Orange Tiles Cross-Stitch Pillow

I'm one of those people who can't resist a clever color name. That's why our living room is Celtic Sage and the bedroom is Hydrangea instead of generic green and beige. The same goes for embroidery floss colors. When I designed this cross-stitch pattern, I was inspired by Spanish tiles, and I had a general color scheme in mind. But when it came time to choose the exact floss colors, the names made the process easy. Turquoise, orange spice, olive, tangerine . . . they just sound exotic, don't they? (I also included navy blue, which isn't exactly romantic, but at least conjures images of the sea.)

The design is repetitious and relatively simple, but it does require a bit of concentration. I guess that's what I like about cross-stitching; it helps me relax and makes me think at the same time. The finished pillow shown in the photo is about 4¾" square; it's worked with two strands of DMC® embroidery floss on 18-count white Aida. If you use 14-count Aida, the design will be 6" square; 11-count Aida will give you a 7¾"-square design. Click here to download and print a copy of the chart.

Assembling the pillow is the easiest part of the project. Trim the finish embroidery, leaving about a 1" margin all around. For the backing, cut a same-size square of fabric (mine is shimmery orange), and then pin the pieces together with right sights facing. Sewing up the edges is easy if you use the lines on the Aida as a guide. Leave an opening and turn the pillow right side out. Fill it with polyester fiberfill and hand-stitch the opening closed.

So what can you do with such a small pillow? Show it off on a shelf, use it as a fancy pincushion, or fill it with cedar shavings to make an exotic sachet.

Orange Tiles Cross-Stitch Pillow Chart   ©2014 Kathleen Berlew

Color Key (DMC Floss)

Felt Squares Purse

Sometimes I just want a small purse to carry my cell phone and keys instead of hauling around a big handbag. I made this little clutch (it's about 4½" square) from scraps of olive green, gold, orange, and sky blue felt. To make a similar bag, follow the directions below, substituting felt shades to create your own color scheme.

Start with a 4½"-by-12" piece of green felt. Cut small squares and rectangles from orange, gold, blue, and green felt and arrange them in a layered pattern along one short edge of the green felt strip. (This will be the flap of the purse.) When you like the way the arrangement looks, sew the pieces in place with gold or green thread and blanket stitch.

Place the green strip facedown and place a 4½" square of gold felt on the wrong side of the decorated edge of the green. Extend the gold piece about ¼" beyond the short edge of the green piece. (From the front, the gold will peek below the edge of the green flap.) Using matching green thread and blanket stitch, sew the gold piece to the green piece. Next, fold the plain edge of the green felt up about 4½" from the plain edge and sew the sides together with blanket stitch.

To make a fastening for the bag, sew a loop of cord or thread (I crocheted a small piece of orange embroidery floss) to the wrong side of the flap. Sew a small coordinating button to the front of the bag so it matches up with the button loop.

If you feel your blanket stitch isn't up to par (mine's still not as even as I'd like), running stitch or backstitch will work fine and look just as pretty.

Mini Monsters

If you made the Miniature Haunted House from last week's blog, it's probably looking pretty empty. I made these little Halloween characters from wooden beads, paint, and paper to give the place a little life. I'm providing basic directions for each monster, but you can pretty much use any materials you have on hand.

Dracula: Paint a round bead and a square bead white and then glue them together when the paint is dry. Use permanent markers or paint and a fine-tip brush to create the vampire's jacket details, facial features, and famous hairline. Cut a bat-wing cape from black paper and glue it onto Dracula's back.

Frankenstein's Monster: Paint a large round bead black for the monster's body and a square bead green for the head. Glue the pieces together when the paint is dry and glue a square of black card stock to the base for the feet. Add hair, a mouth, eyes, and a scar to the monster's face with paint and markers.

Ghost: Paint two round beads--one large, one small--white and let them dry. Cut a circle from a coffee filter and glue it to the large bead, then glue the small bead on top. Draw eyes and mouth (bedsheet-style ghosts don't usually have noses) and glue on a white paper base to keep him from tipping over.

Pumpkins: These pumpkins are more cute than spooky, but you can add more menacing features if you like. For each, paint a round, ridged bead orange and add eyes with white and black paint. For the stem, glue a piece of green twist-tie into the center of the bead and wind it into a spiral. Glue the finished pumpkin on a circle of card stock so it doesn't roll away.

Witch: Since witches come in all shapes and sizes, you can use any beads you like for this character. Paint the body black, the head green, and then glue the pieces together. Add paper shoes with curled-up toes and painted facial features. Top the head with embroidery floss hair and a pointed black paper hat.

Mummy: My Mummy is on the small side, but I think he's still pretty creepy looking. Choose two beads--one for the body, one for the head--in any size or style you have and paint them white. Glue them together and use a black marker to draw a shadowy face and layers of bandages. 

Miniature Haunted House

My collection of boxes provided creative inspiration for this tabletop haunted house. I used a cereal box and an assortment of cardboard jewelry boxes as the construction materials for a creepy four-story mansion right out of a vintage horror movie. I had fun making it myself, but it would be a great Halloween project for kids too. 

Making the framework for the house was the trickiest part of this project. I started with a cereal box, cut away the top flaps and the back panel, and then used the scrap pieces of cardboard and a stapler to create the roof. It took several coats of acrylic paint--black on the outside, metallic silver on the inside--to completely cover the printed images on the box. I glued black and gray paper shingles to the top of the roof and sealed them with a coat of Mod Podge.®

Bottom floors

While the box dried between coats, I decorated the house's tiny rooms with paper cutouts, markers and paint pens. I furnished the hall with an ominous portrait and ticking grandfather clock--necessary elements of haunted house decor. Test tubes and a menacing machine fill the laboratory (every respectable haunted house has one). I decorated the dining room with a glittery chandelier and dramatic furniture. In the sitting room three creepy silhouettes watch over an overstuffed sofa. I created a stark kitchen, a deceptively cozy bedroom, an attic study, and a storage room to complete the house's layout.

Top floors

When the rooms were furnished and dried, a fastened them to the inside of the cereal box frame with heavy-duty double-stick tape. To keep the haunted house from tipping over, I mounted it on a base of corrugated cardboard dappled with black and silver paint.

Black and gray paper "shingles" cover the roof.