A sentimental gift

Remember Me by My Big Toe Designs
Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct. Fog
With Crescent Colors Blacksmith Blue and Raspberry Parfait
Accented with antique buttons

I spotted this design early in 2011, after my husband's beloved grandmother passed away just days after her 99th birthday. I knew it was something we had to stitch in her honor for his mom. He agreed, and I picked up the chart and threads. I originally wanted to do it in two shades of pink (Grandma's favorite color) but he thought it would be too much pink and chose a darker blue accented by pink.

I picked this raspberry shade of pink for a particular reason. Right after Grandma passed away, I sent out an email to the extended family and cousins to let them know what happened and what the funeral arrangements were. (I stay in regular touch with most of the cousins via email and Facebook and it was my way of helping my MIL, who was feeling overwhelmed at the time.) As the response emails started coming back, I noticed a consistent theme in what people were saying they'd most remember about Grandma - her welcoming kitchen and delicious food, specifically her homemade raspberry jelly. My husband has mentioned this himself numerous times, and it seems he's not the only one it had an impact on. It's a little thing, but I am very sentimental like that, and I think my husband appreciated it as well.

What is obvious in the piece are the antique buttons used in place of some of the specialty stitches. I've mentioned the button collection we inherited from Grandma before, and these are some of the buttons from that collection. Just before he framed it, Mr. Sweet Pea picked out some of his favorites and stitched them onto the piece.

This is another American Frame, with a twist, as it's not the original frame I selected. Right after I placed the order, I got an email saying there was a mistake on the website and the frame I ordered was not in stock. Ugh. I hate it when that happens, but I went back to the drawing board and picked another frame. As it turns out, I like this one better than the first one I chose, and it works beautifully with the furniture in my IL's dining room, where it now hangs. I should also mention that Mr. Sweet Pea used acrylic on this piece (which is why you can see the glare) and some clear spacers to leave enough clearance for the raised buttons.

My MIL absolutely loved the piece and was deeply touched by the time and care her son put into stitching and framing the piece. She says she walks by it every day and it makes her smile to see it.

From across the pond....

Earlier this week, I received my squares from the latest round of the Fair & Square exchange.

Round #28 from Elaine M (http://lanybleu.blogspot.com)
Queen's Heart by Marie-Chantal Lord
From The Gift of Stitching February 2006

The theme for this round was red, and Lany selected this design from The Gift of Stitching. My picture does NOT do these beauties justice - they're gorgeous in person and Lany's stitching is perfect. I'm planning on finishing these up in a heart shaped ornament.

And speaking of the Fair & Square exchange, I've noticed a decline in participation which makes me a little sad. If you already belong to it and haven't participated in a while, now is a good time to check in to the blog and think about signing up for the next round. If you're no longer interested or don't have the time, there's no shame in opting out to give someone new a spot on the exchange. I've met some really wonderful fellow stitchers through the exchanges I've done and I'd hate to see the whole thing go away because there's not enough participation.

Finished!

Celtic Wreath by The Sunflower Seed
JCS 2009 Ornament Issue
F&S Exchange from Christine

While I was on a finishing tear around the holidays, I finished up this piece, stitched by Christine for a F&S Exchange. It had been sitting around since the end of 2009 and I had always intended to make it into an ornament. I even had the cardboard cut to size, but just never got around to actually completing the project. It's like one of those WIPs that need just a few more stitches, and when you finally put them in and finish it, you wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

This piece would work as an ornament, although as a slightly larger one, but I decided to hang it from the knob on the china hutch we inherited from my husband's grandmother. It sits in the corner of our dining room, where I do most of my finishing work. I hung it on the door to get it off the table and out of the way, and decided I really liked the way it looked there, so that's where it will hang for the holidays.

And if you click through to the original post, you'll see I have a better photo of the piece before finishing, as well as a photo of the signature square I used for the back.

A gift for newlyweds

I've mentioned before that my cousin was married this summer, and I've shown the Pinterest inspired wedding invitation ornament I made. I also did two other stitchy gifts for the bride and groom.

