She's Crafty

My sisters are both quite skilled in practical crafts.  My big sister has cross-stitched a number of beautiful samplers; they are very good.  My little sister sews like a genius and makes really sweet items like costumes to purses to stuffed animals.  Once upon a time I was an avid cross-stitcher and amateur knitter.  I even tried my hand at transforming an old pair of jeans into a funky backpack.  It was not a success, and thankfully there is no evidence proving it ever existed.  I considered that perhaps my adult craft was writing, but it's not like I can frame a blog entry and put it on my wall.  Well, my little sister has upped the stakes by throwing knitting into her cute bag of tricks.  On top of that, you could say my big sister professionally writes since she is a minister and master of sermon composition.  I had to do something, but what?

KHud's angel sampler is impressive.  They are cute.

Miss Foo administers moon justice with friends in her Sailor Moon costume.

Remember this small attempt at knitting I accomplished last summer?  You are looking at my finished product... *sigh*

Well, it turns out that color coding my calendar with Crayolas isn't exactly special.  Furniture organization was much easier with my college furniture~so becoming more feng shui seemed a little senseless with all the heavy stuff in our home.  I have yet to find a way to make doing the dishes or laundry creative though I've considered stacking/folding in an unusual way (think Lincoln Logs).  Turns out rhythmic running will never qualify for Olympic status; as a matter of fact~most runners run rhythmically.  I won't even try to become a chef extraordinaire~have you met my husband?  Just give me a box of mac'n'cheese and Rotel, and you have fancy noodles.

Back to square one... Happily, opportunity came knocking.  Over the holidays we used a borrowed stocking for Kyle that needed to be returned to its homeland (North Carolina).  My mom and big sister invited me to come along to the local cross-stitch shop.  They picked out some new projects, and I felt inspired to pick out a little something something for the hubs.  Now I couldn't execute this stocking single-handedly.  Big sis, KHud, whip stitched my edges and helped me get started.  She even penciled Kyle's name onto the pattern for me.  Miss Foo, the younger sis, will likely construct the actual stocking part of the stocking.  It's basically like I'm doing nothing.

Au revoir tete de bonhomme de neige.

Now if you are into cross stitch, I'll share the magical details.  It's on a linen fabric that looks a bit rustic (as you can probably tell from the image).  I'm using a DMC floss, but I'm using 4 of the 6 threads at a time so it stands out (rather than 2).  There~now that I've revealed the secrets of my trade, I will bore you no more.

A blurry finished product from the cover of the pattern.  There is no Robert in our Ham fam.

My progress~it's a headless Santa.  Less than cheery....

The goal is to have my part done well before the holiday so that it can be a stress-free project.  Also, it's a bit addicting; perhaps I'll tackle a sampler or something else before 2011 comes to a close.  Once again, I can feel like I fit in with my oh-so Sense and Sensibility siblings.  Happy day!