Dutch Tulip Luggage Tag & Crocheted Pincushions

Sometimes, a design grabs me because it is the perfect size for something I want to make.  That was the case with this Dutch Tulip design from Threadworks Primitives.  I saved the chart some time ago, earmarking it for a luggage tag.  I also saved the photo of Anne's rendition because I liked her modified color scheme.  She used hand-dyed floss, but I tried to come close to the look using DMC colors.. 356, 407, 433, 758 if you are interested.  I'm pretty happy with finish on a linen scrap I had.  I think the backing fabric and eyelet were good accompaniments as well.

While everyone else is showing their orts once a month as part of the TUSAL,  I just accumulate mine to be used for pin cushion stuffing.  The bag was full and my periodic urge to crochet some thread motifs kicked at the same time so I made three little mini-cushions.  Each is only 2-2.5".  They work up really fast and will make nice stitchy gifts. 

The first is from Margaret Hubert's Granny Square Book. This is called the  Dogwood Flower Granny Square.  It's  a perfect design for this type of pin cushion.  I think I picked it because the model was crocheted and blocked so perfectly.  I aspire to that kind of perfection, but I settle for much less.

The next two are both from various Japanese designs I've found on the web and saved.  They are presented as graphs with little text hints.  Of course, text in Japanese doesn't help me, but usually I can pretty much get along with the graph only.  Like reading sheet music and not understanding any Italian.

 

The round ones are a little harder to do, but not much.   

Three little cuties together:

Fond of Dancing and Spring House

I guess I'm in a pink state of mind for spring now.  My latest two pieces are smothered in pink.  The first is a small design I stitched to be given to a bride along with a wedding gift.  It's the Jane Austen ornament designed by The Sampler Girl from the JCS 2012 ornament issue.  The bride-to-be has spent much of her life dancing, so this design was so appropriate.   It seemed to cry out to be a pinkeep, but the last time I tried making one of those, it was not one of my proudest stitching moments.  Since that time, I've found lots of tutorials with various tips, so I gave it another shot. I'm so glad I did, because I really love the outcome.  I replaced the gold dress from the original design with a pink one. The "J" and "A" for Jane Austen, became "J" and "S", the first initials of the bride and groom.   This is a tiny piece done over-one on 28 count  Summer Khaki linen.  The couple lives in a New York City apartment....no space for a lot of extraneous knick-knacks.  I think I'll package it with one of those mini-wooden easels so it can easily be displayed on a desktop.  I'm sure that pinkeeps are a total mystery to non-stitchers and the easel will make it clear that it is for display!

Love the 180° turnout!

The backing fabric is one of my favorites.  This print has come in handy on a number of my finishes so you may recognize it (and perhaps are tired of seeing it!)

 

Continuing in my pink theme, I  signed up to do a house design for a WOCS quilt square.  There are so many cute house designs around, but when I started searching, nothing really grabbed my attention.  Then one cute freebie stood out from the rest, and I'm sure the color scheme is what really got to me.  I also love the use of 'white space' in this design to delineate the sections of the house.  This is done over-two on 25-count bone Lugana...quite a change from the over-one pinkeep. I like both results equally.  The photo makes the fabric look white, but it is more cream-colored in real life.

The design, "Printemps",  is from the blog "Le Tric et le Croc, et la Brod d'Isazabelle".  If you are interested, you can download the PDF chart here.