Sock Monkey Biscornu by Blackbird Pie, on Flickr

Pattern by Magpie Night on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/magpienight

It's my first biscornu and it was quite fun & satisfying to put together.  This one is a gift, I am going to try another pattern to make one for myself.

I spotted a play campfire online and knew I had to make one for my son and the little ones I watch during the week. 



My son is currently clamoring for "white and brown pretend marshmallows". I even offered that we could pretend to cook REAL marshmallows that he could eat later, but he wants play ones.

I used red corduroy with orange and yellow felt for the flames. The large flame is stuffed with stuffing and poly pellets on the bottom to make it stand and the small flame has wire armature so you can shape it.

I used some scrap wood for around the flames but I'd like to collect some sticks on our nature walks to use instead.

We have a play tent so I envision lots of pretend camping this summer.

I made this cross stitch for my sister (she hasn't gotten it yet.. shhh).  She loves the Twilight Saga and I've been wanting to try a cross stitch design inspired by vintage samplers and fairy tales so I used wolves, hearts and forest motifs for this design. 

The border was adapted from purchased patterns and the crisscrossed hearts border can be found here: http://www.freepatternsonline.com/xscharts/page/border4.htm, I stitched seed beads in the middle of each heart.

The quotes are from Twilight, of course.

I am making a sampler for my sister based on the book & movie Twilight.  Here is the sampler so far:

img

I am debating removing the stitches that read "Edward * Bella" and replacing them with something else.  I feel like it might be too cheesy or it could make the sampler too dated over the years.  She's now 22 and loves Twilight, but will she want something that says reads the equivalent of "Bella + Edward" on her wall in ten years?  I know Twilight fans come in all ages (I'm 31 and have read the series), but I don't want it to become too dated if her interest in the series wanes.  The other statements are more generally romantic (which is why I chose them) and not so specific to Twilight though they are from the books. 

Should I change it?  I was thinking I could even just stitch replace the line with "twilight * twilight * twilight" in the same font as the black quote as twilight itself is such a pretty word and time of day, and the repetitious wording can be found in sampler making historically.

I could really use feedback, even if you haven't read or disliked the series.  Thanks.

A lap quilt I made for a friend's new baby, based on the lap quilt design in merwing's Doodle Stitching.











matching shoes and bib



You can see more photos of the quilt here:
http://flickr.com/photos/35465843@N00/sets/72157606112817527/

[What do you usually do while you stitch? Do you have a favourite place to stitch or a favourite time of day you do your work in? Are you already thinking about your next project?]

Nice work, manpan!

And welcome, Jojo.  Your post made me think of a fun question to pose to the group:

What do you usually do while you stitch?  Do you have a favourite place to stitch or a favourite time of day you do your work in?  Are you already thinking about your next project?

To answer my own questions, I usually watch movies when I'm doing needlework.    I have been getting audiobooks from the library though and listening to those as I stitch.  Last summer I listened to Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers while sewing some pretty flower pillowcases as a wedding gift for a friend.  I find that if I have something compelling to listen to, it makes the work more rewarding and I am more excited to have time to work on it (as opposed to it being something I do when I'm bored, which sometimes happens as well).  I will also sometimes make plans with friends to bring our crafting and go to a coffee shop where we visit and work on our projects.

Favourite place to do my needlework.. hmm.. I have a craft room downstairs but I rarely end up doing needlework down there are my needlework is so portable.  The project I am working on right now is large, in a big stand and on dark small-count aida cloth, so I have been using the stool from my antique singer to sit in front of my living room bay window for the good light. 

I almost always do my stitching in the late evenings as I have a small child so after bedtime is the only real uninterrupted time to work on projects that require any kind of time or concentration.  I was thinking the other day about how I used to cross stitch because I was bored after work and was filling up time, now I wish I had more time to cross stitch!

Yes, I am thinking of my next project.  I want to design my own sampler or find one I really love and make something for myself.  I might do all white stitching on a dark linen background and see how that looks. Or some white on white, I've been toying with that idea for a while.

I posted this a couple years ago as a comment on the vintage board, but it seems appropriate for the new Easter board as well.  I made this bunny family for a craft swap and am in the process of making a new set for my son for Easter.





The pattern was in a book called "More Scrap Saver's Stitchery" that I bought at a flea market. 

Here is a link with other projects from the book on Craftster:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=11532.0

I completed my first project from the Doodle Stitching book.  I changed the colours a bit as I didn't have the blues the project recommended.





I really like how simple and lovely this pattern is, perfect for my new nephew's nursery.

I made this for my brother, who loves Johnny Cash so much he named his son Cash. 



I made the stencil using a tutorial on Instructables on how to make stencils using GIMP.  This is my second stencil, I first tried it right on the messenger flap and it was pretty fugly



Here is the stencil on a baby shirt.  Don't you think my brother should name his next baby Johnny?  "Johnny!  Cash! Come inside for supper!"

Thought it would be cool to have a listing of independent/non-michael's craft stores in Alberta.

For needlework there is Stitcher's Heaven in Edmonton
http://www.stitchersheaven.com/

Deserres is opening in WEM Oct 26
http://www.loomisartstore.com/