Tag: cross stitch

Cross-stitch and Embroidery

Another Mother’s Day, another hedgehog…

wittychild

When I first saw the issue of The World of Cross Stitching with a free Margaret Sherry card kit attached – featuring a hedgehog, no less! – there was really no doubt as to whether I’d buy it.  I try to cross stitch a card for Mother’s Day every year, and the hedgehog factor was just the icing on the cake.  (Since hedgehogs aren’t indigenous to the region, their likeness can be difficult to find in stores.)

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Despite a slow start, this came together much more quickly than I expected.  And the backstitch really makes his prickles stand out!  It made a cute addition to my mom’s gift.

Thanks for looking! 🙂

Cross-stitch and Embroidery

Urban Wildlife

wittychild

I rarely stitch for myself, but when Cross Stitcher included cover kits of a fox and a raccoon a couple of years back, I held onto them, planning to do them “someday”.  These were bold, simple patterns that used only a handful of colours, meaning they’d be the perfect intermission stitch when large projects were making me crazy.  And – and this may be what promoted them from “maybe” to “yes!” – they came with a precut felt frame right in the kit, making the whole affair rather self-contained and all the more appealing.  All I’d have to do is add a hanger of some sort, and heaven knows I have enough different ribbons in my stash.

And so, eventually…in between large projects, Christmas gifts, quick cards…they somehow got finished.  The completed stitching was tucked away along with the frame inside the original packaging until I had a reason to assemble them.  Wonder of wonders, my cubicle wall (fun fact: the proper term for “cubicle wall” is “baffle”.  Who knew?) was painfully bare and in desperate need of a little brightening up!

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To add some interest to the frames, I added a bit of decorative running stitch with my sewing machine.  This wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had; felt does not pivot as nicely as normal fabric does to ensure a smooth curve, and I had to keep stopping to defuzz my needle and bobbin area.  But they’re done, and give my cube a much-needed splash of colour.

Happy Easter!

baking, Cross-stitch and Embroidery, Other Crafts

Pink cake and orange cat

wittychild

Hello there!

My mom had her birthday at the end of January, but due to work scheduling, I wound up having to make her cake the weekend before.  I saw the basic idea in an old issue of Woman’s World, which is a magazine that I would generally never, ever buy – except that this issue had featured adorable Hello Kitty cupcakes on the front cover, and I had been unable to resist it.  They also had a layer-cake version of the cupcakes inside, but their recipe used something like four egg whites in the batter and another two in the icing, with no mention of what to do with the yolks, so I quickly dispensed with that idea and instead used my trusty vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World as well as the fluffy buttercream icing from the same.  I also thought I might leave the kawaii characters off the cake, and maybe give it a more mature vibe.  Because nothing says “mature” like pink cake, right?

Ombre Cake 1

I, of course, did not think to get a picture of it while it was intact and free from candle holes.

Ombre Cake 2

Holy ombre, Batman!  I used varying ratios of gel food colours to get the different shades, and they worked like a charm.

Ombre Cake 3

That’s a chocolate-cream cheese filling between layers.  Since the cake itself is just vanilla and not overly sweet, it provided a nice balance and helped keep it moist for the next few days until we could get it all eaten.

She had to wait a couple more days to get the rest of her birthday goodies.  I always try to make a handmade card of some sort:

Surprised Hedgehog

And when I first saw this design on Urban Threads, I knew it had to be made into a t-shirt:

Meow Shirt

I did him in orange to look like her big ol’ furbaby.  He’s painted on – not embroidered – and I think the blue really makes him pop!

Thanks for looking – have a wonderful weekend!

craftmas, Cross-stitch and Embroidery

When we finally kiss goodnight, how I’ll hate going out in the storm…

wittychild

Merry Christmas, everyone!  One last seasonal make to show everyone…

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I spied this in the 2014 Just Cross Stitch Christmas ornament special.  The magazine’s version was stitched on this crazy Shrek-green evenweave that immediately reminded me of my next door neighbours’ living room walls, and I knew I had to stitch this up for them.  I didn’t have a colour like that in my stash, but I did find some 28-count pewter evenweave, which I thought nicely evocative of a grey winter sky.  (Even though it doesn’t co-ordinate with their walls nearly as well, the cardinals sure pop.)  My local stitchery shop had a small oval hoop which framed it perfectly.

