Last weekend I decided to spoil myself a bit. Back in August I signed up for a finishing class at Needleworker's Delight in NJ - about 3.5 hours away from my home. The piece was a darling mermaid by White Lyon Needleart, and since I had enough Marriott points to get a free night in a nearby hotel, I just couldn't resist. Here's my finished piece (minus the silver clay crab that I made there - it has to be fired and will be sent later).
Isn't she adorable?!? The hardest part was getting the mermaid on to the laser-cut finishing form...all those curves were maddening. But I persisted, and am pretty pleased with the finished product! The pearls hide a multitude of sins, as well. And of course, I did mine different from many of the other ladies in the class. First of all, I made my tail shorter. I mean, the physics of a giant tail just don't work....she'd never be able to swim if her tail fin was 3 times the size of her body! (Yes, I can suspend disbelief enough to accept that there might be mermaids, but not the physics of a huge tail fin. Shut up.) I also added turquoise seed beads between the pearls on the edge, and I added beads to her tail as well. Mmmmm, beads. I embellished her stand with some green yarns (seaweed!), beads, shells, and a piece of sea glass. I'm planning to put my little silver crab on the sea glass. And finally, I tied my own purple ribbon onto the top of her staff and stitched the starfish charm to that to secure the whole thing.
She's a perfect addition to all my mermaid-y pieces, and I had a good time working on this. It was definitely a day-long finishing project, and Needleworker's Delight was a great place to work (and shop!). Since I was there, I did do a wee bit of shopping....I brought home a piece of 40-ct natural linen (my LNS always seems to have a hard time ordering high counts for me), a limited edition doll kit from Cherished Stitches, and an old Dragon Dreams pattern my daughter might like. Here's the little doll kit:
And now that I'm back home, I want to start something new. Maybe Thanksgiving-themed? Stay tuned!
