Happy Halloween

    I have been on a break from this blog. I have spent a lot of time quilting and embroidering, and too much time on Facebook. I hope to resurrect this blog in a few days and show my latest cross stitch. In the meantime, here's a Happy Halloween wall quilt that I made.

It is hand embroidered and hand quilted (all by me). I used Walmart fabrics, except for the white, which was a good quality cotton.

An Embroidered Owl

I embroidered this cute owl for a friend's birthday. I matched the owl to the background  fabric. Today I will go to the store to buy either a pillow form or a frame. I cannot decide until I see the frames.

This design is a free pattern from Badbird.

Embroidered Pillowcases

I finished three sets of embroidered pillowcases for Christmas gifts. The patterns were stamped on the fabric, which was of good quality.

Pictured are two of the Tobin "Gloriosa" pattern, and one from a different manufacturer. I don't like the feel of poly/cotton blend pillowcases, so if I ever make some for myself, I will buy 100% cotton cases and transfer the designs myself.

A Cute Crewel Freebie Owl. . .

pattern is available at Stitchy Britches. You will love it.

Some Dish Towels

This is a set of five dish towels that I embroidered for a friend's birthday. I drew the designs freehand, with a quilting pencil.

Embroidered Pillowcase

I have almost completed one of a set of pillowcases (from Tobin crafts). This is a birthday gift. Since it is composed of mostly loop stitches, it works up quickly.

It's Monday

I finished this dish towel today. It is an Aunt Martha transfer pattern.

Trillium's Earth Day Giveaway

*For U.S. residents ONLY, due to postage costs*

To celebrate Earth Day, I'm holding a giveaway today. The prize is a set of two matching white cotton dish towels that I hand-embroidered with a windmill. The design is from Aunt Martha's Windmill Transfers. The fabric is an inexpensive flour-sack type cotton and it will shrink a little. The floss color is DMC 820 blue.

U.S. readers have until midnight tonight, EDT(Eastern Daylight Time), to leave a comment on this post. Please put a link on your blog as well.

I know I haven't blogged much lately and this is to get me reconnected. Please let me know if you have an email address on your blog if you don't want to post it here due to spam seekers. I need to be able to contact the winner.

I will choose a winner early tomorrow morning and post it.  

Cyber Fiber ATC Exhibition

I created an ATC for the Cyber Fiber Artist Trading Card Exhibition/Swap. This is mine--an outline of some milkweed (plant ) pods stitched on silk.

This was organized by fiber artist Susan Lenz.

My card is # 132 at Cyber Fiber. Currently, there it is horizontal. I've emailed Susan to have the picture rotated 90 degrees to the right.

My design is very simple. I'm awed by so many of the more colorful ATCs. They are inspiring.

Goodbye, Teacher

Last week was the final week of the school year for a young relative. We give small gifts to the teachers at Christmas break and at the end of the term. I wanted to make handmade gifts this June, not only due to our budget, but because I enjoy giving a personalized gift.

For the music teacher, I created a small hanging pillow. The front was white Aida, the back was black velveteen, and the hanging cord was gold trim from India. I cross stitched a black silhouette of a colonial violinist, from the book "Anne Orr's Charted Designs," by Dover Publications.

For one (male) teacher, I made a watercolor of his family coat-of-arms, which I had researched on the internet.

For the homeroom teacher, I wanted to make a sampler-type gift but knew I didn't have time to make a large one and frame it.

Thursday evening (June 5th) I was still working on her gift. I had wanted to make a sampler that looked like a blackboard, the same sampler that I stitched for one of my daughter's teachers many years ago. It was from an issue of the (now defunct) magazine "Cross Stitch and Country Crafts." Unfortunately, I couldn't find that issue, and realized that I'm missing 2 or 3 issues, not just that one.

I had to design my own sampler to be stitched with DMC floss on black Aida.

The sampler read, from top to bottom:
(stitched apple) Teacher's Name (in white thread) (stitched apple)
SCHOOL (white letters on green box background)
GRADE she taught(in white thread)
(x-stitch of a #2 yellow pencil)

below I stitched (in different colors):
math equations; an angle, a square, a triangle, a quadrilateral; math operation symbols; an outline of the continental USA, Alaska, and Hawaii; the sun, moon, Mars, Earth, and Saturn; a darkling beetle on oats, under a magnifying glass; and the word "SPARKLE" to commemorate a spelling game they played.

By this time it was midnight and I finished it as a small hanging pillow. The backing was green with a small black paisley-type design. The hanging cord was of white rick-rack.

I did not go to sleep until 2:30 a.m. Friday morning because it took me that long to do the watercolor coat-of-arms. I got up a few hours later, wrapped both gifts, and put them in a bag to be taken to school.

After school I was informed how much the homeroom teacher LOVED her gift, and that she wished she could have met me. Actually, I had met her several years ago, when I observed classes there for three days. She just forgot.

* * * *
This morning I began reading the local newspaper online.

I see her last name on the obituaries. I see the same first name as hers.

It states she was a teacher at the same school.

I cannot believe what I am reading.

I call the mother of one of the classmates and find that it is true.

She had a heart attack the day after school ended, the day after she announced her retirement, the day after she received my cross stitched gift--a gift that both acknowledged her teaching and brought her happiness.

All of you--my friends in stitching--la communaute des brodeuses, never underestimate the power of your needle and thread.

With needle and thread we create joy, we create friendships, we mark milestones.

Your embroidery may be the only cross stitched gift a person ever receives. Your embroidery may be the last gift someone receives.

Cherish your skills, pass them on, teach someone to cross stitch. Je brode, et vous?

Goodbye to a wonderful TEACHER

Crane UFO

This is a UFO done in satin stitch on silk cloth. The design is a Chinese traditional one from Dover Publications. I don't know whether I'm going to make it into a pillow or applique it onto a jacket.

I like origami, Hiroshige's Tokkkaido, haiku, and my Omiyage book by Kumiko Sudo. I like Japanese and Chinese landscape and nature scenes, whether in paintings or on fabric. I like the asymmetrical design concept. Cranes are my #1 favorite motif!

Embroidered Dish Towels

This is a set of cotton dish towels that I embroidered using the retro "Aunt Martha" days of the week hot iron transfers. The quality of the cotton is wanting, but I have found an online site that offers a better blank towel.

A Tiny Valentine

This is a very small heart pillow that I stitched for my granddaughter. It is embroidered in stem stitch with DMC floss on linen that was formerly a linen dinner napkin (found on eBay). It hangs on a mug holder, along with her "Snow Days." The mug holder is a good substitute for a wooden dowel display tree.