The ninth (and last) word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Ecstatic.
The eighth word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Untitled.
The seventh word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Moonlight.
The sixth word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Junkyard.
The fifth word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Secrets.
The fourth word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Alphabet.
The third word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Thirteen.
The second word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Antarctica.
The first word that Andrew gave us to interpret in embroidery for
A Collaboration was Entangled.
This crafty lull seems like a perfect time to share some work from my past with you. I know I'm all about knitting right now. And most of you came to me because of my crochet tutorials and handbag pattern. What may surprise you is that I lovelovelove embroidery. LOVOOOVOOVOVOVVE.
I stitched the label for her bag at Crafing in Public night last week.
In San Francisco, you can get into a bunch of museums for free the first Tuesday of the month. I meant to go in December, but the first Tuesday was the 1st of December, and I didn't think to check until a couple days in. Oops.
So, I was not-so-patiently waiting for January 5th so I could go see Open Source Embroidery at
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art. It was even cooler than I thought it'd be!
Andrew and I go on walks a lot, and in the summer we like to stop and sit in the park for a bit. I usually stick a project in my bag for me to work on and carry a book for Andrew. But I'm always afraid I'm going to totally crumple up his book pages in my bag, so I thought I'd make a book protector. I can stick his book in it and throw that in my purse or tote and not worry about it.
Some macro photos of the before and after of adding the other diagonal of the scales.
This is where the text should go.
Snip snip snip. Tear tear tear. Picking at tiny bits of stabilizer with tweezers. It's a lot more relaxing than it sounds.
Today was a rare dry day. It feels like it's been raining for months. And I think it has been! The forecast doesn't even give us a *glimmer* of a *hope* of a rain-free day until July 31st. Ugh!
I'm so excited about my first weaving project! I love the way it came out! Diane of CraftyPod recently released her newest eBook,
Weaving Un-Loomed and sent me a review copy. There are six great weave-y projects in the eBook that each explore a different facet of loom-less weaving.
Went to the park again after work and got some more stitching done. It was HOT today, but all the sudden the sky went dark. We started towards home but we didn't beat the rain. We ended up having to duck under awnings and in door ways *three* different times to keep out of the serial deluges.
Spent some dreamy time stitching in the park yesterday. Heaven.
I'm putting together a box of Easter candy for one of my international blog-friends who sent me two (two! yes, I am spoiled rotten ... ) surprise boxes of German Christmas gingerbread, chocolates, and all sorts of delicious things.
Today I curled up on the couch in the sun and embroidered a label for the purse. I used vintage hem facing from Michelle of
Green Kitchen fame.
http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/images/2008/04/bacon_thumb_o.jpg
The latest issue of The AntiCraft just came out, and it's entirely devoted to bacon. Remember the
bacon project I teased you with? Well, now you can make your own
Bacon Of Hate. Well, what are you waiting for? :)
Here's a sneak peek at my bacon makin'.
The plan for the sewing machine cover is starting to come together. I've pulled out the vintage German fabric that
Isa sent me eons ago. I'd love to use them in a way that I will see them every day. I like how they look with the Victorian lady, too.
Here are parts of the Victorian Lady embroidery that I totally love. There are others that I don't totally love. I knew picking floss colors for the dusty purple corduroy background would be challenging, but I totally misjudged how any of them would really look.
I've loved
Dover clip art books forever. All the way back to when you'd have to cut the bits out, tape them on your whatever-you-were-making and then make copies of the pasted-up layout.
These days, their books come with CDs of their images. Awesome! Recently I bought
Old-Time Anatomical Illustrations (which would have come in handy when I made the
bleeding heart handbag) and
Victorian Fashions. They join a handful of other clip art and pattern books already in my stash.
Either I've never had the flu before or the flu has become some crazy-mega-flu, because I've never had my ass kicked like that before. I'm still not 100%, but I'm no longer worried that I'm permanently brain damaged from my fever. Next year I'll be getting a flu shot for sure!
I originally designed the
Bad Eggs around Easter of 2006. I did a set of four in black with embroidered designs. At the time, I thought subversive Easter eggs (traditionally-colored eggs with non-traditional imagery) would be hilarious, and I got my chance to make some when they were accepted for the
Anticraft book.
Look at that squirting arterial blood! I can't tell you how much I love that decapitated bunny. It warms my heart. I couldn't be happier about how it turned out. The white-on-white embroidery outlining his leg doesn't photograph well, but it looks good in person. His tail is a bunch of floss loops making a 3-D puff.
Ahhhh ... a cute chick with a taste for eyes. Chirp! The eyes filling the basket are made with a tiny sequin and a black seed bead ... and embroidered eyelashes. I do realize that if a chick was digging the eyeballs out of peoples' heads and collecting them in a basket that they wouldn't still have eyelashes, but I think that makes it all the more creepy. :) It totally oogs me out that the chick is holding an eye by the optic nerve.
The other two eggs in the Bad Eggs set are based on the original designs. One is embroidered with 360° flames and the other has evil eyes on each side in alternating warm and cool colors.
Certainly, you could make non-snarky Easter eggs with the pattern ... but why would you? ;)
With some help from
Kari (whose mom and sister and used to own a cross stitch shop) and one last trip to the craft store, I have now become the proud owner of ALL of the colors of DMC floss.
A calm has settled over the craft table*. I now know that I can find the perfect color of floss for any craft project ... and if I can't, then it just doesn't exist. Crafting with confidence, that's my motto.
* Sadly, I'm only half joking. :)
This step-by-step tutorial explains exactly to use the blanket stitch to both sew two pieces of felt together and use it as an edging. There are special tips on how to go around corners, to stitch around circles, and what to do if you run out of floss in the middle. Each step is accompanied by a photo.
Yesterday I stumbled across a clearance sale of DMC embroidery floss ... 10 cents each! Luckily I had my
checklist with me. I bought every color that I didn't already have that was still in stock. There are only 35 more colors to get before I reach my
goal of owning every color of floss.
There are 86 skeins of floss in the photo above ($8.60 in floss! So cheap!). I really wanted to do a
Moonstitches on them, but I have neither the time nor gumption today for such an undertaking. Plus, it looks like I'd been skipping a lot of the greens, so it wouldn't make for a pretty rainbow anyway. :)
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UPDATE: The
Starling Handbag crochet pattern for the purse above is now available on the free downloads page. Yay!
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I'm not just churning out overly-serious posts about lists over here ...
This handbag is ready to travel to it's final destination. I added some leaves to the tulip label and whipped up a new one for Germany. I love the little beer stein on the Germany label - it even has a hinged lid. Just in time for Oktoberfest!
Here you can see the world map fabric Elizabeth picked out for the lining.
In this tutorial, I show you how I make my handbag labels and how you can embroider any design onto felt. Photos illustrate every step of the process.
This step-by-step tutorial explains exactly to use the whip stitch to sew two pieces of felt together. Each step is accompanied by a photo.
Thanks to an Amazon gift certificate, I am now the proud owner of this book. It's so awesome! It has a hidden spiral binding, so it'll lay flat. The table of contents has little pictures of each stitch to help you pick where you want to go in the book. Yay! The pictures and colors in this book are wonderful. I can't wait to get started on my embroidery patch swap!