Projects and Classes

This past week really few by!  I spent Monday to Wednesday in classes taught by Susan of Foxview Needlepoint.

Monday saw myself and ten friends learning new needlepoint stitches for this American goldfinch.  Each canvas was hand-drawn by Susan.  It might take a while, but the stitches are not overly complex and the subject is something I enjoy.  This is how much I managed to complete during the class period:

Tuesday morning, ten of us (a different mix of ladies) learned the technique of rug hooking.  Most of the students chose a sheep design, two others worked pumpkins.  I brought my own kit that I found at one of the local quilt shops, a Christmas stocking ornament.  I managed to finish the hooking Tuesday afternoon at the guild meeting.

Wednesday there was a lecture on choosing colors for our needlework designs.  Nothing to really photograph for this class.  But I did get more of the Goldfinch done.  I also thought to get a picture of my canvas with the sample picture.

Somehow through all this I managed to get a second coat of paint on the Peach's exterior.  I also got the trim sections and bay window primed with gesso, and got one coat of paint on the bay window's top.

Currently Goldfinch looks like this.

I decided to change the eye section, so the two white stitches that were there are now gone.  I also decided I don't care for the more open weave on the cattail, so that's all coming out and I'll stitch it again with a tighter weave once I get a replacement skein of the correct pearl cotton.  But I did finish up 1 out of 7 total skeins for the background color!

Shaded View and A Wedding Gift

"Shaded View" is what I'm calling my tote bag.  I used the same pattern as the others and the last of the strips from the Bali pop.  The fabrics made me think of a lone tree branch in one's view as one looks at the sky on a sunny day.  I fell in love with the piece I used for the contrast strip and built the bag around it.

I also have an older finish to share.  One of our veterinarians missed the holiday party because she'd left to be married.  This is the same vet who conspired to get Artie into our family, so she has a special place in my heart.  She's also the owner of "Flowerpot Kitty" and one of the Yellow Kitty ornaments.

After forming a conspiracy of my own with the ladies who work in the office and the vet techs, I had his initials.  Hers are on her business cards and another vet supplied the date in conversation.  Then I needed a design.  I found a little bridal bouquet motif in one book, but changed the colors to fit better with a winter theme.  Then I scoured my library until I found the perfect alphabet for personalization.

I made the twisted cord from some of the colors in the bouquet.  There's a lot of metallic DMC in this piece, which has it's ups and downs.  The final effect was worth the fraying frustration though.  The backing fabric is some that I'm had in my stash for at least a decade.  It was going to be a vest front for me, but I've gained a bit of weight since then.  Better to re-purpose it, especially for something fun.  The silvery leaves accent the metallic silver on the front perfectly.  In fact I drove myself crazy looking for it since I knew it was somewhere.

That's all for this week.  I'm not sure what direction I'll jump in for next week.  See you next time!

PASG Ornament Exchange 2011

I almost forgot to post about the Guild ornament exchange at the beginning of December.  Whoops!

I gave one of the thread crochet wreaths:

And received this lovely glass ornament draped with machine embroidered motifs.

The artist is a dear friend of mine and I was gleeful when I got hers.

The way the exchange works is everyone who wants to participate makes an ornament, wraps it, and brings it to Guild.  No one puts their names on them.  Then we draw numbers and whoever gets the lowest number goes to the gift table first.  When they open the package they've chosen, then we find out who made it.  It's a lot of fun!

Leather and Lace

FH and I decided to make ornaments as gifts this year.  We had so much fun, we;ll be doing them with the same theme for a while.

The shapes will be different each year.  In fact we're almost done with the leather ornaments for the next two years, but you'll have to wait to see them. ;-)

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday.

Leather In Progress

In addition to me working on stockings, FH and I are working on some leather ornaments together.  He doesn't like working with some of the coloring products, so generally that's where I step in.  However I've help with some of the carving on these pieces.

The candy canes are done except for signing the backs and sealing them.

 These snowmen need another coat of white, their details painted, and signed/sealed.

 The trees need their garlands painted and signed/sealed.

Here are the carved sections for two new stockings in progress.  I should add that FH isn't helping with these.  He just doesn't have time.

The letters on this one got a little wonky, but overall I'm pleased with it.

 Still need to finish the carving on this one.  There will probably be another small motif at the bottom, with the name in the middle.

Hopefully next time I'll have some more finished things to show off.

Thread Crochet Wreaths

I've finished most of two thirds of the thread crochet wreaths.  Only a half dozen more to go.

I've already given one as part of the gift exchange at the Guild's Holiday Tea Party.  In fact, the one I gave is the ornament pictured above.  Here are the rest:

Mine, fastened onto the tree via safety pin.  Much harder for Artie to remove it from the tree that way.

