Christmas Lacing Cards

OLÁ! Tomorrow will be the last day of my kids at school, Christmas break (férias de Natal) is on and it will last for two weeks here in Portugal. I don't know how it is in other places... Are your kids at home, too?

If you have them with you, maybe you need some suggestions for Christmas related activities... And I thought that I could help you by showing the Christmas cards I made with my younger daughter last year. 

You'll only need some pieces of card stock, hole punching material, wool yarn and decoration supplies, like fabrics and ribbons. I've only used Portuguese supplies and added some cork... But you may use what you have at hand...

Here you have my Christmas lacing card suggestions:

Christmas Angel Lacing Card

Rudolph Lacing Card

Christmas Tree Lacing Card

Christmas Lamb Lacing Card

Baby Jesus Lacing Card

It's always so great to work with our kids... I hope you enjoy it, too!

Back to school

Olá! In the next two weeks children will be back to school here in Portugal, after summer break. I'm reminded of those times when I was young (well, I like to believe I'm still young...) and one of the great things about being back to school was that special feeling of writing on the first page of a new notebook. Do you remember that? The first page seems to be made of a different kind of paper...

I loved to make my notebooks unique since I was a young girl. I enjoyed thinking: "my notebook is not like yours..." But I was no longer at school when I started embroidering notebooks. Today I'll show you some of those notebooks, hoping they can inspire you and your kids to make your own!!

This was my first embroidered notebook. There I wrote down my first orders, the first supplies I bought... Good memories!!

My first embroidered notebook

This one also had a black cover and was embroidered using wool yarn as the first one.

Using wool yarn on a black notebook...

Some time later I began doing them differently, using more detailed patterns and embroidering with a floss similar to pearl cotton. One of this days I'll show you how I do it!! It's very easy... This is the notebook I use every day now... It's like my right hand, it keeps me from forgetting everything I need in my business. I prefer it to a netbook!

Probably somewhere beside me...

For those younger ones getting back to school here you have an idea to make their notebooks really unique. You'll have to use the technique of embroidering on card stock. The child will make a lacing card, perforating the card stock and then embroidering it using wool yarn. The notebook will look great and kids will be happy to say: "my notebook is not like yours"!

A lacing card that became a notebook cover

As we would say in Portuguese: "bonito e barato"... Beautiful and cheap...

May Stitch-Along: Week 1

Happy May Day, everyone!  As we kick of the start of the new month, we also kick off a new stitch-along here at Feeling Stitchy.  I'm excited to share an original embroidery pattern by June Jessie, a very talented artist and embroidery designer also known as isewcute on Flickr.

"A Little Curtsy Goes a Long Way" is a precious little pattern that reminds us all not to forget our manners.  This pattern was originally published in Fat Quarterly, the popular e-zine for the modern quilting and crafting community.  We're so excited that both June and the Fat Quarterly team are happily making this pattern available for all Feeling Stitchy readers.

Click on the image above to access the pattern in Flickr, where you can download and print it in a variety of sizes.

While this pattern would look adorable simply framed in a hoop for hanging, I also can't help but think of its many other possibilities -- imagine it stitched onto a little girl's skirt, a tote bag for carrying ballet slippers, a nursery pillow, or a doll quilt.  Let's challenge ourselves this month to not only stitch the pattern up, but to use it in a finished product.  What do you have in mind?

Don't forget to tag your photos MayStitchalong2012 and add them to the Embroidery group over on Flickr.  In-progress shots are OK!  We'd love to see them, and I'll be featuring your photos throughout the month.

To see more of June's original embroidery patterns, be sure to check out her Etsy shop.  Now let's get stitching!

--

About the artist


We are so pleased to offer this adorable hand embroidery pattern designed by June Jessie, aka isewcute to her Flickr and Craftster friends. June is a prolific crafter, embroidery artist, and jewelry designer. Be sure to visit June's Etsy shop where she not only sells the 'cutest' resin jewelry, but also some of the most amazing original hand embroidery designs we've seen. June even offers custom listings where she'll recreate any photo into a useable pattern for you to stitch up! June welcomes custom requests and guarantees that her customers will be pleased with the results.


June also blogs at isewcute.blogspot.com, where she chronicles her other crafty pursuits, from kids' crafts to cooking recipes. And when she's not on Crafster, you're sure to find her spreading the good word about the platform -- she's a major Craftster fan!


You can find June and her awesome handmade goods in one of her many online outlets.
Blog: isewcute.blogspot.com/
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/isewcute

Refrigerator Art

Stop. Don't scroll down. Let me explain. You'll spoil the surprise if you peek......let me start this way:

In the United States, in Wisconsin, in some small city, on my street, in my home, there is a little known art gallery known as the "refrigerator door". It's the very first art gallery for my children's creations. I have five children, so not everyone's pictures got to be on the refrigerator at once, but it was surely an honor to have one's creations displayed for all to see who came to visit.

Now, my children's children have been proudly displaying their works of art. If you want to know what a big deal this is, know/remember what I am talking about, it's a little like when you open this page and see your creation on the page for all the visitors to see.....that "little person" in you lights up with glee.......


What I have for you today is how to transform those wonderful art pieces into embroidery. First, I made an inkjet transfer of the artwork and put it on muslin. Make sure that you make the transfer reversed if there is lettering, so that when you apply it, it is legible. Then, because I am not schooled in embroidery, I wanted to have the quilt batting to hide my embroidery trail, so I sewed on a border and tacked the quilt batting to it.


Then, I began a wonderful experience of embroidery. I cannot tell you the pleasure it gave me to trace those little crayon strokes of my granddaughter's. I was quite surprised.


The only two rules I gave myself were to try to mimic the colors as much as possible, and to embroider in the direction of the crayon stroke. I think this gave credibility to making the crayon drawing into the embroidery piece. I used a chain stitch most often because it filled in easily and I could blend other colors if I wanted to. Being an embellisher at heart, I really had to resist adding things like extra design, or beading.......I used self-control and stayed true to the drawing....lol. Now I will show you some detail of the work.





After much deliberation, I decided to make the piece a wall-hanging, though the possibilites included a tote panel, doll quilt or framed in picture style. I used DMC number 8 cotton perle embroidery thread. I like the ease of not having to separate strands, but the colors are much more limited. I am not a quilter, so I must admit I put this together without that knowledge, but I am fairly happy with it. I wished I was a quilter after I sewed it. However, I cannot wait to see Gabby's face when I give it to her for her birthday today. Truly, it would even be a great "Gramma" gift! Hope you enjoyed it!