Kitchen towels for Mother and a cross stitch update

How to break this down? I thought that I could do 1 post per day but I don't think that I am patient enough to wait all 7 days for them all... So I think that I will cover it all here in this post, huge as it will be.
My dear Mother never asks for any sort of stitchy items, she always remarks on what I show her and she is always interested in hearing about my most current projects. When I did the chickens for my neighbor I caught the strong vibe from her that she would like her own set of towels. After searching through my collection of patterns via my computer, I found what I felt to be the perfect set for her. Day of the week flowers, and I set about getting them all stitched up one by one.
I honestly do not know whom the maker of the patterns are, I had to enlarge them prior to printing them, after I printed I found that the lines were not very sharp at all due to my enlargement so I went over them in black fine felt tip to get a nice crisp pattern from them. I don't use a fabric pencil for my tracing, I rig up a sort of poor-woman's light box to trace them onto my fabric using a standard #2 pencil a glass coffee table and an old desk lamp that is bendy and that I can face upward towards the glass. I think that when I have a chance I will scan my patterns into the computer and post them here so that they can be shared, I would normally reference where I located them but honestly I can't remember what blog/web site I pulled them from.
Onto the stitchery... let the insanity begin.

Starting with Saturday as it is Saturday today... still.




I think that I'm in love with how Sunday turned out.





Monday looking lovely.





Tuesday is another of my favorites.






Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday. I think it's the floss I chose for the writing but I just could not find a variegated floss color that looked right.





Thursday, I may do some bookmarks with this design I got quite a few compliments on the colors that I used for it.





Friday is so bright and cheery to finish out the week.





Here they all are ready to be given to my Mother.


She loved them, she even had tears in her eyes and told me that Grandma Lefa would be very pleased to see the hard work and would not know what to say. But that they reminded her more of what my Grandma Lois would have stitched up... it means so much to me to hear that, Grandma Lois taught me to embroider when I was around 7 or 8. I often think of her when I embroider and thought of her very much during the stitching of these towels. Here is the ugly truth though... My mother doesn't want to use them, afraid to ruin them! And to share another tid-bit... the chickens I made for my neighbor... she won't use her's either!
After all that work, I just feel a bit sad to think of them laying in a drawer for years not really being enjoyed. I'm proud to have made items for people that hold their gift in such high regard but I think that they are more honored in usage. I know that they are pretty and mom used the words keep-sake. But really, I made them to be enjoyed, touched and used.
I have a set of towels that I made for my kitchen and I use them all of the time... they make me smile and add a little personality to my kitchen.
They live here if you wish to see all 6 just view the embroidery set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrs_kitty/2915157399/in/set-72157607898983071/

*sigh*

How about a cross stitch update...?



Keep stitching my stitchy peeps! I know I will!

I'm sure I can learn a few more... Crafts

Long ago when I was more than a little young my Grandma had tried to teach me to Crochet, I'm not sure if I was just not patient enough or if I just didn't want to learn but I was never able to quite get the concept. Started a couple pot holders but never finished anything I started, and really never started much of anything.

Jump into the recent past... after my former department transferred to new management I met a lady that would turn out to be a wonderful friend.. well, more than one person turned into a friend but this lady knows how to crochet and did it in her spare time at work. We would sit in our cubicles her crocheting and I embroidering. Anyways we agreed that I needed to learn how to Crochet and so began my revived effort.

The very first try I ended up pulling all apart. It was wonky in every way, starting wide and getting narrow and then wide again then narrow (the second try did too... see below) but as I had intended it to be a snowman scarf I decided that I didn't care. The yarn was too rough to be used for anything very nice and the only stitch that I have learned so far is the double Crochet.



I used the entire Package of yarn on it, so it is long and wonky.


I chose a much prettier yarn for my scarf that I intend to wear and enjoy, I also used the entire package of yarn on it. My second try turned out nicer, much less wonky and very soft.







My sweet son has chosen rainbow yarn for his scarf, I'm poking along on his and I think it should be done by the time he needs it for fall. I'm going to make his much shorter as he is only almost 8. (Starts 2nd grade tomorrow!)



In Other News...

Sadly my Garden was a failure this year. Nothing wanted to grow and we just didn't try very hard to make it work. I did however get lovely rhubarb again, it was growing here when we moved into the house and I just love having it. Not everyone likes rhubarb but I find it tart and tasty. It always reminds me of my Grandma Lefa. I use her recipe to make mine every year. This year I'm making 2 more, one to bake and one to freeze for Chistmas. I'll take it out of the freezer and pop it into the oven... I will let you all know how that works out come December.



What would summer be without Shortcake?


And Finally....

I bet you thought I forgot all about my stitching... Nope not yet. I have finished my Mother's gift and just need to photograph and present to her, so watch for those posts. More recently I started a cross stitch, I don't cross stitch often but I find that the neat squares in their proper order is relaxing to me, soothing in a chaotic world. I purchased this kit a while back and had tucked it away in my crafting supplies earmarked ad "rainy day project" My son loves Harry Potter and we agreed that the Wizard reminds us of Prof. Dumbledore with Harry's owl flying along. It's not really but I don't think it matters. I'll stitch it up and frame it for his room.



Progress shot so far.



Happy stitching to one and all!