 Seven completed ornaments, ready to be wrapped.

 The final two from this dozen with the last few inches of red ribbon.  I need to go buy more this week.

 Some of them have wonky centers as the stiffening agent was working faster than FH and I could pin and block them.  FH said they look more like real wreaths that way.  I tend to agree with him, but the perfectionist in me is irritated.  Ah well.  :-)

Another New Bauble

I had this one made.  It finally arrived the other day and we just love it.

New Bauble

My mom broke her favorite red coffee mug earlier in the week.  It was from a local restaurant and had both a white interior and a funny saying of some sort on the side.  It also happens my niece always gravitated to that mug whenever she was at Mom's house.

Happily the restaurant's gift shop got more of them in, so I went over there yesterday to get one for each of them.  I needed a graduation gift for my niece anyway so this seemed like a fantastic solution.

That's when this caught my eye and held on for dear life.

The same company that makes the Precious Moments figures makes these lovelies.  They had all shapes, sizes, and designs for sale, but you know how I am about snowmen.

The painting is all done on the inside of the glass, so it can't be rubbed off.  The nice ladies at the gift shop gave me a coupon for 20% off too. 

Happy Krimbo to me!

How to Dress Up a Garland

Whilst hall decking I decided to put up some silver tinsel garland along the big picture window upstairs.  It looked sort of "blah" when I got it up there.  See what I mean?

So I went out on the search for ribbon to make some bows.  I could have purchased bows, but for some reason this year they're all red.  Not my favorite color any time of the year.  Instead I found these:

Actually I found two bunches of them.  After some dismantling I went down and unearthed my hotglue gun.

Lots of hot glue and an ornament hanger.  Messy but fun.

Voila!

Silk poinsettias to the rescue!

Time to go do more errands and other sundry chores.  Ttfn!

2010 Guild Ornament Exchange

I had a wonderful time at the Stitchers' Guild Holiday Treat party yesterday.  There were so many tasty things to eat (but that will be a later blog post) and the company was wonderful.

A funny thing happened with the ornament exchange.  A friend (who is also a mini person) and I ended up with each others' ornaments.

Here's my friend with the ornament I made. (A bigger photo can be found here.)

Here's the ornament she made this year hanging on my tree.

 Every year she makes a different little bear, usually with a theme in mind.  This year it's a pink baby girl bear in honor of the birth of her first granddaughter.  I love her little teddy and the rosebud bow at her left ear. SO cute!

I'm off to finish some real housework and start dinner.  Catch you later! 

Thanksgiving in Pictures

Happy (belated)Thanksgiving to all my blog friends.  FH and I have been busy for the last several days with prep work.  My parents came up for the holiday and we cooked a feast.  Everything with the exception of the pumpkin pie was home-made.  [FH was given the pie by the Red Cross for donating blood Tuesday night.  One less thing I needed to bake and it wasn't bad.  My pies are better though.]

Everything went smoothly except for the weather.  It was so cold after three hours of smoking the bird FH had to bring it inside so it would finish properly.  However it only delayed getting to the table by thirty minutes.

Hickory smoked turkey, before carving.

Set table, complete with shaped napkins.

Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread dressing, blue cranberries, and plain cranberries.

Pumpkin pie, stir-fried broccoli, turkey, green beans with almonds, cherry-pecan cake, grape tomatoes, clemintine oranges, the sulphide-free wines, and chocolate.

Plate lacking bread dressing, since I forgot it.  Also the home-made dinner rolls.

Tea with cream and sugar.

Blackberry cobbler with ice cream.

Late night snack that FH whipped together for us.

A cure for leftovers: turkey salad with dried cranberries, pecans, celery, sweet onion, egg, and mayonnaise on home-made honey-oat bread.

Same sandwich bt with home-grown cabbage and carrot sprouts.

Not bad for the first big dinner that involved parts of the family.

Afterward I was able to get a bit of stitching in.

Crochet-top towel for my stash of gifts.

Ornament for the Guild exchange next month.

I'm off to go sleep off the leftovers.  Night all!

Felt Cookies with A Side of Book Review

So while my parents were visiting for my birthday my mom picked up a new book on felting. ("Felting-The Complete Guide" by Jane Davis, for those who might be interested.)

We flipped through it and I saw a few projects that were intriguing and she offered to let me play with the book for a while. The problem is I don't have any fiber to use for felting right now, at least not for this project(greens and blues), and I really didn't feel like waiting on the spare cash to remedy the situation.

