The Thesis Project

Mr. Wonderful is in graduate school and will begin writing his thesis this winter. I suggested he choose a project for me to start when he starts writing. Here's his choice, which will hang in his office when I finish it.

Isn't that gorgeous? It's a Riolis (Russian) kit, and I plan to switch out the fabric for evenweave or linen. It's a pretty good sized project, but not a difficult stitch as it only has 11 colors. 

Other stash has recently made its way to my house. Of course, the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue is here, and we've already chosen our ornaments.

Here's a new Halloween design by The Drawn Thread.

Some pink polka-dot evenweave with a slight shimmer that I have no idea how I will use, but  knew for sure had to come live at my house. Just in case.

And finally, some gorgeous new threads from GAST, Frozen Grapes (limited edition) on the left and Dragonfly on the right.

I'm working on Halloween ornaments right now. Hope to have the first one finished in a couple of days. 

Ichabod Crane Inn

Another long-time WIP finished! This is Ichabod Crane Inn by The Primitive Hare. It's stitched on Weeks 30 ct. Beige with Crescent Colors Black Coffee, Cocoa Bean, and Barn Door, and GAST Gingersnap. This design is in the book, "Le point de croix au fil des saisons"  which is a collaboration between three designers: The Primitive Hare, Atelier de la Comtesse, and Madame Chantilly. As far as I know, it's not available as a separate design. I got my book from Amazon France.

For some reason, no matter what light I put this fabric in to photograph it, it looks washed out. It looks grayish, but it's actually a much warmer brown, a little darker than parchment. 

Last week in Michael's I stumbled across a black, crackle-finish frame that would be perfect for this... on clearance for $10. I love it when that happens.

Next up is Mr. Wonderful's Halloween ornament. 

Happy Stitching!

Skeleton Crew is FINISHED!

I cannot believe I'm done with this thing! It has been a WIP for way too long, and it's actually been only a couple of hours' work from being finished for months. But that's how it goes when I only worked on it in little bursts every few months. Had I worked on it consistently it would've been a pretty fast stitch, even given its size. I normally stitch smalls, which is a good thing since I only stitch a couple of times a week at most, and sometimes don't pick up a needle for a couple of weeks (must fix that). This is the biggest piece I've stitched, so it was a major departure for me, and it's a major triumph that I stuck with it and finished it. Yay, me!

Off to knock off another WIP ('cause now I'm feelin' all big and stuff)...

Tea Box Bookmarks

So the other day I polished off another box of my favorite tea, Scottish Breakfast from The Edinburgh Tea & Coffee Company. I have always thought the box is pretty, so instead of pitching it, I set it on the counter for a couple of days to see if any use for it occurred to me. And I had an idea. Now, this has probably been done a zillion times, but since I don't frequent craft websites or blogs (I have enough to do already!), I had to think of it myself. 

Bookmark! I thought, "Hey, I'll just cut off the front of the box and put a little ribbon on it and have a nice bookmark." I am a voracious reader and usually have several books going at a time so I'm always in need of a bookmark. And we drink a lot of tea in this house. A lot. And tea boxes are often very pretty. I realized that I had just tossed an empty Bigelow Constant Comment box (a favorite tea since childhood--served with Red Hots!) so I rescued it from the trash to include in my project. Happily, it wasn't gross, just a bit mushed on the corners. 

Off I went in search of the perfect ribbon. Found it. And found some glitter paper to glue the box fronts on because I thought they needed a little more weight. Also because sparkly. Here's what I came up with.

As you can see, they're quite large, which I like. I don't know why bookmarks are always skinny, flimsy little affairs, but we're having none of that here. I thought about using my fancy scrapbooking scissors and punches to pretty up the edges and the corners, but I decided I liked the "boxy" look--they being tea boxes and all. The only thing I did was round the corners with a little punch just to give them a more finished look.

Y'all, I have to confess. I'm sort of ridiculously pleased with how these turned out, given how simple they are both in concept and construction. But sometimes our simplest creations give us the most pleasure. I'm resisting the urge to raid our tea cupboard and empty all the boxes so I can make bookmarks. I'll have to make Mr. Wonderful one (if he doesn't steal the Constant Comment one) when he finishes his box of Earl Grey. No glitter paper.

Pierre Penguin

Caught. Up. I'm caught up! Cookies for everyone! 

Lots of changes on this little guy. I changed his eyes, eyebrows, and mouth; raised his left wing so he could hold the mistletoe (since I'm not stitching the borders on these--more on that later); fiddled with his bow tie because I had raised his wing; omitted the drinks; added a random snowflake where the mistletoe would have been. I think that's it. Here's my version:

And here are the first six all together. As cute as each of these are individually, I think they're actually cuter when grouped together. You get a good idea of the color palette she's using.

Now about the border. When I stitched #1, I wasn't too sure I loved the border so I stitched the next couple without and thought I liked them better without. Then Mr. Wonderful commented that the ones without the border looked more "free" so that settled it. No border. When I get a chance, I'm going to pull out the border on #1 and see how it leaves the fabric. I may need to re-stitch it, but I'm not going to bother with that just now. I'm just happy to be caught up!