More than just Cross Stitchin': "Sew" Lucky

Sunday, October 14, 2012

"Sew" Lucky

A while back, Anita and I made a date to spend the day together at her house finishing some of my cross stitch pieces. Years ago, I had made a cross stitch for Halloween and put it together as a small hanging to put on my front door. I liked it so much, that I recently thought- why not stitch a bunch of different pieces to change up with each season? (I have more details about it here in this post.)

Now, I could have attempted this finishing on my own; but between my ancient, finicky sewing machine, and my limited sewing skills it would have taken me forever. Anita has the most perfect sewing/craft room- not to mention amazing sewing skills- plus all the right gadgets to get the job done.

I also had a couple of Christmas ornaments to finish, so we thought that would be a good place to start. No sewing involved with these ones... so even I was able to help! We headed over to Vonna's blog, where she has a list of tutorials for numerous finishing ideas. We decided on the flat ornament and with the easy to follow instructions we had these done in no time at all.

Time to get busy with the wall hangings! Now, I did bring some fabric to use, but Anita insisted I go through her fabric stash to see if there was anything different I would like to use. What fun going through all the drawers of fabric...there was every colour of the rainbow!


What a lucky lady to have this view while sewing!

We Anita had a very productive day, and I was more than thrilled how everything turned out! I am "sew" lucky to have such a special friend that is more than willing to help me out when I come ~~begging~~ calling.

The next week, I was hosting cross stitch night and Anita was the first to arrive. We lined up all of the finishes so we could show Bonnie and Jody when they came over... Anita even brought 2 of her own pretties to share!

Notice the bit of sparkle I added to my ornaments? I added old buttons from my Nana's button tin. They both have a clear crystal in the centre.

I love how Anita changed up the colours of Lizzie Kate's "One Hundred Years From Now". The recommended threads didn't quite work with the rustic fabric that she chose. Here's a closer look:

Another by Lizzie Kate... don't you just love the frame she picked for the "ABC's Of Parenting"?

After seeing all of our finishes, Jody said that she can't wait to gather up her own cross stitch pieces and have her own "sewing day" at Anita's! :-)

Tracey

3 comments:

Trina said...: You girls are definitely "sew" talented and your finished projects are always gorgeous to view! Love them all and I am going to be doing a Lizzie Kate project myself - after the geese are backstitched!

Happy Stitching!; October 14, 2012 at 12:42 PM
jayne@~an eye for threads~ said...: Very nice, what a view but more importantly what an amazing bond stitching alows with the ones we love to share our lives with. Miss you guys...All four of you.
Cheers; October 15, 2012 at 5:46 AM
Catherine said...: What a fun day! Loved seeing all your finishes!; October 17, 2012 at 8:43 PM

Charlie Brown

Growing up, I had a pet monkey named Charlie Brown. Actually, he belonged to my sister and he came to live with us in 1966. You were actually allowed to have monkeys as pets then and if you can beleive it, he was ordered from an ad in the back of a magazine. Charlie Brown was a squirrel monkey (just like the ones in the Telus commericials).

Everyone in school loved when it was my turn for 'show and tell'. You will see in some of the photos (if the slide show downloads for me...) that he used to wear diapers. Eventually, he learned how to take them off. We had a rope strung across the kitchen from end to the other. We kept a piece of papertowel on the floor at the end of one rope and that's where he did his business. His rope provided many hours of entertainment. At bedtime, if mom and dad were not home when it was bedtime, he would sit on his roap and cry out until they returned.

If I was crying, Dad would put him up to my face to lick away my tears. He would dangle from my hair and lick from one eye to the next. It alwyays made me stop crying. He would play outside and every once in awhile he would swing from tree to tree and end up down the street at the neighbours.

Often you would find the monkey lying in the cast iron pan on the stove. The pilot light from the gas stove provided him a warm and comfy spot. He would also sit on top of the lamp shade for warmth, and if you ever heard a 'pop' - you knew he peed on the lightbulb. It happens...

Charlie Brown used to sit on the wall phone.... until it rang. That was always funny. He brought many years of amusement to us all and I miss him and his antics.

Bonnie

Warm hearts ... and warm toes!

Well since we are talking winter, let's talk about warm hearts ... and warm toes.

A few years ago at Christmas we had a gift exchange. Ironically, both Anita and myself had the exact same idea for a present. We always open our gift bags at the same time, and it was really hard for me to keep a straight face when I saw that Anita had had the same gift idea as me and while she explained that she thought slippers would be a good idea, that way we could carry them in our bag with us at all times. Anita had knit slipppers for everyone and made a little draw-string pouch, with our names embroidered on it, to keep the socks in.

Then they all opened my gift bag and we burst out laughing. I knew how much everyone loved snowmen, so I had stitched faces on white slippers and added a carrot button for the nose. Well we weren't finished with the laughter because I thought we should get a picture with our slippers on. So then we were all sitting on the floor trying to get different positions in order to get everyone in the picture at the same time. We tried sitting up against the wall and taking the picture of our toes all pointing up to the ceiling and then I said, nooooo - that will show the snowman's face upside down. Someone said... (and I won't say who...) "Good point, let's think of something else. What if we lay on our back with our feet in the air - you know... like if our feet were ON the ceiling"

Well then the faces would still be upside down wouldn't they. Spontanious Laughter.

We had to think of something else. It was decided that we would just stand toe to toe in a huddle and we would take the picture from above in order to get everyone in the picture. Sounded like a good plan right?

Well... not if you have a protruding belly and/or big boobs. After the inital light-headedness subsided from sucking in our bellies, we had to deal with the shadow from the boobs.

So we stood in our huddle, adjusting, wiggling and laughing with our arms around each other while we tried not to tip over. It was about that moment when Anita's daughter walked in on us, which of course added to the laughter when we saw the look on her face.

Finally the photo was taken and our toes are doubly warm.

Bonnie

It all started with a tea towel...

Quite some time ago when I was perusing the Dollarama, I came across the cutest autumn tea towel with a teddy bear dressed up like a scarecrow. It immediately reminded me of Jody and I thought 'I'm going to get that for her', and then I thought... why not get one for everybody? And so I did and it was a hit.

From that point on, it's no surprise to any of us if there just happens to be an occasional 'mini gift' exchange on Cross Stitch night. Once when Jody hosted in February, she gave us all a tiny picture frame with a 1" x 1" opening. I had no idea what to do with mine, but Tracey knew immediately. Because it was Valentines day, Tracey stitched a heart.

Mine sat for a good number of months before I could figure out what I could stitch in such a tiny area and not copy Tracey's idea. And then one day it hit me; Jody loves snowmen. I would do a snowman in the frame that Jody gave me. But.... do they make snowman patterns for less than 1" x 1"? I couldn't be bothered looking, so I winged it. And voila! A happy smiley snowman face. I think it took longer to write this posting than it did to stitch that happy face.

We'll have to get a picture of Tracey's heart posted after her renovations are complete as I expect it's packed away for now.

p.s. I wasn't allowed to Blog today unless I cleaned my house. It's half cleaned; consider this half a blog.
Bonnie

Sunday, October 14, 2012

"Sew" Lucky

3 comments:

Christmas 2016