Parable of the Talents - the start

Our church is doing the Parable of the Talents project.  The church gives us each $5 to use to do crafts or food to sell or provide a service.  Whatever money we make goes back to the church.  So I spent my $5 on embroidery floss, already had the paper.  I will have to pay for the laminating, but not much outlay on my part.  I'm making cross bookmarks.  They are not my design exactly, but they are my execution.  I drew out the designs very large and then reduced them and printed them out.  There are two cross designs, four colors of paper and matching thread.  I think we have until Christmas, not sure.  Here is the picture of my baby project:

Coffee-themed Apron - Finished! and a Metallic Purple Concrete Leaf

I finished the coffee-themed apron!  I just had a few small motifs to do and the "sweet" lettering.  This is a present for my friend, Beth, for the Grand Opening of her coffee shop.  The apron is dyed with Rit Dye.  It was so much fun to do.  I picked out 6 colors, 3 in the brown family, 3 in the hot pink family and bought two skeins of DMC floss each.  So I had to be creative.  Once I was out of the dark brown I was out!  Designs ironed-on from Colonial Patterns (Aunt Martha's) and Sublime Stitching. Making this apron was so much fun.  I hope Beth enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it. I just entered it in a Sublime Stitching combo contest. Here is me modeling the apron.

And here is the concrete stepping stone my mom made.  I painted it because she had to work on the last day of Vacation Bible School for adults.  They take a month to "cure", so in early September the stepping stones will go out in my yard.  It's painted with acrylic craft paint.

Starfish Tote Bag - Finished!

I finished Kari's Starfish Tote Bag!  I fought with the heavy canvas and eventually won. :)  I will be seeing her on Wednesday, I hope, and can give it to her then.  I used six strands of DMC floss (I always use that much) in purple split stitch and french knots.  Here are the pics: