Don't Worry, Be Hippy

This is the last in my latest series of comfort dolls. Four cuties are on their way to Pat Winter for her project now. I love stitching up these little girls so I hope it's a win-win for giver and receiver. And a big thank you to Pat for continuing with this project and giving it so much loving attention.

I chose Barbara Ana's design for this one. Added a few beads and substituted a crocheted flower for the stitched one. Plus I gave her a nose and a smile. The original is eyes only. Barbara's designs could cheer up anyone I think.

eduCATed

Sometimes it's really hard to find the right chart. Just when I think there would a myriad of choices for a particular occasion, there often turns out to be very little that's appropriate. Or I can't seem to find the appropriate thing anyway. My cousin is graduating from college with a degree in civil engineering. It's always hard to find boy designs, but for graduation designs, everything was either too sappy or way too babyish for my taste whether for boy or girl. Finally, when I wasn't looking for a design anymore, I found this cute cat design by Bent Creek in Lynn's gallery. Purrr...fect for a smarty-pants bookmark. Now I can go to the barbecue Sunday with a personalized gift to match the impersonal check (which I'm sure the grad will appreciate with or without a bookmark).

ABC Envelope Bag

When I saw this cute little sampler, "Y a d'la joie", from Anne-les-Petites-Croix, I couldn't resist stitching it. Didn't know what I would do with it, but I just like the spring-summery feeling. The fabric is 35-count linen from Vikki Clayton, one of the neutrals I got in a grab bag.

I had previously saved this link to an envelope bag tutorial. I had planned to try this out for a mail-art envelope, but I decided to use it for a little bag to carry instead. And for fun, I crocheted an edging to attach as well. The bag has a much more old-fashioned girl, shabby chic look than I would usually go for, but it was fun to make.

Reluctant Scholar

Here's my latest comfort doll. She looks a bit sad, but I think she's just tentative on her first day of school. This is a Carol Emmer design from an old issue of Leisure Arts "For the Love of Cross Stitch" magazine. I still like these kinds of designs with a lot of fractionals, back stitching and shading for contours. I used Pat Winter's Inner Child Doll method of sewing on the backing by just wrapping it to the front, folding over and hand-stitching a buttonhole stitch in pearl cotton to close it. No turning inside out and no machine stitching at all. I think I need more practice, but it worked out ok.



My partner, Jane, in the Stitchin' Fingers biscornu exchange sent me a gorgeous biscornu from a Floss Box design. Didn't she do a lovely job?

Season Petites Luggage Tag

Mother's Day is fast approaching so I made this small gift to give to my cousin who always includes me at her holiday dinners. This is from a Brightneedle leaflet, "Season Petites". I used a cafe mocha fabric from Enchanted Fabrics and a Moda fabric lining. It was hard to find one fabric for the stitching that would make all the seasons 'pop'. I changed the lettering colors at least to be darker to show up better.

Trilogy Square Baby Sampler

The little boy babies are just cropping up everywhere it seems. For my co-worker with a newborn second baby, I picked this design by the Trilogy. The model on the leaflet cover was done with Gentle Art and Weeks Dye Works threads. But the chart included DMC colors as well. Using the DMC colors listed would have given this a completely different look, although probably a very nice look. I used all DMC, but I chose my own colors in a lot of cases. For some areas, I could use DMC color variations. In others, I used 2-3 colors that seemed to match the hand-dyeds and just randomly filled in the spaces, changing colors every so often.

This was also the first time I had done significant over-one stitching. The heart house on the left is all in over-one. The fabric is 28-count Monaco in antique white. The Monaco is such a sturdy fabric that it supports the over-one really well. But it was a chore, no doubt.

I met a nice woman in the fabric shop who was selecting threads for a finished quilt top. So I helped her pick out colors and she helped me pick the backing fabric. I wouldn't have thought of using green. I was looking for something in the rust/barn red area, but the green really worked best I think. The ribbon is the wired type.

Alternative Energy

A couple of quick finishes. The first is a card for my cousin the bicycle enthusiast. This design is by Radical Cross Stitch and was originally done as a logo for a Texas bicycle event. The fabric is a hand-dyed aida from Sassy's Fabbys. It's a pretty green, but I don't think it shows so well in the photo. The thread is DMC color variations 4240.



And second, a teenie weenie crocheted kitty. The pattern includes a long tail so you can use him as a bookmark. But I omitted that to use him as an embellishment on some as yet to be decided project. You can find the pattern here along with several others, but beware there is one mistake in this one. The directions omit the 'turn' after you complete the head. If you followed the directions as written, your kitty will have both legs on the same side of the head!



Also, I received a lovely mail-art envelope from my partner, Liz, in the Stitchin' Fingers mail-art exchange. Liz chose an apple theme. I love how she used an apple print for the lining. I'm busy studying this one to see how she did the construction. Liz is a very accomplished needlewoman so I knew she would have some great ideas for this even though this was her first attempt at mail-art. And be sure to check her blog to see all her fine work and especially the incredible dolls she makes!

Cute as a button

Meet Abigail, my latest stitched comfort doll. Abigail totes a comfort doll of her own so she is very aware of the importance of her role. This design comes from a leaflet called 'Cute As A Button'. The designs in the leaflet are based on a series of dolls by Cheri Saffiote and adapted for x-stitch by Annie Morgan. I think I'll do one more of these since I had so much fun stitching this one.


And this teeny little bunny is here to wish everyone a very happy bunny day. He's only about 1.25" long. Directions for crocheting the little guy can be found here.

Quaker Mail Art

My first cross stitch envelope has reached my partner in the exchange on Stitchin' Fingers. Have to confess...I cheated. I mailed it inside of another envelope. Just couldn't bring myself to mail it without any protection at all.

I found it more difficult than I expected. Planning the layout was complicated. I made a mistake in placement and had to improvise at the end for the construction. That's why you see the flap made from the lining fabric. I sewed the side seams by hand since they were kind of bulky. I think I might look for a different construction method if I were to do another one of these.

I used the free Quaker house design from Annie Beez Folk Art on the front and the Nesting Bird design from Aury on the back. The fabric is Vikki Clayton linen and the lining has a design of houses in case you can't see that in the photo.

The Cat Biscornu

My partner, Jane, in the Stitchin' Fingers biscornu exchange just told me she received the one I made for her. I could see by Jane's other blog that she is a cat lover, so I chose a cat-related design. The original design had a bible verse stitched on one side that I changed to be an old rhyme:

I'm only a cat
We'll get along fine
As long as you know
I'm not yours, your're mine.

The design is free on Cross Stitch Pro PDF.

As usual, it is difficult to find the right angle to take photos of a biscornu. Here's what I came up with: