Thinking ahead

July is almost over and I've been working on finishing up a Christmas gift for my mom. Now, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think she'll love it.
I would like to think the reason I was able to have such a good relationship with my mom while growing up was our mutual love of horror movies. Specifically those of the zombie genre. At a time where most teens would do anything and everything to stay away from their parents, I was spending time with my mom analyzing the social commentary in Romero's zombie pics. It made sense that I try to capture that bond in ornament form for my zombie loving, ornament collecting mom. That is when the idea of a decapitated zombie hand holding mistletoe came to mind.

I began by sketching out my idea, using my own non-decapitated hand for a model, researching what mistletoe looked like, improving the rest. I finished the outline in January, but put it aside afterward due to embroidery burn out (see Christmas in July post). Now after picking it up again last week I have this.

{picture was taken sideways... too lazy to fix)

For the mistletoe I used white glass cats eye beads that I picked up from Joann's. I liked adding that tiny three dimensional detail.

{Up close detail picture}

{Angled view of hand}

Now all that is left is to sew it up and give it to her. I'm thinking I'll give it to her around thanksgiving so it can go up on the tree.

Christmas in July

While at my parents I was finally about to take a picture of my first and only embroidered work. It was a gift to my mom for Christmas. The subject is our family's canine companion, Dylan, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

{Dylan}

After seeing this post on the Craftzine blog I felt strangely compelled to try my hand at embroidering. I don't know why I decided to start this ambitious project two weeks before Christmas, but I did. I finished it in early January right before my holiday visit. I don't remember the exact measurements, but it is pictured in an 8X10 frame.

{click picture for a much larger view}

At some point in the next couple of months I wouldn't mind trying embroidering again. I'm thinking more line work and less filling in this time around. I guess we will see what this Christmas brings.

Back

Like the title says, I'm back from my weekend with the parents. It was a good visit, a bit short, but good.
I got to go to Corn hill opening day, we got there nice and early to avoid the crowd and potential thunderstorms.

The vendors, as always, were great, I wish I had more money and more room in my suitcase. Sadly due to the chance of thunderstorms I decided to focus on perusing the booths, rather than taking pictures. I also felt kind of weird taking pictures of booths especially if I did n0t purchase anything from the vendor. So instead I'll be sharing some pictures of the general neighborhood.

We arrived at about 9 am walked around, made our purchases, then headed to the absolute best food vendor who's name escapes me. It's a tradition, we have to eat there, we have to enjoy our "artichokes french". Artichokes dredged in flour, sauteed in butter with lemon juice and garlic, topped with Parmesan cheese and bread (for soaking up the butter). It's a good thing they only come around once a year, or else I would have had a heart attack by now.

I wish it had been a better day, we could have spent more time walking around, maybe next year. At least we left before the torrential downpour, I can't imagine how the vendors coped with it. The next day was gorgeous, of course, but I had a train to catch. I'm hoping to find something similar in my area this summer, anyone know of such things in the Albany area?