I needed something that was compact, cheap and portable. And I didn't necessarily want more knitting because I have a lovely little stash of special yarns at home and I really wanted to avoid buying more (how'd that work out for me? hehe). I had seen some truly wonderful embroidery around the blog-o-sphere lately, so I decided to dust off my skills and take them for a spin again. I haven't done needlework in a very, very long time (probably since before college was the last time) - so I had to brush up on my skills a little.I started with the Joe-Joe, and then decided that I liked it enough to keep going. I pulled up the pdf's I had saved on my computer, and chose to work on one I had saved from Jenny over at the allsorts blog. It was her Christmas present to her followers, a little pair of sweet Elfies.
I decided to do mine in different colors (with some creative input from Xiris)- and they came out pretty cute. I traced the pattern with a fine mechanical pencil onto some lovely creamy Kona cotton. I don't know if pencil was the best choice, but I figured it would wear off with time, or at the very least rinse out should I decide to wash the finished product. I used a combination of split stitch for the outlines with two threads, and backstitches with one thread for the smaller details. I think it will become a little Christmas pillow for my holiday couch. I just love it.
If you have a chance, check out her etsy shop, Loopsies. I've recently ordered her Maids collections, and I can't wait to work them up. I think I'll work them up into a little quilt or something sweet along those lines.