The first one, another ornament, had already been selected, purchased and started before the Pinterest idea came into being, so I ended up giving the bride and groom TWO ornaments for a non-existent tree. Yep. They had no tree this year, mostly due to a new puppy with a penchant for chewing. They figured it wasn't worth the potential damage to the tree or the pup to risk putting one up this year. Next year, hopefully. Anyway, this is the ornament I stitched for my cousin and her husband:

All Hearts Come Home for Christmas by Historic Stitches
Stitched over 1 on 25 ct. Ivory with CC Ribbon Red

So pretty! Finishing it was a little bit of a challenge with the heart shape - the center part wasn't very deep and the angles made getting the fabric wrapped neatly a little bit of a challenge but at least it didn't suffer the fate of another ornament I attempted to finish the same day. I might have clipped an angle a little too close on a butterfly and ended up having to restitch it, but that's a story for another day.

I also stitched a wedding record that my cousin herself chose. She had asked me to stitch a piece as a gift for a wedding she was in, and while she was looking through charts, she spotted this one for herself.

Wedding Row by Bent Creek
Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct. Belfast Linen in Flax
with recommended colors

Overall, I am pleased with how it came out, though if I stitch it again, I would probably make a change or two, notably the hearts. They looked red in the original pattern, but called for a more brownish thread. While it doesn't look bad, especially with the other muted colors, I would probably pick something a little more distinctly red for the hearts next time.

The frame was again ordered from American Frame, and I chose it to match their new bedroom furniture. Yes, I went back on my computer and looked at photos my cousin had sent me from when their furniture was delivered, and I tried to pick something that would work well with the simple Craftsman style of their bedroom. Mission accomplished, I think. Framing was a little tricky to get lined up correctly because the names stitched underneath throw the piece a little off center, or at least makes it look slightly off center when you first start figuring out how to place things. My husband ended up going back to the chart itself to find the middle point and working from there. I really should have him write a post on how he frames things - he has a patience with it that I completely lack.

In the end though, it all came out beautifully and my cousin and her husband LOVED it! (they almost didn't love it because I forgot that it was sitting on top of a cabinet at my ILs house and I had to run back in and get it before we left to meet up with the rest of the family.)

Refreshing the blog...

So I know I haven't posted a whole lot, but I've been working on some new posts over the last few days and I've come to realize that I'm kind of tired of how my blog looks. In the last year or so I've spent more time READING blogs than I have maintaining one and I think it's probably time for a refresh.

Here's the thing. Most of my blog reading is done through Google Reader and I LOVE it. It enables me to keep up with over 700 blogs. Yes, 700 blogs. Most of them are food, parenting, craft or DIY blogs, with a healthy dose of stitching thrown in there. Do I read every single word of every single blog post? No. I am a fast reader anyway - always have been. And I do admit to scrolling through posts quickly if the subject matter doesn't interest me or apply to me.

GOOGLE READER TIP: Using the "J" and "K" keys, you can quickly scroll forwards and backwards through posts. Click "J" for the next post, "K" for the previous post.

But back to using a Reader for blog feeds. I wonder how many people do this, and how many people visit the actual blog. I've been reading blogging articles on page views and things of that nature, and apparently reading through a feed doesn't contribute towards page views, which in turn, enable bloggers that monetize their blogs to make more money. I realize in the stitching community, there are very few, if any, bloggers that make money from their blogs themselves. (I'm not talking about stitchers that make money through their craft or finishing services). And some of you reading this are thinking, "What ON EARTH is she talking about?" Let me clarify a little.

My question is - do you visit the blogs you read on an individual basis, and if so, how do you do it? Do you have a list of bookmarks you go through, one by one? How often do you do this - daily? weekly? Or do you use a reader and click on each blog to go to the blog itself when there is new content - or stay in the reader? How many blogs do you read / subscribe to - stitching and otherwise?

I don't care about money or page stats, at least as far as my blog is concerned. I am never, ever going to make money on this blog - the market is not big enough and that's not really my goal anyway. If I can be a member of a helpful, interesting, informative community focused on a craft that I love doing, that fulfills my goal for this blog. I'm just wondering how other stitchers approach blogging and blog reading and trying to figure out what would work as I think about re-working my blog, so thank you in advance for your help!

