Stitchy Happiness!!!!

Have you ever had two of your favourite people come together? Well it just happened to me. I am so, so excited.

As you may know I have been a long time fan of Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching. In fact, back when it was just her and an assistant, my husband wrote to her and asked to to include a personalized note in my package as a gift and she graciously complied with the cutest handwritten card.

And on the side of my blog, I have been following Andrees Illustration for a couple years, and have a framed print of hers outside my office door which I look at about 40 times a day.

So you can imagine my glee when I see a little image pop up on the side of my blog of a little house drawn by Andree. My first thought was "I'd love to embroider that". I follow the link to Andree's blog and that's when I find out she's collaborated with Sublime Stitching! Very excited. And yes, I have already placed an order for the patterns.

Showgirl Embroidery/Molly Crabapple

What else do you do on a rainy long weekend? Well I do laundry and finish projects - after getting soaked to the skin in less than 5 minutes during today's dog walk.

Finished showgirl embroidery:

Embroidery stitching by me. Pattern by http://sublimestitching.com/. Artwork by Molly Crabapple. I encourage you to check out her page, her artwork is quite fascinating.

Stitched

Lately I've been having some issues with stress. This is giving me severe neck pain and immense headaches. When I realized that my headache went away on the long weekend but returned when I was back at work, I tried to figure out the cause. I believe it's self inflicted stress related to work so I am trying to find whys to not be stressed.

One of the changes I've made is to put my creative time at the beginning of the day since when it's at the end, it often doesn't get done. I also figured that maybe having something to look forward to in the morning would also help. I started with a Craftster challenge.  This month's theme was "whimsical, nonsense, free range". I played around with some idea, asked Jp for his creative input and came up with this:

I think it meets all three requirements. And I did have fun doing it, and I haven't been feeling as sick as I was before I started this exercise. I am also proud of myself for drawing the images - yes I used the internet for inspiration and I believe that many real artists do  - but there was no tracing or printing, I had to adjust the pieces to fit the theme and drew everything by hand. I think it turned out pretty well.

I am feeling a bit better today  - I have a dull headache but haven't taken anything for it yet. That hasn't happened for a while.

And now I'm looking for the next inspiration, although I do have an alternate to the above I could make so it's a set.

Your comments as always welcome.

Cat Cross Stitch # 10

I have finally completed cat cross stitch # 10 - my mom can finally order her frames and get them on the wall. She will frame them in 2 frames, 5 pictures across. Here's the final one:

Now I can get back to my knitting and crocheting and embroidery projects - I haven't done anything since March 18th. Time to get productive and creative again!

Some projects

Here are some cross stitch/embroideries I have been working on -

This one is still in progress

Sorry I didn't iron them yet. It's harder to see them when you're distracted by all the wrinkles isn't it? They are for my mom. When I'm done there will be a total of 10 and she is getting them framed in two horizontal sets of 5. I hope I can show you the finished framed pieces one of these days.

A finished project - mini matryoshka

Remember the magazine I received in the mail the other day? I've already made something from it!

I didn't have the colours to make the little mermaid that was on the cover (I'm still itching to make it), so I made this little matryoshka instead (their samples are on the top right of that same magazine cover):

Quickie camera photo but you get the idea - not too bad for materials on hand, if I do say so myself. Here's a little gallery of some other interpretations of matryoshkas

That was fun. I think I'll be making more felt-y items. And I learned that I am much better at the blanket stitch (the stitch that runs around the outside) than I thought I was. That's a very good thing.

Flowered Tote Embroidery

Here's the finished flower embroidery that I couldn't show you before because all the pattern transfer lines made it too ugly and confusing to look at:

Believe me, I couldn't wait to get it wet (water soluble marker) and wash away all the blue lines.

It's a simple design, stitched only in straight stitches on the outlines only. I may be interesting to do it again filling more of it in - we'll see, I don't usually like to do the same pattern twice. If you'd like to make one yourself, here's where I got the pattern - and you can learn how to dye your embroidery thread as well. It was because of this post that I decided to use only variegated thread for this project. Oh and the finished tote bag came from Sublime Stitching.

Stitching Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of what I'm working on:

That's all I can show you, because that's all I've done!!!

