Here's a little Christmas gift for your eyes. I stitched his scarf for my friend Elvy Rose with patterns from Sublime Stitching and French Knot.
I'd wanted to use that dancer for a while! I think it came out pretty well and she loved it.
Happy Holidays everyone!
One of our Guest Entertainers is a good friend of mine and bought me an early Christmas present. We were walking around Walmart and saw in the toy department a set of fashion dolls based on movie monsters. When I wasn't looking she went through them and found me the perfect one....
Please meet Frankie Stein!
Not only is she based on Frankenstein's monster (ie awesome) but she takes Home Ick class at Monster High! How funny is that?! She has scissor earrings and came with a tiny reel of cotton and a needle - she's a mini me! We have decided that Frankie is now coming everywhere with us - she even has her own Facebook page with photos of her travels.
In my free time I'm making her some new outfits and already she has admirers following her around! It doesn't matter how old you are, toys are still fun to play with!!
More adventures with Frankie to come!!
While my ship was out of Copenhagen this summer I was lucky enough to see a couple of outdoor art exhibitions dotted around the city. Elephant Parade was an open air art exhibit in which proceeds from the sales of the pieces were donated to charity in aid of the Asian elephant. The painted elephants flaunted many different styles and colours and were certainly eye catching. They were not around for long but I managed to get a fair few on camera to share with you here...
Aren't they beautiful? I hope they all went to great homes and lots of money was raised for the cause.
Over the summer I purchased a needle felting attachment for my beloved Bernina. I also found out about the Capture Cure charity auction which was accepting donated works of art to auction off in aid of breast cancer. My mother and best friend from high school are both recovering from breast cancer so this was a cause near to my heart.
I created a needle felted and embellished wall hanging that is a tribute to the strength of women. It uses skills taught to me by the women in my family and the new techniques I have learned after being inspired by them. Only 40 pieces were accepted into the auction, mine being one of them. I am fiercely proud of this and hope it went to a good home.
I am also about to start a little cross stitch I downloaded, designed by Emily Peacock. It is a pink breast cancer ribbon which I am going to make for myself and my mother. I haven't followed a cross stitch pattern in a while so it will be interesting to try that out again! I encourage you to go and get the pattern yourself and donate to breast cancer research in the process. Check out the Mr X Stitch post about it here
Next week two of my friends have their birthday on the same day. It's going to be lots of fun, especially as we are in St Thomas that day and there's a crew party! For each person I have crafted a very personal present based on who they are and what they like/do. This is the first, for my friend Jonny Danger (yep, that's his real name) who we all call Tuxedo... he works with the kids, ok!
Tux is a poetry major and particularly likes Edward Lear so I stitched him a tie to go with one of his suits. He better like it, is all I can say because I had to use metallic thread. And we all know how difficult that is :-)
Thank the Goddess for thread heaven!
I'll post the other present for my friend Karlene next....
It's here! It's here! My swap piece from Cocoaeyes is finally here!! I got Cocoaeyes as my swap partner for the Phat Quarter Food Swap and my piece from her arrived this weekend. It was a total surprise - I thought it was a box of t-shirts and then I dipped my hand in to find a lovely stitchery!!!
Cocoaeyes is obsessed with hazard signs so stitched me one up as you can see above. Girl, you would be so inspired by my ship - there are warning signs and mandatory signs and hazard signs EVERYWHERE!! Here's a shot of it on my cabin wall next to our no smoking in bed hazard sign, just for fun!!
She also sent me a lovely card full of compliments which was very much appreciated - you rock Olisa!!
Check out Cocoaeyes' blog here at Stitch, Stab & Scrawl, I highly recommend it :-)
Fun shaped buildings in interesting colours
I love the spikey-ness of this statue
And here it is on fabric... stitching idea maybe?
Swedish fountain gargoyle!
I loved this embroidery store window display, unfortunately it was Sunday so it was closed :-(
Interesting shutters
I loved the tapestry in the back of this store that was based on carnivorous plants
Just really interesting window displays in Sweden!
Love it! ♥
Ok, let's share some stitchery! I made this piece for the August Phat Quarter swap.... I know it's a bit late but I've been busy :-) Finally, I have a decent internet connection where I can upload the photos - yay!! The theme was food so stitched a design based around one of my fave David and Goliath t-shirts...
The cheese is not the mother of the sad little nachos.... in case you didn't get it!
yes, that is a french knot pepper border!
I felt brave and used an orange background.
Personally I think this is super cute!! And I know Disobedient Child, who was my swap partner loved it!! Yay stitching! My Sketchbook Project is taking a long time to finish, hence why there is a lack of stitchery on the blog right now. But soon, my pretties - I promise!
Winding streets passed castles and inns
A page showing the way
The handmade guild - I saw some gorgeous stuff in here
Random graffiti
A shadowy figure creeping down the street
Such gorgeous colours!!
Only a few more places to report on in my Europe round-up, then we'll get back to some sewing - promise!!
The Winter Palace, now the Hermitage Museum
The Summer Palace
St. Isaac's Cathedral - that's real gold up there!
Random painting hanging in the street that's been... um.... added to...
Outside the Church of the Spilled Blood
Inside, the Church is decorated entirely with glass mosaics
Inside one of the coppolas
I feel some art coming on.... :-)
