2014 Christmas Stockings

I made three Christmas stocking for family/friends' babies this year. I don't know why they didn't listen when I commanded that no one else I know have any babies.

One of the stockings this year was for a baby that has already had one Christmas, I found out too late in the year to get it finished for his first Christmas. It was also a very complex, detailed design. This particular stocking was inspired by the art of Miles Pinkney. He did a great Steampunk Santa magazine cover picture. I took the Santa and gears from this cover art to create a Steampunk stocking. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't really show the fact that the ray gun and name are made with sparkly thread.

This year one of my friends from high school and his wife were blessed with their second son. They are more traditional in their tastes, so I went with a Victorian style Santa Claus design. I didn't design this one myself, it came from a magazine.

The final stocking I created this year was for my newest niece. Her mother requested a Nightmare Before Christmas design. I chose a sparkly night sky fabric to try to capture the feel of the movie, though the picture makes the sparkles a little hard to see. This stocking was designed for 30 count fabric, but is completed on 32 count because the perfect color was only available in that size. I made some adjustments, but the stocking came out a little smaller than intended.

I feel that my designs and patterns are getting better with each attempt. I have avoided using back-stitching and french knots in my patterns until the Nightmare Before Christmas stocking. That is going to take some time to perfect as an art, I even asked some people to beta test the pattern to see if they have any suggestions on improving the back-stitching details.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and that you can celebrate with those and in a way that brings you true joy.

Two Christmas Stockings for 2011

I made two stockings this year, both for little boys. One is for a former co-worker and friend in Texas. I got the pattern from a book filled with Victorian style stockings. This is the third stocking I have made from this book, I will probably end up making them all at some point. They are all detailed and beautiful.  It turned out a bit smaller than I intended, wasn't having a good math day when I was figuring out the size. I wanted it smaller than the one I had made for his dad, and I succeeded in that.

The second is a surprise gift for friends we met through World of Warcraft and their delightful little son (though it's no longer a surprise as they got it in the mail yesterday). I took screenshots from the game World of Warcraft to get Grandfather Winter (aka Santa) and the tree from Orgrimmar. I then got pictures of my friends' characters off the Armory. I shopped the three images together, including some presents from under the tree. Next, I made a patter using PC Stitch Pro. I learned a lot while making this stocking, next time I'll reduce the number of colors for the program to use.

I'd really like to do more custom pieces, I think my next will be to create a Calvin & Hobbes stocking for my husband.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

My Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I hope you realize what you mean to the world, I hope you represent the wonderful things you represent. You exemplify generosity and giving of yourself and to others. You encourage children to be good but do not expect perfection, and often overlook small transgressions in order to give children joy. Most importantly for me, you represent hope. The hope that the world can be a better place. The hope that all people can be charitable and giving, not just at Christmas time but year round.

I have thought long and hard, and there is nothing I want for myself this year. I have a very loving family and two silly pets. We have enough to meet our basic needs and a little more.

As with most people, I wish for general good for the earth. I wish for the end to all wars, clean forms of energy, the end of pollution, cancer, and AIDS. I am aware that these are problem you can not fix for us, and that we must see to ourselves.

Of all the holidays, this is the one that is most about family for me. I think this is true for most people. The greatest sadness people feel at Christmas time comes from people not being able to have their families near. Some are separated by death, others by distance, and yet others by hurt feelings. I believe the worst pain is the parents that are far from the children that they love. My Christmas wish is that all loving parents get to spend time with or hear from their children that are far away. I know parents that are unable to be with their kids, and it is the worst pain in this life. Christmas expands this hole in their heart from barely manageable to a ragged, gaping cavern that sucks their joy away with the intensity of a black hole. So my Christmas wish is to have parents and their children to be reunited.

Love always,

Harpy

Kitten Stocking, Part 4

Haven't been able to get as much done as I'd like. There has been grading and a Halloween costume to make. In November, I'll be participating in Nanowrimo which means I'll be writing a lot. I'll have to figure out how to balance the two. This week I have to put the costume first since it's under a week until the day it will be needed.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kitten Stocking the Beginning

This stocking was requested by a friend. I've already made one for her beautiful daughter and her husband. She is a fan of cats, so I went with a cat, though I wanted a different one with the cat surrounded by Poinsettias. I guess that will teach me not to get a pattern when I see it. You can actually begin to see the cat in the design now.



- Posted using BlogPress from my - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ready for Delivery

About to go visit the family, so I had to hurry up and put the back and hanger on this stocking for my nephew. Never know what is going to happen between now and Christmas, this way I know he'll get it. Glad to be done with my studies so I have time to do this sort of thing again. I can now find my meditation zone. I'll be starting two other stockings this summer, one on request and one as a surprise present. Shh...don't tell anyone.

Christmas Ornament 2009, Part 2

These are the other ornaments I made for my coworkers, minus one that I forgot to snap a picture of before it was taken home. There is also one I did for a friend's daughter. Some didn't get completed before Christmas due to supplies not coming in time. I guess I need to start in the summer this year.

This one was created for a team member who recently discovered he is diabetic. This is candy that he can have anytime.

This ornament was done for one of my partners in 6th grade social studies, I had made her a very girly ornament before and wanted to do something more fun. This is something that her boys can enjoy as well.

