Pillowcasing the joint

I decided to at least get my supplies ready for Craft Hope Project 9 before going to the beach.

I think I haven't really taken to embroidery because it involves ironing.  First you iron the piece to get the wrinkles out, then you iron it to get it hot, then you iron the pattern on, and then you have to iron it again after you've stitched it (okay, I haven't actually gotten to the last one yet, but I assume that's what happens).

Project 9 is making pillowcases for kids and teens who have cancer.  I'm using my Jenny Hart patterns since they need pillowcases for older kids/teens and most people want to make cute, little kids stuff.  (I found out after I started that they need pillowcases for boys since, again, not as "cute")

I decided there's something pathetic about whining and moaning about ironing when you're making stuff for people with cancer, so I decided it was time for my one-woman performance of Les Miserables (brought to you by Grooveshark.  Get in the Groove!) 

For one pillowcase I'm using the fairy from Gnomes and Fairies, which also comes in the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad.  As a bonus, this pattern served as a reminder that I need to set the iron to Cotton/Wool or the transfer is faint, and you have to draw in some of the details in pencil.

I was going to use Tinkerbell colors because a lot of girls love Tinkerbell, and I have no respect for copyright laws.

But then I decided I'd rather use pink and purple, colors that are also popular among girls.

I also decided unnatural hair and skin colors would be much better than making a fair skinned blonde fairy.  (I've got a packet of reward stickers for students where all of the faces/people on the stickers are white.  Which frustrates the hell out of me and is a pretty questionable design decision.

So, she's going to be blue with a purple dress and hot pink hair.  Hey, they did say they wanted bright colors for the pillowcases.

For the other pillowcase I used my Sushi Bar patterns.  I'd say sushi is unisex, but that hand holding the chopsticks looks pretty effeminate.  I wish I'd taken that into consideration when I was doing the transfers, and maybe done another Maneki Neko instead.

(Maybe in the spirit of diversity/unisex appeal I'll make it, like, a zombie hand.)

I've got a fat little ceramic neko from the British Museum.  I remembered seeing something about the different colors when I bought it, so I decided to look that up.  My neko is black to ward off evil and stalkers--and I had absolutely terrible luck in the months after I bought it, but as far as I know nobody stalked me.  For the pillowcase I'm trying to decide if I should use black or green (health).  I am probably putting way too much thought into an embroidered representation of another culture's good luck charm.