Stitching

Stitching, originally uploaded by spinster sister.

Look at all the cute stitching done by our group of fifth grade American Girl Club Members! They did such a great job and really took their time with this project. So proud! The girls used crayons to tint the fabric and stitched the outlines to finish it off. I spent the morning looking around for fun embroidery patterns for the girls to stitch. As usual, I found some really cute patterns but even after downsizing them they were either too intricate or too big for the hoops.
I really did think I'd bought the larger hoops. In the end I drew up some simple designs myself.
I think you can see for yourself which were the most popular. (hmmm...cupcake....) I was so impressed by how much time and patience the girls put into this project. They really did a great job and its pretty clear by the lack of whining that they really are growing up. :)

WIP Winter in October

I know its only October but its been awfully cold here lately, maybe the temperature has something to do with the look of this project. Last night I pulled out my basket of vintage odds and ends and played until I found a combination I liked. I started with the snowflake and pulled in some subtle winter colors. Miss Mimi has decided it looks like a snow globe and so, a snowglobe it will be! The background is vintage linen recycled from an embroidery I was given, which will soon be a new pillow for the bedroom. I don't have any plans for the snowglobe yet....

but I do love the way the late afternoon light shines through.

Goods for the Gratitude Swap

No more sneak peeks! Here's the real deal, this is my completed Gratitude Swap package winging its way to Tonya. She should receive this today. Hope you like it Tonya!
I used Soulemama's free Gratitude Wrap Pattern. You can find the downloadable pattern in her sidebar. This pattern is great, easy to follow and quick to produce. So simple and yet so cute!

Tonya likes a good surprise so I hope this is fun for her. My only clues were greens, browns and she loves hedgehogs. The wrap is mostly linen with recycled denim (with four kids we have a lot of that around here!) and some other fun scraps. I used denim and chenille for the inside pockets for some added texture. The cute hedgie embroidery pattern is a freebie from Pimp Stitch, another fun pattern!

I filled those pockets with some handmade cards, made with stamped linen scraps and stitched onto cardstock. I really like the way these turned out. Oh, and if you look closely, the thread ends were left on intentionally. I thought it looked kind of cool.

Also included in the package were a few local treats. We found some yummy candy, popcorn on the cob, apple jelly and a beeswax candle with a (plastic) bee in it at the local farm market. They have the best stuff and the coolest Halloween Teepee filled with Jack-o-lanterns so it was no hardship for the kids to go shop there! Although the littlest one did leave the teepee in tears. I think it was the hanging skeletons at the end. Oops, forgot about that part.

This was a great swap, hosted by Melissa and I had so much fun putting all this together!
Alright, now go check out those free patterns!

Waahahaha......spooky!

Wow! Its really hard to photograph a table runner! You'll have to forgive the weird angle because short of standing on my head to get the shot, and I did consider it, this is the best I could do. :)
So its almost October and in our house that means a trip to the attic to release the ghouls and goblins. New for our table this year is this slightly wonky modified log cabin runner with spookies. I feel little like a game show host with my description... so, "Come on down ghouls and gals! Its almost Halloween!"


(Cue sinister laugh) Waahahaha..........................................

The Colors of Fall

Sunflowers from the village Farm Market.

Apples fresh from the tree.
A new school bag with a Gnome (embroidery design from Badbird's) to tag along.
Happy Fall!

Birthdays R' Us

Another birthday gift, this time made for Miss Mimi. A very pink apron with a pink chenille pocket, and hiding inside were two stuffies a bunny and bear. The stuffies were free embroidery patterns from Wee Wonderfuls. There are some great freebies over there and while I do love free I also purchased the felt Gnome Pattern last year for Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of those but they came out great! They were so much fun to make and were definitely a hit with the 7 to 10 year old crowd. Its going to be hard to top those gnomes!