I’ve been waiting a long time to make this card. It is the last one from the Splendid Sampler book but it had to go to a grandchild and it seemed more suited to a granddaughter. But because there was a lot of embroidery on the pattern I shied away from it. But when the reminder of Taylor’s birthday came up it was time to get at it.

I decided that rather than do some of the embroidery I would do appliqué instead. My appliqué skills aren’t that much better than my embroidery but I thought I had a better chance of getting it right. I found enough of Taylor’s favourite fabric for the backing.

I even found some tiny buttons to add to the jar!

January 4, 2020

I have tried my hand at embroidery once or twice and some of the projects have turned out. I do better if I’m working on a larger canvas and right from the start I knew this was going to be difficult. But after doing a bit of embroidery on another card and not doing so well I knew this one would be impossible.

So, in the spirit that a pattern is just a guideline, I used my gel pens to do the embroidery!

Saturday, December 26, 2020

I was prepared with my cards this year because I started them in October. I made 32 cards and thought I’d have some left to use around the house and as a reminder of the patterns I made. Aren’t I lucky that I have 32 friends!

I started with four different quilt block patterns. Rather than do the embroidery or appliqué in the centre of each I picked a simple cross stitch pattern to use.

I’ve already got my patterns picked out for next year.

December 19, 2020

I’m not sure it is a compliment to say that a man has a Figure 8 figure but that’s all I’ve got. The last time I saw Dave (and it was a year ago with probably another year to go before I see him again) he was looking very slim and trim.

I wasn’t pleased with the way this card went together. There was a lot of reverse stitching in the very early stages. When I downloaded the photo I wanted to take it back and start again but it was already wrapped and ready for the mail.