Since it is AmiguruMay, I took a day off from doing the things I should have been doing and made a little sea turtle.
The pattern is called Green Sea Turtle and is found in the eBook Amigurumi Wildlife Adventure by Iralia Gray and Irene Strange.
This is not the color palette called for in the pattern, but I was working from my stash and I think it still came out super cute.
A straight time lapse of the full making of this turtle would’ve been way too long and boring, so I just filmed bits and pieces. Here it is on YouTube:
As for the details, I used La Mia Cottony Minis, 22g of the light green and 12g of the teal, some 10 mm safety eyes, and it’s stuffed with yarn ends, old swatches, and some spinning remnants. Head to tail measures 7in, widest point fin to fin is 9in, and tallest point is 2.5in. I was able to start and finish it all on Wednesday.
When you are done with your cross stitch piece, you have to decide how to display it. A very protective way is to frame it. For this you will need an appropriately-sized frame and self-stick backing board.
The first step whenever you finish a cross stitch piece is to wash it using a mild laundry detergent. My favorite way is to use a no-rinse detergent like Soak or Eucalan and soak the whole piece in a bowl with the soap and water for around half an hour, and then let it air dry overnight. This will get rid of any water-eraseable markings along with most marks from your hands. You can also toss in a color catching sheet into the soaking water to help prevent color bleeding.
Once the piece is dry, flip it facedown and iron it on the rear at a medium setting, being sure not to linger too long in any one spot to prevent burning your fabric or threads. This will get out any wrinkles that may have shown up while it was drying.
Peel the cover off your backing board and place your cross stitch piece on it, centering it first and then pressing outward, making sure to stick it down flat all the way to the edges.
Depending on the depth of your frame, you can either trim the excess fabric to about 1/2 inch on each side of the board and pull it around to the back of the backing board, or trim it next to the edges of the board. Place it into your frame and display it on a shelf or a wall.
Here’s a video to help you through the framing portion of this step:
When you are done with your cross stitch piece, you have to decide how to display it. One of the most common is in a hoop, either the one you stitched in or one purely for display. For this you will need your hoop, white felt, embroidery thread, and, optionally, some ribbon for a hanger.
The first step whenever you finish a cross stitch piece is to wash it using a mild laundry detergent. My favorite way is to use a no-rinse detergent like Soak or Eucalan and soak the whole piece in a bowl with the soap and water for around half an hour, and then let it air dry overnight. This will get rid of any water-eraseable markings along with most marks from your hands. You can also toss in a color catching sheet into the soaking water to help prevent color bleeding.
Once the piece is dry, flip it facedown and iron it on the rear at a medium setting, being sure not to linger too long in any one spot to prevent burning your fabric or threads. This will get out any wrinkles that may have shown up while it was drying.
Take the inside of your hoop and trace around it on a piece of felt. Cut this out and set it aside to cover the back of the hoop at the end.
Place your piece back into the hoop, making sure it is centered and that the screw is centered at the top, and trim excess fabric to around 1 or 2 inches outside the hoop. Thread 3 or 4 strands of thread into your needle and sew a running stitch all around the edge of the fabric, leaving tails at the beginning and end. Pull both tails to bring the excess fabric around the back of the hoop and tie the tails together to hold it in place.
Using a blanket stitch, sew the felt to the back of the fabric on the center of the hoop. Use more embroidery thread or some ribbon and create a hanger for your hoop, or lean it on a shelf.
Casey Kay B 