From my child's hand to mine

As I wrote before, I have never tried to embroider until I signed up for the Stitcher's Angel Swap. With all the cute patterns Hugs from Helen was providing for us with the help of other designers how could I resist trying my hand at it? So I did it and even if I wasn't so good, I enjoyed it. And now I've been bitten by the embroidery bug, especially if I can combine the pieces with patch working! (my favorite thing!) Helena at Syverkstan is a real inspiration to me! However....why should I recreate other people's designs when I have a fine designer of my own living under the same roof? I just loved this drawing of Maya's princess with the unicorn! So I made a copy of it so that I could trace over her lines with a Sharpie pen, then trace again onto fabric with a pencil. Maya helped me decide which colors to use for each part and she drew the fall leaves directly on the fabric with a pencil. This will be for her Farmor (= father's mother = Bo's mom = grandmother) and I'll use the same autumn leaf fabric I used for my Stitcher's Angel armchair caddy to make one for my m-i-l. sh....don't tell her. Maya designed the other pocket directly on to the fabric once she realized what I was doing...and she also designed the little pin cushion piece. I will post the finished project later. It's still WIP!
Here's another Maya design that I'm working on....it's for Mormor (mother's mother = my mom = grandmother). Hopefully she isn't looking at my blog so often and she'll miss this post! (Otherwise, Mom pretend you don't see this!) I won't tell more about this just in case Polly is reading! But I can tell you that Maya has such good ideas! It won't be long before Maya will be embroidering her own creations! In the meantime, I'll put some of her delightful drawings into fabric form!

Please give me some help....
Sew-Amy says she uses "crayon color" (?) to fill in color on the fabric. How do I do that?

And if anyone can give me helpful hints about embroidering with METALLIC dmc thread. I had a heck of a time with it doing the princess's crown.

Lori's Art and Play suggested that I do appliques from Maya's work...want to try that too. But can't do that while watching kid movies with Maya! ;-)

Does anyone else have an idea about how to add a child's artwork into sewing creations!? Please share with me! Or tell me which blog to look at!

Saturday happenings....

While I was digging through my paperwork to find everything I needed to complete my USA income tax file (I did mention in the previous post what a procrastinator I am....being a foreign resident citizen I have a different file date than the Americans living in the USA...I also have a different extension date...Oct. 15...so being the procrastinator that I am...this is LAST MINUTE MADNESS!) ...so back to my story. As I was digging a little voice called out to me to turn around...and there standing in the threshold of her bedroom I saw the SATURDAY PRINCESS MAYA! Where she was going and who she was going to marry is still a mystery to me but isn't she LOVELY!!!
Several hours later after my tax papers were collected and noted and faxed to the appropriate places, I allowed myself time to sew in the basement with my wonderful assistant! (still avoiding the work with my students' reports!) To sew my October fabric postcards I decided it was high time to use my cute little applique iron (I've only had it 8 years and have never used it!) Well, who thought the iron was made especially for her?....just guess! She remembered that I had a mini ironing board so she ran upstairs to grab her "wrinkly" Barbie dresses and hankies. We learned that not all Barbie clothes should be ironed and now Mommy has some holes to repair!
Next she had to set up a clothes line to hang up her freshly ironed things....she used her smallest hair clips to do the job! (Please notice the amazing peacock painting she made for me last week!)
So finally between the various moments of assisting Ms. Maya with her ideas...I was able to FINISH my Stitcher's Angel armchair caddy! I like it so much that I'm going to make one for me and perhaps a few for holiday gifts! I'll show you a complete photo after I've sent it to my Angel lady in Australia!
In the early evening....it was time for a FAMILY HUG by the fireplace! Not everyone is complete in the photo but you get the idea! Pappa, Mommy, Maya, Basil-the-cat and Pepe-the-dog! (if Maria-the-fish knew what we were doing, she'd probably want to join in too!)

Hope your Sunday has been one of fun!
This evening...I'm really going to get to those 33 reports I have left to do! Honest!

I bet you want to know what we did Saturday night!

Well, let me show you.....we got all dressed up and CUTE! (wearing the tooth fairy necklace)We drove to Helsingborg and were met at the door by two sweet little rabbit sisters!
One little rabbit invited Maya to try out her "new" big girl bed! My oh, my was it JUST RIGHT!
After a delicious "orange, cashew meat stew"....we sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a NINE YEAR OLD! Yes, the candles are in a box of ice cream because....
the Daddy rabbit had made a wonderful APPLE PIE to go with the ice cream!
And the Mommy Rabbit (Kelly Sue) and I got all caught up on our summer stories, family gossip and future crafty plans! We had a SUPER TIME! Thank you to the CARlsson family!

Just tooooo cute!

Can you believe that this building over the water is the "Energy Station"? (Electricity generator place) It's in Sundborn....it's just too cute! Laundry, porch curtains...just too cute!
And look at this telephone booth! I bet hardly anybody uses it but it's just tooo cute to tear down!
And this window box of the Fryksås Handicrafts? TOO CUTE!
Almost just tooo cute to use...but we did! (Maya would point out "purple" to you...he's in the lower right corner...it's her security blanket.)
FIKA again! Who wouldn't want to join in a fika? It's just tooo cute! This was created for the workers of one of the Dalahorse factories that we visited in Nusnäs. And not one dalahorse near by to remind them of work! What a relief!
Family garden by Linné's Wedding Place outside of Falun...very cute!
Sundborn...Shabby Chic cottage....wow, it's soooo cute!
Tällberg cabin and entry gate...dried flowers from Mid-sommar....the place is just so cute!
These 3 are just tooooo cute! Wooden statues in honor of the migrant labourers on the farms.


During our trip I must have said "CUTE" thousands of times! But darn it, everything just seemed just so darn too cute!