An elephant for Mom

First off, I am in shock that I actually remembered and had few minutes to do my needlework post today! Yay, me!

I'm was in the middle of fixing the broken step in my bulkhead stairway a couple days ago, when it started to rain. So I am still not done with it, but I need to wrap it up by tomorrow night (even if below 50 degree weather is here to stay), because the heating & cooling guy will be here Wednesday to fix the broken system (duct work...at least the furnace seems to be okay).

On top of that, I am attempting to make our house a little more puppy proof for our visitor over Thanksgiving week. My friend is going skiing and asked if I'd like to take her new(-ish) puppy while they're gone. They adopted a puppy this past February, so she's not even a year old yet. She's a dachshund mix, so she's smallish and it's been a long time since we've had a puppy aged dog in the house. Cords need to be wrapped, small spaces in the back fence need to by patched, tall thorny vines and brush need to be cut back, and baby gates need to be fitted.
Yes, Thanksgiving is weeks away, but in just a couple weeks we'll be heading off to Cleveland to spend a long weekend with Hubby's parents. Not my ideal use of my hard earned vacation time, but what can you do...they're getting old, and we rarely visit. They actually live in Akron, so this was a compromise so that we don't actually have to spend another weekend visit in Akron.

Speaking of parents (this is where I segue into my needlework project for the week!)...
My mom's birthday was Friday.
She has always collected elephant-themed things.
'The trunk must be pointing up, so that the luck does not fall out' I remember her saying.

So, last Monday, I actually thought last minute about sending her a card (I'm a terrible daughter ...but we're not really a 'send a card for special occasions sort of family anyway). But I didn't want to just send a card, so I looked on Pinterest to find a simple elephant drawing that could be transformed into a quick embroidery project that I could finish and mail by Wednesday and hopefully get to her by her birthday.
(It got there the day after. Oh well.)

I found this image. It was simple enough that I could just wing a freehand drawing (I am soooo not an artist. I have issues with size and perspective. It's one of my most upsetting downfalls). I swapped out the flower at the trunk for a sweet little heart, though.
It was tricking because I usually just trace an image onto the fabric, but I was working with a heavy piece of dark grey felt. That also meant I needed to use a pen, since a pencil would not mark the felt at all.
That led to some questionably thick lines around the ears.

I picked out some bright colors for the outline and accents.
Red for the heart, of course.

You can see the thick lines around the ears called for a wider stitch and/or more stands.

For the body, I used an outline stitch. Similar to a back stitch but somehow easier for me to wrap my head around. I don't know why, but the back stitch has been hard for me.

I used 3 strands for most of the piece. I like the weight of 3 the best for the things I've done so far.

A simple chain stitch worked well to add, not only thickness, but also a little variety in texture.

The tiny feet and tail tassel I did in yellow, just using basic darning stitches.

Satin stitch for the heart and it was done!

Once it was finished, though, I wasn't really sure what to do with it! My last two tiny embroidery projects were simply glued to a note card, but I wanted this to be a little more special...as a separate gift. It was too small for any hoops I had on hand and mailing it would require a trip to the post office, and you'll remember I was in a time crunch (big surprise!).

Hubs said, you should make it into a magnet.
Of course! And because I am a fickle crafter, I happened to have sheets of printable magnets in my studio from a past project. One I can't even recall, but at least I remembered I had the magnets!

Luck being on my side, one sheet was actually a sheet of pre-cut circles. Sadly, my finished piece was just ...I mean JUST... the same size. As in, the edge of the heart and the tip of the tail just hit the edge of the circle.
Easy enough, though. I hot glued the magnet on and cut the felt just a little bigger than that.

It turned out so cute!

(Oh, and French knots for the eyes.)

A magnet for mom, being tested on the fridge next to our beloved Moxie (still miss her so much).

So that is the project I finished this week. I have started (actually re-started) a little something I plan to give to our friends who just got married last week. Hoping I have it finished for next week's needlework Monday post!

Now...off to see what everyone else is up to this week!!