ACEO Box

A wonderful friend of mine, Ariel, sent me a handful of pretty paper for my birthday which was a few weeks ago now. Having just recently completed a few ACEOs and not really having a safe place to put them, I put 1+1 together and made a sweet little ACEO size box for them using one of the sheets of decorative paper with a lovely gold marbled paint effect, 2 sheets of cardstock, and some contact paper.

I am notoriously bad with remembering birthdays which oughtn't be so, but it is. I am always impressed by others who are good at this. I sometimes feel guilty about being as scatter-brained as I am. Even for my husband, whom I've been with for years and years, his birthday is remembered as the 20-something-th of a month that starts with "J".

Rainy ACEOs

Happy Valentines Day! Sure so these ACEOs are not exactly Valentines related but the Valentines and things made for my hubby are for his eyes only! I hope that a pretty love day related banner up top will make up for that.

I have been dreaming of Spring. I'm done with all this snow and ice, cold wind and dry crackling air. Give me the rain and the fog, puffy fast clouds and peekaboo sunshine! The lighting in the photo while not that bad isn't as good as could be, because if you can imagine, it is snowing today. I enjoy the small format of ACEOs though I haven't used it much in the past, I can see myself doing it more often in the future.

I hope everyone is having a good Valentines/Singles Appreciation Day!

Finger Puppets

I can't believe it has been basically a full week since I last posted anything. I must seem lazy. I really have no excuse for myself, save that I have a few bigger projects on the go, working nonstop and few recently completed things to share. However here we have it, a sort of big "little" project. Felt finger puppets, 25 little birds for kids at the local children's hospital. Sorry the picture is small and on my carpet, but I was in a rush to get them out!
I hope to make it up to you in a few days, that is, if I can stop procraftinating...

Damask Inspired Cutwork Hankie, Work In Progress

How is that for a nice long title? I am suspecting this to take a while, I am hoping 15 hours tops, but I would not be surprised if it meandered into the 20-25h range. I am looking at the viability of hand cutwork as a saleable craft in this day and age. And the more I look at it the less likely it seems mainly due to the time involved and reasonable recompense for that time. Maybe if I do something simpler and forgo hand turning a rolled hem (break my heart) for the quicker, but less supple and lovely, machined hem.

I wanted to do a more complex design this time just to keep interest levels up, so I sketched something up that had been inspired by damask patterns. There are a lot of pins holding my curved bridges in place untill they are worked, I have never done curved bridges and I don't think I have ever seen them done intentionally on handworked pieces, uncharted territory! I have a plan - I think. I am also terribly excited by the fabric, no 2 yards of which are the same, I have a lot of it, in different colours, and a lot of ideas for it.

Embroidered Heating Bag Cover

This is a project that has been awaiting its completion for just about a month now I estimate. It was one of those projects that makes you go crosseyed. At first I thought the blue was an awesome addition to pink and black, but working with it was something else entirely. Satin stitch, whipped chain stitch, running stitch and french knots on a piece of stash scrap.
I like the idea of removable covers for heating bags, because the idea that the bag cannot be washed and gets all full of body dirt just makes me kind of grossed out. Please excuse the hairs on it in the picture. Pussums, my kitty, is friends with the heating bag and he likes to snuggle its warmness.

In kitty news, Puss is adjusting to his meds, slowly. He's regaining some balance, but he still looks pretty drunk sometimes. Also he is getting his saucy personality back which is a major plus in my opinion. He's still not 100% but working on it :)