Another Finished Object

I forgot to show you the napkins I made my mom for Christmas. I was in such a rush to get them in the mail to her I forgot to take a photo - just as well because it matches my mom's Christmas China Pattern - Winterberry by Pfzaltgraff  and this gives you a better idea of how they match:

My mom flattered me by saying that when she opened the packaged there was a discussion in the room about whether I made them or they were commercially embroidered because they were  done so well. I didn't think I needed to say that I had done them, in my mind it was obvious but I guess sometimes it's best for us crafters to give a little explanation about how or why we made something and why we gave it as a gift. I think we forget that what may be obvious to us, isn't obvious to others, especially to the non crafters - don't you think?

PROJECTS I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON

I'm almost finished my cross-stitch:

I just need to do the outline stitches and there are some silver snowflakes to come and  I should be done by the weekend.

And also, here are some doodles I've been working on:

what do you think? 

Sewing

My parents did a stellar job providing for us and my mom provide healthy home cooked meals, baked goods, awesome Halloween costumes, clean house, clean clothes etc. But there was one thing she let pile up a bit and that was mending clothes (and in the early years - darning socks too). And I fully understand why she didn't like this task, especially with kids clothes because the pant legs are so small - and she didn't have a free-arm** sewing machine.

So when 'the kid' hands me a pair of his skinny jeans with duct tape on a knee tear and asks me to attach a patch I wasn't so sure I could do it. Especially when kids sometimes have unreal expectations of how things look. Jp and I asked him a couple of times to get an idea of what he envisioned  - a rectangular patch on the top made out of plaid.

Because it was the knee and so much material was missing, I first had to apply some iron-on interfacing on the inside so I had something to patch to, and then I finished the patch.

He was ecstatic and said it was awesome - and then handed me a pair of black jeans that he also wanted fixed.

Ack!!!

Well since machine sewing isn't something I enjoy too much (mainly because I'm trying to work off the kitchen table and my foot pedal slides all over the floor - I miss my sewing table which has been put away due to space limitations) and I would have liked to do them both at the same time,  I told him I'd do it when he's here next weekend.

I did the same kind of stuff to my parents  - I just had no idea how much work went into fixing things and how difficult it might have been  for my parents to fix something (I never even considered that they couldn't) or thought about  how much time it took. When I was a kid, I just never thought about my parents having time for themselves, that's what Friday night and Saturday nights were for - the rest of the time I think I assumed that their 'chores' filled their days and there wasn't anything wrong with asking dad to fix my bike or mom to fix my clothes or sew me something.

It's kinda like when kids see a teacher in a store for the first time and they realize that teachers have a life outside of school, don't-cha think?


** Most sewing today machines have this attachment. It can be removed from the machine to convert from a flat bed to free arm. The free arm can be used for any difficult to sew areas, in particular, sleeves and trouser hems.

Things I Did on The Weekend

Besides the normal, routine, mundane things done on the weekend, here are two things that standout

1) homemade butter tarts - I had no idea they were so easy!!

And yummy too (it's a remake recipe!!) 

2) kitty cross-stitch - still in progress:

(it looks all crooked-y because I just laid it across my knees and took a quick snapshot)

I didn't get as much done as I hoped, but  it is almost done - just two borders (one crossstitches and one backstitches) and a paw print in the corner.

Baking and Stitching

Success! After a couple of attempts tweaking the recipe each time, I made a successful loaf of bread - yippee. And yummy too. Now time to get some fruit to try out the jam function.

As you can see there is a slight indent on the top - baking friends, could you please tell me why this happened? Slightly too much yeast?

And since I have't posted a project in a while, this is what I'm working on - a kitty cross-stitch:

Oh yes, and the little bread-machine made cookies too:

Not too bad, but I think I'll stick to making them the old fashioned way. It was pretty easy but it only made about 16 cookies. I don't know about you, but around here that just isn't enough!

Christmas Decorations

My biggest Christmas rush is at the beginning of the month when I have to wrap the presents for my family and get them into the mail before the 13th at the latest. I didn't do a very good job wrapping the presents  this year because I was in a hurry to get them into the boxes. Also, when mailing presents I leave off all the outside present decorations because they just get crushed. Hopefully my family forgives me for the crappy wrapping job and just remembers the presents inside.

So now that that's all taken care of, the week before Christmas is fairly quiet for me, so I have time to do some Christmas crafting. Yes, I actually have time to do crafts! Something I like to do but always put on the bottom of my list which means I usually don't get time to do it + a million other excuses.

But I did make this pillow which was the fastest Christmas decoration ever made I think. A pillow cover, cut out the square, four sides on the machine, pillow form inside, sew little opening, done! 5 minutes?

