Two more Bride's Tree Ornaments

Way back in 2008, I started on a project to stitch a set of Bride's Tree Ornaments for DH's cousin, who was getting married on August 1. While I did manage to get the first one stitched AND finished before the wedding, the rest of them kind of fell by the wayside. I did (do) have at least some of them stitched, just not finished into an ornament, but when I decided to buckle down and finish my son's first ornament into an actual ornament BEFORE I put away the Christmas decorations this year, I decided to finish up a few other ornaments I had hanging around.

Mind you, I am not a big fan of finishing things, unless I have an idea in mind. And even then, sometimes the tedious nature of finishing hampers my progress. But I am bound and determined to finish up AND send these ornaments to DH's cousin before their second anniversary in August. Wish me luck - I think I am going to need it!

This is the "bird in a nest" ornament, a freebie available on the Waxing Moons Website.

Spring Bluebird by Waxing Moon Designs
Stitched over 1 on 18 ct. fabric with DMC threads

I finished it with a pretty piece of floral fabric on the back and a bit of store bought satin cording.

This one I am going to have a VERY hard time parting with -- it's one of my favorites:

Christmas Hearts by Just Nan
Stitched on 32 ct. Bone fabric with overdyed and DMC threads, plus beads

This is one of those ornaments I knew exactly how to finish before I even started stitching it, and it was inspired from beginning to end, not to mention a lot of fun to stitch. So much so that I'm going to stitch it at least twice more - once more in this color variation, and a second time using pink and silver instead of red and gold.

It fit PERFECTLY into a tiny wooden embroidery hoop that I sanded and painted a pretty shade of green to match the thread. I can't stress enough how much a light sanding with a fine grit sandpaper can improve the look of craft store wooden objects. After sanding, I wiped the hoop with a damp paper towel to remove the dust, let it dry, then put on a coat of sealer (available in the paint section with the acrylic paints). A couple coats of paint to get the right color, and a top coat of varnish (also available with the acrylic paints), and the hoop was finished. You can't tell here, but I only sealed, painted and varnished the outer hoop - I left the inner hoop natural wood after sanding.

I tried to be as neat as possible with the stitching, but I still wanted it covered up. I took a plain piece of neutral cotton fabric and glued it to the rim of the inner hoop, across the open area. After it dried, I trimmed off the excess and put the stitching over the top of it. And yes, I used a little fabric glue to hold my stitching in place, then trimmed off the excess stitching fabric after that dried. The painted outer hoop covers the edges nicely, and no threads peek through.

As a final touch, I wrote the name and wedding date of the happy couple on the inside hoop.

Join the Sisterhood!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pattern is moving on. Sara's offering her up to the next lucky stitcher on her blog, so head on over to get signed up for the drawing on Friday, October 16.

This is the journey she's been on so far.... will she visit you next?

Harmien in the Netherlands (November 3, 2007)

She sent it to Lili in France (June 17, 2007)

Who sent it to Barbara in Malaysia (June 25, 2007)

Who sent it to Tessa in Australia (July 16, 2007)

Who sent it to Lizzy in North Carolina, U.S. (February 26, 2008)

Who sent it to Barbara in the Netherlands (March 11, 2008)

Who sent it to Sarah (no blog) in Ohio, U.S. (April 11, 2008)

Who sent it to Anna in Pennsylvania, U.S. (May 28, 2008)

Who sent it to Wendy in Ontario, Canada (July 4, 2008)

Who sent it to Sue in Michigan, U.S. (August 2, 2008)

Who sent it to Jennifer in Pennsylvania, U.S. (September 2, 2008)

Who sent it to CJ in Texas, U.S. (October 25, 2008)

Who sent it to Claire in Nova Scotia, Canada (January 20, 2009)

Who sent it to Kathy in Arizona, U.S. (February 18, 2009)

Who sent it to Carol in Indiana, U.S. (March 15, 2009)

Who sent it to Carolyn in California, U.S. (May 20, 2009)

Who sent it to Sharon in Oklahoma, U.S. (August 8, 2009)

Who sent it to Jill in Minnesota, US (September 13, 2009)

Who sent it to Sara in North Carolina, US ((October 1, 2009)

Who sent it to.....