A better shot of the piece itself:

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Wishing everyone happy holidays.  I hope Santa/the Hanukkah Armadillo brings you everything you want!

Cross-stitch and Embroidery

Like, you know, whatever.

wittychild

Summer of 4-2-1

If you read this blog regularly (thank you!), you might have surmised that I’m a bit of a grammar geek.  (Grammar tea towel, anyone?)  That geekery extends to language of all stripes, and almost annoying and [sic]-making as bad grammar is lazy speech.  Cami.  Mani-pedi.  *shudder* Appies.  Quit being so lazy!  You’re not limited to 140 characters when you speak, so snap out of it!

But by far, the one that sets my teeth on edge the most?  “Whatever.”  I freely admit that there are entirely appropriate moments to use it, for example: “Want to hang out tonight?  We can watch TV, or play a game, or whatever.”  That’s fine; it suggests flexibility and openness.  But ah, using it as a substitute for wit or accurate information?  Language FAIL!  “Actually, Jimmy, it was Neil Young who was in Buffalo Springfield, and not Neil Diamond.”  “Whatever.”  Um, no, Jimmy.  Big difference.

I suppose I could handle this if my mother didn’t use it constantly, as an all-purpose answer or conversation-ender.  But she does, and she uses its red-headed stepchild “Whatevie”, too.  She is my mother, and I love her, and this is what prevents me from grabbing the nearest crowbar (full disclosure: I don’t have one, so it’s not really a threat) and going postal.  And when I saw this design from Heritage Crafts, I knew I had to stitch it for her.

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It’s called “Whateva”, as you may well imagine, and as an added bonus, the cat in the picture kind of looks like hers, albeit with a far worse attitude.  After busting my hump trying to find an appropriately coloured squarish frame for it, I opted for pragmatism and snapped up this bright blue hoop from my local stitching shop.  It’s not exactly an heirloom piece, so, you know…whatever.

baking, Cross-stitch and Embroidery

Take me right back to the track, Jack!

wittychild

Where does the time go?  One day, I was stitching up Christmas ornaments, and now, poof!  Finals, summer birthdays, that feeling of irritation that occurs when you upgrade your operating system only to find out that none of your (admittedly embarrassingly rudimentary) Windows XP software will run on Windows 8.1….

But I digress.

My dad celebrated a birthday a few weeks back, and in keeping with my Birthday Cake Rule*, I knew I had to come up with something good.  I had seen this cake on the Brown Eyed Baker some time ago and had been wanting to try it for a while.  Here’s my take:

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Since my dad is just a wee bit (ha!) older than the BEB’s birthday boy, I passed on the rainbow cake in favour of something just a little more adult.

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This is my modification of the basic chocolate cupcake recipe from…wait for it…Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  It’s rich and moist without being too sweet, nice and light, and goes down easy.  Absolutely worth skipping a half-day of classes to make!

I also took a break from needling away at the rather large needlepoint project that’s been occupying my leisure time to stitch him a card.  I saw the pattern in an issue of The World of Cross Stitching, and he rather reminded me of my parents’ cat.

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*The Birthday Cake Rule, for the uninitiated: If you really love someone, you’ll make them a birthday cake, or pie, or cookies, or other dessert of choice, from scratch.  None of this store-bakery sheet-cake stuff.

cooking, Cross-stitch and Embroidery

Mother’s Day – Better Late Than Never

wittychild

Don’t worry –  I didn’t forget Mother’s Day.  I was oh-so-dilligent, producing a homemade card and breakfast.  I just had some…issues…securing appropriate photographs.

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This is not one of the giant apple pancakes (à la Pancake House, but better!) I made last week.  Those got devoured within minutes of their hitting the table, and it wasn’t until we were halfway through that I remembered my camera was in the other room.  This is from a second batch, made today, and with camera close at hand.  It’s criminal how good these are, and how easy they are to make, too.  This may be my new special occasion recipe.

And it’s not Mother’s Day without a homemade card, is it?

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I found the pattern in an issue of Cute Cross Stitch I bought last summer, and had pretty much hung onto the magazine specifically for this card collection.  I modified it a bit – made the kitty’s nose black to look like mine, and left off the tail since she’s a bobtail – and mounted it on some pink cardstock I had on hand.

Happy May Long!

Cross-stitch and Embroidery

The best-laid plans…

wittychild

Sigh…so I thought with having some time off in December that I’d be a one-girl crafting machine.  Homemade gifts for all!  Hot and cold running cookies!

