Czarina: Dodecagon Ornament series designed by Jim Wurth

I finished stitching this ornament yesterday Dec. 31st, 2007, but decided to start the new year 2008 with the posting of this 8th ornament called Czarina from the 12 Dodecagon Ornament Series designed by Jim Wurth. A nice way to start 2008 and put the Christmas season behind me.

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Still four more to go and the series will be complete.

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I am always amazed at the amount of work that goes into such a small ornament. My husband told me that this is the one he loves the best so far, but there are quite a few that are very close second.

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I have made myself a long long list of projects that I would like to stitch in 2008, a very unrealistic list, I am afraid, but hey it is fun to dream of all the things that I will be able to work on in 2008.

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It will be interesting to see at the end of 2008 which projects I will have completed, which ones I will have left undone and which other projects that are not on my list that will have somehow made their way in my stitching hands.

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The way I see things, a list is just a list to guide me as I have so many projects waiting in the wings that if I don't go through them once in a while I forget that I have them.

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Now, I need to decide which one will be my very first project for 2008 (big smile). Ok, I have just decided. I will actually be working on multiple projects but the project that I consider to be my first for this year is called "Terra Rosa" and is a Elsa M. Parrish design. I have purchased this many years ago and have always wanted to work on it, but for whatever reason have never done so. This year is the year. I have already mounted the design that Elsa has drawn on congress cloth on stretcher bars and will now be reading all the instructions while having a good cappucino and then it will be a start. I know I made the right decision as I feel all excited (big grin)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Rose Vine Ornament

This is a Wendie Young design that I have slightly changed to make a Christmas ornament out of it.

Pierrette =^..^=

Roses and Noel Ornament

This is a Victoria Sampler Christmas ornament that I have just completed the stitching and finishing, which is now all ready to go on a Christmas tree.

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I had been wanting to make it for quite some time but for some reason or other never got around to it. I am glad that I did this time around. It was lot of fun to stitch and a wonderful experience. I am always learning something new each time I work on a project, so learning curve going up (big smile).

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Roses and buds are bullions, fly stitches for the big leaves, lazy daisies for the smaller leaves and stem stitch for the stems. I have used DMC threads for this project. Was tempted to use Edmar threads, but changed my mind. If I make another one, I will probably do it Brazilian embroidery style.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Bookmark: Painted woman

These days I am deep in experimentation with different medium and wanted to make something special for Terry's adult son Matt, who has returned to the unversity to study art amongst other things.

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The idea came to me to make him a bookmark where I would attempt to paint a woman and only outline her silhouette and clothing in stitches. I wanted to give the feeling of oil painting by using watercolour.

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Here is the finished product, but he won't be able to see it before Christmas. I do hope he gets a kick out of it.

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Time to move on to another project for Christmas as tomorrow is already Thanksgiving. Can't believe how time flies when I am having fun.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Fabric Envelope

I have made this embroidered envelope for my very good friend Terry so that she can carry some of her little treasures with her. I know that she has been carrying her Halloween ID card and an embroidered angel with her in her purse, so now she will have an embroidered container to put them in. Hope she likes it.

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This is an adaptation of an Inspiration magazine design by Brenda Ryan (magazine #51)

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Pierrette =^..^=

Halloween Memories: Time for some fun

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Halloween is around the corner and I thought it would be fun to bring back some of the projects I have made for past Halloweens.
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This little friendly ghost washing the cobwebs is the only one that I have kept for myself and just love it. It is very hard not to smile when looking at it.
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This needlepoint one with the witch flying while the two black cats are looking up at the moon was made especially for Terry last year. She had two black cats at the time.
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This one has been made this year, again for Terry, as an ID card. She tells me that she has been having lots of fun showing it around. I have been asking her whether people see a resemblance with herself and the response I thought was the funniest was when someone told her that I must have been using a very bad photo to make it and all that time I thought I had done such an incredible job (big grin).
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- This is a postcard I had made for an exchange a couple of years back. This is a Dracula Spider, if such things exists (grinning again).
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Hope everyone has lots of fun on Halloween day.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Seeds of Love: A Brenda Ryan design

Here is the little coin purse all finished. I must say that this was really a lot of fun to make.

