a Cherry on Top - Embroidery Fever!

Good evening everyone - Happy Easter! :)

I made time to craft this weekend. It was much needed. I've been thinking that I want something to do later in the evening that won't take so much brain power but serves as a creative outlet just the same. I have always wanted to work on my embroidery skills; I began at www.colonialpatterns.com to see what was available online. I've seen the Aunt Martha's patterns ALL over, so I thought I'd just go to their home site.

{* As a side note here - they are an American family owned business. Support them! They sent me two messages letting me know how much they appreciate my support for their business. They are incredible. I had my order in two days and they also threw in a free transfer pattern: Rock'n & Roll'n. :) They went the extra mile, so I thought I'd share and go my mile.}

For my project. I started on a dish towel using a design from Kitch'n Stitch'n. {I love the toast and the teapots -argh, so fun!}

I cut out the design I wanted from the sheet {I think it was 18" x 24"}. I heated my fabric up before I placed the transfer on it. I pressed it for about 5 seconds. Each transfer can be used several times.

A color chart comes inside the "Stitchers Revolution" line of transfers. I LOVED IT! If you look at the bottom of the chart, there are blocks of color names that they suggest. How easy is that? Yeah, I don't have to think. Love It!!

I picked the colors from my floss box that matched most closely to the color chart that came in the package.

OH! You'll need needles. I picked these up at Millie P's quilt shop in downtown Anoka, MN. {I want to visit the Mary Arden website.} I used one of these. I didn't see how they were any more special then the Dritz needles I've used previously. I guess I just wanted to try something new.

I also purchased a plastic hoop. Hoopity, hoop! I like the wooden ones better. This one became heavy on for my thumb to hold up. I eventually switched to a smaller wooden one. :)

Look at what my mom got me for Easter - BUNNY EMBROIDERY SCISSORS! CUTE adorable, FUN and CUTE! ...did I mention how cute they are? {I sort of have a thing for scissors. I love to look at all the pretty colors and creative designs. I know I'll have a million pair when I die.}

Okay, here's me starting to stitch. I started from the right and worked left, for no reason. I just wanted to.

Fiona wanted to sit on my left, for no reason. Just kidding, she wanted to lay on the heating pad that I had on my lap under my needle work, which she eventually shoved her way onto. LOL

Here's the finished wordage for the dish towel.

And here's the completed project. I worked on this on and off all day yesterday. Today I ran out and got some fabric to make a Kitchenaid cover. I downloaded and printed off the patter for that yesterday too. Ooo, that reminds me now, I need to get that in the dryer after posting this.

That's it for the embroidery project. Here's the last bit of my cutsie tote. I hand stitched the velcro band down. I'm so glad I chose to do it that way. You just can't get such a nice look if you use a machine. I guess "each to their own". I have come to learn that I really like hand sewing.

This next photo? I couldn't remember if I shared my idea on what to do with extra fabric on this blog. I drew up my own teddy bear pattern about a year ago and when I have extra fabric, I make these cute little bears! Today I had the great idea to draw up an owl pattern. They are really trendy right now and I've been bitten by the love-owls-bug. I can't seem to get enough of them. I run google searches just to look at them - tons of them! I'll show ya what I make when the times comes.

Thanks for reading today. I hope I encouraged someone to pick up an easy no-brainer embroidery project. If you get going strong and finish, please take a photo and show me! ---especially if it's of OWLS! :D

Until next week - have a good one!

Tabel Runner, Tote, Chinese Lampwork Beads

Hi Everyone... I'm sorry for the two week lag. Yeah, tomorrow it'll be two weeks since I've blogged.

In my previous entry I mentioned that I started cutting and sewing the "Butterfly Trail" blocks for a table runner. I managed to get them pieced together. I trimmed the topper and this is the semi-finished look. I still haven't decided if I want to hand or machine quilt it yet. I'd like to make a black top stitch along the inside of the light pink triangles and use a light pink thread along the darker triangles. I still have to put more thought into it. Overall, I'm very pleased with my work. My points look great! I just might put this one up for sale. While I'm taking time to think...

I've almost finished up a tote. I think these colors are so beautiful together. The purple with small print has dainty gold leave flecks that I just can't get over. I quilted the top with gold metallic thread on the purple fabric and then I used an invisible thread on the floral pattern. I sewed a hook and loop closure instead of a zipper. I have to sew the inside flap down and I plan to hand sew that.

