Hugs Given Here

Technique: Plastic Canvas

Materials:
8-12 ply wool in various colours
curly hair
gold chenille stick
hot glue

Tools:
scissors
hot glue gun

A favourite of my son's who absolutely adores his hugs! He says I should hang it above my chair.

The original pattern was designed by Susan Leinberger, and can be downloaded from www.freepatterns.com. Membership is required, but it is free, and it's a great resource! Once a member you can download the entire PDF directly from this link.

If you are like me, and prefer to adapt as you go, then the following pattern will be enough of a guide for you. For my version I substituted one of the shades of red for pink, I changed the bow to a halo and I didn't add the eyes because I liked the way it looked with just the lashes.

Chinese New Year Jacket

One of the Chinese New Year traditions is to create banners and write upon them symbols of luck, fortune, health, wealth or whatever else you would like to bring into your life in the new year. This cute little jacket incorporates four such symbols.

Technique: Plastic Canvas

Materials
worsted weight wool (8-12 ply)
7 count plastic canvas
bamboo skewer
wooden beads
felt
tacky glue

Tools
tapestry needle
scissors

Using the chart below as a guide, complete the jacket with continental stitch, overcasting edges in red. A line of backstitching in gold was done between the outer red border and the overcast edge.




I have drawn the symbols in gold on the chart to make the lines more visible, you could do them on the jacket in gold if you wish, or red as I did. This is what the symbols on the jacket represent:






Cut the bamboo skewer slightly wider than the jacket and glue wooden beads at each end. Using the metallic gold yarn and thread through one sleeve of the jacket from back to front, then tie around hanger, then form a loop, tie around hanger and then through the other jacket sleeve, front to back and tie off. Cut a square of felt slightly smaller than the back of the jacket and adhere to the back to finish.