Not all stockings should be huge and make you cry "uncle" repeatedly.  I love Susan Roberts' stockings--they are just the right size to match more "vintage" stockings and her sense of perspective and whimsy make them great fun...plus, her Santas always have a happy, not scary, face.

I kept the stitches pretty basic for Harrison's stocking; I had visions of years of running to the mantle to snatch it down, turning it upside down and shaking it to make the goodies fall out.  Since this is Harrison's first Christmas, I wanted to make it durable enough to last until he is an adult...and perhaps still performing the same excited ritual.  (You are only young once, but you can be immature forever.)

My favorite things: 

I used Silk & Ivory Stardust in white for the cuff in a vertical stitch.  By just unwinding the thread a little as I went along, I got great coverage and I loved the sparkly effect.

The basketball is stitched with perle cotton and the Dotted stitch from "the Bible".  This gives a great nubby texture, just like an actual basketball.

I loved using Frosty Rays for the garland with a simple satin stitch.

And that is stocking number 17--two more are on the (hopefully) expanding list.

A cool stretcher bar tool

I recently went out of town and left Chris and the dogs in charge of the Bristly Thistle.  On Chris' to do list was putting together 20 sets of stretcher bars, with my special admonition that they be square.  Chris' solution (at around $5) was a T square from the LHS (local hardware store).  You can even use it to see if your stretcher bars are level!

The Happy Witch

This is the second panel of 5 from Julie Mar & Friends, with the stitch guide by Patricia Dee.

Sometimes I am a stickler for mirror image stitches, i.e., one side has the stitch slanting in one direction, the opposite side slants in the opposite direction.  I loved Pat's choice of the Souffle stitch for the Happy Witch's cloak, but I wanted the left side to mirror the right.

Usually, you just need to turn a stitch diagram a 1/4 turn to get the mirror image.  You can see that this doesn't work with this stitch.  So here is Reverse Souffle, "for your alleged pleasantry" as one of my beloved high school English teacher used to say.  (She would introduce herself at the beginning of the year--"My name is Mrs. Null, it rhymes with dull."  She was anything but dull.)

Count Dracula by Julie Mar

How handsome is this guy?  Widow's peak, bedroom eyes, cleft chin, and there's something about that smile....

This is one of 5 canvases in a series by Patricia Dee of Julie Mar Designs.  You can choose individual characters or, as I did, buy all 5 with the stitch guide and the ceramic painted knob.  They make up into a very cool lidded box for Halloween.

I tweaked the guide a bit to make it my own...and these are a few of my favorite things.  I found a great Mandarin floss color for his pasty face; the candle flame is a glowing Fyre Werks; the candle is stitched with a Renaissance thread and the dripping wax is made of French knots using an over-dyed Kreinik.

Next up--the Happy Witch.

Thanksgiving part 2

Making more progress now.  Should be ready to start the class later this month.

Thanksgiving march begins

I love creating stitch guides for Ashley Dillon's marches.  It's like dressing up little dolls in costume.

This little Indian girl has a beaded outfit and headband and is carrying a bowl of late summer corn.

Haunted House Finished

Just got the haunted house back from the finisher. It is quite a hit in the store!

Last Creepy finished

I just finished my last Creepy in the series (I finished the owl and the fraidy cat earlier).  It was such a pleasure to follow Robin King's stitch guide--it's like letting someone else drive so you can enjoy the scenery.

A break in the action

I've finished stitching the 4th of July March, and I am now finished with the stitch guide.

I celebrated by finishing this little firecracker canvas by Kelly Clark. I especially like the turquoise and blue stripes. I laid 3 strands of Perle Cotton #3 horizontally and satin stitched over them vertically with Shimmer Blend Ribbon Floss (turquoise) and Sprinkles (blue).

4th of July March - part 1

This Little Martha is marching in the 4th of July parade.  I gave her a crocheted hat and textured dress for the occasion.

Corn snake & skull witch hat

I've almost finished the Kelly Clark witches' hat series. I used the stitch guide as a jumping off point and then went my way.

I experimented with the 2 small skulls on the brim, beading them primarily with clear size 14 beads and Kreinik #4 glow in the dark braid. The effect was okay, but not great.

