"Don't Puke" Cross Stitch

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend. Which means curling up under blankets with steaming mugs of coffee and pan dulce. Mmmm.

I mentioned in my last post that my friend Dana and I had successfully completed year two of our annual craft swap. I showed you the awesome hat she crocheted me, but I didn't show you what I sent her.




Dana requested a piece similar to one she'd seen posted on Apartment Therapy's tour of Liv and Jeff's Long Beach home.



After trying to figure out if the pattern was available, I contacted Liv at her blog, A Lovely Little Life, who told me she'd designed it herself.

I figured this was a good chance to make a custom one for Dana, so I asked her to pick her font and color scheme. The border I adapted from my copy of Donna Kooler's 555 Fabulous Cross-Stitch Patterns.




The result? A uniquely Dana cross stitch, ready to tell her cats to keep their hairballs to themselves.

I'm thrilled to announce that the week she got the swap package, she got an even more special delivery: she gave birth to her first child! Big congrats to her and her amazing husband Justin on the birth of their beautiful baby boy.

What's next on my crafting plate? I have another couple of geeky embroidery projects transferred and ready to stitch, plus a cross stitch pattern I'm developing. I'm really excited by it, but it's taking longer than I thought! I also have another couple of cool craft-related announcements to make later, but right now I've gotta keep things under wraps to not jinx anything. I promise I'll tell soon.

Now, to stitch, and enjoy the patter of rain on the window.

Hand: My Idea of an "Easy" Embroidery Swap

Though I told myself I wasn't going to take part in another Craftster.org swap for a while, I couldn't resist when I saw the Embroider Me to Sleep Pillowcase Swap. I've never taken part in a straight-up stitchin' swap, and I'd never tried embroidering on pillowcases. So, naturally I had to do it!

It was designed to be a mellow, low-pressure swap. Just a pair of pillowcases, maybe an add-on, if you felt like it. Just some relaxing stitching.

Uh huh. This is me we're talking about. I can complicate anything. And I mean anything. Including what was supposed to be a mellow crafting swap.

My lovely swap partner, Melyssa_Marie, had a good list of things she loved, and would be fun to stitch. What stood out to me was her adoration of Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls. Since I'd been sitting on Sublime Stitching's "Dia de los Muertos" pattern set for nearly a year, I jumped at the chance to stitch up some festive calavera-themed pillowcases:



Six skulls and four flowers. A pair of eco-friendly bamboo pillowcases. Nine different colors of floss. 64 hand-sewn sequins. And 12 cheesy-ass episodes of Xena: The Warrior Princess. That's what went into this project.

Easy!





I was actually sad to send these away, I was so proud of them. But, the thing I forget in the heat of creating for a swap is that I get something in return...and I was not disappointed when I tore into my package from Melyssa_Marie:



She stitched me a pair of lovely custom-designed pillowcases inspired by -- wait for it -- the tissue paper flowers used to decorate Dia de los Muertos altars. What's that people say about great minds thinking alike?



I truly love the color composition and the clean simplicity of the lines. So unlike my own stitching style. They're made all the more awesome by Mel having designed them herself. I am very happy indeed.

So, now I return to my swapping hiatus. I have a big project that's been put on the backburner for the swap that I want to make some headway on, and a new cross stitch quote my fingers have been itchin' to stitch. I'm hoping for a creative, stress-free summer, and hopefully this'll be the ticket.

Hand: Swapety Swaps (Image Heavy)

As I mentioned before, I've been crafting like crazy the past few weeks, but haven't been able to share my projects since they were all part of one swap or another. Well, swaps are finally concluded, and now I can share both my creations and the lovely stuff I received in kind!

First, my most recent (and I think favorite) swap with my old friend Dana, The Geek Girl Friday. I stitched her a Black Apple Bunny (from the Sublime Stitching pattern):





And she custom made me a gorgeous set of mosaic cupcake coasters!





Here's a detail of my favorite one:





Personally, I think I got the better end of this deal. Mosaic is still a mystery to me as a craft, and to see such a cute design in glass is just amazing!

The other swap I was a part of was the Ultimate Whedonverse Swap on Craftster.org. It was a lot of fun, but I admit I find the whole "point system" a little stressful.

I made many crafty little things for my partner, all inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which was her favorite of the Whedon canons).





The big thing was a cross stitch I designed with a quote from Anya, the former vengeance demon who found herself winning in the "Game of Life" boardgame.





But, I have to say my favorite was my Spike-inspired pincushion with Slayer-stake quilting pins:





The quote is from the musical "Once More with Feeling" episode: "If my heart could beat, it would break my chest, but I can see you're unimpressed." What I really love is that it's in glow-in-the-dark thread, which I thought was very appropriate for a vampire's heart (which was based off Sublime Stitching's "Vital Organs" pattern set).

In return, my partner (craftster KCFirecracker) made me the most spiffy Firefly-inspired spats:





She also made me the most lovely pillow case I will ever own:





It's a beautiful applique based off my favorite cover of BtVS season 8. Check out the source image:



I love the texture so much:





It's been a swap-happy couple months, but I think it's time for a little break. My fingers have been itching for some bigger, more involved projects, and I have something in mind that may just fit the bill.