Christmas Tree Ornament

Christmas red... It is just classic. I think, a red coat should be present in my wardrobe. I would love to, but things does not always work that well...

I can not take credit for the idea of this Christmas-tree-red-coat ornament. I saw it online in Alicia Paulson's collection, and immediately fell in love with it. I love the contrasting stitching. I added a velveteen ribbon and a small heart detail on the front of the coat for warmer feel.

This is how to make your own:

Materials:

2 red felt squares

1 cream felt square

velveteen ribbon

3 smal metal buttons

red DMC embroidery thread

cream DMC embroidery thread

fibre fill

26 gauge wire for the hanger

Instructions: 

1. Make a paper pattern first for all the details - back, two fronts, pockets, mittens and collar.

2. Use a blanket stitch to connect the two front pieces together.

3. Attach the pockets with a contrasting colour.

4. Sew the buttons. Make the heart detail.

5. Using a blanket stitch, attach the front and back. Before completely closing the sleeves, add a tiny bit of fibre fill to give them some shape.

6. Slip stitch the velveteen cuffs and the belt.

7. Attach the collar with a blanket stitch.

8. Decorate the mittens and blanket stitch the front and back sides together. Attach them to the cuffs. 

9. Very gently fill the coat with fibre fill.

I made a hanger out of a 26 gauge wire. It was a nice challenge and completed the nice elegant look of the coat.

Coat "Princess"

To my barefooted beautiful princess... who sometimes asks me why she is a tomboy...

This is the first coat I have ever made. I used a nice woollen fabric for the body, plus warm lining.  For the collar, piped edges and to cover the buttons a contrasting velveteen came into the game. The pattern calls for fusible interfacing. I used non fusible one. 

The pattern:

I enjoyed working on the coat, added small details and missed few night hours of sleep over it.

I topstitched the buttonholes, using a jute cording. The result is not what I wished for. I could not find the button gimp and did not have time to make one myself out of a silk thread. The buttonhole looks nice, but when in use, the hand stitches spread slightly and the cord is showing. Also, the jute cord has its own opinion, it curves wherever it finds it comfortable. At least it protects the buttonhole from stretching.  For my next hand tailored buttonholes I will find gimp in advance.

The only one blue stitched buttonhole is for fun and crazy. When a baby is born, in my country, we tie a red or blue thread on their tiny wrists. It is a superstitious believe that the colour keeps one from bad eyes. I am in no way superstitious, but just honouring Ana's day of birth with this blue buttonhole.

In Ana's head there is constantly music sounding - no matter what kind. She loves playing. Moreover - she will wear the coat at her performances ... only. After all, she really is a tomboy. Her love for music is well noted.

 Fly, my beautiful bird, be happy and in good health! God bless you!

<3,

mom

Nautical Bag

It all started with a small charm - a dauphin charm.

Ana liked it in a store, and because it was discounted, she bought it to herself with an intention to hang it ... somewhere. 

Later, she discovered, she did not have the appropriate bag to hang it on. I was kindly asked to make a bag for her. The bag was absolutely designed by Ana - with the quilted waves, the shape, the handle, and the position of the charm. I chose the fabric and made the bag for the sake of one small charm, that my princess loves so much.

Wind in your sails, my love!...

Tatty Teddy Loves Cookies

My favourite character in the series of cuteness among the cross stitched animals is Tatty Teddy. I have sewn many of them during the years. For St. Valentine, I made small ones for my loved ones.

This shy guy was for my loving husband - my best friend and biggest supporter. After 18 years of being together, there is not much we could say to each other.

For my greatest admirer and young friend, who sometimes makes me see the world again through the eyes of a sixteen year old. She is a passionate and inspirational, wild and angry and calm and quiet at the same time. It amazes me how quickly she changes in a slow day and how gentle she could be in fast and nervous days. She is my rock and water - keeps me grounded and at the same time makes me run as a rapid stream. I love her unconditionally. 

For my greatest helper, I made an apron. She is always around - scaling and stirring, mixing and rolling, cutting and shaping and baking... She is an amazing artist - her ideas are bright and always delicious. 

I cross stitched the pattern and attached it to the upper part of the apron. For the skirt, I calculated the full 'closhe'. She wants to feel like princess in everything she wears. I made the strip and belt out of sheer fabric. This gives the apron a formal look. 

About Love

In the time of evolutionally dynamic changes, when love is more and more a delicatessen, we hold on to a holiday of St. Valentine. One day, chosen from all 365 in the year, to honour this fragile feeling "love" publicly. How much more poorness could we serve to ourselves in the future, when we forgot what love really is in this misleading gallop of chasing careers, success and fortune...

Love is in the small things - in pale colours, in unnoticeable, but gentle gesture, in a simple good word and in the light of kids' irises. It is like a flower, that blooms after sprouting and gives life to bees. How happy and fortunate we all are to witness this simple fact. Just looking at it helps seeing it.

"Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to pray"... Lord Byron

Mon Journal

to my daughter - a free spirit that never sleeps and tries to figure out her adult life at age of eight

Why the need of this journal?  She started writing me notes every time she did not want to talk about a problem of hers - small notes, slipped under the door, or left at the staircase, so I can see them on my way to the bedroom. I realized that maybe some things are left unspoken, undiscussed and unsolved. Our journal was a way to take this load off her fragile shoulders. 

Why "Mon Journal", but not "Our Journal"?  Well, one day this will be either mine or hers. When our roads split apart, I will always keep this journal with me. Pictures tell a lot, but a diary is a picture of the soul. 

I found this fabric, lost on the bottom of a rack at a fabric store. I liked the colour, than I liked the fact that I could sew a count stitches on it, so I took it all. 

Why in French?  I love embroidery in French. It looks much more gentle, and I wanted to honour the original I am using the pattern from: "Mon journal au point de croix" from Sophie Bester-Baqué et Véronique Enginger. The original choice of colours is in red, but I needed colours that will match my fabric.

Why not a notebook cover in whole?  Really, this is a question I ask myself now, but I wanted to keep the right side elastic that closes the book. We may not use it, but in case we want it there, with the strips on top and bottom, it is usable. That is why I had to design the cover with small secret buttons so to keep it in place. 

 Just the bottom side of the cover is with buttoned strips. The front is with sewn ones.

machine work: I attached the matching cotton fabric with the sewing machine, using zig zag in different width and straight stitch.

handwork: Beside the cross stitch, I decorated with Uneven Blanket stitch, Closed Blanket Stitch, Uneven Zig Zag Stitch - lots of unevenness, but I like the warned look of the cover. I did some quilt stitching on the roses on the light fabric, to emphasize their contours and to add some colour from the embroidery floss I was using for the cross stitching.

This notebook was turned into a home for my daughter's secret thoughts, that she couldn't speak out loud.