May-July

And now to bring us into July.

This is another male birthday card.  The guy with the birthday collects glassware sets with pitchers.  So I think this works well for him.  I'm not sure where I found this.  Probably in a magazine at some point.
Stitched on 28-ct twilight mist Jobelan over 2.

This one is for me.  I've wanted to do "A Stitcher's House" by Stone Street Stitchworks for some time.  It's on Vintage Country Mocha 32 count linen.  I love how this door hanger turned out.  The colors are even prettier in person.

Here's a fun birthday card for a June 10th birthday.  I modified Heart In Hands Square Dance for June.  I loved the result.  Again on Vintage Country Mocha 32 count, apparently my new favorite.   I  enclosed a Baskin-Robbins gift card since it went so well with the theme.

 

Another finish for me using 32 count Vintage Country Mocha Belfast.  This is The Floss Box design, "Autumn Mandala".  It's an oldie that I saw stitched up online somewhere and took a liking to it.  I would never have known how cute it was if I hadn't seen it completed.  The pattern was only a graph with no photo of a finished model.
Makes a cute mat as a resting spot for my glasses, keys, whatever.

I made another cute coin purse gift. This is a modified version of the Black Hearted Queen freebie from SubRosa Designs.  The chart is still available on her blog here. The red dress idea was someone else's color change that I adopted. The wording change was my brain child. Less border too. Love my little heart charm zipper pull. This is on  32 ct summer khaki linen over 2.  Zipper pull charm from Creative Kinyobi on Etsy.

Finally, we have a last minute July 4th card stitched on 36 count summer khaki Edinburgh linen.  This is the "Liberty" mini-cat freebie from Lynn at Happiness is Cross Stitching.   Michael's made my job easy with those nice shiny star stickers and the star sequins jumped out at me in a local variety store.

Click here
for the chart.

February catch-up - Valentine card and tin, birthday card , coin purse

Catch up post for the record.  I have a couple more to add after this one. I know it's July, but I haven't posted for some time.  These are my February finishes.

This sweet little Valentine card  is from the book,  "A Rainbow of Stitches" book.  Done on 36 count linen over 2 with   DMC 4210.

My brother's birthday is in February.   He's a sucker for Marie Callendar Pumpkin Pie.  I went online and discovered there was, in fact, a real Marie Callendar and there was even a picture of her as a young women.   This card is a tribute to her using a modified Sub Rosa Design,  "Pumpkin Pie".   Esther herself laughed at a pumpkin pie as big as the table.   I was sure my brother would get a kick out of it.   Frankly, he was not amused.  Ya can't win 'em all.  Stitched on Belfast summer khaki over 2.

The next one is an old freebie by Drawn Thread, "All You Need Is Love", stitched on 32 ct Belfast summer khaki.  Perfect Altoid tin top size and I hadn't made a tin top in some time.  Filled with red berry flavored lip gloss before presenting as a 'Galentine' to a friend.

 

And wrapping up the month, I used an adaptation of Snowflower Diaries "You Make Me Happy" as the basis for this little coin purse.   Found an Etsy seller, CreativeKinyobi,  with tons of charms already attached to a lobster clasp and this little mermaid charm worked perfectly.  Another piece on 32 count summer khaki Belfast.

Birthday and Get Well cards and a Coin Purse

I just noticed that this draft post had been sitting around waiting to be published.   The two cards I stitched recently both went to the same person.    He had some health problems so I made him a get well card.  He's doing much better now, but I don't think my card was the reason.  And then his birthday came along shortly afterward.

For the get well card, I used a design I had waiting in the wings that I had stitched a while ago just because I liked the design.  I figured it would come in handy at some point.  This was one of the blocks from the 2014 Sampler Life SAL.  The original artist is Raquel Blasco of Maggi Co's Village.  I think the cross stitch adaptation might be by Nathalie Cichon of "Jardin Privé".

You can still get the blocks for this sampler on the FB group "The Sampler Life".   Each block is by a different designer.

I did this over-one on Monaco, so it's especially cute in that tiny format.  My over-one stitching days are pretty much behind me.  I don't know what possessed me to do this.  But I find that it is easier on Monaco than on any other fabric.

I may decide to stitch more of Raquel Blasco's designs.   I'm drawn to that style.

I always take a look at the latest CrossStitcher magazine because it's one that I can check out from our local library as an e-magazine.  I rarely find anything that grabs me though.  But the August, 2018 issue had a set of four ice cream sundaes that immediately caught my eye.  I stitched up my favorite of the set and I think it made a pretty cute birthday card.  The colors, especially on the dish, worked up somewhat different from the photo in the mag, but I do like the way they pop on that 36 count "Dirty" linen.

I stitched up a little coin purse for a friend who has done some favors for me recently.  This is a section of Little House Needleworks "Liberty Belles" on  36 ct  linen.  I re-worked the placement of the motifs to make it fit the space.  The threads are all DMC.   I'm still working on the best way to do those top zippers.   I've read a billion tutorials and watched tons of videos, but it's like looking for the perfect taco in Tom Robbins' "Jitterbug Perfume".    This one didn't come out too bad though.  Reducing bulk in the corners is the tricky part.   I added a zipper pull from a  Moonraker Lampwerks bead to jazz it up a bit.. 

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.

Peace card, coin purse and ruler sheath

For a while now I wanted to try using a little fabric trim around an x-stitch piece for a card.  I needed a small x-stitch design for this since I always like to make standard size cards.  I can cut two cards from one sheet of card stock with no waste that way.  I went back to the JCS 2012 ornament issue and selected the Blackbird Designs "Peace" chart .  Stitched over one on 28-ct tea Monaco, it worked out to be tiny.  The camera wasn't happy with the rainy day on which I took the picture, but I think it actually was a reasonably effective technique.  I'm sure I'll be using it again.

The zippered coin purse that I made long ago and use every day has finally started to fray around the edges.  I never expected it to hold up so well since it holds my plastic cards, cash and change.  But it has been a sturdy little companion.  So to prepare for its coming demise, I picked  "Comme un Oiseau" by Tra La La to be the design for a new purse.  I like how the "ABC" in the upper left can be interpreted as "ALB", my initials.  This was done on 36 ct Edinburgh linen in some beigey/off-white color.  I've had it for a long time and label was gone. Not the worst zipper insertion of my life so I'm satisfied.

Sheryl of "Sewing After Seven" sent me a link to a video with a tutorial for making a sheath that was another alernative for constructing those 6" ruler sheaths I have been making.  She used the technique to make a holder for a fan here.   The video is in Spanish and I had to watch it multiple times before I understood what the presenter was doing.  But once I understood it, I was fascinated by how clever and simple it is.  I immediately tried it with plain quilting fabric and it worked like a charm.  Not sure if I'll be as happy with it when I use x-stitch linen and there is more bulk since the ruler sheaths are narrower than the fan holder that Sheryl made.

Here's a link to the video:

https://youtu.be/6Bsn0G37BHo

And you gotta love how the sheath color appears to match my shoelaces in this photo taken with my phone!

Wear a smile, have some coffee, and think Cinderella

I think I just did the fastest complete cross stitch project of my life.   Mii Stitch chose me as the next in line to stitch Lizzie Kate's "Wear a Smile" in another of the traveling patterns that's making the rounds.  Such a cutie when I saw it, but I probably would never have thought to stitch something like this otherwise.  I received the pattern on Friday, stitched almost the whole thing on Friday night, and finished it up into a pinkeep on Saturday.  I'm planning to display it on a little easel and give it to my dentist as a little knick-knack for the office.  The office seems to thrive on such things.  It's stitched on 36 ct HDF linen over 2 threads in the 3 shades of DMC on the pattern.

I need to pick a stitcher who would like to stitch this pattern next.  Please leave a note in a comment that you would like to be included in a drawing and I'll pick a name.   As always with traveling patterns, we would like you to stitch it in a timely fashion, show it on your blog, and offer to send the pattern on to another stitcher.

Does everyone's dentist send out such arty re-call notices as mine does?  Take a look at the latest one I received:

I stitched up another Aliolka pattern to make as a gift for a coffee loving friend.  I was going to do a book mark, but then I thought about a quilty coaster.  Not 100% happy with my finish, but the more I look at it, the more I like it.  Not sure if this is on linen or evenweave.. just used an available scrap.

You can find the free chart here.

 

I crocheted this cute princess motif from a Japanese designer.  I think of her as Cinderella, but maybe with that hair she's more of Princess Leia.   This was a very difficult graphical crochet pattern to interpret.  I finally found a number of people who tried it on Ravelry and several gave a variation to make it work out.  So I used one of those and still had trouble.  She's not perfect, but who is?  I got the idea to make a pumpkin zippered pouch from one I had seen on the web and applique the princess on the back., So I think of it as Cinderella waiting for the pumpkin to turn into a coach so she can proceed to the ball.  Did not quite turn out the way I imagined it, but I am proud to say that I figured out how to do it with no exposed raw edges inside!     I'll probably donate her to WOCS to use as one of the favors they give to nursing home residents or even to the children in one of the shelters for domestic violence.

 

 

Bunny SAL and Carmela's Garden

I was one of many to join Kissy's Bunny SAL, 3 parts in 6 days, a commitment I could handle. I had a small piece of old fabric in my stash from Sassy's Fabbys from the days when she did the hand-painted technique. This was done on a lovely color called Spring Shamrocks. I changed up the colors to work with the fabric and just to be a little different. I loved stitching this and I love how it turned out. I made it into a little zippered bag since I never seem to have enough of those to store stitchy things and other small items.



Just finished a Love Quilts Square for a quilt with the theme of "Girls Being Girls". This design was a freebie displayed by a blogger named Carmela who has since closed her blog. She always had the cutest designs. I think I saved this one with the thought of making a Comfort Doll from it. I added the little motifs outside the border just to make the design a bit larger. Those come from some hardback books on my shelves by various designers. Just when I think it's time to get rid of those books, they come in handy!



Finally, here are some iPhone photos of the various t-shirts and onesies designed for my Jazzercise instructor's new grandson. My instructor was moved to tears by the efforts of some of her students. You can see my shirt with the owl in the top photo.

Diamond Wrist Warmers and Elephant Coin Purse

With a whole ball of yarn left over after the last set of fingerless gloves, I decided to knit a second pair with a thumb gusset. This pattern was designed for a much larger hand than mine, but I didn't feel like ripping it out after I had finished the first one and made this discovery. So I just knit the second glove with fewer stitches cast on and it came out perfect. One of those patterns you have to concentrate closely on to ensure you don't mess it up. Still find I have some large holes to stitch up where the thumb joins the base. Maybe I'll figure out why that happens eventually. These are the Diamond Hand Wristwarmers by Micah Hazlett.




I recently discovered that a friend of mine collects elephants (not live ones thank goodness). Always wondered why she had a giant plush elephant on a chair in the living room, but I never noticed the curio cabinet behind it that had the most amazing collection of figurines. As a little New Year's gift, I crocheted the Crochet A Little elephant again, this time in pink. I made a quick little zippered change purse and sewed the motif on the front. On the back I sewed another of Wendy's tatting motifs. It has just enough batting to give it a little body.