Oh, my Goodness! It’s Almost Lent!

I was at Central Market yesterday and they had this parade.  I asked my husband what they were doing and he said, “oh, it’s Mardi Gras.”  Mardi Gras?  That time already?  Wow.  Lent has totally snuck up on me.

I’m hoping to design some Lenten stuff this week.  It’s my favorite season of the church year and I’m hoping that should fuel some really good designs. 

Grow Your Blog Blogging Party

I started this blog in June 2012 to promote my own cross stitch designs.  I’ve only designed a few things but it’s been really fun.  I hope to be able to do more designing in the future.  Visit my personal blog at http://gadgetsjoyfulpage.blogspot.com

 

I have a few more things designed and plan to open an online store.  And of course, there will still be free designs.

All Christian Christmas Tree

Here’s what my all-Christian Christmas tree looks like.

 

First Guest Spot!

My first guest post is up on Stitching The Night Away.  You can read it here.

 

I totally lost track of time and didn’t realize that Thanksgiving was this week.  Time flies when you’re unemployed

Guest Blogger

I’m going to be a guest blogger on “Stitching the Night Away“.  You can see my introduction here.

A Banner inspired by mine

Tanelet at “Tentatively Tanelet” decided to take my Reformation Banner design and run with it!

You can definitely tell that it’s been modified from my original design.  However, some key design elements like the text and the fortress are still present.  I really like how it turned out.  Definitely took a lot of time and work.  And I think the modifications work very well for a large church banner.  Mine is more designed to be smaller so things like the original font I used would not be so readable on a large banner like this.  Definitely will look sharp in church come Reformation!

You can read more about what she did on her blog: http://tenelet.blogspot.com/2012/10/reformation-banner-2012.html

Baptized Child of God Finishing Ideas

I finally uploaded the pattern for “Baptized Child of God.”

I see a lot of potential for this design.  It’s a fairly easy stitch (it took me only a few hours and that was with interruptions).  It also can be stitched using just plain old 14 ct. Aida and regular DMC which is cheap and now available at a lot of Wal-Marts.  When completed, there it is a lovely reminder of your baptism.

Based on your level of difficulty, here are a number of ways to complete this ornament

1. Glue the cross stitch to a piece of cardstock.  Use a fancy scissors to give the cardstock a nice edge.  Write the child’s name and date of baptism on the back with paint or a marker.
2. Glue or stitch the cross stitch to a piece of felt.  Use a pinking shears to edge the felt.  Use fabric paint to put the child’s name and date of baptism on the back.
3. Purchase a cross stitch plastic frame (round or square).  Cut the cross stitch to size of the provided sticky board and pop into the frame.  Write the child’s name and date of baptism on the back with a marker.
4. Stitch the child’s name and date of baptism under the finished piece.  Fold the sides under and stitch in place.  Fray the bottom edge.  Fold the top edge down and stitch so there’s room for a small thin dowel.  Attach string to both ends of the dowel so it becomes a banner.
5. (Model) Stitch the child’s name and date of baptism on a separate piece of Aida and attach to the front.  You can put both right sides together, sew together and flip and finish as a pillow or flatfold.  Or, as seen in the model, use either the 4 sided stitch or cross stitches to attach the pieces of Aida together and stuff with polyfill before fraying the edges.

The Ornament is Complete

I put the finishing touches on the ornament today.  I think it turned out nicely.  I should be posting the pattern in the next few days.

Please notice that I’ve also added a photo widget to the side of the page where I’ll be posting my designs when I’ve stitched them.  

Baptized Child of God

I decided to start some designs in my Quest for a Christian Christmas tree.  Here is the first.  It is going to have stitching on the back piece with each of my daughters’ names and their date of baptism.

I stitched it on 14 ct Aida using DMC floss.  The lettering and shell outline uses DMC light effects floss.  I hope to post the pattern shortly.

All Saints Banner

I finally finished the All Saints Banner Design today.  It’s available for free from my designs page.

This was also my stepdaughter’s confirmation verse.  I thought it was appropriate for the Sunday when we remember those who have gone before us into heaven.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.www.zondervan.com  The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™