Cross stitching…what more is there to life?? LOL In my life, cross stitch IS my life..I breathe, eat, sleep cross stitch and if you don’t know me to know how true this is, you soon will! lol

I will apologize in advance for such a lengthy post on who we are, but Brian and I both enjoy writing and have so much to say.  We tried to keep it interesting and entertaining so keep reading to learn about the dynamic due behind Luv 4 Cross Stitch!

Luv 4 Cross Stitch is a business that came about as a result of two people being brought together by their passions and hobbies, Brian Jackins and Fae Kuhn.  Brian is a very talented artist and designer, Fae is a cross stitcher with a passion for cross stitch.  Together, they formed this partnership to create beautiful cross stitch designs to be stitched into beautiful works of art by others that share the passion for cross stitching.

If you haven’t yet, please be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to be notified of exciting news, special events, promotions, giveaways as well as the release of new patterns.

A group on Facebook was created to bring together cross stitchers to share ideas and provide feedback as Brian creates new designs. We are also a retail business where patterns from other designers and other cross stitch supplies can be purchased.  Please click the button below to join our group and be part of the process of creating and providing the cross stitch community with new and exciting designs!

A bIT ABOUT bRIAN AND fAE

Who is Fae Kuhn?

I am married with 3 sons and currently live in Pennsylvania.  Two of my sons are grown and currently serving in the Navy and Marines.  My youngest son is still in grade school. I am also a veteran of the Navy.  Supporting our military is another passion I feel very strongly about and periodically participate and organize events to show my support.

I first began to cross stitch at the age of 14, taught by my mother.   At that time it wasn’t near the passion it is now, more just something to do to pass the time.  In my 20’s, I did a few big pieces as Christmas gifts (thinking they would inexpensive gifts..until I got them framed! LOL) However, once I started having children, I had to more or less put the hobby aside to tend to the raising of my children.

Once my children were older, I began to cross stitch again and a few years ago discovered cross stitch groups on Facebook.  It opened up a whole new world and I began to learn things about cross stitching I wish I had known years ago!

Then by pure chance, I became an admin of a large Facebook group called Cross Stitch Club Originals.  This group soon became like an extended family to me and made my passion for cross stitch even stronger.

Soon after becoming an admin of Cross Stitch Club, I got the idea to begin hosting retreats to bring members of this group together for an opportunity to share our passion together and meet other members they have connected with online through Cross Stitch Club.

Cross Stitch Retreats hosted by Fae

I came home one day and said to my husband, “You may think I’m crazy, but I am thinking about trying to organize a big cross stitch retreat.”  He looked and me and said, “Yep, you are nuts!” LOL  But after tossing the idea into Cross Stitch Club, it was met with such excitement, I decided I had to do it!

The first retreat was in 2015 and there has been one every year since.  The planning of the 2015 retreat began in 2014 and as we planned it, members in the UK expressed a bit of jealousy and said, “So when are you going to come here and do one for us?”  I always wanted to visit England (was not a country I had the opportunity to see in my Navy adventures because it is, of course, landlocked! LOL).

So the seed was planted in my thoughts and it soon became a reality as I decided, why not? I, of course, needed time to save so we set the date for the UK retreat to be our 2017 retreat.  It was very challenging to plan this from halfway across the world, but with the help of the UK member in my group, we pulled it off and it was a great success and fun had by everyone (I took my 18-year-old son with me, my marine, and we even had him stitching with us during the retreat! lol)

I hope to be able to plan another retreat across the pond very soon!  It was a wonderful vacation for me and my son as we spent 2 lovely weeks in the United Kingdom and many great lifelong friendships were made!

The next retreat is coming up soon this September in Harrisburg, PA and there are still a few spots left to come join us! The Cross Stitch Club 2019 retreat is being held in Nashville, TN in August 2019.  Nothing is planned yet beyond that, but it will be soon.  I am contemplating to have the 2020 retreat near San Diego, CA so I can visit my Marine son at the same time! 🙂

More information, including information about the fun we have had at previous retreats, can be found under the “Cross Stitch Retreats” menu tab of this site.   Hope to see you at one soon!

Other Facets to Fae Kuhn

Cross stitch is such a huge part of my life (yes, you could even say it’s my obsession..lol) that I could just go on…and on…and on…lol.  But I am not trying to write a book (yet….lol..it could be a future endeavor if I find the right topic as I do love to write! lol).   I just want to share one more thing and that my love of another hobby..which ties into my love for cross stitch.

I am not going to go into the story of how I got started doing it (although I think a future blog soon is in order to tell that story), but I also make custom tote bags, project bags, q snap, hoop and scroll rod grime guards as well as a few other items every stitcher should have!

