About
There are various crafts that I like to do, with one of my main ones being cross stitch. There will be lots of photos of cross stitch on here! The cross stitch designs which I like to do the most are nature/wildlife themed ones, fandom themed ones when I can find designs on etsy, and seasonal ones, such as Halloween. I have been cross stitching on and off since 1995 but it's only been recently that I've tried more than just 'making cards' etc, with it, and found that I like working on evenweave fabrics.
I also like other kinds of sewing - I did textiles many years ago for my technology option at school, though most of that was with a machine, which I don't like as I find controlling the machine on anything but straight lines to be problematic so I prefer hand-sewing. Most of the items are really for decoration purposes too, rather than being clothing or blankets for instance. (I found that I didn't enjoy making clothes that much when I did textiles.)
I like to work with felt as I find it easy to work with - it doesn't really need a great deal of preparation and doesn't fray, so I prefer using that to other fabrics. I do sometimes use cotton fabrics if I find ones which have patterns on them which I like and these can sometimes be incorporated in to my cross stitch projects, especially when I'm making hanging ornament decorations.
Although cross stitch is my favourite type of embroidery to work with, I have tried other things and I would like to do more silk-shading. It took me a long time to go back to non-cross stitch embroidery because I always felt like I couldn't sew neatly or accurately enough but working with felt has convinced me otherwise. I like the idea of silk shading as it is essentially 'painting' with thread and after buying a kit (there really aren't that many out there, sadly), and a book, I've decided that I should give it a go. What I like is being able to draw my own designs with it and I think after doing a few kits I should be able to do that!
One other type of sewing which I like to do is patchwork, or English Paper Piecing as it is also known as. It was one of the few things I learnt doing textiles at school which I actually enjoyed doing (probably because I didn't need a machine to do it) and I find hexagon patterns fascinating to look at.
I sometimes like to draw and paint, and although I am adequate, I wouldn't say that I am a very skilled artist. I can draw animals pretty well, and plants and landscapes to a certain extent, but I don't have the skills to do very fine details which fine art requires. My style (if I have one!) focuses mainly on colour and western cartoon style of drawing. I love working with acrylics and watercolour the most and mostly draw animals, trees and landscapes. I am terrible at drawing people, even though I have given it a shot. Sometimes, I like to do abstract work because then I can focus on the colour which helps clear my mind and is a kind of meditation for me.
I have done some dolls house miniature making, but at the moment this hobby is in a dormant stage. I find it difficult to find the room for it, both for displaying finished pieces (12th scale houses can be quite big!) and the space needed for making them. I could really do with twice the space that I have now to work on them.
These days, I tend to stay away from forums though I hate not being able to discuss my crafty hobbies with people - unfortunately, I've found forums to either not be active enough to talk about things, or they tend to be cliquey and you've had to have been a member from the start of the forum to be accepted, or do similar things to the other members which is one of the reasons why I decided to do this site.
All in all, I love my crafty hobbies because they make me feel like I've accomplished something in spite of the various health issues I've developed.