Showing posts with label embroidery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label embroidery. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
More painting with thread
Got my Happy Day sampler back from framing at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I chose a wooden frame in hot pink. Love it! While waiting for that, I started and finished this Halloween dress for Blythe. I started with a purchased base dress, that had already been dyed from white to orange. I added the ghostly trio, as well as a spider and web, waist and hem trim.
Wow! I just noticed that my previous post was my 500th post! Can't believe I missed that. Maybe I'll remember to celebrate my four year blog anniversary this August 2. Time flies when chatting with friends.
Labels:
500th post,
Blog Annivesary,
Blythe,
embroidery,
Halloween,
Pam Garrison,
sampler,
stitching
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Happy Day sampler done!
This was the most fun ever! I hated to see it end. Pattern from Pam Garrison. Choice of type of stitches and colors up to the stitcher. So I went bright (I guess you can tell).
Stitches I used: straight, back, chain, stem, satin, French knot, star, seed, bullion (first time), daisy, couched. Variegated floss used for the letters, leaves, border and some flowers.
Inspired to stitch by dear Bryanna Lenan, Little Dear/Merwing and Roxie Creations.
Can't wait to frame this or make a pillow with it. It really makes me smile.
Labels:
Aimee Ray,
embroidery,
Little Dear,
needlework,
Pam Garrison,
Roxie Creations,
sampler,
stitching
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Cross-Stitch Art
It seems all my painting is being done with fiber these days--from crochet to embroidery to an old, old favorite, cross-stitch. I just finished this little sampler above a couple weeks ago (and in fact, the pattern is for sale in my Etsy). Just picked it up from being framed at The Stitching Post. Getting ready to hang it. My work is rough; I can see it. After not doing this for probably 20 years, I was shocked at how much harder it is to see those little patterns. But, I have another piece started, as well as an embroidery sampler. Needlework is just so much easier to transport when traveling. There's no mess to clean up, and the rhythmic stitching is soothing.
Labels:
crochet,
cross-stitch,
embroidery,
handmade,
needlework
Monday, May 30, 2011
Memorial weekend vintage finds
I flew from Maryland to Indiana for my great-nephew's open house Saturday. He graduated from Center Grove High School near Greenwood and will study geology at Indiana University. He's also an incredible artist (new pics to come).
While in Indiana I hit some of my favorite antiques shops: AlleyCats in Leesburg, a great new antique mall; and a few shops in the well-known antique town of Pierceton, IN. I had seen two vintage Barbie cases (actually for Ken and Skipper) back in September 2010, and they were still there! The owner even gave them to me for half price, and they were already cheap!
Given my latest fascination with embroidery, I was on the lookout for vintage linens, and boy, did I score! Sets of gorgeous pillowcases, towels and doilies and baby dresses, all with amazing examples of detailed needlework. My plan is/was to embroider some more on some of them, but don't know if I want to spoil them. And I think I will frame the nine panel daisy doily.
You can see my other goodies-- a vintage art deco purse, small china doll, paint tins and a very smooth, much-used eyewash cup or egg cup. It just feels neat. I keep meaning to make an altered paint tin much like Connie Govea Stuart showed in Somerset Studio May/June 2009. And I'd like to make a big book of vintage textiles samples and lace bits like Sandra Evertson's Album d' Enchantillon featured in Somerset Life summer 2008. It's just a huge, gorgeous, rich, French-y book/album.
My travels took me through my hometown of Anderson, for a cemetery visit, and a much cheerier stop at the landmark, Gene's Root Beer (....or is it Gene's Hot Dogs?) Ack. Either way, it was a staple of my childhood. It was a big deal for girls to be able to be carhops at age 14. Saturday's carhops were about 30 years past that. But the good news was the food had not changed!
Today, Memorial Day, is the first day I've seen sunshine since I've been here. And now it is about 90-F of course. I've seen or driven through hail, sideways rain, thunderstorms, tornado watches and warnings; my planes were delayed or forced to circle, flights cancelled, bags lost/delayed. You know, the usual travel stuff.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Under the Sea pillowcases complete!
Motifs from Aimee Ray of Doodle Stitching The Motif Collection. Look for it on Amazon or on Etsy under littledear.
Labels:
Aimee Ray,
Doodle Stitching,
embroidery,
handmade,
mermaids,
nautical,
needlework
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Still stitchin'
I finished the first of two pillowcases, and after getting some really cool threads at The Stitchin' Post in Catonsville yesterday, I stayed up late working on the second pillow case, which I will show you soon.
I also found some really great patterns for cross-stitch and a very cool book called A Rainbow of Stitches. The book's designs are for embroidery and cross-stitch. They are modern and what I would call IKEA-like.