Effect I loved from the guide: French knots stitched with Boucle'. This would be great for trees, shrubs, moss, hair and more.

Effect I hated: French knots stitched with Boucle'. Lots and lots of knots and bad words, oh my!

Purse finishing

This colorful purse and canvas by LEE were put together by our customer Pat Collins.

Pat had a terrific idea for finishing.  The bag is canvas, but she wanted it to have a more rigid side.  She purchased an acid-free self-adhesive mounting board slightly larger than the canvas.  We attached the canvas to the board and then inserted the canvas and board into the purse opening.  The result is a canvas side that will not bend or fold.

Good thinking and so easy.

October Heritage Ornament from Kelly Clark

Here's number 10 in Kelly Clark's heritage ornament series. I replaced the beads with Swarowski crystals for more bling.

I've enjoyed this respite from creating my own stitch guides, but I am itching to see what's new at market and see where the artists' visions can take my needle.  Tune in next week for news from Phoenix!

Another Creepy finished!

I'm starting the New Year in a rush--stitching Mehitabel the Witch from NeedleDeeva in less than 2 days. And I took plenty of time off for football and food!

I didn't have Lorikeet in Bright Orange on hand, but I did have it in Narcissus Dark, an overdye.  The result makes me smile--it's a reminder of my youngest daughter's latest (beautiful) hair coloring effect, called Ombre'.

Many stitchers hate using Lorikeet because it can be hard to separate the 9 strands of wool.  The trick is to start separating about 3/4 to 1" from the end, teasing the strands apart.  Then it's a simple matter of pulling each strand from the end.  Really!

Now, what about the name Mehitabel?  It is a Hebrew name meaning "God rejoices", but it is most well known as the name of a fictional cat.  Author Don Marquis started writing newspaper articles "ghost written" by a cockroach named Archy whose best friend is a cat named Mehitabel.  (Thank you Google.)

Happy New Year and Happy Stitching to All!

May heritage ornament by Kelly Clark

This is the May Heritage ornament from Kelly Clark--it's for my husband and self-proclaimed web lackey Chris. I'm trying to decide what to have monogrammed on the back to make it really special. At the rate I am finishing these, I'm going to need another tree next year.

Happy New Year!

The Spider Queen

After my latest stocking was finished, I said I was working on lots of ornaments.  The Spider Queen was a Sunday afternoon project (I didn't say they were all Christmas).  Again, what's not to love about this series with stitch guides by Robin King?

Robin was so good about incorporating many threads in each piece and also making sure that these threads get used on multiple Creeps.

My favorite stitch is the Elliot Stitch.  Done in two shades of lavender, it gives a feminine touch that belies the fierce look of this black widow.

My brother-in-law's stocking is finally finished.  As my sister said, it has been a loooooong labor of love. This poor Santa has mostly languished in the closet, waiting for me to love him.

Because this is a Tapestry Tent canvas, most of the work was done in basketweave, French knots and lots of beads.

My favorite part is the cuff background--it's a mini scallop shape from one of Brenda Hart's books.  I brought home a skein of Vineyard Silk and Silk & Ivory to see which would work best for this vertical stitch on 18 count canvas.  Surprisingly the Vineyard Silk fit the bill perfectly.

I've since been rewarding myself by stitching ornament after ornament, looking forward to special new canvases at market.

New clip on peacock from Labors of Love

Just a little something pretty to stitch as a reward for FINALLY finishing brother-in-law's stocking....

I love the way the blue breast feathers turned out.  I used the Diagonal Romanian stitch, combining YLI Shimmer Blend Ribbon Floss and the Painter's Thread version of the ribbon floss.  A little Painter's Thread goes a long way.

Creepy Frank finished

Look who just came off the rack ... er ... stretcher bars--Frankenstein from the Creeps series by Needledeeva.

My favorite things--Robin King's wonderful choice of composite stitches and the great way his sweater looks.  He's dressed perfectly for this fall weather.

Creepy Devil

What a handsome devil we have here.  This is the latest release of "the Creeps" from Needle Deeva, with stitch guide by Robin King.

I only made one change--I stitched the stars in glow-in-the-dark Kreinik.  "The Creeps" are addictive!