Christmas Ornaments

     I made these little ornaments as a Christmas present many years ago.  I stitched the finished designs onto felt so I could stuff them with polyfill.

Custom Cat

My Auntie Kathleen asked me to make a sewing project of her cat Thomas. I combined parts from different cross stitch patterns to make this collage. The original color in the pattern for the cat was gray so I changed it to match his orange coat. I remember I enjoyed working on this project and I'm glad I took a photo of the pillow before sending it around the world to Scotland.

Cost Effective

I always have enough in my sewing stash to put together a little present. Floss and aida cloth are very inexpensive considering how much use you can get out of them for small projects. I made these for my mother, I found frames at the "Dollar" store to give them a finishing touch.

A Little Bit Of This A Little Bit Of That

My favorite cross stitching magazine is "Cross Country Stitching". I love it's art and style and the magazine is chock full of patterns. I also loved how the designs were made in a way that you could take parts from here or there that could stand alone. I did this many times for projects, I picked a garden theme for this little decorative pillow.

Best Of Both

What's better than combining a couple of your favorite sewing techniques. I had so many scraps from making my first quilt that I made them into lots of pillows. I made little cross stitch motifs
then stitched them to the patchwork pillow.

Mindless Projects

For many years my sewing hobby of choice was cross stitch. Planning out a pattern as a present is a fun challenge. But after concentrating for so long on a pattern it was a relief to work on projects like my above pillows where all I had to worry about was which color next. This way I still get to be stitching but without the "pattern following fatigue". It is also a great way of getting through your floss collection and using some of the colors you rarely choose. The heart pillow was for myself, the other two for my mother Carole.