Mama needs a new pair of shoes

Well, *I* don't actually need a new pair of shoes, and I'm not really a high heel kind of girl. At 5'10", I already tower over a lot of people. Plus, I have a terrible time walking in them - I never really learned how. And although I can appreciate a beautiful shoe, sadly, when you wear a size 10, it's hard to find really cute shoes. Instead, I live vicariously though two of my friends who are confirmed "shoe-a-holics" and absolutely adore shoes. (And can walk in ridiculously high heels)

This first one is for one of my closest friends. We've known each other since I was 8 and she was 3, and she loves, loves, loves shoes. When she was moving to her apartment, her dad was helping and as shoe box after shoe box appeared, he started to wonder out loud just how many pairs of shoes one person needed. For that matter, how many pairs of *black* shoes? All explanations of flats, heels, casual, dress, and seasonal shoes went out the window - a foreign language to a man who owned sneakers, black dress shoes, brown dress shoes and winter boots.

But back to my friend. For as long as I can remember, blue has been her favorite color. She wasn't digging the pink when I showed her the original chart, and I assured her it didn't have to be pink at all. This is what I came up with:

The Shoe Shopper by JBW Designs
Stitched on 32 ct. Antique White with
WDW Americana (dark blue) and Morris Blue (light blue)

I am so excited with how it came out, and how COOL is that frame? I loved it so much I ordered it for another piece I want to frame up for my husband. I like the black on black detailing - it makes the frame a little more special without being over the top.

The frame came from American Frame, and I must say, I HIGHLY recommend them. Their service was excellent, the shipping was FREE and you can preview what your pieces will look like online by uploading a photo.

They will even send you samples of mat board and frame pieces ahead of time, though you are limited to five total samples before ordering. You can order additional samples when you place an order. I do have a teeny tiny complaint that if you want a complete set of mat samples at once, you do have to purchase them. Another framing company I use will send you a complete set for free, but it's not the same brand of mat. (These are Crescent mats) I figure there must be tons of scraps from mats they cut - surely they can send out free sample sets, but the savings on shipping makes up for it. I ended up not matting this piece anyway, but I do suggest (strongly) that if you are ordering mat online to order from an actual sample, NOT from your monitor color. The color on your monitor can give you the general idea, but when you're trying to match colors, an actual sample is the way to go.

For a relatively inexpensive price, the quality of these frames is excellent - very sturdy and well made, and impeccably packed. All my pieces were neatly and securely packed in the box - not a scratch, dent or ding. You can also order acrylic and backer board, and they offer an acid free foam core CUT TO SIZE for each frame. YAY!!! You have no idea how happy this made my husband (my chief framer and often disgusted with my cutting jobs).

And I did say PAIR of shoes. This is a second version of the same piece, for another shoe-a-holic friend, done in colors to match her apartment.

Stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Buttercream with
WDW Straw (tan), Crescent Colors Cupid (red) and GAST Dark Chocolate (brown)

She was absolutely thrilled when she got it, even if it was almost a year after I told her I wanted to stitch something for her. To be fair, it had been STITCHED since about March, but it sat around waiting to be framed. With the free labor I get, I can't be too demanding when it comes to getting things without a specific deadline framed.

Wow, I am on a ROLL!!! And there's still more to come. At this rate, I should surpass my posts total from 2011 by the end of February 2012. Or not, especially if Pinterest gets involved. Which it very well might.

More ornaments - finished and sent out. Go me!

Are you tired of these yet? Me? I'm just happy to have them finished up and sent on instead of staring at me accusingly from a plastic bag on my dining room table where they waited for months to be assembled. I wish I was kidding. Or exaggerating.

Art Deco Frame by Julia Lucas Designs
JCS 2005 Christmas Ornament Issue
Stitched with DMC Pearle Cotton and DMC Thread
(Images / Name intentionally blurred for privacy)

I've gotten more use out of this edition of the magazine than any other, and out of this particular piece. This marks the fourth and fifth time I've stitched this piece, all in different colors. (You can see the wedding version I stitched for my in-laws, and two additional birth record ornaments here and here). And I have a few more partially stitched waiting to be finished up, including one for my own son. Who is two. Okay then. Moving along....