One of Ms. Davis' projects is an adorable cookie ornament. She suggests that one could use store-bought felt but it won't look as nice as one made from thicker, homemade felt. For giggles I decided to try it out anyway, using store-bought felt and glass seed beads to pose as nonpareils. This is what it looked like:Frankly it looks like the baker left out the baking soda and/or powder. This would be why Ms. Davis warned against using store-bought felt. For obvious reasons I can't show you the picture in her book, but take my word for it... the one made from the homemade felt looks better. Loads better.... like "get me a glass of milk to go with that cookie" better. I even used two layers of tan felt, hoping I could make up for the thin nature of cheap felt.

Not to be utterly daunted I made a second one and took advantage of the two layers of tan felt. While I was at it I even stuffed behind the "icing" layer of the cookie. To make it easier to tell them apart the second ornament (on the left) has sprinkles.I liked this stuffed version better and opened up the first one (on the right; tan layers only) and poked some stuffing into it. As you can see I have a much poofier (that's a word, right?) looking cookie-thing.

Now that I see the two ways to stuff this cookies, I think I prefer the stuffed cookie but unstuffed icing. I also think the first cookie needed more nonpareils, but that can easily be fixed. I do like the sprinkles on the second one, which is what Ms. Davis called for in her original. I did use a thinner thread for my embroidery since I was working with a thinner fabric.

All in all I'm happy with the end results but I really want to get my hands on some roving in the right colors so I can do the entire project properly. I think it may have to wait for next year though since it's getting colder here and my hands don't like being wet and cold in colder months. Waiting gives me time to find the right rovings and something to look forward to. Also I might be able to talk Mom into trying the fabric making too since she's the one who bought the book.


And speaking of the book, I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting either more information on felting or is looking for some cool projects ideas. Heck, I may have to improve my knitting just to play with a few of them. Anyone who knows me should take that as a testament from the heart... and for those of you who don't know my knitting is horrendous on a good day.

The Holi-daze Have Begun

On Tuesday the Stitcher's Guild had a treat party with ornament exchange. Anyone who wanted to play just had to make an ornament and bring it wrapped to the party. Some were quilted, some were stitched, some were crocheted. All were gorgeous.

For those who may have missed the pictures of my ornament, here it is again:
My friend, Maxine who hosts the Quilter's group, received it.

I was lucky enough to receive this gorgeous card and ornament made by my friend, Teresa who is also a budding miniaturist.
I had to so off the card too, since she made that as well. :-)

Then on Thursday the local miniature group had their party and gift exchange. I put together these Christmas treats that my friend, Bobbi, received.
Some of you may recall that last spring I taught the club members how to make layered cakes. When I opened my gift I was pleased to see that Marti had taken that concept and had been practicing.
I just love this little cake. I spent so much time admiring it that it took me a moment to realize a second little box was inside the big box. Inside was this adorable jell-o dessert (jelly, to my friends across the pond) ringed with strawberries. Marti said this was a purchase, but she was pondering trying her hand at some in the future.

Friday I mailed my part of the Christmas swap to Marja. I hope you like it, Marja! :-)

Now to do some cleaning and try to get the minis made for my St. Louis miniature group's Christmas and missed birthdays.

Finished Ornament

I just finished the stitching-themed Christmas ornament.
The tassels are home-made, but the buttons and cording are purchased. The ribbon is a scrap leftover from another project.

The chart is in the 2009 Special Christmas Issue of Just Cross Stitch.

Now to get it wrapped up for the ornament exchange next month. Eventually I will make one for myself.

Multiple Projects in Different Media, Me? Never! ;-)

Stitching and hooking. That's what I'm doing currently.

First is a piece that will become an ornament for my stitching guild's ornament exchange.
I have some buttons to sew on in a few places. Then I can turn it into an ornament.

Next is the first of two hats I have to make. One for FH and one for his best friend. Anything that can be considered geeky I have to make two of. It's about like giving gifts to children. This hat pattern is based on H.P.Lovecraft's Cthulhu. I bought the pattern from this nice lady on Ravelry.
I'm about 60% of the way through it. I needed something to keep me occupied while I was waiting for the yarn shop to be open so I could buy:

The colors I needed for Baby Beau's vest. I will hopefully be starting on that either tonight or tomorrow.

I've started another stitching project that I do not have a picture for yet since there are only 120 stitches in place. It's base on stained glass window designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm working it up for my dad.

To sooth the lack of picture for that project, have a look at a piece that's in hibernation (pardon the soon-to-be obvious pun). I started it last summer (2008) for FH and got about this far before the kit ran out of the dark grey and black I needed to finish filling in the bear.

Luckily I figured out which DMC color I needed for the grey. Now If I can just get done with all the other stitching and such. It's easier to rotate between one stitching project and minis. It's harder when there's lots of non-mini projects. Not to mention that I will eventually have to get back to the period clothing. I was all too happy to put most of it away when my parents came for a visit in September and I've gleefully not drug it back out. ;-)

That's it for today. I've got to get back to it.