You Made a What?

What a busy time it has been! The Rockome National Counted Cross Stitch Show (NCCSS) ended yesterday. In spite of some bumps along the way, the show was a success! (Tessa asked about Rockome. It is a lovely garden in rural Illinois Amish country. Anyone interested in a detailed history of the garden can read about it here. Rockome's website is here.) There were over 200 show entries. Stitcher's Express did a wonderful job providing a shop at the show, in addition to their shop down the road in Mattoon. The vendors were great, too!

I took loads of pictures and I'll be sharing some of them in the coming days. I also brought home my fair share of new stash. Ok, maybe more than my fair share! I have a lot to share, but my goal today is to show you my latest finish. Actually it is my only finish since March!

Rita P. on the Rockome NCCSS Yahoo Group designed a fun chart for making a name tag. I stitched the design over one on a scrap of unknown fabric using DMC. In the end I didn't think I would enjoy wearing a name tag, so instead I devised something I'm calling a purse fob. (Hence the subject line!)

My purse fob is a pillow style ornament with a hanger that attaches with a button. I can button the fob to my purse and easily remove it as needed. Here are a few pictures. First, a front view of the fob.Isn't Rita's design cute? I love the pinks and greens! The colors inspired me to decorate the hanger a wee bit. I also made my very first handmade buttonhole. It was surprisingly easy to do and turned out much better than I expected. Here is the back:

Honestly I don't know what I was thinking when I centered this project on the piece of fabric. It left me no backing fabric! I did a lot of measuring and cutting and ended up making this center seam. It worked just fine until I sewed the bottom of the ornament closed in the wrong direction! Fortunately it was easy to rip out and resew.

Here is what the purse fob looks like on my purse. I think it's really cute!

Thanks to everyone for your nice comments about my yo-yo's. Nicole I saw the Clover yo-yo gadget demonstrated at the Rockome show in Susan Greening Davis' booth. You're right, it does make yo-yo's super easy. I passed on the yo-yo maker, but I know I'm going to need a circle cutter. I cut like a kindergartner! Sue asked - what do you do with a yo-yo? I think the answer is, anything you can dream up! Traditionally they were sewn together to make a quilt or coverlet. I like the idea of making a pillow cover with them, or using them with surface embroidery on bags and such. Waxing Moon used to have a design called Take Thyme that came with premade yo-yo's. The design used the yo-yo's as flowers and you stitched the stems and leaves. It was really cute!

Thanks also for your congratulations re: my 3rd place ribbon for Moonlight Stroll! It is a project I finished as a pillow. At the show it was displayed on the seat of a chair. There was no way to get my picture taken with it unless I crawled on the floor...so that's what I did! Yes, I have no shame. Here I am behind the ropes! (Or in this case it was chain...)

That's all for now. I want to show you the sweet gifts I received from Susie and more photos from the show. I also have a few redecoration pictures from home that need to be posted. They will have to wait for another day. I have a back ache today and this office chair isn't helping matters!