Summer Cross Stitch Camp

 June 1st saw the first day of summer and that means long afternoons, enjoying the sun and sitting in the garden cross stitching – hopefully!

Now, I know I keep banging on about Flosstube, but since it’s discovery I have found a whole load of ‘stitchey’ activities that have pushed me to try things I probably never would have in the past, like joining in with Stitch Maynia, and an on-line community (Facebook and Instagram) of lovely, generous and likeminded people who share my passion for stitching and other crafty pursuits.

One of the many flosstubs that I watch regularly is that of the Colorado Cross Stitcher, also known as Sheri Truax Berger.    

Sheri owns a wool shop called the Loopy Ewe and every year she runs a virtual knitting summer camp over the months of June, July and August, where she sets monthly challenges.

Not so much here in the UK, but 'Summer Camp' is a big thing in the USA, as are Cross Stitch Retreats and conventions and because all of that has been on hold for the last 18 months due to Covid-19, people I’m sure were getting withdrawal symptoms.

Anyway, what I discovered whilst watching Sherie’s latest Flosstube, was that she was planning to start the first  virtual ‘Cross Stitch’ Summer Camp’, so I was there immediately to book my place!

It will run over three months with challenges set for each one.  You have to post pictures on Instagram of your starts on the first of each month and have to finish and post a picture of your completed work on or before the last day of the month.  Then, there will be prize draws for all those that complete the task, and a grand draw for all those that complete all three months.   Fun or what?

The task for June was to stitch something that has been inspired by someone else, so I chose to do ‘Blue Bird’, designed by Yulia Do, on Etsy.

I found Yulia, thanks to another Flosstuber that I follow, Jan Hicks of Jan Hicks Creates.    She does a segment she calls ‘Let’s Go Shopping’ where she reviews various Etsy shops and web sites and she shared the beautiful charts from Yulia……..needless to say I went shopping straight after and landed myself a few of her charts, Blue Bird being one of them.

So on the 1^st June I duly took a photo of my project, fabric and floss, posted it on Instagram (#CrossStitchCamp) and made a start.

I'm stitching on White, 32ct Murano Evenweave, using Anchor threads and I’m now seven days in and just have the backstitching and French knots to do to finish it.

The chatter on the Facebook group has been fun too as you can imagine, with more than 800 of us joining in. 

We’ve had questions asked, so we can get to know everyone.

Where do you live and where would you move to if they had the chance?  (The majority are in the US, with a some from the UK, Australia and other places)   

Do you have furry stitching companions? 

And what is your favourite family ‘go to’ recipe?

There's been lots of chatter 'around the campfire' and it's been very amusing to read Felicity’s 'Letters Home’ every day!

 The challenges continue through the summer, with July’s being to stitch a designer that you have never stitched before, so I’m planning on doing one of the designs from the Blackbird ‘Loose Feathers’ series.   And the final challenge for August is to use fabric or floss that you’ve never used before.  I’m going to attempt to stitch on 40 count fabric, if my eyes allow me to, although I haven’t decided what I’m going to stitch yet, so watch this space!

 So now dear friends, I’m off to the virtual lake (my back garden with miniature water fall feature) to stitch the afternoon away before the forecast rain arrives around 4pm.

I hope you all enjoy your afternoon too.

Happy Crafting!

(Whatever you passion may be)

Sue

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