Designing my own cross stitch patterns

I designed the Monster Book of Monsters and the Time Turner charts to use in Chapter 3 of Stitch Your Own Adventure (SYOA) Letters From Hogwarts.  

I spent most of the day finalizing my patterns in Pattern Maker by HobbyWare.  

Then screen captured image and saved as a jpeg which I inserted into a Word document.  Added some stitching instructions. 

Then I saved the Word document into a pdf form.

Finally was able to upload pdf file onto the Facebook Group for everyone to enjoy.  

What a pain in the neck, but I learned some stuff and everyone in the group is happy.  

I wasted cross stitch and video game time. :( 

Here is the Monster Book of Monsters chart. If you want a copy of the pdf (with floss colours) leave me a comment and I can email it to you.

Here is the Time Turner chart. Leave comment if you want pdf of the chart.

Pattern Maker by HobbyWare

SYOA Chapter 3 was released on Friday, May 1.  I am still trying to decided what to stitch.  There are 3 choices for this chapter (Divination, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures).  I like the 3 class ideas, but unfortunately I am not feeling excited about any of the options given.  I’m working on making my own designs and/or modifications to Stewart’s original ones using Pattern Maker by HobbyWare.

UFO's

I’m a one at a time stitcher most of the time.  I will sometimes have a huge project and a very small project going at the same time.  In the past, I have also put a project aside to work on something that has a deadline.  I have always tried to finish every project that I start, but I do have 2 that I put in the UFO pile over the years.

UFO 1 (my oldest)
Cabin Fever -  Started sometime in 2009.

I have already decided that I will never finish this project.  I bought it as a kit at Michael's.  I don't usually buy kits.  I should have used my own fabric, because I prefer 28ct evenweave and this kit has 16ct or 18ct aida.
Here is a photo from the last time I stitched on it August 2009.

Last year, I found a puzzle of the same picture/name I bought it right away.  After all these years, I will enjoy building the puzzle more than stitching it.

UFO 2
Plaid Trousers - Started December 20, 2012

The project is being stitched on 28ct light blue evenweave, and I'm using Caron's Watercolour called Twinkle.

I stopped working on this project because I disliked the chart/pattern.  It is supposed to look like handwriting, so every letter looks different.  I like things uniform and symmetrical, so it bothered me trying to stitch the pattern.  I tried to rework each letter as I was stitching, but it got confusing and wasn't centered on the fabric.  I pulled out almost every stitch I put in, so I put it aside in 2013.  

This is what it looked like in 2013 when I last worked on it.

Should I continue?  

Should I frog and start over?  

Should I rework the pattern in Pattern Maker by HobbyWare (cross stitch program I use on my PC). 

Every year I think about finishing it, but never get around to it.  Well this year, I made a decision.  I really want to finish it this year, so this week I reworked the pattern in Pattern Maker by HobbyWare. I'm only stitching the poem words not the decorations around it.  I will try to find some plaid golf pants (stickers or scrapbook paper) to decorate the mat around the cross stitch when I frame it.  

2015 Friendship Exchange

It is time for our 2nd annual Friendship Exchange at my LNS (Stitcher's Place).  There were several of us participating.  I searched the web for Friendship quotes and found about 10 that I liked.  Then I asked my husband for his opinion to help narrow it down.  We decided on this one found at  http://thedailyquotes.com/post/7534 .

Here is my version of the quote.

I have always used Pattern Maker Professional for Cross Stitch by HobbyWare to create/modify my cross stitch charts.  

I typed the words, then searched through several books and magazines to find the perfect picture to represent each line of the poem.  I also like to personalize it so I stitched words in the tea cups.

This is my first attempt at making a flat-fold for my partner Tammy.  The Twisted Stitcher makes it look a lot easier.

I received a beautiful pillow from my stitching friend Rita.