Beads for Sugar Sprinkles! (decorating a cookie)

Be sure to check Possibilities, Etc. fairly often, as the decorating continues on the Shamrock cookies. At the present time, the sugar sprinkle icing (made with beads worked "solid") is showing!

Also, for right now, the Beads! E-Booklet is offered at half price!!

November in a Few Hours!!

This year has flown fast, and it will be November in a few hours when I wake up! This is the November Birthday Crazy Quilt heart. Now I need to get busy and finish "January," as I put it down two years ago and never got it back out to do the silk ribbon carnations. Ouch.

Be sure to go see Possibilities, Etc., as I have started another cookie with "icing" - this time solid sugar sprinkles in the form of clear beads!

Stitching the Shamrocks

I have started the stitching on the Shamrock cookies on Possibilities, etc., so you can take a look and follow along if you wish - and do something creative and original of your own!! Experiment!

Also, I'm offering for the duration of the cookies, my E-booklet (at half price) with lots of different cookie cutter shapes that I have used for many years for playing with new threads, stitches, and techniques - and have also added a mini-stocking. Lots of stitches diagrammed, and color pictures as guidance and inspiration.

Cookie Cutter Needlepoint

That title could have double meaning - and I had to remind myself of just that when I was fooling around with the drawing. I had to remember that these are to be "cookies" shaped like Shamrocks, and that I probably would only have one cutter in the drawer. Decorating them is the fun and imaginative part that will make each one different.

Anyway - I started this odyssey on the other blog (Possibilities, Etc.), so you can go there to see what's happening. This pattern is about 4 1/4" across at the widest part, but you could always play around with the size and suit yourself. I used 18 mesh canvas, but 13 would work as well.

The idea is to replicate icing and do such things as you would do with a pastry tube/cake decorator type thing, using lots of fun things and great stitches. It's really a good way to try out new stitches too, and new fibers in your stash. I'm showing the drawing on canvas to illustrate the orientation of the tracing. Use the orange line as a reference.

Please refer to other posts about canvas preparation and drawing for instructions for doing this. I've pointed to places where one must be sure to draw on the THREAD and not slip down between them into the groove - makes it much easier to stitch.

October Again Already!!

The "Birthday Crazy Quilt Heart" for October was finished in 2008, with its opals and calendulas and glorious Fall colors. You can see the other months (some not done yet, though) on the other blog under the label Birthday Crazy Quilts.

There are lots of freebies on this site from last year for Halloween, so don't miss the napkin rings and other small, fun things.

I've never designed a lot of needlepoint for Halloween, as there seems to already be more than enough "out there," and it's also not really my interest for designing painted canvas or for stitching - I leave that to others who excel.

However, I have recently found a web site while cruising on ebay, that has just about sent me over the edge to be stitching on Halloween things!. These pieces are so much fun and so full of originality and personality, they are quite different from any I've seen. I've shown these on the other blog, but to be sure you don't miss it, I'll give you a link here for her Halloween page: Nenah's Needlepoint.

I won't show any canvases here, as that would spoil the surprise. Also, these aren't Freebies, of course, but the prices are so much less than they would be if offered in a retail store!! I love finding these wonderful things that I didn't know were available.

More for a Halloween Table!

Last year I drew several Halloween napkin rings, but didn't stitch any of them myself - these you can find under the label "napkin rings." There were two I didn't finish drawing, but now have at least put enough on canvas to be able to do a complete one of each, and also pass them along for you to do your own.

The first is a simple one - a bat! I picture a black one stitched in basketweave with Petite Very Velvet, and glittering metallic eyes (Kreinik braid). Usually I make these 1 1/2" wide, which is the same width used for bracelets and belts - but this one, to accomodate the "moon," is 1 3/4" wide.

I have left the images for these a bit large so that when you print them out, you can clearly see where to put the dots onto your canvas when you draw them. Where I put the arrow, just ignore the long, curved line - I drew these things late one night when I was too tired to count, and kept making a mess of it - so gave up and called this a "scrap" and just left the line there. Again - IGNORE it.

As for stitching the bat, I visualize a moon against a navy sky - maybe with metallic stars on it - either silver or Kreinik 032 white, which is very sparkly.

The next is a witch on her broomstick - again, against a moon! My son said this is a self portrait I painted. I put a red scarf on it simply to separate the dotted elements of the drawing.


You could put color on this lady, or just make her a black silhouette - whatever suits you!! Just have fun, and enjoy these for table settings - very festive!

As for drawing them onto canvas, there are a number of blot posts here to instruct you - mostly under "canvas preparation."

'Tis the Season! (thinking about stitching)

Lest you think I've lost my mind (I probably have, and don't know it yet) - I decided I'm tired of looking at crazy quilts, so "retired" the September heart as a header, as I've used it two years in a row. (See these at my other blog, Possibilities, etc., under "Birthday Crazy Quilts")

I finished this piece last night as a napkin ring, as one of my "tartan adaptability and uses" experiments, and thought it might be suitable to point out that even tho' it's still horrendously hot (at least here in Austin), it's time to think about starting gifts, ornaments, table decorations, etc. for the upcoming gaiety of the seasons of fall into Christmas! (and don't forget Hanukkah!)

My next blog post here will be a new napkin ring motif or two, as these were fun last year, fast to stitch, and great for decorating a table. I'll probably change the header too, and show candy corn or something more appropriate! Meanwhile, there are lots of napkin ring patterns right here on this blog - just click on the label for them.

The illustrated napkin ring is adapted from the Alpine Meadlows tartan, and I have a more complete description on the other blog.