You will need the following supplies...

		One skein each of DMC embroidery floss in the following colors: #727 Light Yellow; #783 Gold; #906 Medium Green; #931 Dark Blue; #932 Light Blue; #3345 Dark Green; #3687 Dark Pink; #3689 Light Pink and the color Ecru. You will have floss left over when this project is complete, you may want to save it for another project. One 4" x 8" (10.16 cm x 20.32 cm) piece of 14-count Ivory Aida cloth. Aida cloth is the most common fabric used for counted cross stitch, it comes in several count sizes but the most commonly used are 14-count and 18-count. The count size refers to the number of stitches per inch in the completed work. Naturally a design stitched on 18-count is going to turn out much smaller than the same design stitched on 14-count. Aida cloth is an evenweave fabric with little squares woven right into it so you can easily see where to place your stitches. It is available in a variety of colors as shown in the picture. Size 26 tapestry needles, scissors, thimble and floss holder. Tapestry needles have a blunt point rather than a sharp one, the larger the needle size the smaller the needle. The holes are woven into the fabric so a sharp point is not usually required. I only use a sharp embroidery needle if I am working some decorative top-stitching on top of my cross stitches and I want to make sure I don't have a problem poking my needle through. Small embroidery scissors work best, you can control them better. It's good idea to get used to using a thimble. Your thimble should be worn on the middle finger and used to push the needle through the fabric, otherwise your finger tip can become quite sore over time. I use a flexible leather type that is available in fabric stores. I don't use an embroidery hoop while cross stitching but some people do. If you decide to use one, the fabric cut has to be a large enough to completely fit inside the hoop with extra fabric around the perimeter to keep the fabric taut. Remember to remove the hoop when you're not stitching, it will leave a ring on the fabric. Other items that are nice to have are shown in the picture on the left. They are a butterfly floss holder (any other shape will work nicely), nice for holding stands of floss that have been cut into approximaetly 1 yard (91.44 cm) lengths. A needle case or pincushion, it's handy to have several needles threaded with different colors while working. This saves you from threading a needle every time you change a color. A water soluble blue pen (available in fabric shops). You should never mark on your fabric with a pencil, ball point pen or marker. Marks made with these instruments usually never come out. With the water soluble blue pen, you can mark to your hearts content and just hold the piece under cool water, your marks will disappear.  All of these supplies are available in most fabric stores, needlework shops and craft shops. They are also available online from several sources.

| Home | About Me | Growing Up | Grown Up | Contact | Links | History | Supplies | Stitches | | Charts | Stitching | Assembling | Laundering | Gallery |