This is a cover kit, and a dip the toe in the water of a backstitch pattern. I have seen a Ballerina and bear done mainly in backstitch (not quite blackwork, but on a theme).
This was not so bad but I am still a little tentative about moving on to the ballerina. I would say next year perhaps but that is not all that far away now and I have a feeling it will be quite full enough with projects lingering from this year.
I made this coaster for a lady at work. She loves not just the drinking of teas but all of the paraphernalia that goes with it. She delights in tea pots, cream jugs and matching sugar bowls (which is amusing as she does not take sugar) she even finds the act of pouring soothing.
I on the other hand don't do tea, even if the smell of it did not make me feel sick (which it does) it is something my religion prohibits.
In addition to her tea obsession she is a grammar queen and incorrectly placed apostrophes drive her potty.
So a coaster with a tea cup (the only cup for tea she will ever get from me) and an apostrophe in gold, just the thing.
I shared some plates decorated for Christmas using paper napkins and glue.
These lanterns made from glass jars use the same basic technique to a different effect.
The outside of the jars have been coated with one layer of white napkin. Then a silhouette of ordinary black paper added over the top.
In normal light, no candles.
A bit of ribbon with festive Christmas bells for a bit of colour, pop in a tea light (theses have one of the small battery powered ones you can get with a flickering flame effect (much safer).
Using the flash, candles lit.
Theses pictures do not do justice to the effect theses simple decorations give.
And I get to share my Christmas stitching. Now to be honest I am not a prolific Christmas stitcher and most of the things I have stitched on this theme have already had an outing in my blog last year, so to join in the advent blog hop I finished off a gift kit from CrossStitcher, issue 194, I made a small start on it and stalled with only the red section and a stitch or two of little pale yellow sewn.
It is one of those designs that looks like nothing without the backstitching, but it had very annoying backstitching for all the difference it made, quarter and half square lengths, backstitching into the middle of a stitch, but I guess worth it.
It came with its own picture mount, I have shown it here, but I am not 100% convinced, there is something about the roof in roof that does not sit quite right for me. Nor am I sure about that star. I have a tiny design for a Santa and sleigh I think might fit. Mulling it over for now.
In addition to the sharing of some Christmas themed sewing, Jo the hostess with the most-est, for this hop has also set a theme of sorts, she asked that we talk about our best gift. I have been thinking about that a lot. I have received many wonderful, thoughtful and completely me gifts over the years. Gifts that made me smile, laugh, brought tears of joy to my eyes and warmed my heart. Can I pick a single one, no I can't.
I can however think of two gifts given at Christmas and the joy that I felt in others pleasure.
Each gift was for a little boy, neither of whom are blood family but who as children of good friends felt as if they were. Each given a very different gift and each with a different response.
I asked the first youngsters dad what the child might like for Christmas, anything to do with castles was the reply. Now as this child was one of four and friends must be careful not to overstep at this time of year I have always set myself a firm budget for the gifts. I could not find a castle within the budget. However, I did find a set of knights that came with a plastic castle gate and portcullis.
Castle from a box with plastic portcullis
The day before I was due to visit, it suddenly occurred to me that I could put the gate into the side of a strong box and make a castle. Cardboard box, bits of cardboard, pipe lagging, glue,paint and a little later I had a castle with turrets ramparts and a keep. Fortunately for me it dried by the next morning and was hastily wrapped with its selection of Knights and Cowboys and Indians (which came with the ground sheet) inside the castle walls.
He said not a word as he carefully, slowly opened it, his eyes fixed he placed it on the floor and began placing the knights. Totally focused, he was in his new world and the rest of us slid out of existence. Success.
The second was a bought gift, a spaceship from the Early Learning Centre, complete with astronauts, astro-dog, space buggy, alien and a toilet! It wrapped large and my BF's son made short work of ripping away the paper. He bounced and quivered with joy and for the next fifteen minuets as his parents battled away with ties and cardboard flaps to free it from the packaging, exclaimed over and over "thank you, thank you" and "I am so excited" "its the best ever".
It is great doing the giving when you get it just right.
So far the Christmas fair with raffle and sale of goods has raised over £1300. There is some still to be received and counted from the sale of a numerous calender with each month represented by a member of staff. The union rep for example is in November as Guy Fawkes on top of a bonfire.
Sometimes it is a quick stitch that is required. Something that can be completed and framed in days rather than weeks.
