Tales from Periphaeria

Well, I could, and will, start this post with apologies of not being around or my best, or even remotely close to it, and will blame my thyroid on it – again.
But this time the end result has been so amazing that I am not complaining, just stating facts.

I have had health issues since last July, when I got pregnant with our beautiful son who was born ~two weeks ago.
So, you understand why I am not complaining, despite having to fight with my thyroid for nine months. We got such a sweet little one out of it that I would do it again thousand times.

This is also why I haven’t yet posted latest newsletter with promised 5th anniversary gift. I was admitted to hospital for a while before little one was born and was dreadfully exhausted before that so… but when I get some free time from most important things our newsletter subscribers will get little something to their email boxes.

Until next time: happy stitching!

Would you like to stitch without having to spend money for the supplies and the design? Would you love to be an important part in bringing a new cross stitch design to market? Would you love to work with a cross stitch designer? Would you be able to stitch against deadline?

Would you want to tell your significant other that you just have to stitch because you are actually working?

I have the solution for you: I am in dire need of model stitchers!

Since Periphaeria Designs was born my life has changed so drastically that I just don’t have time to stitch much, but as I did and do design and have wide design stash just waiting to be stitched I need your help.

If this sounds like something you might want to do here is how it goes with me:

1. I will provide you with everything you need to stitch the design: fabric, floss, needle and the design. After you are done you will get to keep the chart and leftover materials.

2. You commit to stitch the design and return it to me by mail. You don’t need to finish the item, I will do that.

3. You commit to keep track of how much floss you use and report that to me and look for charting errors in the designs, of which you will inform me.

4. You are not allowed to publish pictures about the design before it has been published. Which means no WIP pictures, but I will provide you with picture (and the design in its official form) after the launch.

5. Naturally you will not share the chart itself with anyone, not in printed or electronic form, not prior or after the design is published.

6. I am not able to pay actual money, but you get project supplies for free, keep the excess floss and there is also fame: you will be credited in the design information as a model stitcher.

7. I may ask progress pictures from you to be sent through email.

It may sound awfully strict, but actually isn’t.

If you find yourself interested I would love to hear from you at periphaeria (at) email dot com (at and dot written as corresponding symbols).
Please include also the following information:

1. Link to your blog (I love a stitchy blog as much as any other stitcher!) or online photo album – or attach some pictures to the email – containing your stitching work.

2. Are you able to stitch

1. using silks or specialty fibers
2. with beads
3. on linen
4. over one, and on how high counts?

3. How fast stitcher are you?

4. Do you have time constraints (family, work etc.) or do you have nothing but time in your hands? (This is not a selection factor per se, I just need to know.)

5. Are you confident stitching big projects, especially under deadline?

5. What is the highest count you can work on? (I use fabrics up to 40 count.)

Please note that you have to be able to stitch on evenweaves as I never use aida in my models.

I am especially looking for people who could do big projects in reasonable amount of time when needed, but do also need stitchers for small projects.

Any questions? Want to try your luck? Just email me! (Only emails. Comments regarding model stitching will not be answered – I need you to be able to understand directions, you see. )

Now that the new designs are out it’s time for some more fun!

Yes, you read it right! I am having another Stitch-A-Long – and this time you know how the finished design looks like!

First things first, pictures!

Blue and brown scheme was the one I designed this with, but as I love to see how change of colour affects to a design I did some previews in different colour schemes:

(more…)

I have been appalled by DMC’s blatant disregard of designer copyrights for quite a while and have now decided to convert to using Anchor floss over time as I have found relative inexpensive source from US – and unlike DMC Coats (Anchor’s manufacturer) does not forbid retailers outside EU selling their cheaper floss to EU customers.
This means that eventually all the designs which are stitched with regular cotton floss will be charted for Anchor, BUT I acknowledge the fact that DMC is the most used floss in Western stitching world and will provide guiding conversions from Anchor to DMC.

Of course in future the best match to the original design is achieved by using Anchor floss when regular cotton is used.

Stitcher’s Addictions

I am glad to announce that next part of Stitcher’s Addictions complimentary series is now out and available for download from the main site!

As usual the file contains three versions of the design and you can use either the charted colours or choose your own.

I hope you enjoy stitching this design!

