Elora's Quilt

The pillow (pre-embroidery) and the unfinished quilt top:

The finished quilt top, before I did the embroidery on the letters:

As soon as I spread it out on the floor, Elora had to come check it out, and play with it.

I'm half done with the embroidery on the pillow, and mostly done with the embroidery on the letters. Then I get to put the back on and get started on the quilting. I'm doing it by hand, so wish me luck!

This is a picture that Brandon snapped while I was trying to eat a string cheese. He'd already snapped a few at this point, and I'd just figured out that he was doing it, hence the odd smile.

Anyway, I thought it was kind of a good picture of me, so I cropped it down and played with it a bit in Photoshop. You can see the before and after, it really makes a big difference, doesn't it? I used the Perfect Portrait action from Coffeeshop, along with a few of my own touches. I'm really getting to know the program, and though there is still a lot to learn, I'm very pleased with how far I've come.

Stockings!

This is the stocking that I made for Brandon 5 years ago:

This is the stocking that I started for myself 5 years ago:

This is the stocking that I made for Elora on Sunday:

Now I'm back to working on mine. Among other things, none of which need to be done before I leave for the States on Friday. (Pictures of "other things" to follow later. Along with the recipe I promised Kelly.)

I'd like to draw your attention to my lovely box of DMC thread:

I bought the box and the DMC bobbins while I was still pregnant, and then forgot about them. I happened to see Jennifer's well organized DMC box the other day, and that combined with the need to use my DMC provided the necessary motivation to get mine organized. I'm happy with the results. Perhaps more embroidery will happen soon?

#1 or #2? And Some New Crafts.

I took those old photos and played with them a bit.  Which do you like better? The single page layout?

Or the two page spread?

I can't make up my mind.

I've also finished a new scarf, using the pattern from the wrapper on a ball of Bernat Alpaca yarn. The pattern was pretty confusing, and took me some time (and my handy crochet refernece book) to figure it out. Lizy, I'd hold off on this one if I were you, it'll just make you mad. It kind of made me mad. I also tried to make the hat from the pattern on the other ball of yarn, but that pattern was just terrible. I tried it twice, and ripped it out twice. Then I threw that pattern away, and went back to my other hat pattern and now it's half done.

Here's a sneak peek of the holiday jewelry I'm getting ready to bring in to the shop. There's a lot more to come, just as soon as I can get it done.

Adventures in Bead-Buying

I went with Lizy and Katelyn yesterday to the bead fair at the airport messe. It was great!

They had wall after wall and table after table laden with lovelies. There was a lot that I would have loved to get, but much of it was way out of my price range. Still, as Lizy put it, I made out like a bandit. Here's the loot:

Gorgeous, right? It should start appearing in the shop, converted into jewelry form, over the next several days. I also managed to snag a Christmas gift or two, so it's safe to say that the day was a Total Success.

Speaking of successes, I finally managed to finish that one digi spread that I've been agonizing over for days now. I ended up taking it in a whole new direction, which is exactly what it needed. I'm happy with the result:

And since I was on a roll, I went ahead and did a sample page for Kelly's new kit, Argyle Punk. Everything came from Kelly's kit, except for the alpha and the font. It's a great kit, Kelly, I love it!

I'm Paying It Forward!

I picked up this little game from Corinnea. Here are the rules: I will make a little something for the first three people who comment on this post. I will have 365 days to do it in. If you would like to play you must have a blog and post your Pay it Foward on your blog to keep the fun going.

And, while I have your attention, I thought I would show you these:

Embroidery

This is something that I did ages ago...last winter, I think. I finished the embroidery, but I never did anything else with it, and I never posted it. I'd originally thought to make it into a little bag, but now I think I might frame it.

Decoupaged Coat Pegs

While Brandon was gone last week, I decided that the little decoupaged square peg things we have in the shop are just too cute, and that I wanted to make some too. So I did! I painted them white and used some paper that I already had in my scrapbooking stuff.

I think they turned out really cute, and they look good in the little hallway by my front door. We don't have a coat rack, or even a good place for a coat rack, but I think coat pegs will work just as well.