Sinister Craftiness

The project with which I began the Crazy January Challenge is finished!  This is Rose Garden by Blackbird Designs.  The pincushion is backed with Blackbird Designs fabric by Moda; I think it’s from At Water’s Edge.  The fabric is a great match for the embroidery.

I must have roses on the brain this week; I also worked on project #14, the Victorian Rose Sampler bellpull by Victoria Sampler.

All that remains is the Hardanger section at the bottom.

Have a great rest of the week!

Thimble Purse by C.A. Wells
Swan White Legacy linen (30 count)
Stitched with Soie Cristale and Silk ‘N Colors

I’ve admired this dainty thimble purse on other blogs, and now it’s time to try making one for myself.

Here’s a look at the progress I made on yesterday’s Blackbird Designs pincushion:

Not too bad!  The lower right-hand leaf needs to be stitched, as does the border.  After the challenge is done, another day should finish this project up nicely.

Rose Garden by Blackbird Designs
St. Valentine’s Blend R&R linen (30 count)
Stitched with Crescent Colours

Happy New Year!  I’m off and running with a pincushion from Blackbird Designs’ Reward of Merit series.  I got a nice start on this last night while waiting for Thing One to return from his New Year’s Eve dance.  I’ll post the day’s progress tomorrow along with the new project.

Souvenir of Paris by Blackbird Designs
St. Valentine’s Blend R&R linen (30 count)
Stitched with GAST and WDW

This pretty little stocking ornament comes from Blackbird Designs’ project book Joyeux Noël which was published in 2009.  I stitched this for Thing One to commemorate his school trip to France this year.  Around the Eiffel Tower, key chains are a ubiquitous cheap souvenir; Thing One negotiated a vendor down to €1 for five key chains, so he brought home enough little Eiffel Towers for everybody and then some.

Loose Feathers #27:  Autumn Song needle keep by Blackbird Designs
Korty’s Special Blend R&R linen (30ct)
Stitched with Weeks Dye Works

I loved stitching this needle keep.  The colors were so pretty, and the design of vines and leaves naturally flowed.  Definitely a pattern to consider for future gifts.

Just two more autumn-themed projects, and then it’s on to Christmas stitching.  I have a few Christmas smalls on my to-do list, but I’m also thinking about tackling a larger sampler or two.  After last year’s all Hardanger, all the time stitching frenzy (to the exclusion of everything else) I’m wary of getting in over my head, but I would really like to have a large display piece for the holidays.

Jack O’Lantern, Trick or Treat, Candy Corn
from ‘Tis Halloween by Blackbird Designs
18th Century Brown R&R linen (30ct)
Stitched with:
Crescent Colours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works

I was afraid these Halloween stockings would prove too distracting to stick to the month-by-month patterns, and I was right.  Also, it doesn’t help when a four year-old taskmaster studies the booklet, chooses his favorites, and picks out a new stocking to stitch as soon as one is finished.  No UFOs allowed on his watch!  I think I can stop at just three, though …

It wouldn’t be Halloween without a few stocking “ghosts”:

May Flowers by Blackbird Designs
Lily of the Valley:  Sea Fog R&R linen (30ct)
Tulip Border:  Apple Brown Bindy R&R linen (30ct)
May Basket:  “Woo”steria Blend R&R linen (30ct)
Backing fabric:
At Water’s Edge by Blackbird Designs for Moda Fabrics
Stitched with:
Crescent Colours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works

After griping about nasty surprises with fabric recently, I have to say it’s fun to try out so many different R&R linens with these stockings.  My favorites this month were Sea Fog (green), and “Woo”steria Blend (blue-grey).  As for my favorite May stocking, well, it has to be one of my favorite flowers, the lily of the valley.

Vonna at The Twisted Stitcher has just posted a great tutorial on finishing these little guys.  (I must confess to the quick and dirty route of using a sewing machine to stitch them up.)

The Blackbird Designs blog reports that their new holiday project book, Joyeux Noel, is on its way, and the August stockings are not far behind.  As much as I love getting new things, I’d like to get June and July’s stockings finished before August shows up!  (If I don’t get distracted by all the cute Halloween stocking designs in the meantime.)

Halloween by La-D-Da
Just Cross Stitch 2009 Halloween Ornament Issue (September/October)
Natural linen (30ct)
Stitched with Crescent Colours Belle Soie

This little pillow ornament was a quick stitch — so quick, in fact, that I did it twice.  Why?

