Double the Fun Crafts - Yvette's Petitpoint Blog

An Interesting Side Project

7/10/2025

As with most Craft-minded people, I have multiple crafts that I like to do. Two years ago, I discovered the joys of Diamond art and started doing that in between my stitching projects to give my mind (and eyes) a break from miniature stitching.

A few months ago, I decided to investigate having a kit custom made for me using one of my own dollhouse rug designs. It took me quite a while to find a company that would be willing to create the kit for me without a photograph and using the colors and amounts of diamond drills that I chose. I did not wish to send them a picture of my design and have them choose the colors, I wanted my own colors. The program I use to assist me in my petit point designs tells me exactly how many stitches I use in each color, so it was easy to tell them how many diamond drills I needed. As an added bonus, diamond drills are matched to DMC colors, which is what gave me the idea in the first place.

The company I found, after contacting several, is in New Brunswick, Canada and the owner was extremely easy to work with. Here is a link to her website if interested: True North Diamond Art. My custom kit of my Jocelyn rug pattern arrived in the mail on July 7th! I was so excited, I had to start it right away! This kit was a birthday present to myself and arrived just in time. Above is the bottom left corner of my design done in square diamond drills. Due to the nature of Diamond art, all pictures end up with a pixelated look when looking up close like this photo is, but they look great from a distance. This picture will eventually go into a frame I have on hand and I look forward to watching this one progress.

A Few New Patterns Uploaded!

7/10/2025

It has been a while since I posted, but I have not been idle. I have been test stitching sections of several rug patterns to make sure the colors and patterns work before adding them to our website.
I have now added three new patterns to the site and have turned my attention to stitching some pillows in preparation for the upcoming MET Show in Toronto this October. Here are photos of the three new patterns I uploaded.

Jocelyn Pattern

Each of these patterns are quite different and may be found by following the link below each one. Inspiration for these came from various sources. Yana was a line drawing on a Royalty Free site, Judith and Jocelyn were inspired by photos of antique rugs found while browsing the internet. Modifications were made to each design to allow the patterns to work in miniature.

One of the most difficult parts of designing is trying to decide upon colors. My Yana was easy because I returned to one of my favorite blue pallets and the ideas just flowed smoothly. Judith and Jocelyn were both much more complicated. When designing, I initially choose what looks good to me on the computer screen. Once I have finished mapping out the designs and the elements within them, I then go to my little floss color cards that I made especially for designing (a-small-side-project-i-have-been-working-on.html ) and pull the colors I chose. More often than not, I like the colors I originally chose, but in some cases they look so different from what I see on my computer screen that I change out some of the colors to match my vision on the screen. Then begins the test stitching.

In the case of Judith, I chose sections of elements from all over the rug and stitched them individually to make sure the colors and motifs looked the way I wished them to. I found the greens and blues were the most difficult to get right because they tend to disappear when next to each other. I also found the yellow and green colors needed tweaking, but I had difficulty finding a yellow that didn't disappear when right next to the green or overpower the other rug colors. Back to the design board and I changed the motif to add another color between the two so that each could stand out in their own right. That worked and I was much happier with the results. Jocelyn test stitching also followed similar issues that I found in the Judith. I ended up changing several colors before I was happy with it and wanted to post the pattern.

Test stitching is often a "behind the scenes" happening, but I get into a zone when doing it and generally don't complete rugs or pillows when doing so. As you can imagine, these processes take quite a bit of time and, for me, the time flies by, then I look back and realize I haven't posted for a couple of months!

Little Blue Carpet - Finished!

4/25/2025

I have completely finished the hemming of the Little Blue Carpet (designed by C Soubzmaigne) and am pleased to show you my finished piece.

As I said in a previous post, I have also posted a photo of the top and bottom of the back of the rug, so you may see the signature lines I stitched now that they have been freed from the fringe and pressed toward the back.

I enjoyed stitching this rug and wish to thank Karen for giving me the pattern. I stitched the rug using my own color combinations and am pleased with the overall effect.

For the next little while, I will be stitching some test pieces for some patterns I have had in the works for quite some time.

Little Blue Carpet, progress 11

4/20/2025

Today, after returning home from vacation, I was able to put the last stitch into the Little Blue Carpet, as I had rushed out to purchase the dark blue thread I needed yesterday. I have now fulfilled my promise to my friend and have stitched this wonderful little rug! I am so pleased I was able to finish it before my miniature show coming up on May 4th. Only 2 steps more to accomplish (blocking and hemming), and I know I will be able to do that before my self-imposed deadline!

I have now mounted it to the blocking board and done the first tacking. Over the next few days, I will steam it and add more tacks as needed to get the sides perfectly straight.

While waiting for the blocking process, I have decided to make an effort to finish my second Katrianna rug, which I stitched quite a while ago. With this in mind, I am beginning to stitch the tabby weave and fringe on it today.

Little Blue Carpet, progress 10 (and signing your work)

4/9/2025

Yesterday, I finished the tabby weave, signed my rug and decided to experiment in the placement of the information. Usually, I sign my rugs along a long side so that I can fit everything on one side, then I turn the gauze under, hem and cut around the gauze I have used for the signature and trim all of the rest of the gauze close to the edges.