For some reason I have had this odd nervousness about my latest batch and how the prints turn out. For no specific reason, I am just annoyed by the fact that these have been prepared for the print whilst I was still configuring my system after OS re-installation (you got to “love” Microsoft’s updates when they mess up your whole system, right?) which also meant that my software related working environment changed quite drastically – only thing which remained the same was the designing software.
My new virtual printer has caused most of the stress because I had to start to use it out of the blue, I had no time to play around with it before preparing the files. It’s really a pain in the backside, but then… if there had been any problems with the outcome I am sure that my printer would have notified me.

Well, when September launch comes out I have got to know to my new software enough to not worry about things like this.

The Journey

I was watching one movie by Hayao Miyazaki some time ago and got an idea for a BIG design (we are talking of tens of thousands of stitches) from one tiny detail in said movie
After maturing it for a while (I had to, because I got the idea in midst of my deadline anxiety) I have got my hands to it and have spent few nights by designing it – it always goes like this: “I’ll just add this thing and go to bed, it shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes…” And after 2½ hours I notice that I am still awake and that fifteen minutes is long gone.
I am not complaining though, I love how the design finds its form in front of my very eyes, I love the way it occupies my thoughts. But I can’t help being afraid of the phase when it’s time to model stitch it, because it is bigger than anything I have ever finished before (I have one personal WIP which is bigger than DIP, but it’s only ~20% done – after one year )… This is one of those moments when I understand those designers who use software generated previews instead of the model stitched pieces.

Of course I could find a model stitcher for this, but for some reason I feel that it would break the intimate connection I have with the design. It has grown into me, and even the thought of a model stitcher for DIP is like a thought of giving my child away (not that I had any).
I know, it sounds rather silly. It sounds even sillier when I say that I have no issues to sell the chart after DIP is done. Maybe it’s the journey we, DIP and I, are making together which prevents me from giving it to be model stitched – as sometimes the journey is as, or even more, important than the destination.

A friend of mine said that she is amazed by my productivity, on how designs just seem to pop out of my head.
For me it’s just something that happens, just like sun rises in the morning (though today it’s hiding behind rain clouds).

I think that for the person oneself creating something, in my case cross stitch design(s), is like having red eyes (no, no, no… mine are blueish grey). For most people it’s something mystic, but for the person with red eyes they are just eyes, they have always been there. They may be unique, but are just eyes nevertheless..

Admittedly I am lucky because I’ve been dragged to museums, historical sights, theatres, exhibitions and galleries since I was a tiny toddler. I was lucky to get in a school where I was taught about the designing, all the tiny bits of it which do matter – and I was taught that creativity is just like any other tool, it gets rusty if it’s not used, that creativity is just another skill, you can’t master it if you don’t practise it on daily basis. (As someone has said: Creative process consists from 99% of hard work and sweat, and 1 % of inspiration.
My intention is not to diminish the gift of creativity, but it really is just another tool: we all have different kinds of tools, some are better crafted than others, some are tended with love, some are abandoned. But we all have that little spark in ourselves, we just need to feed it and listen it.) I have been lucky to have supportive friends and family members who have believed, and do believe, in me. And I have been lucky to have friends who have been the reason for me to get onto this road, and that I have friends who have also been there and helped a dream called Periphaeria Designs to come true.

Anyway, personally designing is usually the easy part in the idea’s way to finished design. Somehow those little squares just make sense, they just want to group into odd forms, they want to develop to other things… and sometimes they want to keep me awake whole night long.

If you ask me one necessary characteristic of a designer I give you mania(/hyperfocus). You don’t have to have it, but some manic tendencies are really G-d sent when you have tons of ideas, but your body wants to go to bed, or when deadline is approciaching fast and you are only half done with everything. That is when you bless that tendency – even you sometimes curse it when you keeps awake at night because you can’t sleep in middle of an idea storm.

I admit that sometimes I do wonder where it all comes from, but lately I have realised that I can’t keep my eyes open without absorbing influences from my surrounding world. Nowadays I can’t even watch movies without thinking “now that is one interesting form…“. Actually I find it rather amusing even though it can be annoying if you concentrate on thinking of some form instead of following the story.
I also admit that I have my moments of fear, because losing what I have found would be a great loss to me (even it is also a great stress factor it gives more than it takes).