As I've mentioned before, since it's stitched on plastic canvas, it's super easy for me to stitch on it in the car when we travel, and if I've started one on the sheet of plastic, I don't even need the chart. Putting them together is a little tedious, but I've been fiddling with my methods and it gets a little easier to put them together each time.

I also love these pieces because they're SO easy to customize. I went traditional with the one for my in-laws, but experimented with the variegated pearle cotton for one of the birth record ones. For these, I chose blue for the girl (her mom is NOT a girly girl pink kind of mom) and green for the boy, and went with a nautical theme for the clip art accent to reflect the theme of the nursery. I did stitch a birth record for Alexa, but Blake's is languishing in my stitching box. I really need to get on that. He'll be .... well, let's just say I hope to get it to him before he leaves for college.

I should explain that Alexa and Blake are the children of a very dear friend of mine. We met online while we were planning our weddings (9 years ago!) She lives across the country in Colorado, and though we've never met in person, we've bonded over our similar upbringings and her friendship is one I treasure. She sent me a lovely thank you note on behalf of the kids and she was touched by the gift. It's nice when your hard work is met by such appreciation, and it's definitely motivational to finish up a few more projects that have been sitting around.

Remember my first finish of 2011?

The one that's going to be my first post of 2012? The one I gave you a little sneak peek at WAY back when? Here it is all framed up.

Pot Luck by Ink Circles
Stitched 2 over 2 on 32 ct. Vintage Examplar
with Carrie's Creations Silk Thread in Double Fudge Brownie

I am so thrilled with how this came out, and my friend Julie absolutely loved it. I was able to give it to her in person right before Christmas. I love that - a lot of the gifts I make are sent in the mail. And yes, it WAS sitting around that long waiting to be framed.

She was so excited about it and couldn't wait to hang it in her office. She had chosen the pattern and given me a list of colors she liked from several thread lines. She picked a few in the Carrie's Creations collection that were combined into one thread, the Double Fudge Brownie.

The thread was lovely to stitch with and the color variations are beautiful, much prettier than they are in this photo (the sneak peek is a more accurate representation). It's been difficult to get a good photo this winter, compounded by the fact that I am usually trying to take photos at the last minute before I pack it up and send it off (or take it with me). And the framing is courtesy of my husband and American Frame - I can't say enough good things about either of them!

You'll be seeing this pattern again. I have it kitted up in an olive green silk thread, also from Carrie's, for our house. But don't hold your breath - it's going to be a while. Years, even. But I do have a few more projects to show you - they're in the queue, photos and all, just waiting for me to write a little post about them and get them online. Wish me luck!

What's been keeping me busy...

You mean besides Pinterest? Technically this does involve Pinterest since I found the ideas on there. This idea has been re-pinned hundreds of times, and it's one of the first craft projects from the site that I did - a Wedding Invitation Ornament:


The idea is to cut up a wedding invitation into strips and put them inside a clear glass ornament. As you twist and turn the ornament, you can see glimpses of the wording. As soon as I saw the idea, I knew I'd be making one for my cousin and her new husband.

Luckily, I helped the bride with the invitations, so I had the files on my computer and didn't have to cut up the actual invitation itself. I printed out a copy and set to work cutting up the strips but I wasn't all that thrilled with the results. The size of the font varies, which adds visual interest, but doesn't lend itself to being cut up into neat, equally sized strips and it was difficult to gauge spacing between some of the smaller lines. It was bothering me that there were skinny little strips and much thicker strips. After several attempts, I decided to re-format the invitation itself into equally sized strips, which looked MUCH better inside the ornament (and let's not discuss the fact that I bought two sizes of ball shaped round ornaments, and two sizes of flattened round ornaments because I am a nut job and none of them are actually glass because they don't seem to sell individual glass ornaments but I have come to terms with the fact they are acrylic, mmmmkay?)

Once I got the strips coiled and stashed inside the ornament (a chopstick and a pair of long tweezers came in handy for this), I finished off the ornament with a sheer white ribbon from the actual invitation (they were pocket invites tied with the ribbon) and two smaller black ribbons to tie on their initials. The original ornament had a seashell charm as a nod to the theme of the wedding, and I liked the idea of the charm, but there was no "theme" to the wedding. I did, however, honor the black and white color scheme. I love, love, love how it turned out and I think my cousin and her husband will love it as well.