This rug is different for me because it is someone else's design. I feel it is important to give credit to the designer, along with information on who stitched it. Since I like to trim the long sides as close to the hem stitches as I can, I decided to try putting the information and signature along each of the short edges. When turned, the information will show up against the tabby weave and I can stitch the gauze down to hold it in place.

I graphed the information out using letters that are 5 stitches tall and 3 stitches wide (except for letters like M or N which are a little wider). I also stitched them so that when turned, the information will be the same direction and face vertically toward the top of the rug.

Once completed, I stitched the fringe over the signature lines.

Here is the rug completed now as far as I can until I can purchase the dark blue. As you can see, the fringe covers the signature information. However, once I cut the fringe across the extreme ends, it will release the gauze under the fringe and I can turn it over, fold the gauze toward the underside and iron it carefully to leave the fringe out and the words of the signature visible on the back of the rug.

Once I have blocked the rug and completed the hemming, I will post a photo of the back of the rug so that you will see the signature lines.

For now, I will put this aside and work on some designing!

Little Blue Carpet, progress 9

4/7/2025

At long last, I have now finished everything I can do in the center until I am able to purchase some more dark blue.

In the meantime, I will be completing the tabby weave and fringe so that I will only have the dark blue, blocking and hemming to complete once I can get the dark blue thread.

This rug has been a little bit of a challenge to stitch, especially the red border, but I have had fun with it. I changed the direction of the stitching when doing lines, according to the direction the line was going so that I didn't have a "railroad track" effect show up. I am happy with how it turned out.

If I am able finish it in time, I will bring it with me to the OMEGA show on May 4th this year.

I have also been designing another rug, which I hope to have ready to unveil in the next couple of days. Stay tuned!

Little Blue Carpet, progress 8

3/29/2025

Progress continues to be made on my little rug as well as my designing efforts. My days have now fallen into a little routine since things have settled down tremendously over last year. I now have time to balance my crafts and housework, so that I have time for a little bit of everything in my day.

The Little Blue Carpet is still making steady progress, but I have run out of the dark blue for now and haven't been able to get to a store to get some more. No worries, I am focusing on the other colors now and am a little over halfway finished the center.

I have decided to put a fringe onto this rug, so that will take a little while before I am ready to block the rug. Unfortunately, it won't be ready for the OMEGA Miniature show in May, but I may bring it along with me to stitch while I am there.

This year, my daughter Heather is unable to help me with the show, so I will be bringing a good friend to help run my table with me. She has never been to a dollhouse show, so I think she will have a good time. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and greeting new and old friends and customers during the show. I hope to see you there!

I have just uploaded a new Pattern!

3/22/2025

Introducing my newest rug pattern, the Nadareh. This rug has been about a year in the designing and test stitching, and is now finally ready for purchase!

Inspiration for this little rug came from a photo of the oldest known rug to man, the Pazyryk rug, housed at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The original rug is approximately 2,500 years old. The scholars debate on whether the origin of the rug is Turkish, Armenian, Persian, Siberian, or of another Eastern origin, but the two locations considered most likely to be the origin of the Pazyryk Rug are Persia and Armenia. The original rug is now housed at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

I decided to name this rug Nadereh, which is a girl's name, Persian in origin and means "Rare". I think the meaning certainly fits in relation to the inspiration for this rug.

I spent the last few weeks test stitching the various elements included in the rug to test colors and shapes of the design elements. The horses, people and animals all underwent several versions while I tried to decide which versions I liked the best. I have digitally combined the final ones I chose here in this photo so you can see that the colors all look good together.
This rug has been quite a challenge and I had to leave out some elements, most notably some deer, due to the fact that the rug would have been just too large. If interested in reading more about this rug, please visit the listing, located here: Nadareh

Little Blue Carpet, progress 7

3/18/2025

Here is a tiny sneak peak at some of the testing I have done. More will be told when I have finally decided how each element will look in the final pattern.

Working the center of the Little Blue Carpet, designed by Catherine Soubzmaigne, I find it is going quite quickly. I am now approximately 1/3 finished already!

I am now taking a break for a few days while I work on some test stitching for a new pattern I am designing. I am almost finished doing the testing, but there is one element that I stitched yesterday that I am still not happy with. Today, I hope to fix that, and then I can make the modifications to the pattern and get it ready for the website! I am very excited about this because I started designing this rug in March 2024 and it will finally be ready!

Little Blue Carpet, progress 6

3/15/2025

I am now fully finished all of the borders of the rug and am going to start the center of the rug tonight. I am glad to be finished with this stage of the rug and look forward to starting the center. It will be fun seeing it take shape.

Even though my mini-stitching vacation is now over, I have been finding several hours a day to devote to stitching. I am hoping to finish this rug in the next few weeks and begin doing the Tabby Weave and Fringe.

I do not think it will be finished in time for the OMEGA Show in May, but who knows, if I push myself hard enough, maybe it will be!

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