TA-DA! HAPPY DANCE!!!

Remember the Cluny tapestries I shared with you months ago? Well, I took the four to a professional finisher - and had it made into a footstool.  I found the PERFECT fabric for the top. It finished out 20 inches tall and 16 inches square.

Some of the photos may look a little wonky, but it was hard to get down on the floor to get the right angle. Anyway, you get the idea - oooooo - and did I say "I LOVE IT"??

August Smalls SAL Check In

A day late - but wanted to share my Smalls SAL for August. It's called "September Horse" and can be found here - a freebie from Craft Designs 4 You.

 September Horse 3x3 inches

Actually, there's a funny story behind this piece. I joined Kaye's Christmas Ornament SAL. I thought I'd get a jump start on September's stitching. The themes for September are Christmas tree or presents. Well, silly me - when I saw this pattern, I couldn't find the colored picture of the finished product…I thought the barrel of apples was a present. (Yes, I know - I should have gotten a hint form the name of the pattern "SEPTEMBER Horse"). SIGH. It wasn't until I had stitched the whole barrel of apples up I realized it wasn't a present. And - yes - there are two different browns on the horse's body. I wanted him to have a bit of a shadow on his front quarters - not sure I pulled it off.

SHRUG. It became my August Smalls SAL.  Oh - and I did manage to find another pattern for the September Christmas ornie SAL. It's done <G>

Lucky Me!

I was one of the lucky winners for the giveaway hosted by Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler. Looky, looky:

OOOO - Can hardly wait to start stitching this - I'm doing TWO - one for my dear little English friend and one for another friend….did you spot the cute charms that were included?  AUGH!!!! I just need more TIME!!  And ENERGY!!

Have a great rest of the week.

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party AND a Surprise!

Good morning! I dug out a piece I had started years ago when I was gung-ho over gold work. Maybe I'll finish this one this year - (fingers crossed).

The pattern is called "English Goldwork Heart 1" and was a correspondence course from ANG.

Steps so far:  - I placed the heart in the center and back stitched the heart outline.
                      - I laid in the outer gold coffering
                      - then placed three layers of felt padding
                      - the last step I was able to complete was laying in the gold ribs or spines

Project to date:

Next step is to lay in gold to the outer coffers in parallel lines. (YIKES!). A huge THANK YOU to Super Mom - No Cape for hosting this lovely link party.

Now to the SURPRISE!! Dear, sweet Vickie from A Stitcher's Story,  sent me this bookmark she stitched. It's done in beautiful blues (my FAVORITE COLOR!),  with a William Morris design on the front:

And a William Morris designed initial on the back: - Isn't this pretty? THANK YOU, Vickie! Now I have a lovely bookmark for all my Tudor reads <G>

Iowa State Fair Adventure

Greetings! I spent a few days with my dear friend, Diane, and her husband in Des Moines. Even though I've lived in the Midwest / Iowa my entire life, I've never been to the Iowa State Fair to see the sites. Here are a few unique displays:

The Iowa State Fair is famous for its Butter Cow - made from a wood, wire, metal and steel mesh frame - and 600 pounds of butter. It's amazing - for the story behind The Butter Cow, go here.

There was also a Monopoly Board Game - it was amazing!

Of course - both were housed in a refrigerated space…

This is a HUGE sand sculpture sponsored by the Pork Producers. If you look closely on the right side of the picture, you can see two people sculpting the sand:

The Iowa State Fair is also famous for food eaten on a stick - just about anything is prepared on a stick - pork chops, corn dogs….here's me and my first fair food I've had on a stick - Chicken shishkabob - probably the most healthy of anything my friend Diane and I could have chosen. It was really windy, so had to hold the hair out of my eyes and off the kabob ;0)

Before:

(Not sure why I look like I have a rash/sunburn in the picture….but you get the idea).

After:

And here are the Best in Show for needlework. I couldn't get very close so you can't see the delicate work very well.

I can hardly wait to go again next year! It was a blast!!

As a side note, pop on over to my friend, Diane's blog - Becoming an Artist. She's an amazing artist - from watercolor, pastels to oils.

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party - WOOF!!

Good morning, ladies! Here is a needlepoint stocking I just finished. Our puppies have their own needlepointed stockings….this one is going to a good home….though ~ SHHHHHHH ~ it's a surprise!

Needlepoint Christmas Stocking ~ "Woof!" ~ 14 x 9.5 inches

Don't forget to pop over to Super Mom - No Cape! to see what others are talking about on this Vintage Embroidery Monday. If you like, please join the Link Party to let us know what you're working on!

Ruching Adventure

Sunday already! It was a busy, busy week last week. Tuesday saw the launch of Tudor Tuesdays SAL blog  and my local EGA meeting.  Diane S gave a great program on ruching. Diane is a great teacher and gave us lots of ideas. Thank you, Diane!

Of course, the ruching made my head explode with all sorts of ideas on finishes I could do.

Remember Mary Mouse (freebie from Brookes Books?).  Here she is done up in a Christmas ornament, complete with ruching and little pearl pins - to be given to a sweet little girl for Christmas ;0) (HINT: She just turned one year old this past Thursday).

Here's the back of the ornament with a fussy cut - couldn't resist.

Have a great day!!!