This was created for the science teacher on my team. I'm glad she didn't mind it being a little late.

This one was created for our choir teacher, she is a world traveler. She speaks several languages, including French. She will also be putting up with my kid in choir next year.

This was for our dyslexia specialist. She's another team member, and does a lot for our students.

This one was created for our first year teacher on the team. She put it up in her classroom right away. I'm glad she liked it.

Happy belated holidays to all, I hope you have a great 2010!

Christmas Ornaments 2009, Part 1

I love making presents for people. In fact, I usually plan way to many for my schedule, even though I started in early November I didn't get finished on time. So some will be delivered after the holidays. I took the pictures on my cell phone, so they are probably a bit fuzzy on the large scale.

This was for my planning partner in 6th grade, World Cultures.

This door hanger ornament was made for my 6th grade team leader.

I made this one for our team member that works with the afternoon tutoring program, and has the most adorable little baby girl.

This was made for one of my fellow social studies teachers, who is really into history and miniatures.

These were originally intended to be for my Secret Santa, but I didn't participate this year. I ended up giving them to my administrators and teachers that are very helpful to me in the classroom.

This one was made for our school librarian, to match her bubbling personality.

This one was created for our Technology Specialist, as she is the queen of our shiny stuff.

Workshop Stocking Update

I've gotten so much done on this stocking this summer. Surprisingly I haven't fallen behind on my homework, though I have fallen a bit behind on my reading for my book group. I'm SO close to being done with the main part of the stitching that I can't stop. Though I'll have to pause to get a skein of one color to finish the "x" stitches. Then it's nothing but detailing.

A Workshop Stocking

This is stage one, I've been working on this for about a week. It's amazing how much I've gotten done. I can accomplish so much when I don't have to work. Heehee. Working on this has reminded me that I need to work on a stocking for one of my nephews. So I guess that's my next summer project.

An Update

Sometimes is stinks to only have a camera phone. Hard to adjust to the natural lighting of a room. I'm finally able to work on the finishing touches such as the outlines and French Knots. I have to go get some more of color #3371, I ran out yesterday. Then I can match a fabric to make the back out of and use my machine to sew it up.

School is going well, both work and studying. I finished my GRE last week, now I don't have to worry about getting kicked out of grad school. I've almost successfully given up soda. They re-shingled our roof over the break as well, by the end of this week, there will be no more blue tarps on the top of the apartment complex.

Overall, the last couple of weeks have been good.

The Complete Baby Block Set

This is the set, well two blocks short actually, but I was so excited I couldn't wait any longer to post it. I'll have the last two ready for tomorrow as well.

2008 Christmas Ornaments

I made this for my secret Santa at school. For those of you not familiar with the tradition, everyone at work that wants to participate fills out a form of things they like, collect, etc. Then everyone draws a name, you give the person you drew small gifts all week, then a slightly larger gift on Friday and reveal who you are. I think this is fun, and a great way to get to know your co-workers. I like shopping for someone that is practically a stranger, and on a very small budget, it's challenging.







Another holiday tradition we have at work is the Ornament Exchange, where people get an ornament and bring it in. Everyone draws a number, and you get to pick out an ornament. The people that come after you can take your ornament, it's fun and silly. I wanted to participate, so I made an ornament rather than buy one.

For Grandma

This Christmas will be our first Christmas without my grandpa. He is the first of my grandparents to pass away. My grandmother and he were together over 60 years. Tomorrow she closes on the house they shared for over 40 years, and her new house in the same town as her surviving daughter, grandkids, and great-grandkids.

I will spend tomorrow watching the movers remove everything from the house I have spent almost every holiday of my life in. If you looked at the photo album of my childhood, that house is the backdrop for almost every picture. It will be a hard day, sitting in that place all alone as it becomes a hollow shell.

Most of the familiar items will be moving to the new house, but it's still hard to let go of a place that has been such a part of your life. I can't imagine how hard this is for my grandmother, though it would be harder for her to stay there alone. Surrounded by everything that was theirs for so long.

I did not intend this to be about the loss of my grandfather, and the house that was my second home during my childhood, but I guess I needed to express those feelings.

My grandmother is a greet lover of old-fashioned correspondence: hand-written letters, Christmas and birthday cards. Even though many of her family and friends have passed on she gets quite a few Christmas cards. Previously in my blog, I had documented the progress on the cross-stitch portion of this gift. I had hoped to finish it last year, but now I'm glad that I didn't. I plan on hanging it up in her new house tomorrow as a house-warming/Christmas gift. I'm hoping that having one thing up for Christmas that is just her's will help the year be a little easier.

Stocking Update

Got some stitching done. So much going on that it's hard to find the time.

Stocking Project, Moving Forward

Slowly but surely it's coming together.

A Stocking for a Boy

This is the beginnings of my next cross-stitch project. It's a "boy" stocking with a motif of toys. I got it from a Better Homes and Garden book of Christmas stocking patterns.



For those of you with an interest, this is being stitched on Mushroom colored 28-count Lugana evenweave fabric. The stitches are done over two threads with three strands. I have used a full cross-stitch, a half cross-stitch, and a backstitch.

Christmas Stocking

I made this stocking for a friend's baby.