(Note: If you’re not familiar with the story of this traveling pattern, Lizzy has recorded the history of it here.)

The Sisterhood is Moving On... Again!

My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me
Waxing Moon Designs #119

Stitched on 28 ct. natural linen with DMC, GAST and WDW threads

Our girl is packing her bags and getting ready for her next adventure, so head on over to Sharon's blog and get signed up for her drawing by leaving a comment. Sharon will be drawing the name of the next sister to join the sorority on Saturday, August 15, so make sure you visit her before then. Good luck!

And if you haven't been following her journey, here's a wonderful recap of her travels around the world, and how different stitchers made her their own.

Harmien in the Netherlands (November 3, 2007)

She sent it to Lili in France (June 17, 2007)

Who sent it to Barbara in Malaysia (June 25, 2007)

Who sent it to Tessa in Australia (July 16, 2007)

Who sent it to Lizzy in North Carolina, U.S. (February 26, 2008)

Who sent it to Barbara in the Netherlands (March 11, 2008)

Who sent it to Sarah (no blog) in Ohio, U.S. (April 11, 2008)

Who sent it to Anna in Pennsylvania, U.S. (May 28, 2008)

Who sent it to Wendy in Ontario, Canada (July 4, 2008)

Who sent it to Sue in Michigan, U.S. (August 2, 2008)

Who sent it to Jennifer in Pennsylvania, U.S. (September 2, 2008)

Who sent it to CJ in Texas, U.S. (October 25, 2008)

Who sent it to Claire in Nova Scotia, Canada (January 20, 2009)

Who sent it to Kathy in Arizona, U.S. (February 18, 2009)

Who sent it to Carol in Indiana, U.S. (March 15, 2009)

Who sent it to Carolyn in California, U.S. (May 20, 2009)

Who sent it to Sharon in Oklahoma, U.S. (August 8, 2009)

(Note: If you’re not familiar with the story of this traveling pattern, Lizzy has recorded the history of it here.)

The Sisterhood is Moving On!

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pattern is moving on!

Head on over to Carol's blog, not only for a chance to enter her drawing to become the next member of the Sisterhood, but to check out her incredible, over one rendition of the pattern. It's really quite lovely!

Winter Round of the Fair & Square Exchange

Renee K. let me know last week that she received the squares I stitched up for her.

Waxing Moon Designs Winter Cardinal
Stitched over 2 on 32 ct. Mushroom evenweave with DMC and Kreinik Threads

She mentioned in her wish list that she liked birds and I thought this one would be perfect for her. I used the recommended DMC colors, but gave it a little bit of sparkle with some blending filament in the snowflakes (it's a little hard to see, but trust me, it's there!) I also use a tiny little hematite colored bead (an iridescent black color) for the eyes, which I thought was really cool - they actually look like tiny little bird's eyes!

The green thread I used is actually a green I dyed myself. I was fooling around with using colors other than white and beige when I was dying threads a while back, and dunked a skein of green in a dark green dye, then twisted it up for an overdyed look. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out and will definitely experiment more with different colors of threads.

Ta DAH!!!!!!

My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me
Waxing Moon Designs #119

Stitched on 28 ct. natural linen with DMC, GAST and WDW threads

I finished up the last few stitches this afternoon and got the camera out to take some pictures. Don't tell my MIL though - she's been bugging me since January to send her the pictures I took at Christmas and I still haven't gotten around to doing it. (To be fair, though, I detest sending out photos without fixing issues like red eye and such, and it takes a lot more time to do that than it does to take a stitching picture, which is why she hasn't gotten them yet.)

