Happy Birthday DGS

Yesterday we celebrated my DGS's 8th birthday. He's Star Wars mad - so deciding on a gift was easy - found this costume online and ordered it from http://www.buystarwarscostumes.com/ (not affiliated in any way - just a happy customer). Here is DGS in his costume:

He also had a special request for his cake and called me a few weeks ago:

"Grandmama, can we make a Buzz Droid cake for my birthday"

"Sweetie, I don't know what a Buzz Droid looks like,"

"I can draw you a picture!"

So he did:

And here's my interpretation:

DGS: "It's pretty good - but you got the colors wrong."

Memo to self - figure out how to convince my dear grandchildren that "Grandmama can do anything!" is not a true statement.

BTW, the cake tasted delish and was enjoyed by all - even though it was the wrong colors!

Quaker Giraffe

I just finished stitching this Quaker Giraffe (from http://www.aurytm.com/). I love all her Quaker motif animals, but when she published this, I just had to stitch it first - it called to me.

It's stitched with 2 strands of Weeks Dye Works 4101 Trick or Treat on 14 count white aida.It turned out about 7 X 7 inches. But now, I don't know what to do with it! I love the colors for this, but it matches nothing in my house - oranges and browns are not really my colors. So I'm soliciting finishing ideas - what would you make with this?

This was my first time using WDW floss. The colors available are fantastic - but I didn't like the stiffness of the floss - guess I've been spoiled by my more recent experiences with silk floss. I also am not used to using these smaller skeins of floss - this one had five yards, and it took almost the entire skein for the giraffe :-( I did take steps to untwist the thread as I worked,, but the free end seemed to tangle and knot frequently.

All in all, I think the stitching turned out well - but I'm going to wait a while before trying another of the WDWs (I have another 23 skeins in assorted colors in my stash - so I will use it sometime - lol!)

I hope some of you have some ideas on finishing - I need something to spark my creatitvity!

Pendibule

Have you seen a pendibule? They are neat little ornaments made by stitching a square, folding it into a triangle, stitching the two sides, and bringing the points together.
Here's one I made for an exchange on the EMS board - the theme was redwork:

Russian Magazine

On the EMS Cross Stitch Board, a link was published to this Russian magazine. There are dozens of very pretty cross stitch patterns if you click on "Embroidery"

The charts are not keyed to a specific floss. Instead, they appear to have generic names, like black, green and brown. I've spent some time with Google Translator, and here is a list of the Russian color names I've managed to translate:

Черный = black
Зеленый = green
Коричневый = brown
Коричневый темный = darkest brown
Коричневый cветло = light brown
коричневый средний = medium brown
Temhый = dark
Светло = light
Зеленый светло = light green
Оранжевый – orange
Бежевый = beige
Белый = white
Красный = red
красная вишня = cherry red
красный рождество = Christmas red
красный ясный = bright red
синий = blue
желтый легчайших = lightest yellow
желтого светло = light yellow
желтый = yellow
желтый средний = medium yellow
пурпурный = purple
фиолетовый = violet
серебристый = silver
серый = grey, gray
светло-серый = light grey
золотой = gold
бирюзовый = turquoise
голубой = light blue
ясные = clear
синий = dark blue
темно = dark
Золотой = golden

There are still more, but maybe someone bilingual in Russian and English will help us out - Hint - Hint!

Found this Interesting

I am not a Catholic, but I found this article very interesting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_aliens

What do you think?

Vikki Clayton Silks!

I have just finished stitching my first project with Vikki Clayton's Hand Dyed Fibers! These are beautiful hand dyed silks, and are a joy to work with. This is Tales of Wonder, a freebie by Jennifer L. Aikman-Smith Dragon Dreams. I used a couple of the "dragon" colors, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. (I also added a pennant to the castle - it just felt like it needed one!) Here are the HDF silks I used:

5143 Kodiak Bear
2125 Mermaid Blue
Mountain Shadows
Victorian Mint
3255 Luteous Green
Huckle Berry
Dragon Fire
Dragon Hoard (used for Herringbone stitch, Four-Sided stitch, Rice Stitch and Long Tied Cross stitch)

I used Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads (gold) instead of French knots for the eyes.

The fabric is a 36-count hand- dyed evenweave I received in an exchange, so I don’t know what the fabric or color are called.

I plan to finish this as a bell pull with gold hardware, if I can find a source that is not outrageously expensive (might be time to put on my crafting cap and figure out how to make my own hardware - hmmm?).

Next project for these silks? Don't let the Weeds.