I have quite a loyal customer base that keeps coming back to me to get their “fix” because I tempt them with the coolest and cutest new fabrics and they just can’t get enough! lol

I am in the process of getting my website, Fae’s Crafty Creations, operational to be able to place custom orders through the website, but it is a long process because I do have SOOOOO much fabric to upload to the site and to each product.  So for now, the best way to see the items I can do and to place an order from me is to visit my Facebook group, Fae’s Crafty Creations.  Here is just a quick example of some of the items I have made for customers:

I am all about customization and if I don’t have a fabric you want, I will get it (or at least make every attempt possible)! First-time customers automatically get a 10% off their first order and repeat customers will be able to earn rewards to get free items once my website is complete.  They are very high quality and very reasonably priced so please  check it out!

Ok, enough about me as I am only one half of this business.  The other owner is a very talented artist and cross stitch designer named Brian Jackins.  I just love Brian and I could not have found a better partner!  How we met was, as someone else said to me when I told that story, pure serendipity and he will tell you a bit more in his story how that came about!

Who is Brian Jackins?

Brian Jackins: The Artist, The Man, The Recluse

The Artist

Until Fae discovered me I was just this sort of schleppy, aging artist type, tucked away at some cubicle or drawing board, making pictures. But NOW, I’m a schleppy artist making CROSS STITCH pictures and that makes all the difference in the world!

Most artists can say “I’m a watercolorist” or “I paint in oils” or “I sculpt in recycled toothpaste tubes,” but I haven’t really specialized. A little of this, a little of that . . . I did simple illustrations in most of my jobs. Someday I’ll post some of my portfolio pieces and some stories; that’ll be more interesting than sharing it here in words.

In the early 90’s I was hired by Dimensions in Reading, PA to develop cross stitch charts. (Obviously those great artists whose names are on the kits don’t turn their painting into a cross stitch themselves; Dimensions purchases the rights and staff artists “chart” the image to make it stitchable.)

I loved this craft and was hooked! (Insider trivia: when I started in ’93, all of our chart development was done on tiny graph paper with colored pencils! Soon they introduced us to this new thing called Photoshop. I hated the thought of giving up my pencils! But I gave in upon realizing that a color revision took one click instead of an hour erasing little graph squares!)

Fast-forward; recently I’ve only been freelance part time with Dimensions, wishing I could do more, but thinking cross stitch was just disappearing. Then Fae advertised on craigslist for a cross stitch artist and I was like, “Be still my beating heart! Do my aged eyes deceive me??” Well!

I sent her some images and we started talking. She clued me in to the fact that cross stitching is alive and well(!), but more stitchers find patterns online now than in stores. We worked on a couple of small projects together and she described PCStitch to me. I didn’t know it at all. We hit it off!

Sidebar: Apart from a few years in France, I’m totally a native of the northeast US so when I think of the seasons and the months, the very typical Americana styles are what come to mind as themes: winter means snow, fall means colored leaves, and so on. Fae and I do realize that in different regions, not to mention different countries, different things come to mind as you celebrate times of the year (like, I have no clue what October looks like in Puerto Rico. Does it look just like April?). Feel free to always comment and explain to us what elements are common to your area. Maybe others will agree and it’ll be enough to include in a future design!

The Man

I’m a child of the 70’s, so I learned art the old school way, never even dreaming I’d be using a computer to create images.

I grew up in southern Maine (but I don’t have the accent : ) but now live in PA, only 25 minutes from Fae! I’m married to Ruth, who has a bachelor’s in social work. She’s currently a part-time nanny for 2-year-old identical twin girls. We have four terrific kids in their twenties who were homeschooled (hands down the best adventure of our lives).

Our two middle kids are twins, boy and girl, (so Ruth had experience with two the same age). They have an older sister and a younger brother, so two boys, two girls. Symmetrical, which is good for a butterfly cross stitch designer lol!

Oh! Fae said to mention hobbies. Hmm, reading (crime and murder mysteries!), cooking, writing, and my most recent huge project was/is that we downsized from a huge old rented farmhouse to a mobile home. Three years later I’m still purging stuff and figuring out some of our space!

The Recluse

I think I’m more of a dinosaur (old-fashioned) than a recluse. I’m certainly an introvert. When I first heard about Facebook, it felt overwhelming to think of keeping up with so many people. It still does! I’m just very different; I already feel like my near and dear aren’t getting the time and attention they deserve.

So I’m just not really on social media! Yikes! My main tool is still my laptop and I like email. I don’t have a single app on my phone! I use it to call or text people, I don’t use GPS although I sometimes appreciate the ‘map/locate me’ feature.

When I hear ‘recluse,’ I picture the craggy old man who yells at neighbor children for running across his lawn. And they’re sure his old mansion is haunted. I’m not at that point, I’m just kind of eccentric. Though I’d move into an old mansion in a heartbeat if I could afford to heat it!

Fae and I will really appreciate your feedback on our work and ideas for future projects! I just regret that with my work schedule I can only devote part time hours to designing. Gotta retire, yeah . . .