As you can see, I made some color changes to suit my own personal tastes. Since blue is my favorite color, naturally, I had to go with some variation on that. It took me a little bit to figure out which blue, since I was thinking about going with a dark blue and grey color scheme, till DH pointed out that the lettering wouldn't show up on her skirt if I used a darker blue for it, and if I changed the lettering to a lighter color to contrast with the skirt, it wouldn't show up as nice on the linen. DRAT!! What to do, what to do? Why, go with a lighter color scheme, of course!

Picking out the hair color was hard - I knew I wanted to do a dark auburn hair to match mine, and pale skin (which ended up not contrasting as much with the other lighter colors as I would have liked but it doesn't look as blended IRL). Now to get her framed up and hanging.

And now it is my duty to pass this pattern on to the next stitcher. I had 31 stitchers eager to join the Sisterhood, but alas, the pattern can only go to one stitcher at a time. And the winner is....

CJ from Tea and Stitches. CJ, I'll be leaving you a comment on your blog as well, but please email me at sweetpeastitches @ yahoo.com with your mailing address and I'll get it out to you ASAP. Ladies, you'll want to keep an eye on CJ's blog so when the pattern is up for grabs again, you can be ready.

History of the Sisterhood:

Harmien in the Netherlands (November 3, 2007, scroll down)
Sent it to Lili in France (June 15, 2007)
Who sent it to Barbara in Malaysia (June 25, 2007)
Who sent it to Tessa in Australia (July 16, 2007)
Who sent it to Lizzie in North Carolina, U.S. (February 26, 2008)
Who sent it to Barbara in the Netherlands (March 11, 2008)
Who sent it to Sarah (no blog) in Ohio, U.S. (April 11, 2008)
Who sent it to Anna in Pennsylvania, U.S. (June 2008)
Who sent it to Wendy in Ontario, Canada (July 4, 2008)
Who sent it to Sue in Michigan, U.S. (August 2, 2008)
Who sent it to Jennifer in Pennsylvania, U.S. (September 2, 2008)
Who sent it to CJ in Texas, U.S.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pattern

As some of you know, there's a pattern by Waxing Moon Designs called "My Needle and My Floss, They Comfort Me" that has been making the rounds from one stitcher to the next.

Anna (aka Stitch Bitch) plotted the journeys of this chart, and gathered up links to the pictures:

Harmien in the Netherlands (November 3, 2007, scroll down)
Sent it to Lili in France (June 15, 2007),
Who sent it to Barbara in Malaysia (June 25, 2007)
Who sent it to Tessa in Australia (July 16, 2007)
Who sent it to Lizzie in North Carolina, U.S. (February 26, 2008)
Who sent it to Barbara in the Netherlands (March 11, 2008)
Who sent it to Sarah (no blog) in Ohio, U.S. (April 11, 2008)
Who sent it to Anna in Pennsylvania, U.S. (June 2008)
Who sent it to Wendy in Ontario, Canada (July 4, 2008)
Who sent it to Sue in Michigan, U.S. (August 2, 2008)
Who sent it to Jennifer in Pennsylvania, U.S.

I've been stitching away on it the last couple nights, and it's coming along well. The hardest part for me was making the color changes, which you'll get to see as soon as I get off my lazy duff and take a photo to post. For now, suffice it to say that my DH was most helpful in the color selection, pointing out that you wouldn't be able to see the lettering if I went with my original plan to make the dress dark blue. Nice catch! So I went with another shade of blue and I think it will turn out great.

In the meantime, I'll be taking names for stitchers interested in joining the Sisterhood, and drawing a winner early next week, probably Monday or Tuesday (we're having company this weekend, so it won't be before then). The only requirement for receiving this chart is that you must pass on the original chart in a timely fashion to the next stitcher. I will send the chart anywhere in the world, so if you'd like to join the Sisterhood and can promise the chart will continue its journies, leave your name and a method of contacting you (blog, email) as a comment on THIS POST.

And it's not a requirement, but it would be nice to take Anna's archiving and add on as each stitcher joins the Sisterhood, and post the links in your own blog when you receive the chart.