Funny how things don’t always work out the way you had them planned.

I can’t complain.  The time-management issues were my fault, really, but I wouldn’t trade lunches with old friends for all the hand-knit Chrimbo scarves in the world.  (And a good thing, too, because I’m not much of a knitter.)  Oh, I did get some holiday baking done – and once I’ve posted this, I’m running next door to distribute some of it – and managed a couple of new Christmas ornaments for the tree.

calico ornament

The kitty is from an out-of-production kit I scooped up on Ebay called “Merry Kittens”; she and five others make up the cutest little bunch of tree-hangers ever.  Since I knew I wouldn’t have time to finish all six, I used threads and perforated paper from my own stash to do just the one.

bauble

Remember my fondness for Mill Hill beaded kits?  This one is called “Diamond Holiday”, and has been sitting in my collection for the past two Christmases, untouched.  I suspect some may disagree, but I find the beadwork oddly relaxing…and when it catches the twinkling lights…lovely!

I did get one homemade gift done: a vest for my dad which, although wrapped, is not officially finished.  Once he’s had a chance to try it on, I’ll add the buttons and buttonholes to ensure a custom fit!

Merry Christmas!

Cross-stitch and Embroidery

All Aboard!

wittychild

My vet, having not learned her lesson the first time, had another baby.  Since I had stitched a birth announcement for #1, it seemed only right to me that #2 should get something as well, and I really did start looking for something almost as soon as I heard she was expecting.  Honest, I did.

I eventually decided on a Janlynn kit called “Kitten Express” (so she’d know it came from the crazy cat lady-in-training), but the name appears to have been a bit of misnomer.  It was really more like “Kitten Take the Scenic Route, Sign Up for a Couple of Boring Industry-Specific Classes, Stitch a Christmas Gift and Anniversary Sampler, and Generally Forget About It for a Year”.  Ahem.

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I felt somewhat better when I dropped it off at the framer’s and saw hanging on the wall someone else’s commemorative birth announcement with a date of birth in March.  I mean, that’s almost as late getting things done as I was!  My cat had no complaints: her annual shots got delayed by a month while I furiously stitched and waited for framing, because no freakin’ way was I going to show up at the clinic empty-handed.

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This really shows off the purple frame to its best advantage!  My initial thought for framing had been either yellow or blue, something typically boyish, but when my framer pulled out the purple and held it against the piece, everything just – fwoom! – came together in ways you wouldn’t believe.  Between the engine, the name and date, and various flowers and bottles all in purple, it worked no matter where in the picture you looked.

I did make a few changes from the pattern, though.  I left off a full double border that would have taken foreverrrrr to finish (and which had the advantage of fitting the finished piece into a smaller frame), and I left out a few clouds and a really limp-looking spiral of steam from the smokestack.  Unless you looked at the original packaging, you wouldn’t even know anything was missing.  I also changed the lettering on the engine and flatcar from pink to glow-in-the-dark white.

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This will either enthrall young Scott when the lights go out, or cause his mother to wonder why he’s suddenly afraid of the dark.  I forgot to mention this groovy aspect, and will have to tell her when next I see her.

I have been assured that the second is also the last, and can now get back to something a little more grown-up.

Cross-stitch and Embroidery

Labour (Day) of Love

wittychild

This will be short and sweet, I promise – who wants to sit inside reading on a screen when the unofficial end of summer is but a few short hours away?

Anyway, my parents hit a milestone anniversary this year.  Oh, sure, 40 isn’t the big 5-0, but still fairly significant, I think.  Heck, I can’t imagine being 40, let alone being married for 40 years.  Since they’re kind of impossible to buy for as a couple, I decided to take advantage of the milestone-iness and stitch them a commemorative sampler.  Most of the Ruby Anniversary samplers you see out there are kind of floral-y or frou-frou, and I didn’t want that.  But when I saw the Vintage Anniversary Sampler by Dimensions, I knew I had found my project!  They got it a few okay, five weeks late, but aren’t some thing worth waiting for?  (To protect the identity of the happy couple and their progeny, I’ve smudged out identifying details, but you get the idea.  Or if you’d like to see a non-smudged version, here’s a link to the kit for sale.)

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It just came back from being framed this week, and did they ever do a fantastic job.  The mattes she picked out complement the colours so perfectly!

Have a wonderful holiday Monday, everyone!