Here's the patchwork on the back side of the tote. The straps are long enough to pull over your shoulder with just a little ease for movement. I didn't want disproportional looking tote handles.

This tote is also tagged! "WizardGir1". I think it's a nice finishing touch. :)

Moving on...  I know that I'm not the biggest fan of quilting, but the tote project and the runner has encouraged me to make a small quilt. (DOH! I'm not even finished with my king size "Winning Hand" quilt yet. More on that at a later entry, as I have the border strips cut and ready to sew!)

This photo is of an Amish design. The pattern explained that the Pennsylvania Amish folks (a.k.a. Pennsylvania Dutch) didn't use bright yellow, orange, or yellow-green in their quilts. The neutral color used was black. I have always LOVED Amish quilts. I think they are so clean and easily read (they aren't busy with fabric colors and patterns). The particular block used in this quilt is called the "Bow Tie". Isn't it lovely? Do a Google search for this block in color. My printer ran out of ink. :D It's much more pleasing to the eye in full color. For this specific quilt pattern, I need 24 scrap strips of fabric.

These are my fabric strips. And no, they aren't solid. I think I might have only a few solid colors, but I have a different plan. I'm going to try to place them in this gradient color order after the blocks are made. That's the real reason I took the photo, so I could use it as a reference when it comes time. I think these prints will look adorable against the black color. I'm excited. All right, that's my quilting talk. Moving on again.

I helped my friend make her wedding earrings today. While we were at the bead shop, I saw the funky-fun (yes that's the technical term) Chinese lamp work beads. I had to have them. These will be adorable for summer. ...yup, another thing to look forward to (other than summer). By the way, I have to mention here that we got a half an inch of snow last night. GRR! That's just crazy. It's April. Not only that, but I'm SO done with winter here in Minnesota. It's just getting too long. I better stop complaining there. I want this to be a happy blog! :) I want to write about things that make me happy! 

Guess I'll close now. LOL. OH WAIT! I have one more thing to say. I saw a Kenmore Ultra Mini on Craig's List for $25 last Thursday. This machine has excellent reviews. It's made by Jamome, so it's good, of course. It's a 3/4 size machine weighing in at 11 pounds, but it has a full size motor in it. That means it has power! I want it. They sell for $100 at Sears. I contacted the seller to let him know that I was interested in buying it. He had to leave town and plans to call at the beginning of next week. My fingers are crossed though, because a person never knows how these things turn out. I tried getting a different machine once, and they never responded to my email. At any rate, you better believe that I'll mention whether I get the machine or not in my next post.

Until then, keep pushing forward through your projects!

Beginning Butterfly Trail

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm so sorry that I missed my usual Monday entry, but busy-ness took over. I'm still trying to get my gym visits into routine so I can manage to get all my tasks done during my allotted week. I subbed again last week so my health took priority over my crafting. It turned out all right because I had quilting group on Saturday. I was able to get some cutting and sewing in. Well, I got some cutting in at the group and then I came home to sew a little.

I picked up a new pattern for a table runner since I didn't do well with the Simplicity pattern. This Piece Tree pattern looked easy enough and I consider myself a beginner when it comes to quilting. It is such an art! One of the gals at my group, Mary, was hand quilting. I liked it a lot. Quilters are so creative! The actual stitching reminded me of the embroidery work that I've done. The embroidery work is very satisfying, so I'm considering hand quilting one of my quilts - probably not my king size (Haha) - maybe on this table runner.

Okay, so moving on. Here is the Piece Tree pattern for my new table runner. It looks pretty basic and interesting. With the choice of fabrics, it could be marvelous!

These are my cuts. This is all that is required to put the table runner top together. The backing and batting isn't pictured so I'll need those too. I think I'll use the black for the backing since the black strips are my border.

I'll sew some more of the blocks together today. I should be able to blog again on Tuesday so you can see my blocks. (I go to the gym Tuesday evenings, so I have a time slot open between shifts.)

This next photo is of me wearing my scarf. It was 50° yesterday so I didn't need a jacket, but the scarf was nice in the AM. Sorry it's blurry, I didn't want to go into a big photo shoot with my mom during quilting. Sort of a slouch too - I'll work on that next time! :)

Well, the table runner project is off and running. This one will be finished before I start another. Actually, I think my next project is going to be to finish my king size quilt. I'll close with that. I'd like to get started on my day so I can get some seams in. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you next week!