I just attended the annual Quilt-A-Fair in Longmont, Colorado and discovered this new type of cross stitch from Mill Hill that uses beads! I used to love doing counted cross stitch but it just takes so long to finish a project that I gave up on the hobby. But these new kits from Mill Hill are sewn on perforated paper. It’s a little like plastic canvas, but it is flat so it is much easier to sew on. And they also mix beads and traditional cross stitch for a shiny, dimensional effect. I love it!

You can’t buy the kits from http://www.wichelt.com directly, but you can find them at local retailers like Country Crafts in Greeley, Colorado and online. I know this isn’t a usual DSC blog topic, but it does involve needle and thread so I decided to write about it anyway.

Because check this out! One of the things I hated about counted cross stitch was trying to keep track of where you were in the pattern. The patterns were small, dense, black and white, and a pain to read. But in this day of modern technology, I can scan the pattern, save it as a PDF, transfer the PDF to my iPad using DropBox or email, and then open the PDF in a different app.

I have an app called UPAD that I use to solve paper-and-pencil puzzles like those made by krazydad. You can draw on your PDF with what looks like a thin marker or a thicker highlighter in a variety of colors. You can zoom in and out. A small iPad stylus is quite helpful for drawing.

So I scanned in my cross stitch chart and the legend using my printer/scanner. I converted it to a PDF. (This was all done on my Mac). I then copied the PDF to a DropBox folder. I opened the DropBox folder on my iPad, downloaded the PDF, and opened it in UPAD. In UPAD, I can zoom in and out over the design chart. This is great for aging eyes! And best of all, I can mark a small dot on each square in the pattern as I stitch! I can use different colors. I can erase old dots if they’re getting in the way. It’s perfect!

Mill Hill makes a lot of fun little kits that I can finish in two evenings. They also make larger square designs that are meant to be framed with frames that they sell (or your own, of course). They’re fun and sparkly! If you’ve given up on cross stitching, you might give it another go. Modern technology makes the process much easier now!