Crochet, Silk Fibers, Tabloid and Hamsters

Here is a pic of She-ra and He-man, while they sleep. I've always been a dog woman, but these little fellas are just too cute!

This is the most complicated piece of crochet I have ever made. Crocheting is easy, it's the instructions that make no sense, since they assume one understands how to construct garments and what-not, but these instructions were fairly logical. I am very happy with the result. I got this as a free pattern from FaveCraft.com. It's called Belle Fleure Scarf.  I used less expensive acrylic and darker colors as I wanted more of fall look. I have made many flowers to decorate purses, sweater collars and all sorts of things. Just pin the flower using a safety pin and you can change the flower whenever you please. Here is the link to the scarf crochet instructions: http://www.favecrafts.com/Crochet-Hats-Scarves-Gloves/Belle-Fleur-Scarf/ct/1

Janet, the proprietor of The Cross Stitch Station, in Doral, Florida introduced me to this quarterly publication "Spool". Each issue includes interviews with designers and creators, and provides patterns for needlepoint, crochet, knitting, cross stitch, felting, sewing and other needle arts. The current Winter Issue has mostly knit and crochet projects so I was bit disappointed, but the prior issues had a nice balance of projects. I was unable to procure the Fall Edition, unfortunately. I highly recommend this publication if you like to do different types of needle arts. It's modern and fresh! Check it out: http://spoolmag.com/

This design was a shop freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs. I used Vicki's Hand-dyed Fibers, in Caribbean Reef. For a while, before the economy took a dive, I subscribed to Vicki's monthly floss club where she would send about 12 tags/spools of her silks.  I built up quit a nice stash that way and now am able to use silk for virtually any graph I want.

This little guy is from Tams Creations, Autumn Variations Biscornu Pattern No.3. I substituted the DMC floss with Hand-dyed Fibers. I used Beehived, Old Maid of the Sea, Marquie de Cercles and Gandy Tango. The pattern did not call for any outlining but in hindsight, the acorns around the middle should have been outlined, especially the acorn caps (or whatever they are called).

This came from The Gift of Stitching, its the Assisi Pin Cushion but I turned it into a scissor fob. I also used Hand-dyed Fibers, Garnet and Magpie Warbles. Its on 18 count Aida and I used 2 threads for the cross stitches.

 This is one of my favorite pieces. Its the Oriental Fish designed by Marie Barber and published by Just Cross Stitch in the May/June 2009 issue. It's stitched on Golden Sand, 32 count using DMC floss. Who stitches fishes? Me, that's who! I love oriental themes but was tired of the the geishas and vases with flowers and then I found this. POW! It reminded me of the Japanese paintings done on gilded wood panels. Lovely.

Well, that's if for now. I will be dyeing some fabric this weekend and will post results of that experiment next week. Thanks for visiting and have yourself a wonderful week end.

Wherefore are thou, Autumn?

I am missing the first stirrings of Autumn in a terrible way. Living in Miami means it's still about 85 degrees here, hot and muggy and thoughts of hot cocoa make me want to grab an iced tea instead! On-line and on TV folks are talking about Fall meals, and on craft sites they are putting yarns up for sale and are peddling instructions for sweaters, mittens and scarves...unfortunately, I will be wearing sleeveless shirts and flip flops well into November. The itch for Autumn means that I turn my house into the very embodiment of Autumn by pulling out the harvest themed knick-knacks and table settings and spraying pumpkin-spice air freshener all around the house (much to the consternation of my husband, who is a native of Miami and just doesn't understand.) Of course, a warm Halloween means that we can all wear proper costumes without the parkas and boots underneath. Anyway, hope your Autumn is rich, and blessed and filled with love, as mine will be, even in Miami.

Latest Finishes

The top is from Just Cross Stitch and now resides in my children's room. I added a dragon fly brass charm on the right. The bottom is from the Sweetheart Tree. The bees here are done over one and I just loathed stitching them so I substituted the last one with a bee button.

WIPs

The one on top is Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine's "Halloween Fairy" and the bottom one is "This is the Day" from Just Cross Stitch magazine. This bottom one is my very first sampler and I must say that I now understand the appeal of samplers. I am a rather sloppy stitcher and find myself compensating for errors, hence the tree in the sampler is very different from the one in the chart. Although I thought it looked better. This sampler is worked on 40 count linen - my first time using such fine count but likely not my last, now that I know that I can do it. It has some areas worked over one and guess what? Its virtually impossible to frog anything worked over one thread on 40 count!!!

Cross Stitch Projects

I went thru a Turkey craze last year and these are the three turkeys I finished in 2010.The one on the left is a JBW design and the two on the right are from Cross Stitch and Needlework magazines. I added the buttons. Aren't they cute?

Cross Stitch Projects

Hello all, hope it's a good Monday for everyone. Here is my tuffet (biscornu) collection. Those of you that subscribe to the digital magazine The Gift of Stitching might recognize the bottom center one, bottom right, the top right one and the littlest one from the magazine. The one on the top left, with the red lobsters, is a freebie from Ink Circles.