Waiting For Santa - Free Cross Stitch Chart

 

I'm very excited by the news that Margaret Sherry will be launching a new series of patterns next year. For now, I'll have to satisfy myself with this cute cat waiting for Santa, which she's posted as a free chart on her new site.

Both cats were stitched over two strands on a 32 count Belfast Linen in cream. The stitched area measures about 2.5 by 3.5 inches. The one to the left I've made into a tree ornament and I'm going to be keeping it for myself.  The bottom one, placed in a sparkly red stand-up frame (found on sale at Michael's), will be a stocking stuffer for my mom, who is also a major cat person.

Sorry the second one is looking a little blurry. To get the pictures I set these on my scanner and since the second kitty is recessed a bit in the frame, it comes out a little blurry. I assure you in real life he's quite clear, and adorable!

Spring Cat Cross Stitch Completed!

When I wasn't working on Firefly cross stitches this is the major project that has been keeping me busy for the past few months. It is called Spring Cat and was designed by Sherrie Stepp-Aweau. I started working on this in February and managed to get it finished by June. Not a bad stretch of time I would say.

It's a birthday/Christmas gift for my Mom which we were able to give to her on the weekend. I did all the stitching and the boyfriend, who is both wise and witty, helped cover the costs of getting it professionally stretched and framed. Needless to say my Mom was very happy with it. Her cat, who happens to look like the kitty in the picture, was also intrigued. He stared into it's eyes for a good solid minute, started to quiver and even frizzed his tail at it. Once it's hung on the wall I'm sure my Mom's either going to encounter him meowing at it and trying to make friends or hissing and spitting at it.

I stitched this on a black 18 count aida cloth, and thankfully most of the black space in the picture is just the fabric showing through, which cuts down the number of stitches I had to make. The border with its many open spaces was truly a lot of fun as it seemed to go by very quickly...Look I'm done one side...Look I'm done another. There's also a minimum amount of backstitching which makes me very happy. The finishing off backstitching always makes a picture pop and look wonderful, but it's my least favourite part of any design.

I have the pattern in a leaflet from Cross My Heart that also includes the Summer Cat. Unfortunately I'm fairly certain the pattern is out of print now, even though you can find a couple of the designer's other cat patterns at PatternsOnline. I managed to snag the last copy from my local cross stitch store and all the supplies I needed to make this, only a few months before it went out of business.

Mother's Day Amigurumis

Now that Mother's Day has passed I can show off the tiny amigurumis that I made for the occasion. All of these come from Ana Paula Rimoli's Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet . I wanted something quick and homemade that I could give to each of the important moms in my life and Rimoli had a wonderful selection of patterns to choose from.

I think the hedgehog took the longest to make because you have to go back and put his coat on after you've stitched the main body. I'm guessing he was about a 5-6 hour project, while the other two came in at only about 3 hours apiece. I bought the Patons Decor in Rich Taupe especially for the owl, but aside from that I managed to use up bits and pieces of colours I already had.



First up is the owl which I made for my Grandma. She collects owls so he was the obvious animal choice for her. I'm really happy with how he turned out. I think I actually like him better than the sample owl that was in Rimoli's book. His beak is a bit of leftover Vanna's Choice in Mustard and the rest of him was made using Patons Decor in Rich Taupe, Taupe, and Aran.



This cat was made for my Mom who loves cats. Does it look like a cat? I'm a little worried he looks more like a bear than a cat. In his defence he does have cat's eyes and a long tail. More of the Rich Taupe here. I originally tried to make him in grey, but my grey wool was too thick for the small hook you need to use on these Tiny Amis. Trying to make him in grey was very uncomfortable so I switched to brown.



The hedgehog was made for my boyfriend's Mom. I let him choose from several different animals and he went with the hedgehog. The whole time I was making it I was worried it was going to be a disaster and to be honest it really didn't look good until the end when I had all the pieces sewn on. Now I'm becoming more enchanted with it every time I look at it.

Rimoli's pattern uses worsted weight for the coat as well as the animal's body, but I switched this for some fun fur that I had on hand and I quite like the effect. The fun fur was a generic brand that's sold by Dollarama and since I was using a larger hook for this pattern I could use my grey. It's a Bernat Super Saver colour. I should also note, the pattern seems to indicate that you stitch on the coat after the hedgehog is stuffed. I chose to make it before stuffing because I was afraid that if I did it after, my hook would catch on the stuffing and accidently pull some of it out.



My Ami bunny snuck into this final picture. I couldn't resist including this butt shot because I wanted to show off what I've been doing with the backs of these critters. I picked up these little heart shaped brads at Dollarama back at Valentine's. One box of plain hearts (like the bunny has) and one with words on them. Both the owl and cat have the word "love" on their hearts. The fun fur made it too difficult to put one on the back of the hedgehog. I thought of putting one on his chest, but he's so small, I just felt like it made his front side too busy. Nonetheless, he too was made with love.

If anyone is interested I've started an Amigurumi World Crochet Along on Craftster. You can post pictures of projects you complete from the book there and discuss the patterns with fellow crocheters.

Alley Cats! Cute Thing of the Week

If you're a fan of Craft: then you may have already seen these adorable alley cats over there. I love cats and it's not often that you see a realistic looking crocheted cat. In most cases there's something about the ears or the paws that just isn't quite right. So, when I saw these cats that actually look like cats I had to go the extra mile and see if I could find the pattern.

Happily, after getting the Google Translater to convert two different French blogs into English and about 20 minutes of reading I was able to discover that the pattern comes from Etsy seller Stripeyblue. As she describes it in her shop:

This is "Alley Cats," a PDF pattern for you to make 3 poor but happy little cats looking for food at their "diner." Also included is the pattern for their favorite - fish bone. There is also a pattern to crochet a garbage can.

Not a bad deal for only $4.50! I also have to throw in an honourable mention for the blog Amigurumi Made in France. Many of their members are using this Alley Cat pattern as part of a Crochet Along. You can see the different variations and colours of their cats and fish bones here.