My LNS doesn’t carry the Belle Soie or WDW linen called for on the chart, so I ordered the kit for this ornament.  When it arrived, I thought the chestnut colored linen was too dark for the silks; I can barely see the stitched pumpkin.  Here’s a photo of the stitched-but-unstuffed pillow ornament.  The linen looks a lot lighter in the photo; actually kind of nice, but even so, the pumpkin doesn’t stand out as well as I would like.  And the linen is much darker in real life, trust me. I also had a difficult time stitching on the dark linen, so I made a few mistakes, and then when it was finished, I just wasn’t crazy about how it looked.  Have you ever had that happen with a project?

As I said, this ornament stitches up fast, and I have a bunch of extra 30 count natural linen with no project on which to use it, so I decided it was worth trying again. (The linen was on sale at my LNS and for good reason; it’s very stiff and scratchy.  Not very fun to work with, but perfect for this re-do, as it has the right sort of rustic charm.)

This time, I’m much happier with how it turned out.  My local fabric shop had just set out their autumn/Halloween fabrics, and I bought a few fat quarters to experiment with this ornament and the Blackbird Designs Halloween stockings.

In other Halloween stitching news:  Trick or Treat?  My Just Nan Spooky tin autoship arrived, but the linen is missing!  I called the shop and learned that they had run out of WDW Peoria Purple.  It’s backordered and they’ll send it to me when they receive more.  Hopefully I’ll be able to stitch up the tin lid before Halloween.  Like all the other Just Nan tins, it looks so cute (Spooky is an especially unique design) and I’m eager to get started on it.

March of the Daffodils by Blackbird Designs
Spring’s Arrival:  Korty’s Special Blend R&R linen (30ct)
Quaker Fragments:  Linen WDW linen (30ct)
Wild Clover:  Linen WDW linen (30ct)
Backing fabric:
At Water’s Edge by Blackbird Designs for Moda Fabrics
Stitched with:
Crescent Colours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works

April Showers by Blackbird Designs
April Showers:  Old Mill Java R&R linen (30ct)
Oh Sweet Pea:  Korty’s Special Blend R&R linen (30ct)
Spring Wreath:  Old Mill Java R&R linen (30ct)
Backing fabric:
At Water’s Edge by Blackbird Designs for Moda Fabrics
Stitched with:
Crescent Colours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works

Two more months of stockings done!  I backed these springtime stockings with the pastels from At Waters Edge.  Between this set and the darker Madeira colors, the year of stockings should be covered.  My favorite of this set is the April Showers stocking:  the color palette is so delicate and pretty, I like tulips, and rain is a part of life here.  (In fact, it was raining while I took these pictures.)  I haven’t received the June and July stockings from my autoship program yet, so once I finish the May set, I can pretend I’m caught up.

As if there weren’t enough cute stockings this year, the soon-to-be-released Blackbird Designs book, Tis Halloween, features 13 stockings in addition to other Halloween projects.  Other Halloween goodies on their way in the mail include Just Nan’s newest Charm Garden pin, Pumpkin Jack, and the next tin in this year’s series, Spooky.  Not sure when the BBD book will show up; I think the Just Nan things are arriving in shops August 24 … but have forgotten where I saw that tidbit.

By the Chimney With Care by Blackbird Designs
Auld Lang Syne:  Parchment Legacy linen (29/30ct)
Winter Carnation:  Linen WDW linen (30ct)
Happy Birthday:  Natural linen (30ct)
Backing fabric:
Madeira by Blackbird Designs for Moda Fabrics
Stitched with:
Crescent Colours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works

Love is in the Air by Blackbird Designs
Sweetheart Sampler, February’s Violet, Be Mine
Parchment Legacy linen (29/30ct)
Backing fabric:
Madeira by Blackbird Designs for Moda Fabrics
Stitched with:
Crescent Colours, Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Weeks Dye Works

It looks like laundry day:  the January and February stockings are finished, and the March stockings are well underway.  Throughout the year Blackbird Designs will be releasing a series of little stockings, three designs per month, so at the end of the year there will be 36 stocking ornaments.  It would be easy to stitch up just one or two for a gift tag, posy holder, treat bag, or small gift, but they are all so cute and stitch up so quickly that I’m officially addicted and will try to do all of them.

They are all stitched on 30 count linen; the charts suggest various types of R&R linen, but my local needlework shop doesn’t carry that, so I used Legacy linen instead, one of my favorites.  For the backs of the stockings, I bought a Layer Cake of Madeira (a Blackbird Designs fabric, of course), so there are a lot of lovely patterns to choose from, and the colors coordinate nicely with the stitched pieces.  Finally, I attached loops of 4mm silk ribbon for hanging.

Meanwhile, The Gimlet is thrilled that an outdoor project has been removed from his to-do list.  Our dilapidated, lichen- and moss-encrusted fence looks like a mess from a distance, but the shabby chic photo possibilities are too good to pass up, at least until all these stockings are done.