Christmas in July Swap Package, Tudor Tuesdays SAL

I received the most wonderful Christmas in July swap package from my swap partner, Nina. It came all the way from Turkey. Look what she sent - and in a BLUE theme - my favorite color!!

Material with such sweet individual 'cards':

 A beautiful wall hanging, some variegated threads and a key chain:

 Postcards from Turkey:

And a sweet Christmas stocking, angel ornament and "Joy" ornament. 

Thank you so much, Nina! I love it all!!!

Today is the inaugural launch of theTudor Tuesdays SAL blog. There's a quiz posted by Kaye -

"Are you a Tudor Queen or Peasant?" and a couple of book reviews by moi.  I took the quiz and I discovered I'm "Duchess of Davenport" - HA!  So, if you're game - pop on over, take the quiz and let us know if you're a queen or a peasant.

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party

I managed to finish stitching two more Christmas ornaments last week - both freebies from Brooke's Books.

Meet Mary Mouse…..

 and Duncan Dog.

I stitched on 28 Ct linen. There seems to be a bit of a bluish cast in the lower left hand corner - that's my shadow ;0)

A huge THANK YOU to Super Mom - No Cape! for hosting our party each and every Monday.

Merci! What I Learned

Merci! Oh my! The second doll I dressed and wigged was more advanced than I thought she would be. Good thing I started with Milly, The Good Witch, first.  Dana, MiniatureArt.com, provided excellent guidance in Merci's tutorial - I simply need to make more of these itty-bitties to get experience.

Things Merci Taught Me

1. Number the pages of the tutorial when I print it out. Will save a lot of panic later on when I realize I missed an entire page (front and back) and desperately try to remove material that's been glued and almost completely dry.

2. Super glue can glue your fingers to anything in the blink of an eye. Note to self: Keep solvent handy.

3. Toothpicks from Cracker Barrel are my friend.

4. Dry cuticles snag on the dolls hair = frustration and frizzes.

I tried so hard to make her look like Dana's, but came to the realization it was beyond what I could hope to accomplish on my second go at wigging. So, I calmed myself down and made her MY "Merci". I'm pleased with the outcome.

Red shoes with teeny-tiny beads as buttons, faux fur around the top of her boots:

Merci with her skirts and train draped - I was amazed she stood on her own, no doll stand required!

Merci with her arms and sleeves attached:

Merci all dressed - notice the tiny white and gold beads glued to the sleeves and bottom of dress:

This gives you an idea of the size of the beads:

I braided fine gold wire and added ruby Swarovski cabochons to her crown:

Side view:

Close up of crown:

 Can you see the small bun I made for the top of her head inside the crown?

Here's Dana's "Merci":

Now - on to my next adventure! It's all picked out ~ stay tuned!!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Tudor Tuesdays Coming!!

My Swapaway Friend, Kaye (Kitten Stitching), and I are Tudorphiles (aka, Tudor Crazy Ladies). Anything Tudor strikes our fancy. Kaye started a “Tudor Tuesday” Facebook page so we could share any Tudor stitching-themed pieces with other Tudor-crazed fans.

Well, she and I always seem to be on the same wave-length (even though we live 9,517 miles apart ;0). Whilst chatting on Gmail yesterday, I asked Kaye if she thought a “Tudor Tuesday” blog would be a good idea, as some people LOVE the Tudors, as well, but don’t belong to Facebook. Her exact response was

“Hi Kim, We are SSF - I just thought of that about five mins ago!  lol!”

So – we are launching a new blog called “Tudor Tuesdays”.  It will be for Tudor Fanatics to post about anything Tudor. It can be about books, movies, TV shows, stitching, interesting Tudor history factoids….whatever you’d like to share with other Tudorphiles.

So – without any further adieu, let’s play! Please join us! Simply comment here or send either Kaye or me a note you’d like to join us and discover more about everything Tudor!

P.S. You know you’re a Tudorphile when your husband and your children refuse to go on an overseas holiday to London with you because they just KNOW that you will drag them to see Hampton Court Palace AGAIN!  

<OR>

You know you're a Tudorphile whenever you mention Henry VIII and you get an 'eye roll' from your daughter and husband. They both sigh and say - in unison - "Not again!"

The Tudor Rose

Courtesy of Wikipedia

July OPAMs

I stitched a LOT in July, but only have two finishes to show you all. The first you've seen - Milly, the Good Witch:

Milly - The Good Witch

Though there wasn't much stitching - mostly gluing….

The second OPAM was the pillow I designed and stitched for my dear friend in Utah - Siggy -

Pillow featuring Siggy

Now - on to more stitching and creating!!!

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party

Good morning! Another Monday - where does the time go??

Today I'd like to share the needlepoint rug that graces the entry to our dressing room. I'm horse crazy and couldn't resist purchasing this rug (no, I didn't make it, but it's hand made). I bought it shortly after we moved into our new home fifteen years ago.

45 x 68 inch Needlepoint Rug

Here's a photo of my studio/sewing area in our lower level. I painted the portraits and most of the cross stitch and needlework. Some are from bloggy friends done through exchanges. The framed shoes were done in needlepoint by my sweet mother.

Studio/Sewing Room Display of Handmade Treasures

That's it for now - enjoy your day! And don't forget to pop on over to visit Super Mom - No Cape! to see what other stitchers are talking about on this Vintage Embroidery Monday!