2012 Frankensanta

(With thanks to Anna for the name!)

"Santa's Helper" by Mosey 'N Me
in the 2012 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue

I stitched this on a 32-ct. opalescent hand-dyed fabric, and substituted a lot of the flosses.  I also didn't do much (any?) of the backstitching - with the blue fabric instead of the natural linen used in the model, it didn't seem necessary.  I backed it with some beige checked fabric with snowflakes, and used DMC for the twisted cording.  I "signed" it with my little "heart, MOM" and the date, because it will be added to my daughter's annual ornament collection.  At 5 inches tall it is still a little bigger than most ornaments I make, but it should look okay on a full-size tree.

October TUSAL and more ornaments

First, Morticia.  She felt the usual pose was less than flattering to her figure, so I agreed to try something different for this month's picture...

Hopefully she's happier with this.

Progress on Santa's Helper.

I didn't have the wool for the sheep, so I just used DMC.  Since I'm hoping this gets used for many years to come,  Ithink I might have gone with regular floss anyway -- less fuzz to fall off/get matted down/whatever!

And a finished finish - Prairie Schooler's "Two by Two: Deer" from the 1998 JCS ornie issue.

The backing fabric is some funky trees, I used jute for the hanger and fussed around entirely too much attaching that teeny branch and pine cones!  But I like the end result.  This one will be a gift for my parents this Christmas.  They live out in the woods and my dad is a hunter, so this made me think of them!

My morning

On  Wednesdays and Thursdays I work from 10 to 6, but still drop the Wee One off at daycare around 8 am just to keep her schedule kind of normal.  Since her daycare is halfway between home and my work, I don't usually want to drive all the way home after I drop her off...so I find a parking lot, turn on NPR, and stitch for an hour or so!

Here is today's progress on Santa.

Ornie Progress

Up first is the Dragon Dreams ornament -

This is stitched over one on 28-ct. Jazlyn.  I used an over-dyed floss for the "2012" - everything else is as charted.  The corners are supposed to be stitched in gold metallic, but the idea of doing metallic over-one makes me twitch, so I'm trying to decide between some shade of yellow - and maybe an eyelet or Rhodes stitch? - or a bead or 2.  And of course I'll need to do the back.  Since the entire design is less than 2.5 inches square, I think I'll just repeat the border and then chart Ender's name and birthdate for the center.

And here is the Mosey 'N Me Santa.

This probably won't look much like the model picture at all when I'm done...I've swapped out most of the hand-dyed flosses because I didn't have them in my stash.  Santa's robe is supposed to be Taupe with Heirloom Gold for the trim - I'm using Roasted Marshmallow with Tarnished Gold.  Everything else (so far) is DMC.  And the fabric is a 32-ct. blue opalescent hand-dyed fabric - so sparkly!  The model used a natural linen, but I think this is cute too.

A euphoric finish

Just a quick little project for a friend...

Mosey 'N Me's "Ewephoria" freebie, turned into a birth sampler.  It was surprisingly easy to change the word "ewephoria" into "Ingrid," too!  LOL  I used a 28-ct. evenweave scrap from my stash, and a bunch of the old flosses my dad bought at an auction in the spring.  I used Whisper for the sheep -- he really does show up pretty well IRL.