And, it's one that's received the most comments in my house. You can even read the names on Santa's list - I think it's cute.

I also crocheted this "Christmas Dove" but I'm not liking it too much. Maybe I'll toss it to a cat and let it play with it. Maybe I screwed up the pattern - but I'm pretty sure it just wasn't a good pattern.

What should I make next? I think it's time for an embroidered Christmas tea towel - I'm feeling stitchy!

Embroidery on the Go

When I went to Kelowna for my mini vacation, I decided to take some embroidery instead of knitting.

By the way, here's a sunset from our room:

When I was packing up the supplies for my project bag, I realized  I didn't know what colour I would need and wondered "what if I leave the very colour I need at home? Then what?" So I decided to take all the floss that I had already on cards.

My embroidery box before:

My embroidery box after I packed for the trip:

Packing to leave, was the easy part, but coming home and arranging all the colours in some sort of spectrum was a wee bit harder.

What was I working on? Two Molly Crabapple designs from Sublime Stitching. I'm thinking of adding a red stage curtain around this girl:

I really don't like showing unfinished, unironed work, but well, we're among friends, so here goes:

Sunday Crafternoon*

Last Sunday, Jp told The Kid to take a break from video games and spend some time being creative. He came to me for help.

The day before he had spied the newly released book  Zombie Cross Stitch at the bookstore. We hadn't bought the book but he was interested in making something similar, so I searched online for a little freebie pattern and found a little ninja character that he wanted to make. I gathered the materials and set about teaching the boy how to cross stitch.

Here are the results:

I worked one with him, his is the one on the left with a red headband.
(Mine has my initials and the year on the bottom right)

*Title borrowed from this book/website.

Sewing Goodies

I found a bag of sewing goodies at the thrift store this past weekend, that I could not resist. $2.99 for all these notions and $0.99 for the knitting needles. I've dipped into my Craft Challenge purse, but I'm not worried. Knitting needle gauges/rules, stitch holders and punch needle embroidery sets were all worth it.

Did I break the challenge?

Jp and I took a trip across the US Border to Bellingham, Washington where we wandered around Bellis Fair Mall. I found some cute spring clothes - which I didn't really want to buy as I was trying to 'make do and mend' but these were difficult to resist along with Jp encouraging me to buy them.

And later strolling through another department store, Jp spied the cutest little sewing basket which he said I must have. I resisted. Really I did. But he put it in the cart, and I had no part of it -  so its not going to be counted as part of my Craft Challenge 2010 - especially when it is not craft supplies - it's an organization aid, and scissors are a necessity. Do you think that's bending the rules?

And, these lovely little scissors don't count either!

Meat Dreams

I was stuck for Christmas ideas for Jp, as he usually doesn't wait for the things he really likes, so I though maybe he'd like an embroidered pillowcase (ya right, what was I thinking?). Anyway, since he's not much of a sweet tooth, but loves meat, I made him this... a Meat Dreams pillowcase.

In case you're interested, the images are iron-on transfers from Sublime Stitching's Meaty Treats, except for the word "dream".

Work, work, work, craft, craft, play

I did things backwards this weekend. Saturday I trimmed and shaped all the shrubs in my front yard, trimmed, mowed, raked,swept and bagged all the plant material. By the time I had mowed the back yard in 28 degrees I was panting and overheated. Then I weeded a bunch of badly neglected sections of my back garden. What a day!

I was looking forward to Sunday when I could sit outside and enjoy the day, except it clouded over and actually felt a bit cold. Funny how 22 degrees can feel cold. So I puttered around doing this and that. By the time it came for me to grill the hamburgers I had to do it in the rain.

I should've relaxed in the sun on Saturday and worked in the cloud on Sunday! Silly me, I always seem to do things backwards.

......

I finally managed to get back to some crafting and worked on my crocheted cardigan. However, when I took a good look at the front panel I felt the edge was a little too uneven and frogged back 8 inches. At least with crochet it's really easy to pick up and start and start again after ripping back.

Oh and also managed to get a little embroidery project done. It's on a pillow case for Jp. Sorry the photo's so lousy, the background is white but it's a cloudy day and I used a crappy camera because I was impatient:

Eco, the kid and I had a great game of hide-n-seek last night although that little dog is so fast and very good at it. I think she can smell the treat bag I had on me and perhaps we'll have to play in the dark next time to make it harder. It's a very fun game though.