A Week full of free embroidery patterns over at Meet Me at Mikes

Floresita hasn't mentioned it yet (that I've seen) but I saw that she's hosting an embroidery week at the Meet Me at Mikes blog. My daughter wants to move to Australia because of Bindi the Jungle Girl. Me? I want to go to Meet Me at Mikes. I doubt either of our dreams will come true any time soon, but until then we can just enjoy the MMAM blog and Floresita's embroidery week.
Floresita is hosting the week, and is posting from her vintage transfer collection every day. What's even cooler is that other people can join in, and will be linked in the blogroll. That means lots of folks will be posting free transfers this week. I'm looking forward to connecting with more stitchers and seeing some new designs. I'm also going to scan some vintage transfers I've had laying around "waiting to be scanned" for months. Seems like a good time to go ahead and get that done.

Enjoy!

Stitching the Undead

I've been uber busy with web stuff and starting my new job (um, hi ... it ROCKS) - so something has had to fall behind. You'd think the crafting would, right? Nah. In my line of priorities, crafting comes in waaaaay above things like laundry, house cleaning and exercising (all much to my husband's dismay. eh) I actually have some gifts and things I'd like to make for the holidays, but - no - again I chose what should technically be a lower priority thing to do: stitching for the Feeling Stitchy October challenge. Not that it's not important or fun, but when you've got heaps of responsibilities, it probably shouldn't dominate them, right?

TheHellToTheFreakingToTheNo.

I almost didn't participate, because I knew things were going to be hectic this month, but when an idea hit me as I was falling asleep the other night, I knew there was no stopping it. I had been wondering what I would stitch, because even though I love Halloween, I don't love "typical" Halloween stuff (pumpkins and whatnot) and was trying to think of something more fun and ... gory.

And then it came to me.

I'm a big fan of Floresita - I love her amazing embroidery and her incredible generosity to scan, clean up and post vintage transfers for folks to use. One of those transfers struck me when she posted it ... and not in a good way. The Workbasket Jitterbug Girl always seemed a little creepy to me. Something about her face ... that smile ... those somewhat vacant eyes. On the surface, she seemed like a clean-cut, wholesome gal, but I saw her true identity underneath those carefully placed dimples.

And so she became ... Zombie Jitterbug Girl.


I must confess that my stitching on this project is sub-par. I had to zip through it in just a couple of evenings (thank goodness for DVRd My Life on the D-List marathon). I took a lot of shortcuts, and the back is a MESS! (grandma would be horrified!) But she's fun, and it's strangely satisfying to stitch something just a tad gruesome. Completing her has helped finally get me in a Halloween mood. The hot weather around here has been pissing me off and keeping me from getting into the spirit of things. Nothing like a severed head to remedy that!