Floral Pillows for Christmas

I spent the past few days making pretty flower sofa cushions for my mother and mother in law...

I used Painted Roses by Cherry Heart Designs, and made a nine patch that fits a 14" firm pillow form.  I added borders to each from Edie Eckman's  Around the Corner Crochet Borders book.  The pillow on the left uses border 69, while the pillow on the right uses border 33.

Both pillows are made with Stylecraft Special DK yarn.  On the left I used Parchment as the main/background color.  On the right I used Stone.

Between the two pillows I used scaps of White, Turquoise, Denim, Shrimp, Pomegranate, Lipstick, Saffron, Cloud Blue, Bluebell, Gold, Fuschia Purple, Apricot, Pale Rose, Raspberry, Spice, Claret, Burgundy, Silver, Clematis, Magenta, Sherbet, Boysenberry, Lobelia, Wisteria, Violet, Lavender, Duck Egg, Storm Blue, Petrol and Parma Violet.

For the Parchment pillow, I used Pistachio and Cypress for the leaves,  while I used Pistachio and Meadow for the leaves on the Stone pillow.  I used Mocha for the square joining for both pillows.

The back of each pillow is a colorful granny incorporating colors used in the flower motifs.  I added one round of half double crochet granny stitch on each side before joining the back to front.  This helped me easily reach the required 14" and not distort my work.  As a happy coincidence, I think it looks very delicate too.

Now to make one for myself after all holiday crafting is finished ;-)

Welcome Amelia Bedelia!!

Welcome Miss Amelia!! We had an early arrival on December 1st. My beautiful niece and her sweetie are the proud parents of little Amelia. I could not be prouder! Amelia is the recipient of the baby blanket in my last post.

Ho Ho Ho!!

I recently stitched this ornament for a friend who loves samplers, especially reproduction samplers.  I thought the deer on this one suited the theme, so it was an easy choice.  The chart is in a relatively recent issue of Cross Stitch &  Needlework, which I tucked away when my work was complete.  Now I have no idea where I put it.  No idea who the designer is.

This cutie is for a dear friend. I know she likes The Little Stitcher. Choosing Blue Snowman in the 2016 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue was easy.

It was very fun to stitch Lizzie Kate's Dash Away for another friend... complete with table centerpiece from my office waiting room as the photo backdrop ;-)

This little holiday robin is a freebie I found on Pinterest. I think the designer's name may be Alioka?? She is in Itay, I may recall. Her blog is having issues and finding the chart link has been difficult to date....

And lastly, a good friend just celebrated a birthday... for her I crocheted Corner Hearts Cushion in Crochet Now, Issue 9. The reverse of the pillow is all in cream. I chose to use leftover yarns from my Vibrant Vintage Blanket, along with one other color in my stash. The cream hearts are James C. Brett Top Value DK (almost a full ball, not a leftover yarn), while the colors are Stylecraft Special DK in Raspberry, Turquoise, Cypress (not used in the VV blanket), Denim, Wisteria, Aster, Fondant, Aspen, Clematis, Bluebell, Teal, Spring Green, Plum, Pomegranate and Magenta. Hope she enjoys using it in her stitching chair ;-)