Labels:
cross-stitch,
Doodle Stitching,
embroidery,
IKEA,
nautical,
pillowcase
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My latest gig
Dusting off my meager childhood embroidery skills and practicing new stitches so I can make something pretty. Freeform stitches here from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching. I am awaiting her second book, The Motif Collection.
I was inspired to try embroidery again by my sweet and talented art friend, Bryanna, who has dome some wonderful stitching herself, among other things, and by the Flickr 39 Squares group, which I joined only as a voyeur until now.
Labels:
39 Squares,
Aimee Ray,
Doodle Stitching,
embroidery,
French knot,
stitching
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Yummy Color Books to Devour
What gets your blood pumping? For me, it's anything to do with color as I described in yesterday's review. And if color has to do with arts and crafts, so much the better for me. A fabric store feels like a candy shop to me, even though I don't sew. Bins of buttons, rows of embroidery floss make me feel like Willy Wonka. Same with bolts of cloth, skeins of yarn, thread and other rainbow-hued notions.
If fabric stores or sewing or quilting excite you, too, then you’ll be gushing over Material Obsession: Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke (2009, Stewart, Tabori and Chang, an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 208 pp. $27.50. Note, there is also a second book). I can barely sew a lick and have never quilted but the vibrant colors are what drew me to the book. Quilters, I am sure, will appreciate the handiwork even more than I could, as well as the included patterns and templates.
My favorite quilt in the book, called The ‘Burbs, inspired me with its rough-cut, crooked, child-like houses and paper dolls, a deceptively-simple looking riot of color that just might make me give quilting a try. As the book says, “the thing to remember about the quilt is…let yourself go! This quilt is a recipe, not a pattern…There are no rules here-just cut, sew and enjoy.”
If that’s not enough to suck you in, then the names of the quilts will get you, too: Annie’s Garden, Three-Ring Circus, Cowboy Baby, Gypsy Squares. These aren’t your grandma’s quilts, but the ages-old process is the same. Projects range from easy to intermediate and advanced, with basic quilting instructions included for the beginner. And if, like me, you are a beginner who may never actually begin, you can enjoy the coffee-table-book quality of the photographs of the quilts and fabrics in this soft cover volume. Textile-great Kaffe Fassett, whom I first discovered in my yarn-stash phase, lends his thoughts to the forward.
For those who get their color kicks from paper, the very fun All Wrapped Up! Groovy Gift Wrap of the 1960s by Kevin Akers will have you oohing and ahhhing at all the paper possibilities and cringing over all the vintage gift wrap you wadded up and tossed decades ago, if you were tearing open gifts as a kid in the 60s, like me. This Chronicle Books compendium (255pp., $22.95) was published in 2005, but it my color quest; I just discovered it in a museum gift shop. I was drawn to the full-page and many double-page spreads of gift wrap from my childhood; I was sure I recognized a few. It is a vintage-lovers’ delight, from the psychedelic swirls and paisleys to the child-like, cartoon-ish people and oh-so-60s fonts and colors.
I originally thought I might (shhh! Don’t tell!) cut out some of the full pages for use in my paper-crafting and altered arts (not creating plagiarism of course, but for personal enjoyment), but then, like so many other books in my library, I realized it was too beautiful to redact for my own use. If you appreciate graphic arts, the Mod era or even if you got a ribbon in gift-wrapping in 4H as a youth, you’ll enjoy this thorough compendium and color explosion. More than half the pages are full-color reprints of vintage wrapping paper.
Whatever your color vehicle of choice, from flowers to yarn, embroidery floss, beads, paint or fabric, there’s inspiration wherever you go. While beading might not be your thing, looking at the color wheel through a beader’s eye or studying hues in skeins of embroidery floss can lead to a brand new combination or idea for a project in your own area of expertise. Sometimes, I think my area of expertise is buying beautiful books!
Here are a few more of my recent favorites. The titles will denote their area of focus, but don’t limit yourself to only things you already know how to do. Remember, it’s all about the colors! Sew Sunny Homestyle, Tonne Finnegar, 2009, David and Charles, 158pp., $24.99
Fabric Art Collage, Rebekah Meier, 2009, C & T Design, 96pp., $26.95
Embroidery for Little Miss Crafty, Helen Dardik, 2009, Walter Foster Publishing, 96pp., $12.95 Embroidered Effects, Jenny Hart, 2009, Sublime Stitching LLC, 158 pp., $24.95 (Note: this book is spiral-bound and includes many pages of hot-iron transfers and a pocket for storage). I can’t wait to make something from all of them, but even if I don’t get to it soon, I’ve already enjoyed pouring over the pictures many times over. You will too.
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