Even more Halloween tags

I think this will be the last of the trick or treat bag tags for the third graders. I still might stitch another Halloween design or two, but this will close out the set to send off. I did have a lot of fun with this and now I have to replenish my floss supply with all those fall colors.



Clockwise from the top left:

"Happy Jack" from Knotted Tree Needlearts, JCS Oct, 2009 issue, stitched on antique white Monaco


"Boo House" by Helga Mandl stitched on 32 count parchment Jobelan


"Autumn Stars" by Blackbird Designs, JCS Oct, 2009 issue, stitched on antique white Monaco. A few modifications to suit my tastes.


"Halloween House" (sans house!) by Drawn Thread stitched on 35 count linen from Vikki Clayton

More Halloween tags..

I've been making trick or treat bag tags out of all my saved small Halloween designs. I'm planning to give them to a friend to use as prizes for the kids in her third grade class. Here's the latest collection:



Clockwise from top left we have:
- Just Nan's Fraidy Frog, JCS Oct, 2009
- Cat's Whiskers' Halloween Kitty
- Barbara Ana's Boo
- Bent Creek's Blackbird house

I'll make a few more until I OD on Halloween and then send them on their way. It's fun to do the little designs, and I love all the opportunities for designer creativity with so many Halloween symbols available.

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....

It's a yin-yang thing

Presenting the final heart in the series. Another design by Kirsten



The hearts have all been sent to Michigan to be given to the sweet little girls that sent me the thank you notes for the Halloween tags.

And now for something completely different. I was lucky enough to win a contest on Ranae's blog for the classic Voodoo Boy chart by Haberdashery designs. I've always wanted to stitch this little guy. I really didn't want to use Aida, but I didn't have the right color fabric on hand in any other weave and I also wanted to start stitching him the minute the chart showed up. He's going to be living in Miami so I thought I'd crochet him a jaunty hat to wear on his trip (and this may be the first time I've ever used the word 'jaunty'). It's done in a multi-colored sock yarn. The hat design came from a book of instructions for crocheted home accessories. The hat is meant to be an egg cozy! And of course I added a couple of pins since a self-respecting Voodoo boy should never be without them.



The backing is pretty purple mottled hand-dyed fabric. I sewed him up by machine and I hate doing the final slip stitching by hand, so instead, I sewed a buttonhole in the center back just to use for turning. Then I sewed the 'Little Helper' label over the buttonhole to close him after stuffing. And a few sequins added for fun.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

I've just about finished my heart project. One more left to go and I will have 10 heart favor pockets. They each have charms inside from Oriental Trading Co.

Here are the latest. These are all lined and backed with pink and red fabrics. I used a cookie cutter as a template on most of them. The linen ones are done with Vikki Clayton's 35 count linen. I bought a grab bag of light neutrals to try this out. This linen is fabulous if you like the 35 count. I may become an addict!

Clockwise from the top:

Stitching cherub by Casa Mia
Monochrome heart by JBW
Love Bug by Erynne
Bluebird by San-Man Originals from a newsletter for members only
White dove by Kirsten
Candle and jam jar from Cross Country stitching magazine

Valentine and more....

On this historic inauguration day in the U.S., I'm displaying the Valentine's card I finished last night in the spirit of love and hope.

The design is another cute freebie from Claire. The fabric is lilac flair from Enchanted Fabrics. I went crazy with eyelets! Much easier to set on a card than on fabric actually.



Here's the little card I made to go with the baby sampler from the previous post. I met the new little prince on Sunday. He's just the absolute cutest! The design is from Prairie Schooler, a piece of Winter Wind.



Still experimenting with heart favor pockets. The designs on these are from Cross Country Stitching magazine. I like the designs, but I'm not at all happy with the finishing on the tops. That's what happens with experiments. Some work out and some don't!

Heart favor

I'm experimenting with heart favor pockets in anticipation of Valentine's Day. Here's my first, a free design from PCB. The ribbon at the top is hand sewn. I used DMC 107, the old-style variegated thread.



For the new year, I received an ornament from Kerry for the Stitchin' Fingers exchange. This little guy took his time traveling from Canada, but he has arrived just in time since we are anticipating our first 'winter mix' weather event this week.

Trick or Treat Bag Tags Giveaway

Barbara Ana designed the cutest little Halloween charts featured in her latest newsletter. I couldn't resist. I finished them as little tags that I think would be great to hang onto the handles of a trick or treat bag or attach to a backpack. I need to find some people with kids who can use them. If you know of a kid who would like one, let me know and I'll send one to you. If more than four people are interested, I'll do a drawing at the end of next week.



And thanks for all the nice comments. I definitely appreciate them.

A special thanks to Wendy for nominating me for this award:



It's so hard to select nominees from all the great blogs out there. I just recommend that you click on some of my favorites that you may not have noticed and do a bit of exploring.

Take me out to the ballgame..

Just finished a quick little key ring fob to send to my brother who is a bit under the weather at the moment. This is by Pam Kellogg, a freebie on the Kreinik web site. I fell in love with that cute little face the first time I saw it.




And thanks for all the votes of confidence in my faces and t-shirt. I love reading the comments.