Batty and the Spider

Here is my version of 'Batty' by MonsterBubbles from the 2008 JCS Halloween issue. I loved the way they did the finishing in the magazine with lots of pins around the edge strung with different beads. But that was just too much for me. They used a dark tobacco colored fabric that I loved, but I used a piece of Cafe Mocha from enchanted fabrics that I had in my stash with some Moda fabric trim.

The hanger is crocheted from these directions for a leaf chain. That orange crochet cotton was tough to find. Even on-line a lot of stores were out of stock. A lot of Halloween crocheting going on I guess.



I crocheted the spider from a design at Kreinik. My version is a modification of theirs. I skipped the web and mine is much smaller. Their directions for the head are what I used for the body.



This was fun to play with. I'm on a Halloween roll now.

Satire for some, brilliant idea for others

"Richard's Poor Almanack" by Richard Thompson is a satirical cartoon series published in the Washington Post. It often deals with political issues, sometimes very local issues. Last Saturday, the cartoon was a spoof of Country Fair Prizewinners. Take a look at the one on the bottom left, "Worst New Home Handicraft - Tweets rendered as samplers". Sounds like a great idea to me!

Halloween tag & birthday card

Last year's JCS Halloween issue had two cute pumpkin designs, each about the same size and using similar colors. Seemed perfect for a two-sided tag/fob. I used Monaco fabric and sewed up the two sides with no padding or interfacing. That fabric had plenty of body without anything extra. And the crop-a-dile worked great for attaching the eyelet with the with back washer.

First side is a design by the Sweetheart Tree:


Second side is by Jeannette Douglas:


And for a special young lady who is turning 15 shortly, I stitched up this cute high heel shoe from Joannne Sanderson for a birthday card design. And always on the look-out for a place to add a bit of crochet, I topped it off with a little quickie flower. The fabby is little piece of hand-dyed from Miek. Just ignore the part where I didn't notice that the hearts on the background paper are all upside down til it was a bit too late to do anything about it. Sigh....

Holiday previews...

In these very hot days of summer, it can be hard to think about stitching for fall holidays. But I didn't have anything else on my 'urgent' to-do list. I've been scouring the web for little Halloween crochet motifs. Tons of them exist, but crochet instructions can be difficult to interpret, even from professional publishers, much less from amateurs who generously share their work. But I still love this little bat that I used last year and decided to use again. I thought he made a nice accompaniment to the Night Owl design from the Sept/Oct, 2008 issue of JCS. This was also my first stitching on 32 count Lugana. I liked the fabric, but not as much as I liked stitching on Jobelan.



I experimented a little on this card just to try something different. The design is from the July/Aug, 2008 issue of JCS. I changed the word from "Joy" to "Peace", but otherwise it's stitched as charted. The fabric is 36 ct linen from Vikki Clayton.

It pays to exercise!

My Jazzercise team of two, the 'Jazzerinas', attended 60 classes between us since June 1. As part of the summer promotion, that entitled each of us to receive this beautiful tote bag and cosmetics case. It's like getting paid to exercise (almost). Isn't it cute?



The little jazzhead magnets are my personal exercise gurus. Modeled after the designs at All That Glitters.



And maybe the exercise acts as brain food too. Today I completed my first Saturday Washington Post 'hard' Sudoko puzzle. I'd only managed to solve the 'easy' and 'medium' ones from earlier in the week up til now.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Mine is off to a great start!

Sampler Finish

Finished stitching my sampler and sewing it up into a little pocket to hold small stitchy things. My local variety store had several nice fabrics that would work for the lining. It's a shame the lining doesn't show more.

I didn't do as much frogging on the second half, and I did remember to invert the pattern. Here's the second half by itself:


I really enjoyed doing so many different embroidery stitches. The little chain stitch button loop could have been more neatly done, but it works. Here are 3 views of the finished product. I might add a snap to each pocket to keep it closed, but it works pretty well as is:

Half-way to a Sampler Finish

I thought this little sampler would stitch up much faster than it has. It has tons of different embroidery stitches, and they go much slower than little x's. I have done most of them before, but not for a long time. Plus I did them on needlepoint canvas back in the day, probably on 12-count canvas.

But I'm really having fun with the stitching. I'm using 32-count parchment Jobelan. I always thought I'd hate synthetic fabrics, but I'm loving this.

The sampler is the Mystery Sampler from Anne-les-Petites-Croix. No mystery now since the SAL is long since over. I'm planning to make this as a stitcher's pocket, not a hanging. Now I just have to remember to invert the remaining two sections when I stitch them. I've already done too much frogging and re-stitching on this.

Countryside Spring has sprung

Well I never really believed I would finish all of the stitching on this piece, but lo and behold, it's all done! This is from the April, 2005 issue of Stoney Creek magazine. I believe I started stitching it in 2006 in hopes of having it done for my brother's 10th anniversary in 2007. I will probably still give it to my brother and SIL after I make it into a sofa pillow. For now, it's just a big sigh of relief and I can lovingly stare at it.



And a fun package arrived yesterday. You may remember all of the little heart favors I stitched around Valentine's day. Well I just got the sweetest thank you notes and little gifts from the recipients, the girls at St. John's in Michigan.



Cynthia is my connection to these girls. She volunteers at the facility and teaches them crafts. Cynthia is wild about all things apian (i.e bee-like) and she sent me this very sweet little bee charm too. Can't wait to find a project where I can use this little charm as a highlight.

King of Mini-Pop

For my own Michael Jackson tribute, I stitched 4 mini-pops as refrigerator magnets. All except the "Beat It" image in the red jacket are from Flip Flop Flyin. I drew the "Beat It" version myself using MS Paint, one pixel at a time.

Chronologically, we have the "Billie Jean" era:


Next, my version of "Beat It":


Third, from "Black or White":


And the most recent, the MTV VMA awards of 2002:



A lovely tableau on my fridge:


I danced with a local amateur jazz and tap dance company for many years. I joined the company when it was first established. The very first routine we performed in the early 80's was to Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop til You Get Enough". Here we have the archives from this era. These are from a performance at the Torpedo Factory Arts Center in Alexandria, VA. If you can take your eyes off of the beautiful blond in the front row for a sec, you can see a very much younger version of me in the purple leotard, second row on the right.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Seems like every stitcher and her sister stitched this irresistible little design by Stitch-Creations and I am no exception. I went for a soft-sided version. And since I can't stand to see good stitching space left empty, I added a bird design by Pelin Tezer on the top and another bird design taken from the Special Quaker Six Mains by A Mon Ami Pierre for the bottom. All done in DMC Color Variations 4210 on 14 ct Charles Craft rustic Aida. A very fun stitch.