March/April St. Pat's Candy Box and PS card

On to March-April.  

I've always liked this Bent Creek Snap Happy St. Pat's design.  I have a friend who is a 'clover whisperer'.  I've never seen someone who can so easily spot 4 leaf clovers.  She deserved a little gift so I made her this candy box with the design mounted on top.  And for good measure, I enclosed some Andes mints and added the crocheted shamrock on the inside lid.  Stitched on  28 count Cashel over 2. 

The next was card was done after another search for a suitable 'boy' design.  This is Prairie Schooler's "Weather Wise" made into a birthday card.  Stitched  2 over 2 on  32 count MCG white linen.  I'm kind of sorry they went out of business.  Not the worlds greatest linen, but I liked it.  Got a bit creative after reviewing Pinterest ideas for a craft life preserver.  I used a plastic craft ring wrapped with red floss and I was very happy with the result.  I doubt if the recipient paid much attention to it, but it's all about the doing for me.

Candy box, snowmen cards, sling bag

Catch-up post for the record from 2018.   I'll do another soon with this year's entries.

First was a cute little candy box for a hostess gift.  I used  Mary Garry's Skating Party with some color changes to blues that I'd seen on the web by other stitchers.  This is done on Edinburgh linen, 36 ct summer khaki.  Had to go blue because I had the pretty blue ribbon that was looking for a home!

This is just the cutest little snowman from an old Stoney Creek magazine.  The magazine showed it on black fabric, but my eyes don't work well with that.  So I settled on Belfast Smokey Pearl 32 ct and crossed my fingers that the black shading around the edges would look ok.  I was totally pleased with this one.  The recipient of the card loved it too.

This card was done for a friend as an inside joke.  We have had some discussions about the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment.   When I saw this litte marshmallow head snowman cupcake in the "Festive Frostings" feature of the Nov., 2018 issue of "CrossStitcher",  I knew it was perfect for my friend's holiday card.  The design is by Maria Diaz.  Stitched on 36 count linen.

 

I've had the pattern for Niky's Creations "Numbers" forever.  I thought I was going to use it for a baby sampler at some point, but that never happened.  So I stitched it up and made it into a little sling bag.  The one I had been using with the peacocks finally wore out.  Stitched on 32 count MCG linen.  Cheap linen with a good heft for a bag.  I've been using it ever day since I stitched it.

So that brings us into 2019.  Stay tuned for more current work.

Fun little projects

So, I always stuff my small pillow-type finishes with orts (i.e. thread clippings).  Takes a long time to accumulate enough of them for even a tiny piece.  They pack down so much!  But I had a nice little bag of them save up,  I decided to make a little pin cushion from this old Prairie Schooler  freebie, "Stick it Here".  It's stitched on 28 ct over 2  on Cashel linen.   The trim came from my friend Hetti, who graciously sent me a bag of stitchy goodies.  Such a funny little design!

For some time I had wanted to stitch "Sweeping The Garden" by  Barbara Ana.  This design was in the Fall, 2017 issue of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitching.    I never quite knew what I would do with it, but I fnally thought a little zippered case/coin purse would be just the thing.  This is on 36 ct Edinburgh linen over 2.   I really should have stuck with putting the zipper near the top, on the side.  It's so much easier.  But I like getting things in and out of the case better when the zipper is on top.  This is a little gift for a friend and the mouse design was perfect for her.. an inside joke between the two of us.

I recently noticed an empty mini-box of  Russell Stover Valentine's Day chocolates lying around when I was searching for something completely different.  I had saved it with the intention of doing a heart-shaped stitched box top, but you know how that goes.  Never got around to it.  But I remembered the "Mary Valentine's Handework" designs by  With Thy Needle and Thread and I knew there was a perfect design for this in that set.   This is on 36 ct Summer Khaki Edinburgh.  I used my own color conversions to DMC.  And the mini pom pom trim is again, courtesy of Hetti.  Pretty easy to put together.  I gave this to my cousin who has just opened her own micro-hair salon and recently had an open-house party to celebrate.

Tea Keeper, Baby Sampler, Candy Box

So as March winds down, I have three finishes to show.  Cold and windy weather meant more time staying inside I think.  First we have "The Tea Keeper" by Kathy Barrick.  I loved this design from the moment I saw it when it was only available as a club piece, a club for which I am not a member.  But good things come to those who wait and the chart finally became available to the general public.

I love the stern expression on this woman's face.  "Don't mess with my tea", she says.  But I definitely was not in the mood for another alphabet.   Somehow I remembered a Silver Creek Sampler that used a line from the song, "Do Re Mi", and I decided to use that line here where it was very appropriate.  So I stitched "Tea" across the top and "A drink with jam & bread" down the sides.  Bet you wouldn't have noticed if I didn't bring it up.  The fabric is 36 count Summer Khaki Edinburgh linen over 2.  It's all done in DMC with just a few color changes.  I also added the little teapot on the top to fill in the blank space left after my re-working of the pattern.   A pinkeep was the quickest finish for me.  Just added black mini-rick rack anchored with beads and straight pins.    It's happily sitting on the table where I work.

I have a new baby cousin born on Valentine's Day!  What a fun day to celebrate one's birthday every year.  I stitched an old sweet little alphabet freebie by Vavi for him.   You can get it here.  Just scroll down to 'Cocooning' at the bottom of the page.  She charted several variations of this piece.  I modified it to replace the many flowers with animal motifs and one key.   I picked 3 DMC colors in a 'boy' palette. 

Easy door hanger finish with a little batting, backing and rick rack edging.  The back is a darker blue and white polka dot fabric that complements the ribbon hanger.  I forgot to take a photo of the back.    The fabric is 28 count Cashel linen over 2 in some off-whitish color.

Oh yea.. one pink lion charm to cover-up the mistake I made in the rick rack edging. 

I've lately had the honor and stitcher-tunity to make something for a friend who recently got sworn in as a U.S. citizen.  I wanted a patriotic design, but not too patriotic.  I picked "Hat's Off to Uncle Sam" by Blackbird Designs which seemed to fit the bill perfectly.   It is stitched with DMC on 32 count MCG linen over 2.   Once I had stitched it, I scoured the grocery store shelves for a container that would be the right size for me to use as a candy box with the stitching adorning the top.  Trader Joe's to the rescue!  They had the perfect round tin of chocolate wedges.  I'd never done a round box top finish before, but a little running stitch for gathering and clipping the fabric curves made it easy to do correctly.  I love this little finish and I hope my friend does as well.

Clovers, Snowmen, Calendar SAL

I don't usually do a St. Patrick's Day design, but  something about Bent Creek's "Clover of Clovers" attracted me and I couldn't fight the feeling.  It's stitched on 36 count "Peep's Lost Sheep" linen from Dames of the Needle.  The trimming is a 3 strand braid of DMC floss.  I bought this little gift box from the Paper Source (within walking distance of my home) and used the design as a box top.  Then I added a bit of ribbon around the edge.  I think I'll use it as candy box with mints and green-wrapped candy.  I'll gift it to someone, just don't know who.  Turns out to be a good way to make a quick little gift.

Missed doing any winter holiday cards in 2016, but for the few I send I had enough from previous years' stitching.   To replenish the stock, I stitched The Little Stitcher snowman design from the  JCS 2016 ornament issue.  Tried something different with the finish, and I'm not particularly happy with the outcome.  But it's all part of the process.

I'm ahead of the game for Joyful World calendar finishes (or 'pages' as Nima calls them). Two more done and fabric selected for the next two months waiting for the finishing mood to strike!