new skills: satin stitch and cross stitch

June is a hard month for me to have a craft blog. I’m busy with birthday, Father’s Day, and anniversary gifts. Throw in the occasional June wedding and there’s not a lot of time left for non-secret crafting. Most of this month’s posts will probably be close-up shots. At the end of the month, I’ll do a full reveal!

Project #1 required two new stitches for me: satin stitch on the machine and cross stitch by hand. Both are taking a lot of practice.

My machine’s tension is very sensitive. One millimeter in the wrong direction and I get a tangled mess. Here is the wrong side of my practice fabric. The one on the bottom left was the best I could get.

Here are the finished stitches before pressing. (The iron was off at this point and I was too lazy to turn it back on for a photo.)

Here are my attempts at cross stitch. After my first two tries I went back to what I know best: the running stitch and back stitch.

I think the single strand cross stitch initial is my favorite, though. I just need a little bit more practice.