Possibly inspired by the middle’s ever-growing toilet roll collection, or maybe only the ease with which one can direct visitors to our loo (that’s our door sign up there), I was recently DRIVEN to try the cross stitch thing and craft up a birthday pressie.
Voila.
The lady in the embroidery store was caught entirely off guard by the flustered appearance of a weirdy lady wielding a printout of a loo sign, requesting a Cross Stitch 101 education.
As it turns out, it’s pretty easy. Especially if your small child is not inspired to leave a nice, leftover spaghetti bolognaise fingerprint to the left of the loo lady’s shoulder. Especially if you need not wash away a flavoured fingerprint (along with your water-soluble-drawn design). Especially if you don’t assume you’ll make it up as you go along with the ‘help’ of the now clean, clad-in-various-shades-of-blinding-pink three year old, during elder sibling swimming lessons.
Unsurprisingly, I broke the one essential cross stitch rule and spent one such swimming session crafting crosses in the wrong direction. All of which went entirely unnoticed until I took this photograph. As it turns out, that’s one particular rule-thing existing for a reason.
No matter, the birthday girl promised she wouldn’t look.
So she wouldn’t look at the back of the work either, I finished things off with this (entirely removable) back covering notion...
IMAGE HERE
(HAD I REMEMBERED, THIS WOULD BE WHERE THE PHOTO OF THE RED CORDUROY BACK COVERING NOTION WOULD GO WHICH EXCITINGLY ENTIRELY COVERS UP THE DODGY WRONG SIDE OF MY DODGIER CROSS STITCHING. AT A PUSH, THIS PHOTOGRAPH COULD HAVE INDUCED JAW-DROPPING, HEART-SKIPPING – BUT POSSIBLY NOT LIFE-CHANGING – EXCITEMENT).
Happy birthday girly. Happy weekend you lovely lot.
35 comments:
Apart from also having a house full of toilet rolls, I also have a printout of the same symbols on my cutting table.
When I get a chance, I'm making them out of a different medium, but it is nice to know I am not the only toilet symbol crafter out there.....
i love it!!! Thats so much fun and so random which makes it genius!
What a great gift idea for a sign girl! The x's in the same direction this is the only rule I've managed to remember from my childhood cross stitch lessons, but I still forget it anyway!
Once again, your creative juices overflow!!
have looked at this 5 times already, and still smile everytime!
Oh I've done that (re breaking cross stitch rules) but it was for my daughter, so I decided she is too young to be a perfectionist. I love the subject matter - amusing and fresh. Also thanks for putting me on to that tutorial
love this! the unexpected cross stitches are always the best!
love it! best x stitch design I've seen in a long time!!!
That is one rockin' sign..I think it would fit nicely in this crazy house too. Don't you just love messy fingers :P
Love this!
So friggin ace and I reallt think I need to do one for the composting toilet. Want to do a pattern swap? ( see my blog xx)
Way cool cross stitch. You have the best ideas. Flies, toilet signs...can't wait for the next...
it looks grand - and Kirsty will appreciate the wonk factor!
Magnificent!
Too cool! Love that it's so simple yet striking. I spent 1988 to 1991 cross-stitching an Australian alphabet. That's 3 years of my life I'm not getting back.
I love it!
You're a nut. Perhaps your child with the collection comes from a long line of nuts. I love this post.
LOVE it! Brilliant work!
It's so fabulously great...thank you. x
Love it!! :) So cool and I kind of like the different direction of stitches - makes it look like a Star Trek uniform! ;) Happy birthday to Ms Kirsty too. Kx
Almost wet myself but lucky there was a sign saying where the bathroom was !
I love the way you dive into the alternative with great gusto! ♥
Oh my gosh! I love this! I just love how you take the most unusual ideas to incorporate into your crafting. I can honestly say I would have never thought to cross stitch a man/woman bathroom sign! You kill me with your creativity. When I click on your blog, I feel like I never know what might pop up! Love visiting your blog!
I couldn't think of more perfect a gift - wonk and all - for a craft-lovin' gal.
Love it! Can't get my head around cross stitch at all :)
People never stop to inspect a loo sign, they got other things on their minds, so a few cross stitch mistakes will go largely un-noticed. I love it to bits!
O.k., how flippin' awesome is that? Very!
I just recently tried to remove wee blackberry jam prints from a felt creation I had just finished. It was a wash, or should I say No Wash, it's felt! and I couldn't quite manage to incorporate them into the design tho' I did try.
Am an avid cross stitcher and even though you broke THE rule you did something else. What you may ask? Cross stitch designers always encourage stitchers to make the design their own by changing something, this makes it unique, one of - dare I say - rare. Will be worth a fortune in some future time.
Toilet humour has a whole new meaning now. It is very sweet in a weird kind of way.
Amish shoulders. I quite often take my knitting to swimming lessons because it whiles away the boredom and drowns out the shrieking, but I've had to unpick many a row I've knitted there...
Love your work, though I have a niggling concern about whether this will actually comply with the relevant Australian Standard and Building Code requirements re braille tactile toilet signage. Obviously it is tactile, but it's just whether it complies with the height variation requirements. Whilst I applaud your foray into another embroidery form I can't help thinking that french knots would provide more height differential. BIG ;)
This is effing fabulous!
tania!! you are outside of the box entirely. you live outside of the box. thank you for showing me how to do it!!!!
Fabulous. What a wonderful gift... even if the crosses are in a different direction - but didn't you just do that to make his shoulders look broader!?!?!
love it! I want to make one
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