Hello my Craftster peeps!  It's been a long time since I've posted here, just wanted to say hi and show you my latest project.  I actually finished her a month or so ago, but waited until Dia de los Muertos to unveil her...



I've been working on her forever, she was started in March.  I used my own drawing and a few borrowed elements - the 2 banners are from Jenny Hart's Stitch-It kit, the two birds are from a vintage Vogart transfer, and the sacred heart was traced and altered from a Craphound image.  The fabric is just a piece of white pillowcase, I stretched and stapled it over wooden stretcher bars you can find at any art supply store.

I really love the cross-stitch lettering at the top, which is a cross stitch font I found online:


The words in Spanish are "Siempre Pensando en Ti" (Always Thinking of You), "Eternamente en Mi Corazon" (Eternally in my Heart), and "Me Duele Tanto" (It Hurts me so Much). When I began the piece, I was thinking of my own emotions, people I miss, and things I've lost over the years.  But as I made it I also began reading about the murdered women in Juarez, and it took on a new meaning for me...


In any case, I hope you enjoy Sad girl, and thanks all of you, for always inspiring me!

[Edited a few days later:]

bigger

I just got the Cute Book, and I'm addicted.  I cranked out 3 cute little guys
before I could blink.  My favorite so far is the monkey... 

Edited a few days later: 
It was only a matter of time before I made the monkey a much bigger
brother!  I enlarged the Cute Book pattern 205% and used dark brown
corduroy from an old skirt.  It was MUCH easier to sew the larger monkey
(which is actually still pretty small)...

bigger bigger


As soon as my niece comes to visit we'll make all the rest of them together!

In honor of my sister's birthday, I put together oodles of embroidered stuff for her.  I used white linen placemats she sent me for my birthday and vintage Mexican transfers to make a kitschy duo, and I also stitched up 4 Mexican food napkins:





The napkins have little Mexican food-based characters I drew when I was craving Mexican food: Mr. Taco, Mr. Quesadilla, Mr. Chile and Senor Tamale. I bought a pack of cotton napkins at Bed Bath and Beyond, whipped out a pencil, and went nuts:







The last 2 sayings are in Spanish and are inside jokes in our family... now all I need to do is get to the post office!

Thanks to Sublime Stitching, I am totally addicted to embroidery and there will always be an extra-special place in my heart for Jenny's patterns. After seeing one of my pillowcases on her website blog I swear I got tears in my eyes and had a vision... of a shower curtain... to honor Sublime Stitching.   



I blew up one of the SS Pinups and Panthers girls about 200%, put the pattern under a thin, white polyester shower liner and traced the design.
 

Then I embroidered her lovingly and sewed her on a stripey shower curtain I had that just wasn't fun enough.  I also added strips of bright orange towels we were throwing out:



It was hard to get a good pic of her in the bathroom (what with it being small and New York sized) but here's my best try:


I love her!  Hope you do, too. 

I had SO much fun making this little card.  I'd been cooking up ideas for days, and first made the little owl.  Then I had visions of a haunted rowhouse the owl could live in, complete with doors that open, and haunted characters behind the windows...



Here it is all closed up:



And finally, the card opens up to say "Happy Halloween..."  Which is what I'd like to say to all you great Craftster peeps, and may you have the creepiest Halloween ever...


A few more pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/floresita/281612836

bigger: http://static.flickr.com/80/241882176_d9437cd27a_o.jpg

The minute I saw the Lucha Libre patterns on Jenny's site I said to myself "these will be mine!"  I used them on a pillowcase for my brother, to "match" the one I made for my sister-in-law.

The saying is in Spanish, and means literally "men shouldn't cry"... ahem, not that I believe that, but it seemed like something these big, macho wrestlers might be saying...  I had so much fun with this - thanks Jenny, for these awesome patterns!! 

]http://static.flickr.com/89/223700139_ebb8bdc4db_m.jpg


Thanks, hawkeyes_girl, for inspiring me!  I sewed up a little felt
Ipod last night to go in the pocket:



My niece's birthday is coming up, and I'd love to give her something hand made -
since I've been making tons of crafty stuff lately.  I'm really proud of this funny
little Wee Wonderfuls cat I made from a pattern, but I kinda wonder... will a 12
 year old groan when she gets this? 

I've decided to send it out and hope she'll enjoy it - thanks for the help and comments!

Hi guys, this is my first (big) stuffed toy - I worked from a Wee Wonderfuls pattern available here: http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com

I used only things I already had - so there's an old skirt and shrunken shirt with big, gaping holes in them now...   This was also my first time working with felt, which was surprisingly easy.  Thanks for looking!

Closeup of Mr. Trilobite: http://unafloresita.blogspot.com/2006/08/mr-trilobite-softie.html
Closeup of Dimetredon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/floresita/210577307/in/set-72157594161083062/

I was brainstorming for a cute, small gift I could make for my niece.  I wanted something small that could fit in a package I'm sending her mom, and cute, but not too girly because she (like me) is a tomboy.

Enter the embroidered Dino softies!  The patterns are from an Aunt Martha's Dinosaur book - I just embroidered on some scraps of fabric I had left over from cutting some slacks, and sewed and stuffed them.  Edges are a bit wonky, but I still love them...

I am quite addicted to stitching pillowcases now... this is um... my 4th.    The birdies are from needlecrafter.com, the banner and lettering is from the Stitch-It Kit.  The good news?  This is a gift, so I wont have 5 billion embroidered pillowcases in my linen closet...