Category Archives: Embroidery

Hocus Pocus-ville

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BLOGTOBERFEST: Day 5

This is a pattern I’ve had and been anxious to make up for some time now.  Its a pattern by Crabapple Hill; they design amazing hand embroidery patterns, made into tea towels, pillows, or in this case, a quilt.

I don’t intend to make the full quilt, as I want a wallhanging.  I made just four of the embroideries (I’ll come clean, my Mom actually did the majority of the stitching for me because she was needing a handwork project and I didn’t have the extra time, myself–so I passed the traced blocks onto her to complete for me).  Mom’s hand aren’t as steady as they once were, but she still does beautiful handwork. Together, we made the Pumpkin Patch:

Hagatha’s Laundry:

La Witch Boutique:

and Morgana’s Apothecary:

I’m still deciding on a setting for my blocks, and I may embroider a tree or something to balance them off in the center, eventually.  Here is a very un-glamorous, mish-mash of the four blocks hanging together on my design wall:

I’m very happy with the tone-on-tone print I chose for the background, I like it much better than the solid ivory the sample is made with.  The details drawn into this pattern are amusing and very clever–click on my photos enlarge them and read the little signs, etc. on the “witchy” businesses…  Hoping to have a finish before this Halloween, but time will tell…

Do you do hand embroidery?

If so, what have you made?

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Creative Clips

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It’s been a month.  A month of quiet; A month of busy.  A month of reading books; A month of prayer.  A month of work… of appointments… of meetings… of housework… of meal-planning and cooking… of illness and exhaustion… of tears and of laughter… and a break from feeling obligated to journal here.  Resolutions were made; and kept (still going strong!).  Change (improvement?) was made in so many ways, and excitement and anticipation of the next few months is high. 

When I started my blog, I posted (nearly) weekly “creative clips” showing small things I worked on or did, that didn’t necessarily warrant an entire blog post.  Sort of like my friend Cindy’s “Really Random” posts–only not as amusing as her posts.  😉  I’ve decided I’m bringing Creative Clips back in 2012.  So here goes:

Creative Clips, Weeks 1, 2 & 3!

My SIL is making a 100 Wishes Quilt for the son they recently brought home from China.  I surprised them at Christmas by giving them two special blocks, hand embroidered and sashed to match her quilt blocks, with dates to represent their trip to China, his birthday and adoption date (“gotcha day”), and the date he became a citizen of the United States–all within an outline of his two countries:

On December18th, my Sweetie and I went to meet our new nephew, and then, a few days after Christmas, he and his big brother spent a few hours at our place while Mom went on a lunch date and ran a few errands.  It’s amazing, they are truly brothers, as if they have been since birth.  His first trip to Dairy Queen with uncle and auntie:

I didn’t sew any gifts to give this year, however I did have a customer request for a set of Mother/Daughter aprons… using this sweet cupcake fabric from my stash, I made an apron for a 3-year old girl and her mommy–who enjoy baking together:

Like Katy, I sometimes resist cutting into “precious” fabrics in my stash because I’m saving it for something “special”.  Silly, huh?  Well, I opened a Good Fortune layer cake and started sewing last weekend… on a sewing day at my place with two awesome friends:

Seriously, I have to get over that–the stash is there to be used, Amy Butler and Heather Ross and all…

 
It just felt  good to sew again…. and have I ever mentioned how much I love to chain-piece?

I did a little hand-piecing on a short road trip over the holiday week; a little progress on the hexagon quilt:

I enjoyed twelve days off from the job at holiday time, and spent much of that time sleeping (even though I had grand intentions of spending it creating!)… I guess your body knows when it has reached a certain point of sleep deprivation, and my body decided to revolt and take the sleep it needed no matter what the right side of the brain was demanding. 
Life is indeed good, and I am blessed,
Doris

Tea, anyone?

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This sweet mini quilt was designed by Emma… She’s a member of my small group, Seams Sew Easy, a graphic designer by trade, and a talented quilter. I offered to test this pattern for her, and this is my finished product:

Complete with yellow Darlene Zimmerman designed teacup border, royal blue flange, and polk dot(!) background. (My photos are terrible–but trust me, it’s sweet, cute, bright and fresh colored!)

I received another block last week for my Neighborhood quilt, from Alissa:

I’m loving all the little details everyone is adding, those are Heather Ross seagulls…

and a green car parked by a little orchard?!? Alissa didn’t even know I drove a light green Beetle, that could be my car!

