A Strawberry Temily

Temily (designed by Kathy Dykstra) from AS&E #80 is a pattern that has been on my "want to do" list for a long time. Now it will move to my "I want to make more of these" list. It came out as cute as I hoped!

This is for Ella's Christmas present. After I made the Izzy Color-me Dress, Ella's Mom told me she doesn't like dresses. I still wanted to smock something for her while she's little, though. She will be 3 in a few weeks.

This beautiful strawberry print is by Fabric Finders and I got a great deal on a yard of it on ebay. I mis-cut, not once but twice! so all I have left now are scraps. I had the pink piping in my stash from a grab bag of piping, but I didn't have any matching fabric for the ruffles. I had 100% cotton gingham, but I hate to use that on ruffles because of the "ironing factor"! So, I ordered the gingham from Fine Stitchery- the best prices anywhere!

I smocked a flower, but my girls laughed at it. I know it is a bit lop-sided: I don't know what happened!

I bought the leggings and hairbow at Walmart and they co-ordinate with the strawberry fabric perfectly, but I don't think they go as well with the pink micro-check. What do you think??

The neckline has an elastic casing, which is easier and quicker to sew than a bias neckline and makes it a comfortable pop-over top.

I just can't say enough good things about this pattern- definitely "do-over" worthy!!

Christmas Cross-Stitch

This beautiful design is by San Francisco Stitch Co. It is part of their Christmas gifting series, which is just what I intend to do with it. This is an amazing design!! The mistakes in my 2 tries so far are my fault, not a flaw with the design. 

The above was my first try. I used Embird to enlarge the design to fill my 6x10 hoop and I didn't notice that it changed all of the jump stitches to running stitches!! Do you see all the extra stitches running from letter to letter and flake to flake! This could be salvaged if I carefully trim all those away. So, thinking it was part of the design and not my fault, I wrote to SF and they very generously fixed it for me in about 5 minutes- awesome customer service!! So, I did it again (the first picture) and the jumps were fine, but I accidentally forwarded the color in the middle and had to re-do areas twice, which made it look too heavy (on the left flake and some other places) so, my fault again!!

I know the third time will be the charm! I just got busy with other projects. This is stitched on my favorite "faux-linen" from Joann's. It looks like linen, but doesn't wrinkle! I love it on the dark background, which I think makes it look like a snowy night. I used my rayon embroidery threads because I have many colors. However, ideally I would like to do it from cotton thread because I think it would look even better.

I might frame these for my friends, or I could see stitching it onto a throw pillow or making a little quilted border as a wallhanging. Boy, is this faster than hand cross-stitch!! Yahoo!!!

Shorts for the Little Man

I probably started these when the weather was suitable for shorts. It is now November and very unlikely that these will be worn until May. I originally hoped my little guy would wear them with a plaid shirt for school pictures, but "fitting in" at Kindergarten happens even at 5 years old. I really like these, though, and I hope I can at least get some pictures of Andy wearing them. The brown fabric is the awesome "faux linen" from Joann's that I have used in navy, turquoise, and brown. It looks like linen, but is a blend, so it's wash and wear! Perfect for little boys!

I am now working on Thanksgiving and Christmas items, so I hope to be able to share those soon!
A hint: I am making 7 embroidered shirts for our family Christmas picture!