My little fairies

I had a hankering for some cross stitch this weekend and began excavating from my trove of unfinished stitching projects. I enjoy doing cross stitch, but I have never had any use for a finished project... they're always a little too country kitsch for my decorating aesthetic, if such a thing exists.

Nonetheless, I am totally smitten with these little Flower Fairy kits. I first found them at John Lewis in London six years ago and since then have completed five, with one more in production (the last one of the pictures does not have all of the outlining done) and two in the wings. They keep releasing new designs and I keep collecting them (my source is www.sewandso.co.uk since I no longer live close to the beloved John Lewis). I just noticed some new designs which I had to have, so I'd better get cracking on finishing my current stash!

Click on the pictures to see more detail.

Now, I'm not a "fairy" person - I had little interest in them as a child and never read the popular Flower Fairy books. But I love the colors, size (about 5"x7") and detail in these and also just the idea of them - they are so sweet! I have no idea what I'll ever do with them. I think they'd look cute framed in a little girl's room or maybe assembled into a quilt (which no one would be allowed to touch, ever). Until then, they will continue living undisturbed in my closet.

Who's got the best mom and dad?

I do I do!

As I've mentioned, I want to make the Hop Skip Jump quilt from Denyse Schmidt's book with my palette of adorable pink prints. I love the projects in this book, but I have come to hate the fact that one must enlarge the patterns 400% in order to make said patterns. One would think this is a straightforward task, accomplished with ease by anyone with a photocopier or certainly by the experts in the local copy shop. Au contraire... apparently a degree in rocket science and advanced training in the ways of the copier are required.

After many false starts at my office copier, I surrendered to our local copy shop, where the guy told me that he could only enlarge the pattern 212% (unhelpful, thanks) and then that he could enlarge 400% but it would be spread across 4 pieces of paper. That seemed fine; I could deal with cutting and assembling the pieces, if only it was possible to know how much of one piece overlapped with the next! After splurging $1 on this enterprise, I abandoned the plan.

Dad to the rescue! Lucky for me, my dad runs a sign business and therefore has a huge 40-inch-plus printer. I scanned the pattern page, emailed it to him and he blew it up to 400% perfection (foot included for scale). Hurray! Now I just have to cut the pattern pieces and the fabric, a task which I've been meaning to do for two weeks now. Maybe this weekend will be the one...

My mom delivered my pattern sheet to me when she came to lunch last week. And look what else she brought! The cutest little post-it note holder I ever did see. Those are knitting needles and yarn embroidered on the front.

Best of all: it's refillable. This is a big thing for me - as a child I never wanted to use up my crafty stuff. This was particularly true with crayons - I only used them until the tips started to get dull. Why this was the case is beyond me - my parents were never ones to deprive me of creative supplies. However, as a result, I have a number of untouched Crayola boxes in my possession, plus countless Hello Kitty stickers, colored pencils, heart- and pony-covered stationary and various other treasured bits of childhood that will hopefully be enjoyed by my future offspring at some point. One day, though, I will show you the trove of glass beads and embroidery floss I unearthed the last time I was home, which I'm now mighty glad I hoarded those many years ago!

Paint a pot

A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I decided to go for brunch and to a paint-a-pot place in the City. I am a big fan of paint a pot - it's like being back in the craft shed at camp (I am a former arts and crafts counselor). However, before going to paint a pot in New York City one must mortgage one's house and pawn the family jewels. Now I understand there's rent to pay and profits to reap, but please people.

First there is the cost of the actual item. Usually I blink more than a few times before plunking down $14.99 for a mug, much less one that needs glazing before I can even drink out of it without toxic repercussions. After selecting the least offensively expensive item in the store, one flags down the store attendant who aimlessly wanders to the table and proceeds to ramble an incomprehensible list of rules and regulations regarding use of glaze, which colors absolutely cannot touch, which colors are hidden in the back and which colors will cause lead poisoning. Funtimes! She then inscribes your name on the bottom of your $3,000 unpainted item and disappears.

Now these ladies have special "underglaze" pencils that write like a pencil and will not burn off in the kiln. I am a big fan of using these to do cute drawings on the piece and then using minimal color to highlight. However at this outing, the woman informed me that the pencils were "really really expensive" and therefore I was not permitted to use one. I reminded her that this mug and the entire activity was "really really expensive" and shouldn't the cost of a few scribbles with her precious pencil be included? But no.*

The dirty little secret with NYC paint a pot is that you pay a fee per half hour! Please note that at least that much time elapses while the shopkeepers wander around searching for hidden glazes and marking your initials on things. So, by the time you get started you are exasperated and settle on painting the whole thing like Rainbow Brite just to get glaze to ceramic and get out of there for less than fifty bucks.

All of that said, we did have a fun time and I am very pleased with my mug! In the end I didn't wind up using the coveted underglaze pencil and instead stuck to the fine-tipped glaze bottles. It's always tempting to overdo things at paint a pot, but I think I kept with my design sensibilities, if only because it's not in day-glo colors.

As for knitting, I'm so close to done on both the mitten and Boy's socks!!! Note that this picture of the mittens does a good job of showing the benefits of a good bath for fair isle. Look how lumpy the one on the left is!

Finished projects mean new projects! First on the sewing agenda is a double-pointed needle case like the one featured at dogged knits. As for knitting, I have been eyeing Rambling Rose over at Woolflowers. I have a big pile of unloved gray Karabella Aurora 8 that needs a home...

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* Note: The woman proceeded to abandon said pencil on the table and completely forget about it, so we all got our money's worth.