Handwork Projects

 I officially finished the last vintage cross stitch kit in my stash by the designer, Sandra Cossolino.

"Making Gingerbread," is a tough kit to find but I snagged a new kit on eBay.

There are other enthusiasts who collect her kits and the internet has enabled us to find each other. 

This gives us an option to share out of print patterns. Below is, "Loading Sled." I have one more vintage pattern in the series in my files and am still hunting for yet one more in the series.

Luckily, Sandra Cozzolino is still designing three new Santa ornaments every year and I have started one of the new ones. This year's theme is, "Christmas Morning."

I am venturing into cross stitch designs by other designers. I follow a mother and daughter designing team on YouTube, Stitching with the Housewives. They release one or two designs a week. I am not even going to try and make all of their designs.

I finished, "Trick of Treat," a couple of months ago. Their designs are inspired by chalkboard art the mom has been drawing for years.

I am waiting for fall decorations to hit the stores so I can get some inspiration for finishing this piece. I don't want to do just a plain frame since the designers also have great ideas for alternate ideas for finishes.

My new DIL has picked out stockings for her and my son. 

They were married in Hawaii so an ocean theme grabbed her interest.

The toughest part of this stocking was definitely stitching the face. Plaid, the company that owns Bucilla, came up with the brilliant idea to include two copies of the felt for faces that are so finely detailed. Even with all my experience stitching these kits....I needed a second chance to get this face right. 

Then I had a second stumble...I ran out of sequins for the mermaid's tail. I raided several other kits in my stash but the sequins were just enough different to make me hesitate to add them to the tail. I called  Plaid and requested more sequins. 

The new sequins were not the same...so I spent two evenings carefully removing all the sequins. I mixed the two sequins and love the extra sparkly effect they make.

While waiting for the sequins, I started the companion ornament kit. 

I managed to get the first face stitch nicely on the first try. 

Very tiny stitching.

Quilting was very much on the back burner this summer. But I was determined to finish a blouse I had cut out months ago. It was a quick pattern to make and I like the design...

but too big.

 I tried taking it in but it just feels to big!

 I made most of my clothes when I was in my twenties and thirties...and I just went with the same size I always made...but I think the pattern companies have biggie-sized their patterns. I am going to keep trying...but next time I'm going down at least one size...maybe two. I just want to get a few blouse patterns I know work for me and make them. I can do this.

 Thankfully this fabric was on sale, half-priced, but it's pretty and I'm sad it didn't work.

I did it...two days in  row of posting. 

August is usually our rainy month...and we are getting the usual rain.

This week I quilted for the first time since April. 

More about that tomorrow.