Friends Forever

I had a hankering to do a bit of counted cross-stitch a couple weeks ago. My lifelong friend, Debi, was having a birthday, so I decided to stitch something up for her.

I dug into my stash to see what I could find. I remember buying the supplies for this chart and gathering them together in a kit. Then ... well, it got buried. The chart is Stitching Friends by designer Lizzie*Kate.

The design calls for some specialty fibers. These are beautiful overdyed colors from the Gentle Art Sampler Threads line. It's cotton floss that is hand dyed so there are subtle variations in shading throughout the skein. They come in beautiful colors with inventive names.

I used an evenweave ground fabric called Jobelan rather than typical aida cross-stitch fabric. I can tell that my eyesight is changing in my 60s. I needed a good amount of magnification to see the holes! The stitching went fairly quickly since the design is only about 4" x 4". The pink buttons used as embellishments were plucked from my stash.

I decided to finish the stitching as a basic padded ornament. I used this cotton fabric as the back. 

After adhering the ornament's front to the back, I used this gold cord to cover the edge and form the hanging loop.

Gosh, it was fun to stitch again! I'm so pleased with the result. I was heartened to hear my friend likes it too.

A nice bonus is that by using a kit I had on hand, completing this design is also a part of one of my 20 Goals in 2020. 

July Birthday Fairy

Because I completed my project of sharing all my 1996 - 2007 stitching projects, I thought I'd do a different kind of #throwbackthursday blog post today. Let's take a closer look at a piece I stitched for my daughter Jodie's birthday in 2004. I'll give this charming fairy a closer look.

She's been hanging in our entry hall this month. As July closes, she will go back into storage for another year.



This fairy is definitely an American lass. She's all decked out in red, white, and blue. She's holding an American flag and appears to be dressed up for a parade. I particularly like the wreath in her hair, adorned with red flowers. She's wearing a prominent beaded necklace.



Between her blue petticoat and red overdress, she wears a white underskirt that's embroidered in blue with red beading detail.



She stands amidst a flowered arch of blue blooms, green leaves, which is dotted with more red beaded buds.



One of her most beautiful features are her spectacular wings. They have extra shimmer because of the added layer of iridescent thread.



It's been several years since I looked at the July Birthday Fairy this closely. She really is a beauty.

Good Advice

I've been taking some longer walks around the neighborhood this week which includes walking past the front of the elementary school. (Our home backs up to the back side of the school).

I like the sign.

It's sound advice for the adults around here, too.

Time for another country ride in the convertible?

Pamper Day

I took some time to spruce up today. Gave myself a haircut, facial, foot mask, and teeth whitening treatment. Took an hour to read. Bought myself a couple pair of shorts.

I even made a zucchini casserole for dinner. Took a morning walk and picked a few blackberries along the way which we'll add to vanilla pudding for dessert.

A day in the life in Covidtime.

Reds and Yellows and Oranges

I found these beauties on today's walk.

Gladiolus

Indian Blanket ... with bee

Pom Wonderful

It's been a pompom kind of day. I made twelve altogether, six each of two sizes. It was an excellent activity to do while binge-watching the first season of Netflix's Sweet Magnolias.

If all goes well, I may be able to complete the project tomorrow.

Garden Gnome

I dunno why. Just liked it.

Hibiscus

One nice surprise about living in Oregon is recognizing old friends. Plant friends, in this case.

Growing up in southern California, we had a couple hibiscus bushes in our yard. I hadn't seen any in the 35+ years I lived in north Idaho. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a bush full of these white blooms in the space between our yard and our neighbor's driveway. So pretty.

Hello, old friend.

Throwback Thursday - 2007 Part 13

This week the Wayback Machine takes us to November and December of 2007. I completed five projects in those two months.


Eeyore

I decided to stitch a second square for the charity cartoon quilt. This time I chose a chart that was originally in a latch hook kit that my daughter Julie made. I converted the yarn colors to floss and stitched it on bright yellow fabric.

I decided to add a vibrant border to make the design a bit bigger. I used three shades of orange and made each band of color one row wider than the previous band. Then I outlined it in black.

I'm pleased that my idea of converting a latch-hook chart into a cross-stitch chart worked so well.

More Preemie Hats

I completed my obligation to the charity hospital program with these six preemie hats. I crocheted one per month for 2007.  The hats are donated to neo-natal wards in various hospitals around the country.

These little hats are adorable and they stitch up in less than two hours. I enjoyed trying various colors of ribbon to finish them off.

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Jodie's Spring Bands Bookmark

My daughter Jodie was intrigued by all the bookmarks I stitched and donated in 2007. She asked if I'd make something special for her. I offered to have her look through my patterns and pick one she liked.

Instead, she said, "Surprise me!"

I looked through my stash and found several charts I thought might suit her. I decided to stitch this sampler-like bookmark by Eileen Gurak of Handblessings. It was a bit of a leap in faith that Jodie would like the colors because the black and white graph did not come with an image of the finished product. The final result is quite pretty.

This was a freebie chart that I received as a thank you gift. It was part of a packet of charts given to me from a shop owner to whom I'd donated a dozen ornaments for a diabetes research fundraiser.

I adapted the pattern slightly from the original design. The fabric scrap I was using was neither long enough nor wide enough for the pattern. So I left out a few rows to shorten the bookmark, and pared down the rows I stitched by four stitches in width. It works well. It seems to me that if I'd stitched the entire pattern it would have been an awfully large bookmark.

