More Baby Gifts

On top of the projects I have been working on for my own kiddlets, I have done two other projects for friends and family.

The first project was for my new niece, Ingrid. She is a total cutie! I have made her two older brothers blankets, so I had to make one for her. I was extremely upset about the whole project I almost didn't even start one. I went to go buy the blanket at Joann's and they didn't have any. OK, no big deal, I went to Michale's. They did not have any either. Not the end of the world, I got online to find one. NO ONE HAS THEM. I looked all over for one, and apparently they don't make the baby sized one anymore. I could of bought a normal size blanket and cut it to the size I needed, but it would of been twice the money.
I now had to find something different. Joann's had another style, its just not a pretty as the other ones. And the blocks go around the edges instead of the whole blanket being blocks. I know I totally over reacted about the whole thing, but I was pregnant, and that's my excuse and I'm stickin' with it.

I found the alphabet pattern in a book I recently bought. It is a Joan Elliot alphabet book. I love Joan Elliot designs, they are my absolute favorite. Thanks to Facebook, Joan even got to see the finished project. (its really not that big of a deal, but I thought it was pretty cool that she told me she liked it).

The next challenge was sewing it together. I am by no means a master seamstress, that is my mother. I have totally piled on the projects for her since I found out I was pregnant. She is making quilts, and bumper pads, she crocheted adorable granny square blankets for them, plus on top of it all she alters wedding dresses. When the baby was finally born, our babies were only a few weeks old and we were at the hospital all the time. The day before I was going to give it to her it still was not done. I felt terrible asking my mother to do it for me, so I tried to do it myself. I was up until one in the morning trying to get this sewed together. It to FOREVER! but, only due to my poor sewing skills. I have the knowledge, but not the skills.
I had some minky for the back, and I got it all pinned together, and in the end I swear I sewed and unpicked each side at least twice. It kept slipping and turning out terrible. I finally got it done, and it turned out alright, but it took way to long.

 This is the blanket as I was trying to pin it together. I have a nice big kitchen counter that is the perfect size, so that was helpful.

 Close up of one of the letters

 ALL DONE! and wrapped up.

The second project is for my best friend Monica and her new baby boy Luke (aka Wilson's new best friend). He is such a cutie. I got to go over to her house the other day and he just cuddled me for almost an hour, it was great.
Anyways, I got the pattern out of Cross Stitcher Magazine issue 232. It was from May of 2010. I have been wanting to stitch this design since I first saw it. When I found out Monica was preggers I knew exactly what project I wanted to do. It is really simple, but really cute.

The design in the magazine was stitched on a cute pok-a-dot aida, but they unfortunately don't make that any more either. I had to settle with plain blue. It was a breeze to stitch up, and I have had this finished for months thankfully. All I had to do was stitch the name and date and frame it and it's all ready to go.

Help! What's Next?

I'm totally stumped. I have no idea what to do with this finished project.
I had the idea of making it into a purse, that was why I originally made it. But now that its done and looks so awesome, I don't want to make it into something that's just going to get trashed because I use it all the time, so back to my original statement, I'm totally stumped.

I need some input. Tell me what I should do with this? What would you do?

Material size = 9inX13in" and the Design size = 12inX9.5in
Stitched on 28count gray linen (oh and FYI, this was my first attempt with something other than aida)
I found the patterns in CrossStitcher Magazine, April 2012 issue 251
Designed by Felicity Hall

Color 1 - Dark Blue

Color 2 - Bright Green

Color 3 - Bright Blue

Color 4 - Lighter Green

Finished with Color 5 - Gold

Buzz Buzz

Summer is here, and that means a new wreath. I had so many ideas for this one, and in the end I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
I got the pattern from issue 250 of CrossStitcher Magazine. This is one of my favorite issues. It is the same one that I got my Easter bunnies from, and I have no doubt I will continue to return to this issue for more projects.

The bees turned out so cute buzzing all around the flower. What I did for the little curls was took floral wire and wrapped it in yarn.  I also used tacky glue to keep the yarn from unraveling easily. The flowers were also a find. I just happened to be a Michael's wandering around and found these in their bins of cheap stuff. I think they were only 1.50 each.

The lady bugs were an after thought. I was talking to by Mom one morning and she suggested I add lady bugs with the bees. She didn't know this, but it just so happened that the pattern I was using was of bees and lady bugs. So I decided to do some lady bugs as well.  The ribbon was originally suppost to look like a picnic blanket. That was what I originally visioned. But after stitching the white, I don't think that's really what it looks like, but its cute and summery, so I like it.

Mini Project

I like to do little projects in between big projects just to mix it up a bit, and keep it interesting.

If you get CrossStitcher Magazine, you have seen this free gift the issue came with. It came with the materials to make it into a key ring, but, I decided to do something different. I thought it would make a really cute necklace.

It was a fun, fast stitch that I did one afternoon, and then I passed it on to my mother who is my beading extraordinaire. She played around with it, and this is what she came up with. I love it!