Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.
I’m not going to have much access to my blog for the next two weeks, but I didn’t want it to sit idle. So, I will be sharing some of the wonderful needlework I’ve collected over the last little while.
Southern Belle
This first piece was embroidered either by my grandmother or great-grandmother (the latter is most likely). You might recognize it as the edge of a pillow. My aunt decided to rescue several pillows that were deteriorating and turn them into something we could display.
I have no idea what materials she used. It looks like standard cotton floss, and since the colours have lasted quite well it must be something like DMC. The base fabric is a cotton pillowcase of some kind, and looks to be in good shape. My aunt stretched it on an embroidery hoop and added the trim.
Does anyone happen to know what this style of pattern is called? The first thing that popped into my mind was Sunbonnet Sue, but that is the little girl with the giant hat.
You might have noticed that I haven’t been doing Theme-a-licious and WIPocalypse posts lately. I was pretty good about keeping up with both of these SAL all year, but now I’ve sort of run out of things that fit the theme. For example, this month’s Theme-a-licious is about finishing up things that are nearly done. Well, I do have a lot of those, but unfortunately, working on Christmas gifts has to come first.
As for WIPocalypse, sure I have piles and piles of WIPs to get through. But, I’ve been working on my Creativ Festival projects, not my old WIPs.
I hope to be back on track in December. I’m hoping that by the time I return from my vacation that all I will have left to work on is one Christmas gift. Then I can dip into December’s theme: work on anything at all!
In the meantime, there is a look at what I’ve gotten done on MarNac Designs’ Anniversary Santa. Sadly, he won’t be done for Christmas this year.
Anniversary Sampler by MarNac Designs
Given that this is the year of the dragon, I sure haven’t stitched enough dragons at all! But, here is one more:
Silver Dragon Sampler from Dragon Dreams
This is the Silver Dragon Sampler from Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams. It was one of the classes I took at the Creativ Festival, but it is supposed to be available on PatternsOnline as soon as she is able to release it.
It is stitched on 28 count opalescent fabric. And while it isn’t my favourite fabric to stitch on (actually, I would go so far as to say I just about hate it), it sure looks lovely with this piece. It uses several shades of grey DMC, one shade of grey-ish Waterlilies silk, some metallics and just a few beads.
I made a couple of changes, mostly just altering the look of the commas and moving some of the rows up a little bit. I also stitched an eyelet in the centre of the flower with silver metallic thread just because I liked how it looked.
Pretty silver flowers
I wish I could say I have more dragons planned for this year, but time is speeding by so quickly! I do have a plan for next year, though, that involves dragons. Stay tuned!
Well, one knit fish for your head:
Fish Hat
The pattern is Fish Hat [Dead or Alive] by Thelma Egberts, available for free from Knitty. The yarn is Bernat Satin in Crimson, Teal and Banana. The colours were chosen by the little man, who will be wearing this hat to school at the end of the month for crazy hat day.
I used the original tail, which is available here at deadfishhat.com.
Side view!
And, we decided to make the fish alive rather than dead. I guess it is funnier that way. 😉
If you’ve been thinking about making this hat, believe me, it is really simple. All you need to know is how to knit in the round, do decreases and seaming (just a bit, depending on the tail you use). And with my sore hand (thanks for the good wishes, by the way), I was able to finish it up in just a few days.
Christmas is quickly sneaking up on us all, and I’ve got a pile of things I need to get done. Unfortunately, I’ve managed to injure my shoulder again. I tore it very badly about 13 years ago and it didn’t heal right. Every once in a while it gets badly hurt again, often from something as simple as rolling over on it wrong when I’m sleeping. And that leads to days of pain, and sometimes even a numb hand if I manage to pinch a nerve. Couple that with the fact that I now have hand pain when using inflexible metal knitting needles and, well, I’m just a mess.
So, right now I’m working on trading away my metal needles and replacing them with wooden ones; finishing up a shawl on metal needles; knitting a dead fish hat for the little man on wooden needles; and mostly just trying to baby my hand while still getting things done. With luck, my hand will be back to normal by the weekend, assuming I let it rest a little more.
Welcome to Stitching Lotus, a blog about crafting, reading, and creating my own cozy corner of the world. AI free!
Needleworker, Knitter, Crocheter, Sewist, Paper Crafter, and more!
