Peace stocking

U.S. to Canada mail comes through again. Vivian, my partner in the October ornament swap on Brooke Nolan's BBInteractive group, received the ornament I made for her. I'm always so relieved when I hear that an international package arrived safely.

I stitched the stocking ornament by Brightneedle from the JCS 2003 ornament issue. I think I saw another stitched version of this recently on someone's blog and that's where I caught the bug to stitch it myself. And I got a chance to use a little crocheted flower I made. I put a little bead in the flower center, so you can't see the crocheted center, but I used a technique called the Magic Circle to start it off. It's a crocheter's dream. Very easy and makes a perfect circle. My thanks to whoever invented that technique. The beaded edge is just made by adding a bead to a regualar straight pin and inserting the pin into the seam just as you do for a pinkeep.




I added this little floss tag with a Prairie Schooler design to the package:

The Divine Miss M

Saturday, I received a doll from my partner, Sherry, in the Stitchin' Fingers Show Biz Doll Swap. The doll is an adorable Bette Midler. I think Sherry really captured the essence of Bette. This picture doesn't do her justice. This is a very sparkly doll. Gold lame bodice, sparkly gold belt, sparkly pink disks on sparkly blue skirt overlaying a black net underskirt. I just love her.

Wish upon a star

Everyone needs a little guardian angel in these troubled times. When I first looked through the JCS 2008 ornament issue, I didn't even notice this one. But those issues are so fascinating that I always go back through them multiple times, and I always find something I missed on each review. This is the first one I've stitched from this year's issue. This is "Wish Upon a Star" by Wildflower Stitchery and More. I used one of the hand-dyed fabrics that Miek sent to me and I changed a few colors, added a border and embellished with a few buttons.

The Accidental Tourist

Remember the book by Ann Tyler that was also a movie starring William Hurt? "The Accidental Tourist" is about the author of a travel book for people who travel but really don't like to do it. The book provides hints for how to make your travel experience seem as close to living at home as possible. No 'when in Rome' philosophy for this guy. It's all metaphorical and makes good fodder for discussion in high school and college literature classes.

Meanwhile I made this luggage tag and immediately was put in mind of that movie. It will be a gift, but I don't think the recipient shares the views of Macon Leary, the book's protagonist.

The design is a freebie on Cyberstitchers by Barbara Ana, stitched on 14 count taupe Aida.

Mr Hugs

I have a cousin who has been having some ticker problems of late. He's recuperating now, but he needs further surgery as well. I remembered that Ellen Maurer-Stroh had designed a little bear freebie for making gifts to give to Katrina kids. He's called Mr. Hugs, mender of broken hearts. My cousin is just a big kid inside, so I stitched it up and will mail it to him today. Kind of a personal comfort doll.

Be afraid, be very afraid....

The October monthly challenge in the Cloth Doll Group on Stitchin' Fingers is a Halloween-themed doll. I really wanted to crochet a little witch hat, but I wasn't inspired to do a witch doll otherwise. I think I have a kind of witch, ghoul, goblin, ghost combo here. Took a pile of photos, but none really looks like the real thing. I have a feeling I changed a setting on my camera for the worse and now can't get it back to 'regular'.

Just a pretty thing..

It's been a long time since I stitched up a biscornu. I've made several, but the last time I made one, I mis-aligned the sides and it was more 'biscornu' (irregularly shaped) than ever. So I thought I'd give it another try, just to make sure I could still do it properly. I usually don't like stitching the geometric designs and others that require you to stitch the same motif four times on one side, but I hadn't done that for a long time either and biscornus are small so the pain is less.

I used some of Miek's hand-dyed fabric and these charts. I just picked colors that I thought would be pretty.

I'm happy with it. I might send it as a little gift, but it's growing on me, and I might just keep it around. My camera was uncooperative. The colors must be confusing it.

I scream, you scream...

What a glorious week-end we just had here in DC. The weather was absolutely perfect and with my newly-washed windows, I could bask in the sunlight from both inside and out! Plus the Redskins won again.. might as well enjoy that while it lasts. All in all, a perfect time for ice cream and in honor of the occasion, I've completed a Love Quilts Square for a quilt with the theme, 'Fun Foods'. This is an old freebie on CyberStitchers by Barbara Ana. Barbara's designs are such fun and stitch up so quickly.

Trick or Treat Bag Tag Update

All the trick or treat tags have now arrived at their new home. I just wanted to mention one recipient, Cynthia (Beestitcher), whose story really touched me. If you didn't notice her comment, Cynthia teaches a cross-stitch class to girls who are victims of child abuse. She plans to use the tag as a prize in a contest and a way to show the girls the kinds of things they can make once they master the techniques. I finished up three more tags to include in her package. They were designs I stitched last year as part of the Halloween Tree SAL on the WXSW yahoo group of Helga Mandl. These were from Periphaeria Designs. I meant to make them into fridgies, but I never did. So I made them into no-sew tags. I used 'Stitch Witchery' to attach them to a felt backing. Cynthia pointed out the irony of the product name given that these are for Halloween.

New Baby

One of my co-workers had a new baby boy in August. It's always hard to find 'boy' designs that I want to stitch. I finally chose this little door-hanger birth announcement from the design on this blog. I used Carrie's Threads in Passion Fruit for the alphabet. I'm not sure the letters stand out as well as they might have with a solid color. I substituted little buttons for the hearts to make sure it wasn't too dainty. It's done on Monaco antique white. The father does quality assurance for new software products. Hope he doesn't think the funky sequence of letters was a mistake!