Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Day Before Christmas

Well. Things are progressing nicely around here. :o)

First up, the Hummel Singing Quartet (aka Creepy Dudes) are stitched, washed, pressed, and ready to stretch, mat and frame. The hard part is done, and you won't be seeing them again until they are ready to wrap.








Next... Santa! When Tori and Simon were little, maybe 12 or 13 years ago, a dear neighbour and friend who I've since lost, found, and lost again named Heather made two sweet little Advent-type countdowns to Christmas. As you can see on Tori's, there's a little hanging tab on the top, and a cup hook on the bottom. From the cup hook, a string of 24 Hershey Kisses suspended in a plastic wrap chain counts down the days until Santa comes. Sweet? Doesn't even begin to describe not only the thing itself, but the sentiment it carries, and the memories it elicits. Only problem was I now have 3 kids. Last spring I became friends with another kindergarten mom who still does this kind of scroll saw work. I described Santa to her, she asked to borrow one for a pattern, and made me not one, but TWO! She has a son, I have an extra Santa head... I've got to track down two hanging tabs, two stars, and two button noses. And I have to figure out how to do the writing correctly, first try. I'll manage. One for my Daniel, one for her Ryan.

And finally, the quilts for Marilyn's grand children. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's been at least 20 years since she bought fabric. We're looking at a lot of country blue and dusty rose, and almost all small calico florals. The challenge is not getting a light/dark contrast - mediums can be either depending on what they're paired with, but rather in making a boy quilt with girl fabrics. I'm going to make the 9 Patch the "girl" quilt - the larger pieces retain the florals more, and the Courthouse Steps the "boy" one. I'll know better when I have more logs cut, but I suspect the smaller size of the strips will make the florals less flowery. At least I hope so. There's not much else to work with.

3 comments:

Zarina said...

Dorothy - finally its finished. When I saw your cross-stitch it reminds me years ago when I was in school doing three big framed pieces. That is the last I saw of cross-stitch until the little people came along and being a good mak long, started their education with a simple design.

Vicky aka Stichr said...

I like your plans for the boy version...can you dye any of the fabrics? iDye is super easy to use. To quote Dharma Trading.....

"One of the great things about iDye is that the packet dissolves in water, so there is no handling of messy dye powders or chemicals. Just throw the dye packet in the hot water, add household salt or vinegar, depending on your fabric, stir or agitate in your machine 30 minutes, then wash it out. It is the ultimate easy way to get color!"

Zazzu said...

Oh, I never thought they looked very creepy but even less so now that they're finished. Great job!