Posted by delqc on 2007-06-09 15:02:55
Post Subject: seeking cross-stitch patterns. HELP!
Hello all:
I'm looking for a few very specific cross stitch patterns. I've embroidered two baby afghans for family members in the past, one in a Winnie-the-pooh theme and the other in a baby animal theme. Finding the patterns for both of those was easy. For Pooh there are tons of things available, and for baby animals I found a Noah's Ark chart and adapted the elements that I wanted to fit the design theme of the blanket.
Now I want to do a third (gender-neutral) one, and I have two possible themes in mind. The first is a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme, where I'd like to maybe do a fancy moon in the top right hand corner, and have falling stars around the edges (i.e. a variety of pretty stars, some followed by an arch or tail or something). To do this I would need a pattern with a variety of delicate, cute, fancy star shapes and the moon. I could also do a "cow jumping over the moon" nursery rhyme theme with the falling stars as well, which I think would be lovely.
The second option would be a "baby toy" theme. I would stitch around the outside edges perhaps a motif of a wooden toy train, a rocking horse, and perhaps a pull toy, rattle, or fancy teddy bear.
My problem is this: I have no problem finding motifs of stars and toys, but I can't seem to find ones that are appropriate for baby's room and with the chart complexity that I want. The toy patters I can find are either TOO detailed (i.e. a HUGE chart, just of a very fancy toy train) or too simple (blocky shapes, no backstitching, no shading, etc). I can't really find what I want. I also don't really have the skills to draw what I want into a program like PC stitch or anything... well maybe I could do that for the stars, but I much prefer to work of a pattern. I'm happy to let someone else have the artistic talent to come up with the image, and to reproduce it in floss myself.
SO: does anything spring to mind of baby-appropriate patterns that you've seen that fit either of these themes, with a bit of adaptation? I'd hoped to find a "twinkle twinkle" or "catch a falling star' pattern and adopt it, or a "baby toys" pattern and adopt that, but no luck. Boo.
Thanks very much craftistas! I'm hoping you can help ... or at least be extra eyes in case you see something that would be appropriate. :)
Posted by bratgirl on 2005-06-24 20:37:14
Post Subject:
Another thing. I used to have to do fruit trays for party. For a fast and impressive looking display, bet a BIG tray.
Cut the top off a pineapple and place in the middle. Place about six-eight (or more if your tray is big enough) bananas in a star pattern from the center pineapple. They should be like spokes on a wheel. Then cut up fruit and place between the bananas.
To cut the rest of the pineapple, cut it into quarters and the then cut out the middle section. Cut the quarters in 1/2 in wedges. You can leave the skin on. People can eat down to the skin and just throw it away.
Cut up cantalope, honeydew and you can always throw in grapes or strawberries, etc. Just place each sliced up fruit between the spokes of the banana.
Oh! The cantalope and honeydew are cut like the pineapple. Just quarter it, cut out the middle and then thin slices. It is SUPER fast to do.
And if you don't have a big tray, you can always just cover cardboard with a plastic table cloth or something like that.
Make sure a trash can is near the food and lots of napkins.
Posted by xuli on 2005-03-23 13:25:06
Post Subject:
Wow -- thanks everyone. Great ideas!
MRSM103 -- The poem sounds really cool; actually, the friend of mine who is getting married did something very similar for her dad's marriage to her stepmom, and it hangs on their wall still (10+ years later) and is really, really beautiful.
Athos & Brdgt -- What's Cead Mile Failte? (I have no Irish heritage, but both my friend and her future husband do, and are into the Irish heritage stuff, so I've thought about something related to that since Irish crafts generally are so beautiful ... the only problem is that because I don't have that heritage myself, I know very little about it, other than liking St. Patty's Day for green beer and going "oooh, that Celtic thing is purty". Though I was thinking of going through the Book of Kells for ideas.)
Katrin -- The doll idea is super cool! I've been thinking for a long time about modifying the "Knit Your Own Rock Star" pattern in SNBN for various things, that might be a start.
Pudding -- Ha! I guess it would have been an obvious place to start by saying what crafts I feel I'm good at, huh? I'm best at knitting/crocheting, but I can sew a straight seam and feel comfortable with embroidery or cross stitch (haven't done in in years and years, but I did it a lot as a young child and I figure if I could pick it up quickly when I was 8 I could probably do it well now). I'm also good at collage-y stuff, I make kick-ass mix tapes/CDs, etc.