That has been the case with this little wedding cross stitch. The lady getting married joined my team at work with only three weeks to the wedding. There were one or two other things that needed sorting 1st so it was past time to hurry up and be finished before I had the idea let alone made a start. A quick check on Facebook for the groom's hair colour and stitching began. A hint of pink in the brides dress to reflect the colour of her outfit for the day if not the actual style and the stitching was done.
I have a hand mount board cutter so I could cut the arch on the mount to fit the 3 inch square aperture in the frame. Tight fit but when you are working to speed and a tight deadline you do what you can with what you have to hand.
So this is what I have made, a small design from Donna Kooler's 555 Country Cross-Stitch Patterns.
Some time ago a sewing friend was asked to make a rag doll. She happily agreed then realised that the type of face she had previously used was no longer available. Feeling a hand made doll should perhaps have a hand made face she asked me to sew one.
Design picked off the internet I set to embroidering a face. As she was happy with the result I was not long thereafter sewing another. More doll requests followed and she asked me to show her how to sew the faces for herself.
Doll Face
Here I am showing the stitches for each part of the face. I mark the design on using felt tip pens that say "washable" on the box. They are available at most supermarkets. So far I have had no trouble getting the ink washed out.
Moving on several months and as mentioned previously a charity event at work was planned. I asked my friend if she would make a doll for me for that.
She agreed and I sewed another face, she made and clothed the doll.
Finished Doll Face
Here is the finished face, brown eyes to match her hair.
The clothes are all removable as we both agreed clothes that were not had irritated us as children.
Now when making dolls previously they were for friends and went without shoes, on the expectation outgrown shoes from the recipient would fit.
In this case I thought some shoes would finish off the doll.
So I made shoes out of pink felt with velvet ribbon to fasten them on.
Pink shoes
Once the shoes were finished, well a lady needs a bag to match (even if a picture of the shoes has just a glimpse of bloomer she is still a lady!), back to the felt and ribbon, having added the bag strap I had a little bit of ribbon left to cover the snap fastening.
It was not until after I had stitched the covering loop on I realised the significance of the shape I had made in pink ribbon.
It was nice to have a bit more involvement with the doll and not just sew a pretty face.
Complete outfit
Sitting pretty
So I have taken her to work and handed her over to the charity committee, They were thinking of doing a name the doll game for her..I will let you know how it went when I post about the Christmas fair in aid of SARCOMA UK at the end of this week. Wish us luck.
Remaining with the Christmas Fair for SARCOMA, I arrived at work to find a plastic bag on my desk. Inside eight white felt birds, with embroidery on them pinned in pairs to some ribbon, there was also some white felt and blue felt in the bag.
A bit puzzled I wondered where they had come from and had I been volunteered to make something else.
A bit of investigation and it was a donation for me under the "I'm just a girl who can't say no" theme when it comes to material. A project started on Scandinavian decorations and abandoned.
By then I had it in my head it would be for the Fair. Took the bag home, examined the bits, made use of the cereal box again for a template and set to.
First I decided to make individual stuffed birds (I had small bits of wadding left from the Christmas Stockings) from the precut and decorated white felt, I used the ribbon for three of the birds but ran out before the last one.
Blue Bird
They looked OK to me so I made four more in blue from scratch, I limited my decorative sewing to white thread.
So, are they two sets of four calling birds or eight individual decorations..we will see when the fair rolls around. Oh and the original donor, she liked the finished result so much she is considering buying them!
Another evening at Church with the ladies, sharing cookie recipes (yes and tasting them too) drinking hot chocolate having a chat and making plates for Christmas cookie sharing.
We had glass plates and festive napkins. Peel the napkin till you have one ply. Cut out the bit of the pattern you want (fiddly with it being so thin.) then time for the glue, and glitter if you want.
Cover the back of the plate with the glue. If using it sprinkle on glitter where you want it. Place your cut out right side down. Spread more glue over the back and add your background tissue. Seal it all with glue, let it dry.
Once it is dry trim the edge (carefully) with a sharp knife (we had a scalpel) and the plate is done. Sadly they can't be washed just wiped. We all had fun making them.
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It is one of those designs that looks like nothing without the backstitching, but it had very annoying backstitching for all the difference it made, quarter and half square lengths, backstitching into the middle of a stitch, but I guess worth it.
