Wizard of Oz Finished

Primitive Wizard of Oz
Midsummer Night Designs
Antique Ivory Belfast Linen
Crescent Colors and DMC Threads

With mixed feelings I put the final stitches into this last night. This has been such a fun project and I'm going to miss it a lot. Each little character has a neat little touch; the witch with her green skin,, the scarecrow with his straw stuffing escaping, the Flying Monkey standing between the F and the M - I can't wait to give it to my mom for her birthday once it's framed.

Yesterday I had some coffee left over in the pot, and I decided to do a test run of coffee dyeing on a little piece of fabric. I looked at Staci's tutorial and Vonna's basting and baking method. With these two wonderful ladies holding my hand, this is what I came up with:

Next time I'll use a bigger piece of linen now that I've gotten my feet wet, and maybe let it soak a little longer. But for a first try, I'm happy. Now I have to figure out what to stitch on it!

Following the Yellow Brick Road

My goodness, it's been a long time since I posted! I'd like to say it's because I was off doing something stupendous, but alas, it was just the holidays and limited stitching that kept me from having much to say. But I promised Michele that I'd put up a progress picture of Midsummer Night Designs' Primitive Wizard of Oz, which we are both working on. I'm heading into the home stretch now, with just a few more motifs and a few details to go. This has been such a fun stitch! It's so clever - notice how each motif is near the first letter of its name - G for Glinda, O for Oz, W for both Wizard and Witch, etc. Like Michele I love the Golden Star thread (and thank heavens my border matched up right). I wasn't careful when I read the directions - it's supposed to be stitched 1 over 2, but I started off using two strands of floss and continued that way. It makes the colors quite vivid so I think it's okay. I'll definitely miss this one when it's over.

I'm stitching this for my mom, who has been a Wizard of Oz fan since she was a child. When I was young, it was only on TV once a year - what an event that was! We'd all gather round the black and white screen - it was a revelation to see Oz in color years later. Guess I'm dating myself bigtime. I have a DVD of the first season of Lost in Space, a favorite show of mine early on, and it's all in black and white, which my son watches with disbelief. The other big TV event from my childhood was Peter Pan with Mary Martin, also an annual event. I was always so intrigued by a woman playing a boy - it was a cause for endless fascination. Ah, memories...

Anyway, since I'm making this for my mom's birthday, while I was visiting my parents over Christmas I had to have something else to stitch so she wouldn't see it. I picked up an issue of The World of Cross Stitching, which had a bunch of holiday motifs by Joan Elliott. This one caught my fancy - it was an enjoyable quick project. Which leads me to a question - I'd like to fringe the edges and mount it on felt to make an ornament. How do I affix the stitched piece to the felt without using glue, which I'm afraid will show through the linen when it's dry? Is there some technique I should be using? I'd appreciate any suggestions.