Girls Being Girls

I'm always on the lookout for interesting illustrations that I can use for stitchery projects.  One good source is Behance, a site for professional artists to showcase their work.  Much of the artwork displayed is available for personal use with attribution under the Creative Commons Act, so the copyright issue doesn't affect me.   I had one lone white pillowcase just waiting for the needle, so I picked  a subset of some cute illustrations of ladies designed by Ana Varela.  These were  winners in a Stamp Design competition.  

I mostly just used back stitch in whatever colors I grabbed out of the DMC boxes.  I wasn't too concerned about getting a match.  Did a little frogging when my choices didn't work out so well.  I also did a touch of satin stitch and filler stitches where it seemed appropriate.   I wanted to get this post in before the end of the month, so I haven't totally woven in some of the threads on the back and they show through in the close-ups.   But that will be taken care of soon.

Love the coffee girl and her cat's eye glasses.  Quite the trendy business attire, no?

I used a chain stitch to make the earphone cables stand out a bit more on this one.  Her right hand came out really good, unlike the paws on some of the others.

This is girl at her desk, pretending to be engaged in an important business project, but really reading love letters.

The final one reminds me of a hippie.  I love the look of contentment as she reads from a favorite book before bedtime.

 With the exception of weaving in some ends, I'm done.  Love that these pillowcases require no extra finishing!  And this was a nice change from Prim projects.

May Basket Pouch & Secret Egg Hunt

I recently saw someone stitch "May Basket" by Blackbird Designs, and I fell in love with that little piece.  Not sure why I singled that one out, but I decided to stitch it up.  The finish I saw appeared to use a mix of hand-dyed threads and DMC.  Mine is all DMC, but some different colors.  I made it into a 4" square pouch to hold my earbuds.  I don't use earbuds much so I just keep them close by.  When I browse the web using my Nook and want to view a video or something that makes noise, I need to use them temporarily.  The Nook volume is way too low, even turned up to high, without the buds.  So now they have a nice home.

I used rick rack again as a trim, this time pressing the piece so the trim faces the border and not the linen.  I substituted three little buttons instead of stitching my initials.  It's done on 36ct Edinburgh Dirty linen.  A cute little thing, no?

I always wanted to stitch "Secret Egg Hunt" by the Trilogy.  I just never had a reason to do it or a use for  it til now.  WOCS started a "Spring is in the Air" quilt and blocks with bunnies and eggs were welcome.   I left out the boring one row border.  I don't think it's necessary for a quilt square like this.  I stitched it on 25 ct. Platinum Lugana.  All the colors really popped on that color.  And 12.5 stitches to the inch?  A dream to stitch with.  So easy to see.  I can stitch so quickly on fabric like this.  I think 2 strands still covers it very well too, making the loop method for starting off still possible.  I also think the designs on these quilt squares can look nicer when the aren't so teeny weeny.

Interesting tidbit time.  You may remember that about a year ago I stitched a portrait of my brother.  I used a photo of Larry David since my brother looks so much like him and is often mistaken for him.  Click here to see that post.  Well, it turns out that Larry David went to the University of Maryland at the same time that I was there.  The Washington Post had a recent article written by the sweetheart of his fraternity.  Turns out that I knew a few of his fraternity brothers, one of whom was sort of my stalker.  I would never go out with the guy, but if I had known that it might lead to meeting the soon-to-be famous LD, I might have said 'yes'.    Click here for a link to the article.  It's a good read if you are an LD or Seinfeld fan.  If you scroll down you can see a photo of a reunion they had some years ago at the writer's house.  I may recognize my stalker in that photo, but I'm not sure.  It was a long time ago.