Preparing for Winter

I am trying to get ahead of the game and make myself a winter fob for my scissors. :o) This little cutie is barely an inch square. I had admired him from the moment I saw him in the JCS 2009 Ornament issue and knew he would be one of the first ornaments I stitched. A simple snowflake for the back of the fob added the finishing touch for this little guy. :o)



"Purple Penguin"
Casey Buonaugurio Designs
32 ct lavender evenweave
1 over 1 with DMC flosses

Thankful

"Thankful"

Designed by Primitvebettys

HDF grab bag 35 ct linen

HDF Examplar Fried Pickles Floss

I Won!

Andrea over at The Craft Room had a drawing on her blog for one of her handmade ornaments. I threw my name into the drawing and just look at what I won! I am just tickled pink to have one of her ornaments - her stitching is flawless and the finishing with that beaded edge is just divine. Because of my crappy photo abilities you can't really see the little brass charm on the upper left that says "Made For You", such a nice personal touch. It will have a place of honor on my tree this year.

Thank you Andrea!

Waste Not

I just can't bring myself to toss those strips of linen left over after stitching a piece. As I was walking by my ironing board I noticed the pile of scraps and a light bulb went on in my little ole head.

I sat down at the sewing machine and starting pieceing the strips together. I found a template online for a gingerbread man, broke out the permanent markers, and what you see my friends is history. LOL He would be even cuter if the face, buttons and such were stitched but I was too lazy to do that this time.

He will make a cute little addition to my tree and the scraps didn't go to the wastebasket.

Humbug - No Bah!

I just crack myself up sometimes. LOL Here is the cutest little humbug I received from Lynne in the Tiny Treasures Exchange, Too. I just love the orange with the pink and coral - orange is becoming one of my favorite colors. Her stitching and finishing were wonderful and she also sent along some lovely green beads and a skien of satin floss. Thank you Lynne!

Peppermint Twist

While cruising the internet earlier this week I came across this tutorial on the Moda Bakeshop website. Since I had been trying to think of some little gift ideas for quilting friends I decided to give these a try. I found the instructions to be excellent and really like the weight the crushed walnut shells add to the pincushion. I think these would make cute little decorations for the holidays as well as being useful.

I hope you are all having a good weekend. It is cold here but at least we have sunshine. I have a Christmas ornament swap coming up so I suppose I will be working on those tomorrow as well as finishing up my humbug for the Tiny Treasures exchange.

First Stitches

Bwahhahahaha! Ya'll are going to love this. Sharon (Daffycat) posted today about her first projects and boy could I relate. This little frog is one of my very first projects stitched with one strand DMC on 22 count Hardanger. As you can see he shared a piece of fabric with a Christmas Mouse at one time - the mouse was put into one of those gold plastic frames and made into an ornament. The little froggy never went anywhere because I didn't leave enough fabric to cut him out! Note the masking tape around the edge of the fabric to keep it from fraying. LOL This was stitched around 1980 when I was a junior in high school.
Another project from the same time period. This one is on 14 count Aida. Perhaps I should frame this one for my sewing room. It would be a good reminder when I am feeling a bit down and who wouldn't be cheery looking at those colors?

So - dig in those closets and baskets and show us some of your first projects. I guarantee they will coax at least one smile out of you!