His and Hers with Dasies and Ric Rac

I did this adorable His and Hers set from a free pattern I found on Needlecrafter.com.
Thanks Needlecrafter!
I just loved these, although they looked a bit plain when I finished the stitches, so I added the dark green ric-rac.The great, strong colors of thread used:
DMC green #936
DMC red #355
DMC yellow #728

Stars and Diamonds

This is another set I did sort of without a pattern. In my head it would look something like this vintage pattern I saw on flickr. Didn't really turn out like that in the end. They are okay, but I was never very happy with them. It just looked too skimpy, like it needed more substance, more stitches, heavier lines, something... more.Oh, well. Didn't really matter. Grandma Gloria knew exactly which set she wanted: this set. I think it is mostly because I was working on this set for several weeks during her cardiac rehab therapy. Either that or she just likes that the peach matches her bedroom.

Grandma Gloria has always favored strong, bold colors in her decorating. Remind me to tell you all about her house someday. Maybe I'll even take pictures. You're just going to love her retina-burning-yellow bathroom.Thread used:
DMC dark peach #352
DMC light peach #353
DMC dark teal #3809
DMC medium teal #597

Happy Tax Day!

Does anyone else feel beaten, bruised, and battered?


Oli and I spent the afternoon running from one bank, to another, then back to the first bank to use their atm to deposit cash to a third bank. All in the name of Real Estate Taxes.


Top that off with some errands. Fuel for the car, snack at Panera, price comparison at Boscov's where I got this adorable top for half price, the grocery store, then home.



I asked Oli if he wanted to take a WALK to pay the taxes. He said yes, and ran right for the door, but phone distracted me, so he very impatiently waited by the door. When we got to the tax collector's house, she said we could both come in, but Oliver wasn't exactly on his best behaviour, so we won't be doing that again next year. Way to embarrass momma, Oli.

Neat Rows of Stitches in Blues

This was the first set that I did with no pattern. I just picked some pretty blue colors and drew six lines across the front of each pillowcase, 1/2 inch apart. Then I marked each line with measured dots so that my stitches would be consistent. I just made it up as I went along. When they were done, I thought it looked like maybe I could have placed each row a bit closer together, or added another one or two rows. But I needed to move on, and everyone said they thought it looked finished, so I just went with it.


My step-mother Kathy didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the pattern, either. She snatched this set right up from the basket at Christmas. She said that she liked that they weren't all flowery and girly.

The thread I used:
DMC varigated blue #121
And three other blues I forgot to write down. Oops.

Passion Flower in Vibrant Colors

As I mentioned in the last post, I liked the Passion Flower pattern from Bucilla so much that I copied it onto another set of pillowcases for my massive Christmas gift project. One good thing about this pattern is that it stitches up very quickly.

This time, I used thread colors a bit closer to the pattern's recommendations. Unfortunately, I forgot to write them down.

My cousin Nikki picked this set from the basket at Christmas. She was really pleased, saying the purple matched something in her bedroom. They seem like her to me. Really simple, with clean, modern lines, but still a bit girly, 'cause they are flowers.