Completed Cross Stitch - Rose Calton's "Pig Pals" for Leisure Arts

Are pigs really that big of a deal around here?  Like with March 1st coming up and being National Pig Day (USA midwest) and all....

While I think about March 1st and why it has been declared a National Pig Day, I will have to piggyback this idea off of another while I put my pigs in a blanket in the oven.

I wonder if my friend will like his birthday present of "101 Manly Uses for Bacon"? I put his present down next to my books of George Orwell's Animal Farm, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web and "The Three Little Pigs"to wrap up and send to him a little later.

As I sit at the kitchen table and sip my coffee, I watch the neighbour's boys toss around the pigskin for a while. Then I go into the other room and turn on the TV for a bit and see all of Jerry Springer's guests hurl pig-phrased obscenities at each other for about a minute (which is all I can stand).

Maybe I should clean up the house so it doesn't look like a pig sty even though I'd be happier than a pig in sh*t if I didn't and just sat around and ate like a pig though.  Ah, so what if I become fat as a pig?  Later, I'll just become a guinea pig and try a new diet next month or something.

What's that loud noise outside?  Oh, it's just someone on their HOG driving by, I guess that person is living pretty high off the hog if they can afford a motorcycle like a Harley Davidson. Meh, hogwash, those motorcycles aren't that expensive I guess.

My friend 'so-and-so' is calling me and she tells me about squealing on her friend at school while she confesses that it's all really just hog slop.  She says she has to go because she has to play a DVD for her kid about Winnie the Pooh and his pal Piglet. We finish talking and after the baking is done I decide to go hog wild and buy up a lot of left over chocolate from Valentine's Day.  I changed into my Miss Piggy/Muppets sweater then put my hair up into pigtails and got into the car.

While I'm driving to the store, I start to think about "This little piggy went to market..."  I'm sitting at the light and I look over and see another car's passenger hamming it up by telling some animated story to her driver.  I drive past a billboard promoting the movie Babe with the phrase in bold letters "That'll do pig, that'll do."

After shopping, I'm waiting in line and take out my cell to watch some old Looney Tunes cartoons with Porky Pig.  And of course, like a pig in a poke I give in to a few temptations of buying some magazines without really flipping through them first. As I leave the store I thought about that outfit I saw but thought if I bought it, it would make me look like I was making a silk purse out of a sow's ear because it wasn't my style.

As I'm driving home, there is a lot of traffic because of the usual road hogs and I wanted to change into another lane but the other driver wouldn't let me in and let me know it by yelling out "in a pig's eye!"

Once home, I put my spare change in my piggy bank and see my boyfriend is completely hogging the couch because he has a touch of the swine flu and is tired from bringing home the bacon.  I'm wearing a sweater that is too hot so I'm sweating like a pig and take it off and after sitting down I realize that I just cannot figure out why March 1st is National Pig Day.  Maybe when pigs fly it will come to me.

Completed Cross Stitch - Barbara Baatz Hillman's "Hummingbird Banquet"

 

A-ha!  Searching has finally paid off in locating the proper name of this design and designer.  Never give up I say.  Nev---ahhh!

So after this yet another awesome "search and successful" pattern name find, I got to thinking about a couple of things about what makes us who we are. 

Do you ever wonder sometimes (in theory) if you had a previous life or who you might be related to based on your own likes, skills and dislikes? 

If not, then maybe do you ever wonder if you were adopted because you may be extremely different than your parents?  For example, the way my parents think vs. the way I think sometimes I wonder...was I switched at birth?

Well, for me, since giving it some thought today I wonder if I was Miss Marple's and Sherlock Holmes' theoretical 'love child' secretly adopted by Philip Marlowe.  Because since I love to investigate, analyze, search and search again, check for correctness, have drive and determination and above all, curiosity, here we are.  So, who's (I'm curious now!)...who's adopted 'love child' would you be?  :-)

So, just a few brief words about this pattern.  The colours are so bright and I love the little details.  What first attracted me to this picture was the water droplets, then hummingbird then flower.  At the time I found the pattern, I was in awe over the realism.  This design is at least 10 years old and still looks great. 

From memory, I believe this is a 28-count evenweave and if I were to do it all over again, I would have dabbled in a light-blue dyed background to emulate the sky.

Completed Cross Stitch - Linda K. Powell's "Live Each Day with a Happy Heart"

 

 

This is a very old pattern that I found through eBay that was originally published in the '80s.

Do I mind admitting that I have the hugest crush on Linda K. Powell's artwork? No, not at all. But I am very sad that such a wonderful animal artist died at such a young age. Not fair!

I hope you enjoy this completed work and look up Linda's artwork (and yes, dyed this fabric myself too).

Please click on the picture for a close up.

Completed Cross Stitch - Dragon with wings and crystal ball

I own the world's smallest dragon and here he is in cross stitch.

I think this design is about 2" in width. I'm guessing though..

Found this one out of a magazine too.

Completed Cross Stitch - Just Nan's "Mermaid Heart"

 

Please click on the above picture for a close up.

 

This particular finish needed a couple of photos to show off the detail.  I did not dye this fabric, if memory serves me correctly, this is PTP Davinci. After buying it, I held on to it hoping that I will find a project that will suit it....and here it is.

The colours are bright enough to stand out on the darker fabric and although you can't see it in the picture, there are rhinestones around the inner square (this comes in the bead kit).

The easy part about working on this cross stitch is that since the pattern is mirrored you don't always have to look at the pattern, you can look at the work already stitched on one side and do the same thing on the other.

 

Completed Cross Stitch - Stoney Creek's "Cat and Pumpkins"

 

A cute Halloween design from Stoney Creek I finished over about 1 1/2 evenings.

Also, I hand-dyed the fabric myself long before I decided on this pattern and I think it worked out well despite that I obviously didn't mix the RIT dye long enough..hahah

Completed Cross Stitch - Carolyn Shore Wright's "Promises Wreath" for Design Works

This is my very first cross stitch that I ever completed it. I started it when I was in my late teens and I don't remember when I finished it or how long it took. 

I am thrilled to have located the original artist's name who designed the original artwork.  The artist's name is Carolyn Shores Wright.  After finding this artist and reviewing her other artwork, all I can say is wow!  What awesome art!

Completed Cross Stitch - Bunny - "Think Spring"

 

Found this pattern in a magazine and thought it was very cute and simple. Sometime after I finished this project, I found a stuffed animal bunny rabbit that matched the picture perfectly. Was I looking for a stuffed animal to match the picture? Um..no but I have the stuffed animal always near the picture and probably wouldn't like this "Think Spring" half as much without it though...funny how things work out huh?