Avast Ye Landlubbers

I do like me a bit of a brooding pirate.
Here is Colin O'Donoghue as Hook from Once Upon a Time. I make no apologies for having shared this picture before. It bears a second glance I think.

Anyway, I've been playing with my pastels again. Drawn myself my very own Captain Hook.
Quick swashbuckle round the Spanish Main anyone?

Barefoot in the Park

Well, the back garden actually, the park would have healthier looking grass.

The girls and I were very taken with these barefoot sandals at the craft fair at the Carnival last week. Several pairs were purchased. Does this count as buying shoes I wonder. I did get some new converse this week...
Having worn mine for days I had a sudden brainwave and raided my button tin. The seashell pair on the right are the ones I bought, the ones on the left are my own creation.
It is ridiculously difficult to take a photo of your own feet. They end up looking stubby and foreshortened due to the angle you are shooting from. I asked Eloise to come and take a picture, but as you can see Jinx hijacked the photoshoot

I also thought you'd be amused to see this. Not everything creative in this house always turns out just how we'd planned it. Here we see the "Tropical Fruit Roulade" Naomi was attempting to make, and her finished version:-

Nailed it!  Tasted great mind you.

Summer Postcard Blog Hop

Jo from Serendipitous Stitching is organising a Summer Post Card Blog Hop
Here is the stitched postcard I received from Debbie.  Pop on over to Debbie's blog and say hello, and be sure to visit Jo's blog  too, to find out more about the Blog Hop

"All's Good in the 'Hood":  Hi, Stitcher!  I hope everything is good in your neighborhood!  I made this for my son, instead of the typical 'Home Sweet Home' sampler.  It will look great in his new apartment in the big city!

A Prom Princess, a Pair of Presents and a Poodle Project

How's that for an alliterative post title?
As promised here are some pictures of Naomi in her prom outfit. I think she looked beautiful, but I am biased.

The "pair of presents" ? I took part in the annual VSCyberstitchers exchange, here is the wonderful selection of Christmas in July gifts I received from Nancy (no blog that I'm aware of), a Just Nan pinball tin, the most adorable little needlefelted acorn, and a wonderful stitched needlepouch, in an Elizabethan looking design, containing three turned wooden containers of needles. Thank you Nancy, it's gorgeous.

This is the one I sent out. I can't say to whom yet as it hasn't reached it's destination. The design is by The Little Stitcher and was the Needlecraft Haven monthly challenge piece for May. I used a Kreinik braid for the ruby slippers and it was a little bugger to stitch with, but I'm quite pleased with the effect. I made it up into a pincushion and made a ruby slipper charm for the scissors.

And finally the "poodle project". The pattern is Simplicity 2886 and the cute poodle fabric was from EvilBay Not sure why it looks pink and navy in the photo, it is scarlet and black in real life. It sewed up really nicely, and is a lovely fit in the bodice, though with hindsight I'd have cut the skirt a bit longer than the pattern as it just knee length, which is shorter than I'd normally wear, and maybe altered the construction of the bodice lining to encase the waistband seam. I've got an old silk sari in my stash and I'm thinking of making it up again using that. I might make up the other view too, with the narrow straps, it's nice to make something for myself now and again.

If you can't fight...

...wear a big hat, as my Grandad used to say.
Or in this case wear a teeny tiny hat.

This is the little Harley Quinn fascinator that I made to go with Naomi's prom dress (see previous post). I bought the sinnamay hat and stitched a couple of barrette clips to the underside of the brim, then decorated it with ribbons, feathers, diamantes, and of course a couple of  tiny Jokers (from one of those mini packs of cards you get in Christmas Crackers), because Harley wouldn't go anywhere without Mr J.
I also finished and framed this:-

. Live, Love, Laugh by La-D-Da, stitched using the recommended fabric and threads, except that I missed off the solid border because a) stitching solid borders is really boring and b) they make it really hard to get the thing to look straight in the frame. Definitely had a stroke of luck when I went to get the frame, I got their last scrap of terracotta mountboard, and the last of that particular frame. I think it was "meant to be".

Cinderella Shall Go to The Ball...

I finished Naomi's prom dress today, with, I might add, almost three weeks to spare.
This is Simplicity 3878 only cut down to tutu length ~ the original pattern is for a full length ball gown ~ made in black satin with an overlay of red and black shot crystal organza, which, incidentally, was a #*&$ to sew with.
It needs a bit more "bling" adding to the bodice, but I'm waiting for some hot-fix Swarovski's I ordered to arrive. I also still need to make the matching fascinator. Yes, the girl who had me buy her a tiara over a year ago because "I'll wear it for prom" has decided she wants a red and black top hat fascinator instead.
No worries.
Guess what she'll be wearing on her head if she ever decides to get married...
Next sewing project is going to be something for me.

Make it Sew (again), Gifts and Gardening

You might remember me stitching a little Jean-Luc Picard Christmas ornament earlier this year (see this post). I mentioned at the time that I wished I knew the Klingon for Merry Christmas. Well isn't the internet a wonderful place? Thank you to everyone who helped me out on that. I now know that the appropriate phrase is QISmas Dativjaj, although Klingons don't really quite grasp the concept of "Merry".

Or Maybe they do.

"Romulan Ale Should be Illegal"

"I now know", reminds me that someone at the education department seriously suggested the use in schools of the phrase "We all now know" to demonstrate successful learning objectives. Strangely the acronym never caught on...

So anyway, back to Trekkie goodness, and off to Black Tulip on Deviant Art I went to get the matching Lt Worf pattern. Sadly I only had 32 count blue linen left and he came out smaller than Jean-Luc, so I had to stitch my beloved Captain a second time to get a matching pair because I'm a very slightly OCD kind of a geek that way.
J-L #1 is going to a brand new home with a friend of Eloise's in case you were wondering. Two Captain Picards on a Christmas tree would be excessive...

Look at the little biddy Klingon, isn't he just adorable from the tips of his toes to the top of his little forehead ridges? And look at the amazing fabric I found to back them with!
Purists amongst you may note that the fabric actually depicts the Enterprise A, but to those people I say Pffftt!
Poor Worf looks a little put out at having been topped off with a pretty gold bow, but Jean-Luc, being a modern 24th century man, is comfortable enough in his own masculinity to carry it off. Probably the male pattern baldness.

I got some wonderful post this week too. Dani kindly sent me the chart for the Heartstruck Quaker ornaments, together with a lovely stitched initial fob, and I won the Milady's Needle chart in a giveaway on Sally's blog. Thank you both so much.

Meanwhile in the garden, summer seems to have arrived. Here is Loki posing for a picture. He is such a diva!
Jinx, as usual hid, from the camera, but as she looks just like Loki only smaller just back up from your monitor a bit and you'll get the idea...

...and here is my weigelia flowering its head off. There's a little story behind this shrub, a few years ago I bought one for my friend for her birthday and when I was wrapping it up a small branch broke off. Ever the optimist I bunged it in a jar of water and it rooted. Yay! She still thinks I did it on purpose...