There have been four more revealed here, that haven’t arrived in my mailbox yet. Go check them out!

Have a blessed Easter weekend,
Doris

Baby Love

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Remember this cute little guy? I showed you a sneak peek right before Easter…

Well, he went to this sweet little guy…who normally has a very sunny disposition and a never ending smile…but he simply did not want to cooperate with a grin for the camera this morning.

He’s still adorable and makes my heart sing every time I see him! He has a few new cousins on the way, both little girls, so I made these this week…

A mongrammed onesie and flannel burp cloth to match!

Every girl needs some monogrammed goodness, right?! These were so easy to make and I know will be greatly appreciated by their non-sewing mommies!

Here is the beautiful quilt that Victoria made from the 9-patch blocks that I, and quilters from all over the globe made and contributed to the project… She called it “Nothing But Kisses” (get it? It’s all x’s!) Isn’t it gorgeous!? Do you want it? It is being auctioned off for a great charity, Love Without Boundaries. To visit the auction, click on the quilt!

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Handwork, handiwork

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Is there a difference between those two? It seems they are the same thing, but I guess we use the term “handiwork” to describe anything made or done, like a landscaper’s handiwork, or the handiwork of a cook, whereas handwork is something specifically made with your hands… This is what Merriam Wenster has to say about it…

hand·i·work Pronunciation: \ˈhan-di-ˌwərk, -dē-\

a: work done by the hands b: work done personally handiwork>2: the product of handwork

hand·work Pronunciation: \ˈhand-ˌwərk\
work done with the hands and not by machines

But I digress. I promised you some photos of projects I’ve been working on, so without further adieu, or digression, here is the handiwork of some of my handwork…

I’ve done some more work on the nearly completed, WIP since June 2008, Liberty Garden wallhanging. The beadwork is nearly done, and there is just a small amount of embroidery left to complete the center. I’ve decided the border needs to be redone, so that will come off, a small red inner border will be added and the piano key border will be sewn back on. Then quilting and…drumroll, please…..hanging!

I also completed this adorable little guy just in time for the upcoming holiday…

Can’t reveal the rest of him just yet… He was made from a vintage transfer, posted on Flickr in the Hoop Love Vintage Transfer group. Probably a design originally from the 1930s. Ain’t he sweet?!

Have you been doing any handwork lately? I’ve been trying to always keep a handwork project with me so that I can make use of any time I spend waiting, in the car, at a doctor’s office, etc. I’m not a patient person when it comes to just waiting, so this really helps make the time fly!

Oooh, that’s gonna leave a mark…

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I haven’t spent much time at the computer lately, as a matter of fact, I haven’t spent much time doing anything lately. I took a spill last week on a rain wet floor, and I seem to have cracked a rib–a first for me–it makes breathing difficult, lifting a challenge, sleeping impossible, and just about everything else uncomfortable. Thanks to the miracles of modern medicine (a.k.a. “happy drugs”) I’m once again sleeping, sitting in my office chair a few hours at a time, and getting other little things done. Anyone that knows me knows I have a hard time just sitting still and resting, a.k.a. not getting anything done!–so it’s very good to be ambulatory again.

I wanted to complete my Independence Day project by Independence Day…but it probably is not going to be done. This is the magazine shot of it:
Mine will also have a pieced border made from Sandy Gervais’ “Red, White and Bold” line, and I’m not using wool to do it, simply because I can’t get the right colors of wool locally, and not being a big wool person, I don’t want to order it online and have wasted scraps left over after paying shipping, etc., on it. Mine will be all cotton. This is it so far…my Mom did the first four letters for me when she was visiting this weekend:
I’m starting to get into embroidery, maybe it’s all the vintage linens I found that have such lovely embroidery on them, maybe it’s fellow blogger, Cassie, who inspired me by recommending this book:
This is the coolest book, it’s a free-form kind of embroidery and the author, Aimee Ray, includes all kind of fun projects like pimping your sneakers, making an awesome lampshade, or your own ipod or cell phone holder:
Super cute stuff, and it’s stuff I can work on while my torso is mending!

The other thing I have been doing is locating and listing all my UFOs (or UFPs, or UFQs), unfinished objects (projects, quilts). I’ve found some from almost a decade ago! I’m going to be blogging about those in upcoming posts and hopefully blogging about their completion in the coming months!