Showing posts with label embroidery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label embroidery. Show all posts

Thursday, September 12, 2013

pirates!

When my blog is inactive, it doesn't mean that I am inactive.  Believe me, my machine is still humming away!  Last month, in spite of spending two weeks in Scotland and Ireland, I finished two quilts to give as wedding gifts (sorry, no pictures) and started two more quilts.  But as for today's post, I wanted to tell you about finishing this little collaborative project.  When my daughter was here a few months ago, I "borrowed" one of her many adorable doodle sketches.  My idea? Turn it into a needlework project!


I used a light box to transfer the sketch onto linen.  See the silver metallic thread used for the earring and sword sparkle?  The only other thread color I used was black (even his bellybutton is black!).  The shaded color on the fabric is simply Prismacolor (important) pencil applied ever so lightly. I love and only use Prismacolor pencils because of their strong pigment and soft lead.

The frame was purchased at the quilt shop where I work and then backed with a scraggly pirate-esk scrapbook paper form Hobby Lobby.

I think the little guy's name is Benjamin.  He loves to play dress-up and is anxious for his next swashbuckling adventure!!  

Later this month when I go to help my daughter's family after the birth of her new little boy, I'll bring this to her ... as well as ask for another darling doodle to take home and play with!



Monday, March 11, 2013

S is for psyched ....

I spent a little time in Barnes and Noble today with two of my sons.  While they were off looking at cast puzzles, here's what I found in the craft section.
I'm soooo excited!!

S is for Stitch by Kristyne Czepuryk


This abc quilt is so sweet that the embroidery must begin in tomorrow's quilting class -
but first I must decide if I'm going to make the girl version or the boy version.
I do have a grandson, so I should make the boy version but ...
I want to stitch the girl items, so to follow my heart I really should make the girl version.

Coin anyone??


Saturday, September 22, 2012

feeling so stitchy

Yesterday I was at Disneyland with two of my children.  Oh, those charming tea cups!  Oh, those precious small world mannequins!  Being there amongst all that adorableness reminded me of two Gera! patterns which I had at home that featured Disneyesque international children. Project time!
(see previous post opening)

Aren't these little cuties smile inducing?  Really.  How could I say no?
I've decided that I will stitch the first row only, frame it, and hang it in my new sewing room.  That's right.  I said sewing room! OK, true confessions:  I don't have a sewing room quite yet.  But I will have one around the first of the new year. I've already started buying furniture for it and collecting organizational ideas from Pinterest. Let's just say the word "anxious" is an understatement!!

 Thank goodness I just picked up my new eyeglasses because I'm going to need the best near vision possible to stitch on 32-count linen.  I haven't cross stitched in years and suspect it will be a little more challenging now than it was when I stitched with "young eyes" (as my dad called them then). A friend of mine recently told me that she holds her fabric up to the sun to see the holes for stitches. Let's hope I can avoid that terrifying technique!

 Here is my little IKEA sewing box....after I tidied it up for this picture.  If I'd have shown you what it looked like before, I would have put a blight on my family name!  The black handled scissors inside were a gift from my grandmother years ago.  She owned a pair, loved them, and bought a pair for me. I really can't imagine doing needlework without them.  One of the blades is hooked so that it lifts the stitches before you cut them - which is quite smart and reassuring.

 Now these yummy containers of wound thread were a true find and steal.  I bought them at a yard sale too many years ago to remember where or when, but I do remember doing a happy dance when I spied them and saw the price tag.  All these years later, I still love just looking inside at all the inspiring colors!

 The pattern I'm using for this project, is one that I bought from a company out of LA, superbuzzy, which sells imported Japanese fabric/notions. I love to peruse their website and dream of excess time and $$.

Finally, I wanted to show a picture of a treasure - a metal embroidery hoop that belonged to my mother. The fact that she held it in her hands to stitch her own projects warms my heart and makes me happy that I'm living her creative example.

With this extensive blog post, I'm committed to starting and finishing this project. I want to have it completed by January when I get that lovely new room....all to myself.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easy Embroidery

Although I don't embroider as much as I used to, I do enjoy a quick hand stitching project from time to time to switch things up a little. These are easy projects that anyone with the most basic of needlework ability can do. As an online resource, Needlecrafter.com has a wonderful library of free embroidery patterns. And if you don't embroider, the graphics can simply be adorable clip art!

(The frame is an inexpensive IKEA stock item.)


(These preprinted pillowcases were purchased from Michael's. But I have also bought different colors of pillowcases from stores like Home Goods and copied graphics onto them with washable tracing paper.)

Here is a link to a printable embroidery stitch guide.