Brooke's Books Blog

Happiness & Plenty

The top images with the birdie are of "Happiness", the 5th of 12 in the Bride's Tree Heirloom Ornament Collection and the fruit basket is "Plenty", the 6th of the set. You can find these latest additions at your favorite needlework shop or on my web site. Ooooh, I love designing with these Belle Soie silks from Crescent Colours. Yummy doesn't begin to cover it.

Sneak Peek At Penelope Pumpkin & "Hope" For "JCS"

Long time no talk...Had a couple of things keepin' me busy, though. My darling mom came down with ulcers on her leg in January and, oh, my gosh...has it been a terrible time of suffering for her. I could go on and on but unless you've struggled with leg ulcers from Diabetes...Holy mackerel...It's just the worst! Since January she's been in and out of the hospital twice for extended stays and she's now in a rehab facility after the latest surgery hoping to come home soon. When she became completely nonambulitory my time for work was greatly reduced so I could care for her and that's why you haven't heard from me in a long time. But in that time I did continue to design for Brooke's Books and this is one of the things I did for "Just Cross Stitch" magazine. This is only a sneak peek and it will be published this year for Halloween but I don't know the exact publishing date. I had so much fun designing Miss Penelope...Her hat is supposed to be an upside down pumpkin blossom. I also had a blast playing with Kreinik's 1/8" metallic ribbons...They are so pretty. I'll let you know when I know the exact publishing date and JCS issue she'll be in.

Here's another sneak peek of a design I did for "JCS" magazine. She's called "Hope" and she'll be published in their Oct/Nov issue this year.

I used to be a portrait artist and I've always wanted to design a cross stitch portrait so here is "Hope". She's based on my original drawing...I didn't have a model for her so she started off being some kind of Valentine angel but "JCS" wants to publish her in October so by the time I was done she had morphed into a "Hope" angel. I used DMC, Mill Hill beads, Kreinik #4 metallic braids and 1/8" metallic ribbons on Wichelt's 28 count Sand Castle Hand Dyed Jobelan over two threads. Can't wait to see how they frame her at "JCS". They always do a fantastic job choosing frames.