Keep Looking Up Caterpillar

This little critter is a Precious Moments design by Gloria & Pat. I stitched it as part of a black & white quilt. These quilts were made for babies in Germany.

Why black and white? Apparently, the rods in the eye (the black-and-white receptors) develop first, and soon after come the cones (the receptors for colors). These black and white quilts are made for infants and designed specifically to stimulate a baby’s color development.

Pretty neat, huh?

I  adapted this pattern for the quilt, stitching only the black parts in the design. I left off the wording, the grass, and the butterfly. Then I added a border in two lines of half cross-stitch to create a chevron effect and help fill out the square.

This was the 12th quilt square of 2007. I am delighted that I reached my charity stitching goal for the year! Each month I completed one quilt square, one bookmark, one ornament and one crocheted hat.

Snowtunes Ornaments

I managed to finish two of my family's Christmas ornaments before the end of the year and mailed them off to my oldest daughter. These designs by The Design Connection were stitched on perforated plastic, so the finishing was easy. Just trim off the excess plastic and add a hanger.

These were my last projects of 2007. I didn't manage to finish the other family ornaments before Christmas, but I did get them done in January 2008. You can see them here:

Happy Dance: 2007 Family Christmas Ornaments

This post concludes my #throwbackthursday project! Now all of the stitched items that I originally shared on my old CameoRoze's Stitcher's Studio website are now available to view on this blog. Transferring the images was a long project for me, years in the making.

I quite enjoy looking at all my stitched pieces again. I gave away as many -- or more -- than I kept. It's also encouraging to see my how photographic abilities improved over the years.

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My itch for counted cross-stitch has returned. I completed a small piece last week that I'll share soon.

Lunch and a Dip

Jodie and I stopped for a birthday picnic lunch at a beautiful spot on the Dorena Reservoir. We couldn't have asked for a more peaceful place. We sat in the shade and looked out over the water, allowing the breeze to cool us as the temperature rose.

The park is one stop along the Row River Trail. We've vowed to return with bicycles one day, and have a memorable ride.

After we got back into town, Dale and Kenny joined us on a quick trip to Eastgate Woodlands Park. It's not far from their home.

We scooted on our butts down a little incline so we could dip our toes in the chilly Willamette River.



This friendly bird and friends welcomed us. But the flock swam on when they realized we weren't going to feed them.

Then we returned to Jodie and Kenny's house for a yummy birthday dinner and dessert. What a wonderful way to celebrate our daughter's special day.

Dorena Bridge

The is the last covered bridge Jodie and I visited on her birthday last week. The Dorena Bridge has lovely white slatted window openings that let light in while keeping potential acrobats from jumping from the bridge into the cool river. (We watched as one young man considered his options while trying to impress his friends, then gave up). 

The bridge is surrounded with foliage and tall trees. There is a private camp that's right near this bridge, as well as some rather steep access to the river from the public parking lot. The day was quite warm and the swimmers seemed to be enjoying themselves.We found a geocache near the parking lot.

My birthday girl was enjoying herself that day, too.

Clowning Around Birthday Card

I made this card for a long-time friend. This era can be difficult, so I wanted to make a card with some levity. I found this idea on Pinterest.



I used another of my border dies to add this fancy scalloped edge. This is when I learned that the dies are not quite as long as I had anticipated. I'll keep that in mind for future cards.

I printed the sentiment on purple paper, glued it to the larger dark purple rectangle, then adhered the sentiment with dimensional tape to have it pop up.



I used bright colors for the faces, and fun scrapbook paper with small scale prints for the hats. I color-coordinated the googly eyes. For additional fun, I made the green eyes two different sizes so this clown could be particularly whimsical.

I decided to use real pompoms for the tassel on top of the party hats.



Inside, I decorated the upper edge with some washi tape in coordinating colors, then wrote a personal message below.



I signed the back of the card in my usual way.



Then I decorated the edge of the envelope with some of the same washi tape used on the inside. That's a sweet touch that pulls it all together.



I hear the card even arrived on time. Bonus points!


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I was inspired by this card that I found on Pinterest. The original was uploaded by Sharon Johnson.

Jodie's Birthday Card

A big part of Jodie's birthday gift from Dale and me had to do with arranging flowers. So I made a birthday card for her that mirrored that theme.

I tried a few new-to-me techniques added to my tried-and-true methods. First, this card was cut to open vertically, with the fold on the top of the card. Then I used a new die to make the fancy cut on the bottom of the card front.

I extended the stems of the flowers to go beyond the edge of the white card front for extra visual appeal. I got to use my new stems and leaves dies to make the leaves.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was printed on a separate sheet, cut in a fun shape (another new die), and adhered over the stems.

The flowers were fun. I stacked two or three different sizes of flower shapes in bright colors. Some were glued down flat. Others were adhered to the layer below with some dimensional tape so they pop up. Then I added gem stickers as the flower centers.

On the inside of the card, just below the fold, I added another flower, leaf and gem set. I added a hand-written note below the flower.



On the back of the card, I made my usual stamps. To decorate the envelope flap, I used a spray of leaves.

It's traditional in our family to have Dale decorate the envelopes of greeting cards. Did you know that in a former job he was a graphic designer? He still has a great touch and each card is unique and clever.



Our daughters always look for "the little dude" on the back of the envelope. This time, the dude is holding onto the leaf spray!



I love my family and our little traditions.


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I was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest to create my card. This card by Crafted Living was an excellent jumping off point for my imagination.