Sunday, March 30, 2008

My Wee Bird Scissor Fob

I have a new "first" to share - my first scissor fob. I love this little bird - I think of him as my bluebird of happiness. His finishing was not without drama. It was really hard to pick up the backstitches in an even way, and his edges don't bear close scrutiny. And the floss I was using for the edges broke on two corners while I was going around. Is floss the best thing to use? It was a double strand but didn't seem that strong. I have seen perle cotton mentioned but am not sure if I should use this, or if so, what size. Any advice?

Freebie (no longer available)

Now for my next project (Gingerbread Cottage is still poking along but I'm trying to spice up my stitching with other things too). I'm going to attempt my first needleroll for the Monthly Finishing Challenge. I found a chart I like and bought the floss today at A.C. Moore after church (I also bought one of those Olfa cutting mats with a 50% off coupon -I needed it, right?) There are some good instructions for how to make them on Focus on Finishing, but one thing I'm not sure of is how much material to leave at the edges of the design. I know I have to have enough to make the French seam down the side but I'm not sure if there is a standard. Does anyone have some tips? Thank goodness for this community of more experienced stitchers - who knows where I'd be without you?

Note to self: now that you are a member of the Monthly Finishing Challenge blog, remember that your own blog is listed second on the Blogger dashboard, not first. Do not publish your personal blog posts to a group blog!

12 comments:

staci said...

Darling fob Michele, I think it looks wonderful~good job!

I haven't made a needleroll either, so guess we'll both see how that goes!

Kim B said...

I once posted a personal entry on the MFC blog too. oops :)

Your fob looks great! I'm curious to see what people say about your pearle question and your needle roll question.

Rachel V said...

Michele, I love your scissor fob! Such a sweet and cheerful birdie and a beautiful color blue. Congratulations on a very nice finish!

Michele said...

very cute fob! thanks for the link to it .. think he would look cute in red too :) lol

lena-lou said...

What a cute little fob :)

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

I hate needlerolls! LOL! But I'm a member of the blog so I guess that I'm going to have to do it...
You're right Anne's tutorial is DIVINE!

Jennifer said...

I love that little birdie. I might have to make one for myself!

Sharon said...

Your fob is so cute! Great job!

Linen Stitcher said...

Michele, your finish is adorable! Nicely done!! As for advice, I'm afraid I'll defer to the finishing experts on this one, since most of my projects seem to stall out somewhere between the end-of-the-stitching stage and the finish-finishing stage. I must say that I can see how two strands of floss might not be strong enough, though. Using more strands or using pearl/perle cotton seems reasonable to this decidely non-expert finisher, for what it's worth.

Sally said...

What a cute little fob Michele! You did a fantastic job!

Kathy said...

Very nice job on your fob. I don't usually do that kind of finishing so don't have too much advice on the stitching together of the fob. My thought would be to use sewing thread in a color the matches what you want to do. It is definitely stronger than floss. Perle cotton might be too big.

Tanya Willis Anderson said...

The fob turned out so sweet!!!

Tanya