But that's not the only ornament I've finished up. In addition to the stitchy ornaments, I've been working with some buttons I've inherited from my husband's grandmother. She passed away this past January, just after her 99th birthday. My MIL generously gave me a very large jar and several bags of buttons that Grandma had collected over the years. I've had a lifelong fascination with buttons, stemming from the hours I spent playing with my own grandmother's buttons (both my grandmother and my husband's grandmother were accomplished seamstresses and had massive collections of buttons, fabric and notions).

I had some ideas for button monograms, but I wanted to see what else I could do with them, especially with shank buttons that would not lend themselves to being glued onto paper and framed. This is what I came up with:

These are just a few of the ornaments I created from Grandma's collection. (There are at least a dozen more ornaments I finished since taking this photo, and I've tried several other techniques which I will share soon.) Of course, most of the buttons were not sorted, so I spent several hours with my two year old, "playing buttons" (which means I spent several more hours while he slept re-sorting all the ones he had jumbled together). Most of them are strung on pipe cleaners, which worked out very well to not only shape the ornaments, but the fuzzy stuff on them helps hold the buttons in place better. For those that kept spinning around on their shanks, a little hot glue on the back helped hold them in place. I raided my own stash for the ribbons and have gotten VERY good at tying neat little bows.

I should also mention that I don't really have a dedicated craft space in our house yet, so I tend to work a lot in our dining room. (We generally eat in the kitchen, so I don't have to worry about cleaning up my projects for every meal.) All of these ornaments were made sitting at a dining room table we inherited from Grandma, so I spent a lot of time thinking about her as I was making them. She was quite crafty and clever herself and loved to crochet and sew. I loved her dearly, and these ornaments are a wonderful reminder of her.

This is a closeup of one of the ornaments we're keeping for our tree. It's hanging next to one of the dozens of hand-crocheted snowflakes that adorn our tree, every single one of them made by Grandma. And this one below is another closeup:

Another Fair & Square Exchange... and I FINISHED something!

I have been stitching, and I'm on a bit of a finishing kick. I have several ornaments I wanted to make sure were completely finished and ready to hang. It's a goal I made for myself when I realized that the ornament I stitched for my son *last* Christmas has yet to be completed (I have to add on some JABC buttons) and finished as an ornament. I plan on getting that one done (and up on the blog as well as the tree) by the end of the year. Please do not ask me about his 2011 ornament. I will probably get to that sometime this July.

But I have been keeping up with my Fair & Square Exchanges. They're small, manageable projects that motivate me to stitch and I was determined to get this one done and out the door well before the deadline. At least I accomplished THAT goal.

I was paired up with my friend Marie P again, which was wonderful. I stitched for Marie last year, and was thrilled that we were partnered up again. But this time, instead of heading off to Texas, her squares made their way to her new home in Vermont (now there's a change of scenery for sure!). We chose to do squares of with a Christmas theme, and I wanted to honor Marie's new home. This fit the bill for sure, and is from Little House Needleworks, one of Marie's favorite designers. I also wanted to make sure I stitched something Marie didn't already have, so I picked it from the 2011 JCS Ornament Issue.

Fresh Fallen Snow by Little House Needleworks
2011 JCS Ornament Issue
Stitched over 2 on 32 ct. WDW Cocoa
with WDW Seaweed and Light Khaki


And these are the squares that Marie sent to me:

The design is Christmas Lighthouse by Of Generations Past and I have been admiring this design at my LNS the last few times I've been in, but couldn't bring myself to buy it because I have *so much stuff* to stitch already. I'm absolutely thrilled Marie stitched it for me, and I have another surprise - it's finished into a ornament and hanging on our tree! I was in the middle of finishing up some ornaments to be given as gifts this year (which you'll see in upcoming posts) and these squares went right into the pile. Luckily, the shape lent itself to a very easy finish and it was done in no time (and I genuinely appreciate the signature squares, not only for the personalization, but for the fact I do not have to hunt down backing fabric.)

It's in good company - we probably have two dozen lighthouses (and adding more every year) on our tree. I try to collect an ornament for every lighthouse we visit, as well as ones that are non-specific. Once again, great thanks to Marie!