crazy quilt challenge - january block finished

I have finished my first block:

I am in a book!

A while ago (last year, or perhaps even earlier, don't remember) I saw a call for submissions for mending ideas. I sent in a linen dress of mine that had been torn and I mended the tear with cross stitching over it.
They accepted me, and the book is now coming out. Look here: Mend it better.

On Amazon it says it is coming out on the 31st of January.

A non-Valentine sampler

I have nothing against Valentine's Day - in the countries where it is a tradition.
In Hungary, however, it is not. It appeared just a few years ago, and it has been promoted by florists and gift-shop owners. Thus, it is much more about business than anything else. That said, it seems that the younger generation has accepted it so it may become a tradition in a few years time.

Speaking of love, though, I believe that it cannot be exercised as a campaign. Real love is there all the time, and we must make an effort to show our love to those around us who are important. Not only on the 14th of February.

If you agree with me, you might want to stitch this little sampler. If you put it up, it can stay on the wall all year round. :D :D
Hope you find hapiness in stitching it. I made it in red but you can use your favourite colour or a variegated thread.

Crazy Quilt challenge - January

I have mentioned that I signed up for the Crazy Quilt block challenge here. This is my first block, still in progress, about 50% done, I think.
Originally I wanted all white fabric and white on white embroidery, but then couldn't resist some of those blues... and the rest just came. It is still not too colourful, though, and I like it this way. There was a week or two when I felt a bit stuck, didn't have any ideas on how to continue, but I did some more yesterday, and hope to continue with it at the weekend.

If you do crazy quilting, what is your method? I am really curious how others work on this. Do you make a plan before you start? Or do you let the piece "form itself"?

So here is my January block, as it looks today:

Errata: mistake in the snowflake biscornu

I am so sorry, everyone who downloaded the snowflake biscornu, please, forgive me! There is a mistake, it is not symmetrical. I am stitching it now and I have just noticed it.

There should be 33 squares around on each side when you stitch the backstitch border.
I am uploading the corrected version now, please, go and download it again.

Here is the finished biscornu:

Upcycling a cardigan - up a size

I bought this cardigan in a second-hand shop because I loved the colour and the soft texture. I bought it for my daughter but she didn't want it. And of course, it was slightly small for me. So I had to do something about it.



Originally it had 4 buttons, two on both sides, but by the time I took this photo, I had removed two of them, thinking that replacing the buttons would be enough to make it wider. It wasn't.

So, I took some black boucle yarn and started to crochet a stripe in single crochet in the middle, for new buttons and buttonholes, to add a few centimeters. It is not very straight because I had to go up to the collar part, too, but I think it looks OK. Then I made a row of single crochet around the collar, too. The sleves were a bit too long and tight, so I folded the extra length back and crocheted two rows there too, one single and one double crochet, then cut off the extra length of the old material and sewed it down so that the knitting didn't unravel.
And of course, the former buttonholes and the spots where the buttons had been (the material was really badly pulled) had to be hidden. So I did some very simple embroidery.

What do you think?







Unfortunately, the embroidery emphasises my middle which would be better off hidden this after-christmas time, but I hope this is just a temporary problem. Trying to fight it, you see :)

Snowflake biscornu pattern

Here is the biscornu I promised :)






The colours are:
DMC 160, gray blue, middle
and 209, lavender, dark

As usual, I draw something in the very middle, but if you want to add a button or bead there, you can leave out those stitches.

Family heritage displayed

OK, it's not my family, but my boyfriend's. It was last summer when I first saw Stephen's grandmother's sewing box. It was full of treasures. The most beautiful things were the lace his grandmother and great-grandmother crocheted.

I told him he should display them instead of keeping them in a box. But of course, he is not a man who would put out a doily, however beautiful it may be. And the pieces of lace his grandmother left were small, they were either practice pieces or left from longer bands when the rest was used.

I had an idea but it took me this long to put it into action. I embroidered the grandmother's and great-grandmother's names, and put the whole treasure together in an old, thrift-shop frame.
The doily in the middle is the great-grandmother's work, the rest is his grandma's.

Sorry, the picture is not the best, but that's all I could do at the lamplight.



Isn't it lovely?
Go and look in your grandma's sewing box! :D

Snowflake bookmark - free pattern, cross stitch and blackwork

I love the snowflakes so much in the sampler, so I continued to play around with them. Still no snow in this part of Sweden - on New Years day it was snowing, it was soooo beautiful, then melted right away. :(

Here is a bookmark as a result.



I think, a biscornu/ornament design is also on it's way :D

New Year Resolutions - Part 2

Here is the second part of my free chart "New Year Resolutions". I hope you like it.




The shaded area is the overlaping part between the two sections. I also post a picture of the whole, just in case.

Happy New Year

Wishing a very happy 2012 to all my dear friends.

Happy New Year! Boldog új évet! God Nytt År! С Новим Годом!