The Year of the Small Project continues with these March finishes: 3 bookmarks, a St. Patty's pin, a bib, and a pillow. A most gratifying part of these #throwbackthursday posts is revisiting the many projects I've given away as gifts that I don't even remember stitching. There are several examples in this post. Some of them are so pretty that it makes me want to stitch them again to keep for myself!
Rose Border Bookmark
The pattern for this bookmark came from a book of cross-stitch borders. As with many of the bookmarks stitched in this time period, I used a base of Ribband with a scallop edge, then stitched a Nun's Stitch at the ends before making the fringe. The pattern is from Classy Clothing in Hardanger Embroidery by Susan L. Meier and Rosalyn K. Watnemo, 1993.
Gosh, this one is pretty. It's exactly my personal aesthetic.
Luck Pin
I still pull this pin out every year and wear it as my "something green" on St. Patrick's Day. The design is by Six Strand Sweets, a company that made fibers. I choose a variegated green floss for the large shamrock, and coordinating solid green floss for the smaller shamrocks. I used grey for the word "Luck" that was a few shades darker than the ground grey fabric. I sewed the green bow to the piece before finishing it as a lapel pin.
Imagine Bookmark
I designed and stitched this bookmark for an embroiderer's guild outreach project. Our chapter supported a library literacy program. I chose the word "imagine" because that is what reading allows me to do -- to imagine being a character in a novel and living in another time and place.
Rudy
I love this piece. It's another that I display every year.
The design is by 4 My Boys design company. I stitched it on Fiddler's Cloth. This is one of my very first pillow finishes. I bought a couple fat quarters of coordinating fabric specifically for this project. The green inner border is slightly more narrow than the red outer border. The back of the pillow is a solid piece of the green fabric.
I used some satiny store-bought cording, sandwiched between the front and back layers. I like the nice rounded corners I managed to create. Because I was using some loose stuffing from my stash as the pillow filler, I constructed an inner pillow of muslin to contain the stuffing. This kept any stray stuffing from "leaking" through the holes in the Fiddler's Cloth.
The finished piece is about 12" x 13".
Bear on Lamb Bib
I stitched this adorable bib for the young woman who used to babysit my daughters ... and later gave them piano lessons. I hadn't seen her in a decade, but learned that she had a baby girl.
Kara was brand new to cross-stitch when I knew her as a girl. We used to talk about charts we liked and the latest project she was stitching. We shared some supplies. So I knew the gift I wanted to give had to include some cross-stitch.
This adorable design is called "Bear on Lamb" from the Baby's Buddies leaflet by Ginny Fraser for Leisure Arts, 1994.
Sunbonnet Sue Bookmark
This sweet Sunbonnet Sue design is a classic. When I started the piece, I'd intended it to be the first in a series of quilt squares. But as I continued to work the project, nothing was going right. I had to abandon my attempt.
I made lemonade from lemons by using this portion of the design and cutting it down to bookmark size. I designed the flowers and added them to surround Sue. I'm generally pleased with the outcome, though it does look like Sunbonnet Sue is standing on top of the bottom flower. Ha!
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