Halloween 2020

 Have you read any of The Princess in Black books by Shannon Hale?

If you haven't, I cannot recommend them highly enough. While they are technically aimed at elementary-aged readers, they are great books for everyone. (I started reading them before I even had kids.)

For Halloween (in 2020, yep, that long ago), Jo really wanted to be the Princess in Black, so it was only natural to dress Micah as her fellow superhero, the Goat Avenger!

Jo's costume consisted of: 

- black rain boots, black leggings, and black gloves (already had)

- black skirt (bought for the occasion)

- black shirt (bought for this, then painted with the magnolia flower)

- a black cape (I was going to make one, but then Dollar Tree had them and that's way easier)

- a black mask (I sewed hers from 2 layers of felt and a strip of elastic)

- and a sparkly tiara (found one on Amazon for $5, the Dollar Tree ones seem to be meant for doll heads).

Micah's costume was actually more complicated, although the result is still simplified from the Goat Avenger's costume in the books. I chose a yellow shirt and jeans that he already had, and just had him wear his sneakers instead of boots (his current rain boots have cherries on them). We skipped the suspenders, gloves, and staff. And the rest I made.

The mask is from the same basic pattern as Jo's (a pattern I made by drawing a rough shape on paper, pressing it on Jo's face, then making changes, pressing it to her face again, etc. until she was sick of it.) just in brown.

Rather than sew in burlap, I chose a basic brown knit for the rest of the accessories. The cape is very basic - I just traced Jo's. The belt - which is not super visible in any of these pictures - is just a doubled over strip of the same brown knit, with little cow bells (goat bells, really) stitched to it - fastened with hook-and-loop. It was super adorable for that night, and was immediately hidden the next day because that's annoying.

His hat was the hardest part and definitely the part I'm proudest of. I had to find a way to insert both goat ears and horns, and while Micah's goat ears stick out sideways more than the Goat Avenger's, I still think it looks pretty cute.

Jo's ninja moves are so fast they're just a blur.

"BEHAVE, BEAST!"

Love and Goats,

LeahJoy

Christmas 2021

Season's Greetings! (Not sure which season, but sure.)

I recently shared our family ornament from 2020, and here's the one we made for 2021:

Jo and Micah both got really involved in helping with this one. I cut the wire and counted out the correct number of wooden beads, and they both strung all the beads on. Then I shaped them into wreaths and the kids did most of the painting. Once everything dried, Jo helped with the ribbons, cutting the ends where they were too long. It's fun to see them be able to be more involved as they get older.

Micah is obsessed with Star Wars this year. He has now seen some of the Lego Star Wars cartoons, but he was obsessed when all he had was the Star Wars Block book. He absolutely loves BB-8, or, as he calls him, Baby 8. I commissioned Caleb's sister to crochet one from a cute pattern we found, and it turned out fabulous - only at least 8" tall - a bit too big for a tree ornament! But perfect for a stuffed "animal". Micah loves to carry around his "ornament Baby-8" and love on him. And I stitched this up in a couple days to serve as his actual tree ornament from the year:

Pattern by BrunoBearCrossStitch

I am particularly proud of Jo's ornament this year. She has been into fairies and magic all year, so making a little fairy made sense. I found some reference images on Pinterest/Etsy, but didn't love any of them as they were - bits and pieces of them needed to be mixed together. (See: idea 1, idea 2, idea 3)

I had a craft weekend event at church, and just brought most of my craft supplies - embroidery floss, pipe cleaners, ribbon, hot glue, glitter, etc. I also had purchased several fake flowers from the dollar store just for this project - the blue petals with the darker edges came that way, which was super nice! From Hobby Lobby, I had purchased a set of wood doll pins and these amazing wings (they really make the project that much better!).

I took several hours to make this, just playing around, and I am so happy with how she turned out! My sister made the fairy wand, which completes her perfectly!

Love and Glitter,

Leah Joy

Quarantine Hobby #2: Cross-Stitch

 When I started to realize quarantine was going to last 'a bit' longer than 2 weeks, I decided to try my hand at cross-stitching. Turns out, I love it. Most people seem to find coloring soothing and relaxing, but it just stresses me out. (Are my marker lines straight? Does this look right? Is this the right color?) My hand ends up clenched around my marker while my shoulders are hunched over so I can focus even harder. Not very relaxing. Cross-stitch is to me what I imagine coloring is to, well, normal people.

Today I'm going to blast you with pictures of the projects I've made since I started (not all of them) because this is my blog and I can. You don't have to look.

I began with several kits from Hobby Lobby, but once I decided that yes, this is the hobby for me, I began purchasing digital patterns from Etsy. This was my first Etsy pattern. (All links to patterns/shops under each picture.)

Pattern by JackTheStitcher

This next one was a Christmas gift for my sister. I chose a blue/teal/green color scheme instead of the original because it fits her taste better.

Pattern by AlitonEmbroidery

This was a gift for my mom. I didn't want to buy new floss, and the colors in the original pattern were a little more fluorescent that my mom prefers, but I think I went too dark. She says she loves it, but then again, she's my mom - what else is she going to say?

Pattern by AlitonEmbroidery

I also decided to give blackwork a try. Blackwork is cross-stitch's fancy cousin, and turns out, I also love blackwork! This was a gift for my sister-in-law. I used DMC 121 - Delft blue variegated floss, avoiding the extremely pale sections of floss.

Pattern by PeppermintPurple

This one was a gift for a Lord of the Rings loving friend. I actually bought all the colors recommended in the pattern for this one, because it was about 20 different shades of green, and I didn't know if I'd get the subtle changes right trying to pick them out myself.

Pattern by AvocadoStitchery

This next one was just for me! I loved doing blackwork so much, I decided to try another pattern from Peppermint Purple.

Pattern by PeppermintPurple

This was a gift for a friend who loves F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Wreath pattern (free) - text is self-drafted

This is another Peppermint Purple blackwork pattern I made just for me. (I'm thinking of a blackwork gallery wall somewhere in my house.)

Pattern by PeppermintPurple

This next one was for my mom and is certainly the most complicated (and maybe also the coolest).

Before backstitching (outlining)

After backstitching

Pattern from MaddisonPatterns

For my sloth-loving friend:

Pattern by StitchingLand

I really need to start remembering to take pictures after I've ironed and framed the projects. Here's another one with my hoop creases all over it. :) This was a gift for my sister-in-law.

Pattern by StitchingLand

For a friend, but I might need to make one for myself, too. :)

Pattern by AlitonEmbroidery

And finally, this beautiful set of blackwork teacups for my sister. (The original pattern had steam coming off the top, but I left that out.)

Pattern by PeppermintPurple

Well, that's certainly not all the projects I've made, but probably just over half. (I forgot to take pictures of the rest!) I really really love cross-stitching - and finding cool patterns on Etsy, although I currently have about 12 I've purchased that I still have to make, so....

Love and Blackwork,

LeahJoy

P.S. Bonus project - not specifically cross-stitch, but cross-stitch's other cousin, chain stitching - I made this pillow for my friends who love Downton Abbey. This is their favorite quote and they said they really wanted a pillow with this quote on it, but for some reason, the Downton Abbey merchandising department didn't want to put this quote on anything.

Self-drafted pattern