a bit of crochet from time to time and have to be content with that now.I still like to look at other people's work though-some of it is stunning.

Where do I find these pictures of things people have made? I have read this a few times, ie art, photography and now cross stitch.

Maybe one of you experts might help a complete beginner. I have tackled cross stitch and I would love to do it better. The problem was that I filled in all the blanks with stitches of the same colour and I got very bored with it so it landed in the cupboard and never came out again. My question is, are you supposed to fill in the background or not? Such a faff. I would love to make a church kneeler but need to practise first.

I love cross stitch as well as it's really the only creative in any sense thing I can do. Being short-sighted means it's not a problem at the moment. The biggest worry I had was that, although I've had operations for carpal tunnel on both hands, for various reasons the one on my right-hand was delayed and I have some nerve damage, but luckily it doesn't seem to be causing a problem. I think the pictures of all your work are lovely. I'm very envious of your skill!

Gill, I love heaven an earth designs, so beautiful, no back stitching or fractionals, bliss

I love my stitching, I always have, but now have so much more time since retiring. At the moment I am working on a "Heaven and Earth" design called Walk as One. It has over a quarter of a million stitches, but I am loving every minute of the time spent on it. After almost a year I am still only about a third of the way through. ?

Hi again I'm enjoying it only frustrated that when I'm free to do it the light has gone I 'll try the daylight lamp .

Starbird, my younger daughter bought me one a few days aso, haven't used it yet, thought best to wait for new specs

I have a daylight lamp (not just a white bulb) that I have positioned so that it shines onto my lap for sewing, reading, computer use etc - it is brilliant, I find I don't need a magnifier when using it. I also set it up to shine onto the table when I play scrabble and other games. Highly recommend it.

Hi Italiangirl, it's a most enjoyable craft isn't it, I love it so much, just before Christmas a lens fell out if my new spectacles, having poor eyesight this caused problems, couldn't stitch, then solved it by wearing a patch over one eye and carried on stitching hope specs arrive next week

I am working on two AOY kits at the moment

Hi there I'm working on an American pattern picking it up after many years glAd to meet other stitchers,

That's great riclorian , fifty cards ? that is a love of stitching

Last year I decided to go back to cross stitching again, having made several pictures in the past , and thought it a good idea to make my own Xmas cards .I became absolutely hooked and ended up making about fifty cards plus a few birthday cards starting in March and ending at the beginning of December .Just stitching one occasionally when tired of other hobbies .I sent for 1 or 2 kits and repeated the designs many times.There are quite a few companies to go to on the internet . Having just discovered this site has reminded me that I must soon make a start on next year's cards ! ! !

It's lovely Stansgran, and very clever

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I haven't got a pattern as such. It's extremely random and I'm using only left over threads which is why there is no order in the colours but I am enjoying it.

They do mount up Rosiebee, like you I just cannot stop stitching. Have just finished three of Derwent Waters sunset collection.

I always have some cross stitch on the go. Ebay is a great site for buying kits and charts. I've just bought a lovely collection of sampler patterns for just 99p and a sampler kit for £10.95.
Moira Blackburn creates some fabulous traditional samplers and can they be bought as a kit or chart from her website.
My problem is that I now have a stack of finished work that I don't know what to do with. All big projects are framed but I've got a set of individual flowers, one for each month, small samplers and pictures. Considering making some into cushions. Trouble is I can't stop making things and I have a similar problem with patchwork, but that's another story.

That's great baNANAGran, I have had some lovely patterns from Etsy

Just to let you know, I've found a brilliant website, www.etsy.com and there it was. Have downloaded a PDF file (cost £3 something). Not printed it out yet but looks great.

Many thanks for your suggestions, I shall follow them up. Good point about the copyright!

baNANAGran, I think there may be copyright issues with Bankys work but you could ask DMC

There is good software which will enable you to do this and DMC also offer the service, you just send a photograph and they turn into a chart

Thank you both.
You can get patterns made from your own pictures, not sure how you would get on with something like a Banksy image though.
My mum had one printed from a photo of my Dads motorbike.