The year of the quilts

I already know what I'm doing for next xmas and I figure if I get half of them done, I'll be doing good.

Next year - this year - is the year of the quilts. I'm making postage stamp quilts for two friends, based on these lovely old embroidery patterns that have been converted into cross stitch patterns.

(Not the best pictures, but better than nothing.)

This two are from a book called "Small Scale Embroidery in Cross Stitch and other Techniques" by Brenda Keyes. The first one is called Elizabethan Flowers.



The second is from the same book and is called Victorian Flowers. It's much bigger, but the friend I am making it for has a much larger bed, as well as being married and needing more quilt to snuggle under.




The third is for that friend's daughter, one she asked me to make last year, but well, last year sucked. It's called New York Beauty out of a book called "In Love with Quilts" from Oxmore House. My friend wants it in purple and burgundy, which looks rather nice.




And the last one is from this years "Quilts" calendar and is for my uncle and his wife. I like Around the World patterns, my aunt likes blue and add in a bit of patchwork? Perfect. :)




Here's hoping this year is better than last.

xmas gifts

I had big plans for xmas crafts, which obviously were derailed. In the end, I only finished those crafts I had already started. I'll admit, I'm rather proud of the end results, but it was a rather paltry offering compared to what I usually do. Bless my friends, they understood.

There is a whole series of these black cat cross stitches. I got most of them on sale over the years and put aside, knowing that 'one day' I would make them and sure enough, they were the perfect gift for a friend with a a - wait for it - black cat.



These are a rather bittersweet gift. I spent most of my summer with my mom and since this series was small, portable and simple (black, black and more black), I kept them at the house to do while she was sleeping and we were watching movies.




They also went a rather circuitous route to completion. My initial idea was to frame them and then I was going to make them into door pulls and at once point I even toyed with the idea of turning four of them into an open cube to be used as a catch-all for a desk. In the end, I backed them and stuffed them, turning them into cute little pillows. :) I'm rather pleased with the end result.




This was the other cross stitch I spent the summer on, finally finishing it and turning it into a bit of a wall hanging/tapestry.




And finally I gave my friend the afghan I had meant for her birthday last October. She loves the colors, which suit her to a T.