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American Flag Coasters
These
American flag coasters are a creative craft to add some patriotic flair
around the house this summer. They make wonderful gifts, and
tend to sell well at summer craft bazaars. This is a relaxing
craft, and once you get the hang of it you will be able to whip a set
of these up very quickly, while watching TV!  Things Needed:
1. This is made using a simple backstitch. A close up of the pattern is shown below.   2. Begin the American
flag coasters by cutting out a square from the plastic canvas, 25
squares long on each side. Thread your needle with the red
yarn. It is best to keep the yarn a length that is long, but
still easy to work with. Begin by threading the needle up
through the canvas at one of the corner squares, as shown.
Pull the yarn through but leave a little tail of yarn hanging
from the back. This will eventually be "grabbed" by the other
yarn as you stitch so it will be anchored.  3. Next, bring the
needle around the corner and back underneath the canvas.
Bring the needle up through the next diagonal hole, as shown.  4. You finish the stitch
by bringing the needle down through the first hole in the corner again.
This is called a backstitch, and it makes a little diagonal
line. Continue making these stitches, by bringing the needle up through
the third hole from the corner, and repeating. Keep stitching
until you have a red diagonal line up to the opposite corner
of the coaster. HINT:
If you run out of yarn, re thread your needle and begin
again,
always
leaving a little tail dangling from underneath the canvas. As
you
work, try to make sure you anchor these "tails" by stitching them
underneath your new stitches.    5. When you reach the opposite corner, stitch around the corner and begin stitching another row of red, right next to the first.   6. Once you have a diagonal stripe two rows thick, skip two more diagonal rows (which will be for the white yarn) and begin another two rows of red. Continue this way until half of the coaster is done.     7. Now that the red stripes are done, do the same thing with the white yarn. Fill in all the empty rows with the white back stitch.  8. Continue with the
American flag coasters by stitching the white stars next. The
stars are made using a simple cross-stitch, which looks like an "X" in
the canvas. Begin the first star two rows from the middle red
stripe. Space the stars two diagonal squares apart. Refer to
the pattern at the top of the page if you need help. Look at
the images below closely to show how the cross-stitch is done.     Below is what the
canvas will look like when all the stars are stitched on, which is a
bit hard to see since the stars are white on white canvas:  9. Finish up the
American flag coasters
craft by stitching on the blue. Use the backstitch, as
described above. Skip over the stitched areas where the stars
are. 
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