Not that long ago, seems to me, I was mostly doing needlepoint while my good friend Terry was mostly doing embroidery. She wanted to do needlepoint and I helped her with some of her projects and I wanted to learn embroidery as I loved so much what she was stitching. The end result is that Terry is now also doing needlepoint and loving it and I am doing embroidery and absolutely loving every single minute of it and now can't understand why I had not started doing it earlier.

I have included a photo with the coin purse opened showing the embroidery.

There is such a sweet detail that the designer, Brenda Ryan added that I did not want you to miss it and turned the photo 180° degrees so that you can have a look at the little flower face looking at you when you are either putting something in or taking something out of the little coin purse.

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Brenda suggested it as a little coin purse, but there are lots of other uses for it. The size of the little coin purse is a little over 4½" by 4½".

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There are two other designs from Brenda that I will also be making. One is the same size but with a different embroidery and the third one is a bigger size with another embroidery. Different fabrics will also be used to make them.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Seeds of Love: A Brenda Ryan design

One of the projects I am currently working on is "Seeds of Love", a Brenda Ryan design that can be found in the Australian magazine called 'Inspirations", issue 51, starting on page 66.

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The project consists of 3 different fabric coin purses or anything else that you may want to put inside. This is one of the design. I think it is just darling. Those could also make lovely gifts using different kinds of fabrics and also creating your own design for the front part of it.

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Now that the embroidery has been completed, I need to construct the little coin purse, which will probably be the next photo I add to my blog.

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By the way if you want to have a look to some of the cover page of the Inspirations magazines, you may go to http://www.countrybumpkin.com.au/ . I have my subscription with them. They also have kits, wonderful books and so much more. I am a big fan of them. It seems to me that everything they do is just wonderful.

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Pierrette =^..^=

Options ... in hardanger: Dale Sokolow, designer

I have decided to completely finish this hardanger this morning before starting anything else so have taken my best little scissors (German brand) and started the task of cutting very carefully all around the border twice, the first time as close as possible but not too much and then a second time, being very careful as I was getting very close to the border.
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This is not a very big piece, only approx. 7.5 large by a little over 5 inches high, but is so cute. Just love it.
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Now, on to my next project.
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Pierrette =^..^=

Halloween ID Card for my friend Terry

Click on photo to have a better look.
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With Halloween around the corner, I wanted to make something special for my friend Terry and what could be more personal than her own Halloween ID Card.
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This has been an ongoing joke between the two of us, with her jumping on her broomstick to come visit in order to save on petrol (she lives in the UK) and I live in the USA.
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I was concerned that with all the Halloween sky traffic, some overzealous policeman might stop her and ask her for some identification. She can't very well show him her driver's permit since she would be flying, so now she is ready for all eventualities :-)
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The photo was scanned as the digital camera was not giving good pictures, but I am afraid that her hair was a bit squeezed in the process. Oh well, we can't win them all :-(
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It was actually a long process to make that little ID card as first I had to decide on some drawings for the witch, then I had to find photos for the ID itself, put the two together, then added a bit of color with Prismacolor crayons, then scanned it and printed it on fabric. After that started stitching, then added a bit more color this time with some watercolor crayons and a little bit of water, then found some purple fabric for the back, put a little padding in between and stitched the back with the front.
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Of course, I had to write Terry's name with profession and I just had to stitch a little spider. No Halloween respectable photo would find itself without either spiderwebs or spiders, so added that last detail. She is not a real witch as she has that plastic nose that is being held with an elastic. Gave her some reddish hair as those are Terry's natural hair color. I did not want to make her clothing too chic as she is a witch after all and they are not supposed to be well dressed.
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Well I had my fun now and hope that Terry has fun with it too. Now I will be moving to something more serious and start working on a beginner's metal thread project. That will be something new to learn for me and looking forward to it. Next one after that will probably be a beginner's stumpwork project.
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I will also probably work on some special gifts in between so I will have my hands full like always.
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Pierrette =^..^=