OK, so maybe kitty-pillows aren’t the best present for a soon-to-be twelve boy. (Although I still know he’ll love it, I’m a bit iffy about the whole concept).
I’ve still got until February. I was going to give him curtains for his room with dragons embroidered on them. But I discovered that the dragon I had and the curtains I had didn’t go together size-wise. So he got the curtains last week. Probably a good thing anyway, as they were needed. 🙂
The curtains were originally made for my husband and my first apartment together. We had HUGE windows that weren’t well insulated. The curtains are a heavy polyester/wool blend in a medium grey, with brass rings on the top. They are hand-hem-stitched all the way around. (Have I mentioned that I’m often over-ambitious?)
Anyway. They are on his windows. Sans dragons. But I’ve still go the dragon patterns… two of them, so they can face each other on the curtain rods. I also have about 9 yards of dark grey fabric left over from an inexpensive buying spree years ago that resulted in matching 12th century clothing for the EO and I… BANNERS! That’s it! I can stitch banners, one for each window to go over the curtains in a sane location. They’ll last longer than the curtains, too, and can be moved to college or an apartment or wherever if he’s still dragon-happy as he ages (which I suspect he will be. Currently he’s following my pattern of development with the exception of my love of ballet – he’s replaced that with computer games – pretty closely).
So I’ve started the banners. They’re actually coming quite quickly, even the setup part that I hate to do. See? The first one’s already basted onto the fabric… It’s too dark to do the tracing thing, and I’ve never been able to make transfer paper marks stay on the fabric as long as it takes me to stitch something. Isn’t his face wonderful? I’m taking the basting out as I stitch (not enough to photograph for you yet, but it will come). i’m replacing it with black micron pen. It’s difficult to see on the grey, but it’s visible.
And it’s waterproof so there won’t be an issue with it running if the kiddo washes these in the future.
[…] Remember the banner? This has been a LONG year for me. While I finished the stitching back in the summer, I still have a phobia of ruining my embroidery during my attempts to really finish things. So it took me until this weekend, when, in a fit of “I feel much better after a week of being sick, thankyouverymuch” energy, I just went and DID it. I’m proud of the results. The EO says if the kid doesn’t like it, he’ll take it himself. […]