kerrykatiecakes

It was so nice to do a bit of cross stitch again lately! I finished up these two small projects on my vacation and there is something so good about a nice bit of linen in hand and some lovely hand dyed threads. Both of these are designed by Su Mwamba of Tanglecrafts ( http://tanglecrafts.wordpress.com/ ). The top one is entitled "Kaleidoscope Thistle" and the bottom one is "Kaleidoscope Forest". Su designs the most gorgeous stitchery - check out her blog and you will see lovely freeform bargello and other treats. These two are small projects that give lovely results without a lot of investment of stitching time - I am really pleased with the way they turned out. Now I just need to decide how to finish them... paperweights? scissorfobs? pincushions? Not sure yet!

This is a second little teacup crazy quilt block I have put together for my local guild. Again, my love for cross stitch shows through since that is what the center motif is. I should make it clear though that this was not done with waste canvas! This is the second half of a little cross stitch picture I came across at the thrift store. I love to save those little treasures! I hate to see all the work someone has done sitting in a thrift store abandoned. So, hopefully, this is a way of giving it new life. I simply treated the cross stitch as another piece of fabric in the construction of the six inch crazy quilt block, giving it a starring role in the center. I'll do the seam treatments now and some motifs in the other patches and it will go to the guild to be included in one of the little wall hangings we make for members who are moving away so that they have a gift to remember us by. Teacups are the theme for these hangings and this is why I chose this cross stitch.