I made a toy barn out of a cardboard box, popsicle sticks, hot glue, sandpaper and spray paint.  I was having so much fun that I made fences and a duckpond to make a full farm.  The roof lifts off and there are stalls for the animals inside.  It was a gift for the third birthday of my friends daughter.

In progress shot.... (before the roof tiles and paint)



Action shot .....



The duck pond is made of craft felt, cardboard, hot glue and stones.

This is merino wool, which I wet felted into a flat piece of felt.  I then needle felted Corriedale wool on top for the tree design, and added buttons.  I used about 280 g of white merino for the background.

I love it, its got a great texture


The final measurements are 18" wide and 21.5" tall.





Close ups .....


 Each leaf was individually needle felted, then attached.

This is a gift for my nephew.  It is based on a character in one of my nephews books.  He’s two years old, so I added star fish and sea anemones to make it more interesting for him. 

It is entirely made with split stitch.

The silver scales are metallic thread, which was horrible to work with, and kept snagging.  It was worth it though, because in sunlight it really sparkles!

The book is der Regenbogenfisch (the rainbow fish) by Marcus Pfister.

I made a pattern, based on a 17th century pen and ink drawing in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/renzodionigi/3435110769/
It is 7.25" tall and 9.5" wide.

I used Solvy soluble paper interfacing for pattern transfer.  With the exception of a few back stitches, this is stitched entirely in split stitch, using DMC thread on linen recycled from a thrift store table cloth.

To give it a slightly aged appearance, I soaked it in strong black tea for 15 minutes after completion,

I wanted something medieval and whimsical.  It took almost a year (20 minutes at a time, here and there).  I’m rather pleased with it 

Thanks to muddlepud for their tutorial on lacing embroidery http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=335956.0

I found an old pillowcase in the thrift store with some pretty machine embroidery on it.  Using a tutorial I found here,

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/homemadebooks/ss/fabricnotebook.htm

I covered a plain black vinyl day minder with it for my new 2011 diary.


I usually hand embroider things myself, but machine embroidery is less likely to snag on something in my bag.

Happy New Year everybody!

Two months before Christmas, my friend decided to make both her mom and her new baby niece or nephew a quilt.  She has zero quilting experience and works full time – yes she is a bit crazy

She taught herself as she went along and had Christmas as a deadline, so she found the experience to be an “ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!” She claims that she wanted to burn everything for many, many weeks 

I think she changed her mind when he saw the results of all her hard work.

She is not on craftster, so I am posting these for her, because she did a really great job!  Please comment and I will post replies from her  to any questions …

The first quilt follows a Yellow Brick Road pattern, by Atkinson Designs http://www.atkinsondesigns.com/patterns/patternDetail.asp?productID=126
She had it quilted by a professional long arm quilter in Chilliwack, BC, Canada.

Here is the first finished quilt

Quilting detail


Lable detail


Here is the finished quilt for her mom.


Here you can see the quilting details

Here you can see the label detail




As if making two quilts wasn’t enough, she also made two matching pillows and a bolster!

I was inspired to make my own hairsticks by olive_juice http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=311643.0  

I made mine from wooden skewers.  I have tried sanding sticks, but have had bad luck and lots of snapped sticks.  I find that basic wooden skewers are stronger and work the best.

I snap the skewer off at the length I want, sanded and added glue to the end to attach some inexpensive wooden beads.

Here's the first pair, they are my favorites!


Here they are in the hair ....


Then I made some big chunky blue ones



I'm not as fond of these ones ....



Cost was well under a dollar for both pairs.

c&c wellcome

This is a portrait of a friend of mine, which I embroidered as a gift which he has recently received as a surprise belated birthday gift (his birthday was in early March - oops).

It is embroidered using black DMC floss on organic linen, in a frame that I sanded down and spray painted.  I used soluble paper (solvy) to transfer the pattern.

He is playing a type of Turkish flute called a ney and that is a glass of wine on his right.

I love how it turned out, especially the hands....



Here is the original photo that was used for inspiration. I believe the photo was taken by Sarah Chiodetto.



There is a youtube clip of Kenny practising the ney here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO3SmaMWM3Q

Comments appreciated.

I was inspired by this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/26/family, which suggests that newborn babies are soothed and becalmed by black and white images.

Some cute friends of mine are expecting their first baby, so I decided to give their baby a portrait of his or her parents as a gift.

It is entirely hand embroidered on organic linen using black DMC floss and split stitch throughout.

Comments and criticism welcome


I used dissolving paper to transfer the pattern.  Its the first time I have used it (I used Solvy) and I loved it!

I have spent several years studying rockfish in grad school and am still very fond of them.

This is mostly split stitch using 6 strands of cotton floss on a stretched canvas.

I sketched a picture in pencil on the canvas and then stitched over it.

Its in a 6" hoop.

I ran out of orange floss at the very end of the tail fin, which I will fix as soon as I get the opportunity to go to the store ....
Comments and criticism welcome