For a Little IncrediBoy...

When I first started the Superhero Alphabet cross-stitch, I didn't have a specific person or project in mind.  I just thought it was super cute and that something would eventually come up.  A month later, we found out that a new baby boy would be joining our family in September - and the bonus is that the dad was really into comic books as a kid.  Sometimes all the stars line up just right and you get the perfect project for just the right person!

It's a pretty big pillow - 20" square - and it had its bumps along the way (eagle eyed readers can see how I fixed it...not majorly happy with it, but it was better than an unsightly color void that was unfixable any other way), but the pattern is just so adorable and the Robert Kaufman Illustration Ink fabrics are the perfect accompaniment!

I sashed the cross stitch in the two tone black dot and backed it in a portion of the superhero panel that I also used to make the cuddle blanket.  And I still have some of that panel left over that I have in mind for another project for work!

This was also the first time that I tried an invisible zipper closure instead of an envelope for the pillow back.  I followed the tutorial from Jacquie Gering's Quilting Modern book.  It was really simple to follow and I love the clean look it gives the whole pillow!

If I had to pick some of my favorite supers on here, I'd go for two that I would have never expected:

Union Jack - the detailing on his super suit is really crisp and sharp looking!

The Hulk - not my favorite character, but I kept cracking myself up as I was embroidering the details for the nipples and rippling abs.  Who would have guessed such a thing existed in the cross stitch world?

So now the package is in the mail and off to decorate a super little nursery.  I hope that the pillow and blanket are loved as much as this new little baby will be!

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Superhero Catastrophe...

I mentioned a while ago that when I purchased the pattern for my Princess Bride cross-stitch pattern, I also purchased the Superhero Alphabet pattern by Wee Little Stitches.  I've been working on it pretty sporadically for the past few months but have about a quarter of it done.

I wanted all the rainbow of colors to really stand out against the light grey alphabet letters, so took a bit of a risk and bought "glacier blue" aida fabric.  I love it so far!

I was originally thinking that this would make the cutest pillow, so I bought a Robert Kaufman black on black dot and superhero panel print thinking that the cross-stitch could be framed in black and the panel could be a great pillow back.  I've been jazzed to work on it but it just keeps getting shuffled around in favor of other things.

But my husband was due for a dental procedure that required me to wait around for a half an hour and then drive him home.  Out came the superheros to kill some time..but when I took it out I noticed two mystery stains - one hovering about the Hulk and one very close to Mysterio.  No worries, I thought, and took out my Tide-to-Go pen.

I think you know how this ends...

The pen, which I have never, ever had any bad experiences with totally stripped the color from my bright blue aida fabric!! Oh yeah, and it also magically managed to NOT remove the dirty mark.  Bonus.

So now I have a huge pattern that is marred with dirty marks (which by the way, I have no idea what happened - I always wash my hands before working on it!  I'm going to blame the girls because it's easy and convenient, but I seriously haven't a clue.) and a quarter of the way done.

Any bright ideas on how to avoid throwing in the towel and starting from scratch??  Bad experiences with fabric marks/spots that you'd like some sympathy for?  I am happy to oblige, so comment away!

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One Proud Mama...

Lately I've been working on some handwork with my hexie project and cross-stitching and it has caught the attention of my oldest daughter.  One day while I was working on the Princess Bride pattern, she said, "Mama, can I do some sewing too?" 

Can you?  Absolutely!!  Ever since I saw this post from Dining Room Empire, I've just been waiting until one of the girls showed an interest to break out this activity - turns out I didn't have as long to wait as I expected.

I let her pick 3 floss colors out of my massive box and I think she has a nice eye for color combinations.

Then I set her up with the smallest hoop that I had and a small swatch of aida fabric and let her go to town.  A little coaching about going from the top and the bottom and pulling your thread tight...

We sat together side by side doing a little stitching until I just couldn't hold it in anymore and ran to get my camera.

Her finished result - pretty darn good for four and a half!  But that could just be the proud mama talking. 

Far and away the best part?  We're both sitting and stitching (watching Princess Bride, coincidentally) and she turns to me and says, "Look mama, I'm a good sewer like you!" 

Sniff, sniff....

Anybody Want a Peanut?

Sometimes my girls surprise me. Here they are, ages two and four and a half and a decent amount of things scare them - people in crazy face paint, dinosaurs, that kind of thing. But apparently these are okay:

Just in case you don't immediately recognize it, they are known as ROUSes - that's Rodents of Unusual Size and they are prominently featured in the fire swamp scenes of The Princess Bride. We've had this DVD for a while (it's an old favorite of mine), but ignorant mother that I am, I assumed that it was a little too old for them.  But they managed to catch a glimpse of it on AMC a while back and loved Buttercup and Westley and their "love, twoo love" and begged to watch the whole thing.  I don't think they've gone a week without watching it a couple of times since then!

At this point, you might be wondering why I'm talking about movies on a sewing/crafting blog and telling me, "Skip to the end!"

As you wish.

I've done my fair share of large projects lately, and I've been craving something that will move along quickly and still be satisfying. I did quite a bit of cross-stitching before I ever even learned how to operate a sewing machine, but I haven't picked it up in ages (mostly because concentrating enough to count stitches with babies crawling around just doesn't mix). Enter Liz, a fantastic blogger and friend from the BMQG who introduced me to Wee Little Stitches, an adorable Etsy store selling cute patterns. Considering the girls' latest movie obssession, their Princess Bride pattern seemed a clear choice as a cute decoration for their room.

Overall, I loved the pattern - cute, uncomplicated but different. I changed one tiny detail - everyone's eye pixels are supposed to be black, but I made Westley and Buttercup's blue - just makes them stand out a bit more. My only real complaint was a couple of color choices in the pattern. I mean, we're talking about a DMC floss that has hundreds of colors, so you really have your pick of any hue. But some of the colors that the pattern specifies really melt into each other a bit too much to make the pattern noticeable. I'm especially looking at you, Inigo Montoya...I mean, you really can't even tell that there's a belt surrounding his middle except for the tell-tale gold buckle. And the shirt and the hair melt all together, so he looks like one long brown letter A.

These are two different colors, but you really can't tell the difference - especially when stitched on aida fabric!

I did really love the inclusion of metallic floss to add a little sparkle to Humperdink's crown, Buttercup's belt, Fezzini's shirt and everyone's belt buckles.

Oh, and did I mention that the week I found them, they were having a sale? So I ended up getting not only the Princess Bride pattern but the Superhero Alphabet pattern as well - it's SO cute and would be great either all on it's own or perhaps made into a pillow!

I'm sure that I'll be sewing at the machine again soon, but this is a nice break.

 

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