Little thngs

I wanted to the try the Sulky Blendables thread that has been enjoying such recent popularity so I bought a spool in "Jeweltones" since it was so pretty. This is size 12, about equivalent to 2 strands of DMC, but you stitch with one thread, not splitting into strands. I think the little heart design I picked got kind of obscured by all the colors, but the thread is great to stitch with and looks great so I may get some more. I turned this piece into a sachet filled with lavender that I can hang in my closet. The crocheted edging was the first row of a much larger crocheted border. I love it because it is another one that doesn't require a foundation chain. I just stitched it onto the top with sewing thread.

The heart design is a freebie from Le Grenier de Zoé



I've seen so many cute crocheted pincushions that look like hats lately. Nima even ran a challenge to crochet the one she designed, but I never got around to creating one of those. When I saw a pattern for this miniature one, I just had to make it since I knew it wouldn't take very long. The pattern is a freebie from Crochet Soiree called "Hats Off to Mother". It's just big enough to park a couple of needles. I used #10 crochet cotton and a US Size 7 hook.



I've also been crocheting some of the little motifs from Crochet a Little, a Japanese blog. The designer comes up with such cute ideas, and I'm gradually learning to read the diagrams with the symbolic notation in order to make these. Better than sudoku for taxing the mind! Here's a sample of a cute little girl that I finally managed to conquer! I'll find a use for her and some of the other motifs at some point. They are all too cute to keep hidden.

Angel meets giant ladybug...

After I finished the "My mother, my friend" quilt square from a couple of posts ago and was about to put away the JCS issue with the design, I discovered another sweet design in that issue, "Angel Joy" by Gail Bussi. And sure enough, Love Quilts had a quilt with a theme of angels that needed stitchers. I just stitched the top part without the bible verse. I would have loved to use the light tan linen in the magazine photo, but I had to go with white for the quilt. The model also used hand-dyed threads which would be unsuitable for this since they are not colorfast. I had to modify some of the conversions given to get a better look. I think when designers use the hand-dyeds and offer a conversion to DMC as well, they don't think too hard about the DMC colors. Not sure why the ladybug grew so large, but it seemed to drive the angel to make a peace offereing!

Psychological AC

I'm finally recovered from a nasty 2-day headache. Started about the time of the mini-earthquake we had which I never even noticed although I did wake about the that time with this headache. Might be allergies and might be the heat. And might come back soon, but I won't think about that now. Instead I decided to finish up a couple of cards from stitched winter holiday designs to make me think cooling thoughts.

The first is a design by Shepherd's Bush from the 2008 JCS ornament issue. The lettering said "Starry Night", but I preferred 'Reindeer X-ing' to lighten it up. Done on a scrap of Enchanted Fabrics Cafe Mocha Flair...a long gone company and color now.



And the 2nd card is a Prairie Schooler design from booklet 151, "Santa and Snowmen". The fabric is the same color and dyer as the first card, but this was the painted line instead of the flair. I really miss Enchanted Fabrics. Both of these are 18 count Aida and after dying, the fabric is so soft to work with, yet has really good body for using on a card.



Now I'm going to be brave and go out in the heat with my fingers crossed that my head behaves.

My Mother, My Friend

I wanted to stitch this piece from the first second I saw it in the May/June, 2010 JCS issue. I didn't know what I could do with it though, so I just kept admiring the magazine photo. Finally I found a Cole's Quilt kid for whom this could work. It's a stretch of the quilt theme definition so I won't be disappointed if they decide not to use it for that quilt when they look at with the other squares. The design in JCS was stitched on pink gingham Graziano linen. I loved that look, but I'm perfectly happy with the look on good ole 16 ct white Aida. The only change was substituting some little flowers at the top where the Mother and daughter's initials would go. Got it out of my system now. The designer is Deborah Thorpe.

Cross-stitch Tank Top

Just in time to wear on the 4th of July, I finished a little cross-stitch design on a tank top. The top is a very light, bright green, not a color I usually go for. So I thought I might like it better with a little embellishment. The shirt looks much paler (and even blue) in the photos. I used waste canvas, but it's still a struggle to get it to come out well. It'll do. Next time I might try adding some iron-on interfacing first, but I'm guessing I won't like working with that either. I could try wash-away stabilizer at some point.

The design is a Mausimom freebie, but I don't think it's available online anymore. At least the last link I had for it doesn't work now.





Now I want to find a design to use for this luscious floss I received from Mary after winning her contest on the San-Man board. This is 'Princess' from the Sassy Strings line. I've use lots of Sassy's fabrics, but I've never tried her floss. Very reasonably priced too.



Have a great 4th of July weekend everyone!