Happy Birthday Aunt Lois!!!

Today is my mother-in-law's sister's birthday. Also know as Aunt Lois around our house. She is my MILs older sister by 15 years and today she is 98!!!!!! Don't tell my MIL I just spilled her age (she does not have a computer, so I am fairly safe). We were blessed with the opportunity to visit with Lois last October and she looked and sounded great. Gets tired more easily, but who wouldn't at 98!

I decided to make her a special birthday card this year. Inside I wrote: "A special card for a special lady on her special day. I made this card especially for you!" Happy Birthday. Signed my hubby and me.

Here are some pictures of the card.

The flower is two colors of pink felt, yellow ultrasuede and a button all from my stash. I found the cute butterfly button at JoAnns. As an afterthought I thought tiny rick-rack for the stem would be cute, but I did not have green. Maybe another time.

I wish everyone a happy day in honor of Aunt Lois, a very dear lady!

Mouse Pad for Greg

I wanted to make something special for my big brother's birthday that he could actually use. He is on his computer quite a bit, so I decided to make him a stitched mouse pad. I got the one I used for this project at Hobby Lobby, but you can also get them here. Which is all I will say on that since this is my fun stitching blog.

I will now explain the motifs used starting from left to right and top row. Facebook, troop two patch (troop two was his boy scout troop), the emblem on the scout badge and Eagle Scout badge - he made Eagle Scout (with a palm cluster no less).

The next row is is initials which I created from my PC Stitch software. Between the initials and the facebook logo was my attempt at a batman bat (the 60s version not the new one).

The bottom row consists of the wolf head part of the cub scout emblem. I did not have enough room for the entire emblem. He drinks coffee and is an LA Dodger fan, so I created an LA coffee mug. He has a cross in his car and has always been a tad interested in religion and then the baseball mitt. My initials and date are in yellow at lower right.

I got the baseball font, and baseball mitt from my PC Stitch software, I made up the facebook f, troop badge number, coffee mug (with a bit of help from my software) and the cross. I got the Boy Scout emblems from a book called "The emblems of the Boy Scouts of America in counted Cross Stitch" by the Vanessa-Ann Collection and Published by Zim's Inc (1986).

I think that covers it for now!!

Stitched Christmas Gift

Last February I was working on the Heart in Hand Monthly Mania for March and thought it would be a nice gift to make each of the 12 months and put them in a wooden box that was open at the top to show off the current month while the11 other months could be stored in the box. My sister in law in Iowa decorates for the seasons, and appreciates my handy work, so I thought it would make a nice Christmas present for her.

I could not find a box, but I found two deep frames at Michael's with a mat with a 4"x4" opening. So I cut 12 pieces of comic book board the size of the frame (5.5" square), marked the middle of each with a pin hole and then mounted them on the board. I used a sewing pin to go through the middle of the stitching and then through the pin hole I made in the middle of the comic book board. Carefully removing the pin and straightening out the stitching. It worked out great in centering the stitching.

I was then able to get 6 months in each deep frame (Jan - June and July - Dec). So I sent one with December showing in the frame and one with January showing. I forgot to put in a note of explanation so when we spoke on Christmas Day I let her know that all 12 months were there and that I had put a piece of ribbon in to help pull them up when time to change the month. Good thing we spoke, she did not realize and thought more might be coming for birthdays or future Christmases!  They were a lot of fun to stitch, a little tricky finding the frames, but it all worked out great. I took a picture of all the months laid out and December in the frame.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Christmas Stitching for My Nieces

My twin (fraternal) nieces live in California and I live in Colorado, so sadly I do not see them much. But the internet helps. I like to make them something for Christmas and usually make an ornament. I was thinking their tree might be getting full, so I made each of them key chains. They are 23 so ideas for gifts to make can be tricky.

For one niece I used the chart from the November 2011 Issue of cross-stitch & Needlework Magazine. I stitched in on some green aida I had on hand and changed some of the colors to one's she likes - lime green and pink. It is folded on itself and therefore the same on both sides.

For my other niece I made a key chain showing her favorite sport - soccer. The chart is from the book by Sam Hawkins called 501 Cross Stitch Designs. Published in 1993 by Meredith Press for the American School of Needlework. For this one I did not fold it on itself, I sewed ultrasuede on the back (shown here under the stitched piece).

They were fun to make and I am told they liked their gifts.

Birthday Surprises - Picture Heavy

Recently one of my sister-in- laws (my husband’s sister) had her 60^th birthday. I sent her 60 items plus one to grow on. A made a few items and I thought I would share them with you.

First here is an overall picture of all 61 items.

I made her a money rose and a spa cloth.

I covered a mini composition book (4.5” by 3.25”) with stiches on white aida and a regular composition book with fabric and stitched her initials on evenweave and sewed it on the fabric.

I made a Swedish weaving bookmark, felt coasters and a pocket tissue holder. By now you may see a trend and purple is her favorite color.

Here is a microwave potato baker.

I thought something that said “It’s a Girl” would be cute (and chocolate never hurts).

I make her a project bag and put the materials and instructions for a crochet project inside (she recently took up crochet).

Here is a sewing kit I made open and closed.

She is a tea drinker so I made her a tea wallet (here it is closed and open).

Here is a close up of the mini notebook again showing the front and the back.

She was very surprised and happy and appreciative of the 61 things and called me right away! She got the one to grow on since I miscounted and ended up collecting 61 things instead of just 60 and I heard no complaints.