Incoherent Scribblings

One Done Dragon

I finished up “You are Never Too Old for a Teddy Bear” this morning. I was almost finished last night, but at about 11:00 p.m. I finally gave up and went to bed. This morning I put the finishing touches on in about 30 mintues.

I could probably have been done by early last evening, but it took me a couple of tries to finally settle on a border color and then it took me longer to stitch the border than I expected, but what else is there to do on a Sunday, right?

Originally, I had planned to frame this and hang it in my bedroom, but now I am playing with the idea of making a pillow out of it. I’m not sure… What I do know is that once I make a decision I will photograph it with my teddy bear Cocoa and post it here. You haven’t seen or heard the last of this piece!

Kitty’s Christmas

A Kitty’s Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.

‘Cuzz the cat had pounced on him
And tore him apart -
Ate his mouse intestines
And chewed up his heart.

Kitty thought he heard sleighbells,
Which made him take pause -
He stopped daintily licking
The blood from his claws.

“Must be Santa,” thought Kitty
(That quite clever cat)
‘Cuz nobody else climbs down
The chimney like that.

Indeed it was ol’ Santa
So jolly and fat
With a huge load of presents
And all for the cat!

“Wow, the best Christmas ever!”
Kitty thought with a purr,
Then he coughed up a hairball
And shed some more fur.

Creative Finishing

The Stitching Blogger’s Question of the Week is: Besides framing, what other ways do you finish your cross-stitch pieces?

I have made some pillows, some bookmarks, and mounted a few in decorative hoops.

However, the finish that I think is the most creative, is a piece that took me almost four years to cross-stitch and then almost another year to “finish!” Earlier this year, I decided I wanted to learn to quilt. I made some pot holders and other small blocks, but never got up enough ambition to actually make a quilt. During this time, I found a pattern for something called a “Dewey Block.” The idea behind this block was to put a piece of fabric in the center as a “focus” and then use other fabric to decorate around it.

I had done “She Loves Me!” and liked it so much I really wanted to do something special with it. As luck would have it, it was the perfect size for the center of the Dewey Block. I bought some fabric for it and then since the block turned out to be 16″, instead of making a quilt, I turned it into a wall hanging.

Once upon a time, I had a dream to make a quilt using some of my cross-stitch, but I still haven’t really caught on to quilting (the idea of making an actual bed-sized quilt is so overwhelming). However, since the wall hanging turned out so well, perhaps I might revisit the idea in the future.

(Click for a larger picture… Attention: it is over 500K, so it might take some time to load!)