She Stitches!

Finally finished up a stitching project! I started on this last year when my dad was having surgery...thought it would keep my hands out of the chips and my mind occupied during the wait. I pulled it out again a few weeks ago when he was having the second round of back surgery. Since I already have approximately 11,358 tea towels and room for no more, Jackie took them off my hands when I was finished.

The designs are from a vintage pattern set called Happy Fruit that I purchased on Pattern Bee. Pattern Bee also offers some free patterns!

Today I am taking a "mental health day" off work. I will be on the couch, watching a movie and working on this new project for at least two hours today. This gal is from a pattern set called Spaced Out from Sublime Stitching. They have a new pattern set called Sexy Librarians. I think I need it.

Off to the couch with me!

Farewell Old Friend...

The quilt top that I started at my quilting class in Nov. is finally complete. WooHoo! I will save the quilting of it till this summer. For my first stab at a quilt that used blocks rather than wide fabric strips, I'm pretty proud of it. I could NOT get Sasha to budge for the photo, so please don't mind the cat!I was waiting to finish this quilt before getting the sewing machine that I got for Christmas out of the box. I was afraid the seams would be off and somehow mess up my quilt if I switched sewing machines in the middle. Now that it's done I managed to get my new sewing machine out of the box and set up yesterday.

So now I shall bid a fond farewell to my old Brother sewing machine. We've had our ups and downs, but it was a good run! Don't worry, it didn't go too far...just to the closet for now!I thought this would be an appropriate time to post the last few projects I made on the old machine.

First up, these two aprons. I was trying to come up with a design that I could use for aprons in the Etsy shop. There are a lot of plain cafe style aprons out there, so I thought a patchwork style might be fun. (these may well be out there tool, I just haven't seen them) Anyhow, I like the way they turned out with the various blocks of fabric, but I made a complete mess out of both waistbands and have not attempted to straighten them up or make another apron since. But, I DID learn to do a French seam in order to finish the backs of these neatly! Oooh La La!

French Seam!

I also made these "Lalka Lawenda"(Little Lavender Dolls) and sent them off to Poland for Jackie to give out at her girls night events. They are scented w/lavender and small enough in size to freshen up a drawer, car, backpack, closet, gymbag, etc. Some of these may also go into my still empty Etsy shop.I've also had a ton of fun making these robot themed Valentine cards on the sewing machine. I know they kinda look like a five year old drew them but I like that! Now I want to make a stuffed robot of some sort! OK, that last one is an owl, not a robot. Perhaps a robot owl is in order?

I call this one Untitled

A Boy & His Dog Walking the K-9Whoo Loves You?Yep, I've enjoyed that sewing machine immensely.

TA DAAA!

I started on these Days of Week Towels back in the Spring of 2006. I don't know why it took me so long to pick them back up, but regardless they are done! Managed to get in several good hours of movie-watching while finishing them! FYI: The Patriot---I had forgotten how good, Young Guns II---better n' the first w/0 cheesy music & Three Amigos---HILARIOUS every time! Have I mentioned how much I love having this week off work in the Fall?




I love these! Not bragging, mind you. I just really think they turned out nicely. The towels are Martha Stewart from KMart. They come with the days of the week pre-embroidered, so they were perfect for these cute Aunt Martha bunnies! This little guy is my favorite of the lot. Freshly washed(as they've been in my embroidery bag soooo long) and starched and now ready for gifting. I think I have another set of these Martha Stewart DOW towels in a closet somewhere. The only question now is do I use another Aunt Martha's or do I bust out the Sublime Stitching patterns? Hmmm? Either way, I think I need a set for myself! Here are some of my other un-finished projects and some I finished a while back!

Itchin' for some Stitchin'

Where crafting is concerned, I have a touch of ADD...my attention span jumps around, a lot. I'm still digging the sewing, mind you, but I've kinda been itching to drag out the old embroidery hoop lately.

These are a few projects that I've started and a year later(two in one case) have yet to finish. I guess other projects got in the way...jewelry making, scrapbooking, building a new house, life...

This one I started as a shower gift for a friend who got married nearly two summers ago. I've started on them two other times thinking I would finish them for other people's wedding gifts. I've decided to give it another shot and give them to the person for whom they were originally intended!! How's that for a novel idea!I picked up these vintage tea towels a couple of years ago at a local antique mall and knew immediately they would have French poodles on them. At the time, I never imagined that TWO YEARS LATER they'd be unfinished!Anthro fruits & veggies are my favorite subject for embroidery! I've made one set for Jackie(my sis') and one for Shea(my bro') . These were supposed to be for me!And now, I've gone and bought this! Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching book! I've wanted it forever and I finally coughed up the money and bought it.
Basically, I've taught myself how to embroider. A friend of mine gave me her old stitch diagram from the 60's and another gal I work with has shown me some stitches here and there. But other than that, I do a lot of trial and error. Thankfully, there is a solid section on different types of stitches and how to work them in the book. Maybe now I can finally learn those stitches I've just sorta been playing around with! I might add, the patterns in this book are so stinkin' cute that I couldn't have passed it up even without that awesome "stitching school"!

Although I haven't done an embroidery in a while, it is one of my favorite hobbies. It's comfortable and relaxing to me. Yeah, I know some folks may see it as an old fashioned granny hobby, but I like that it's old fashioned! Perhaps that's what feels comfortable to me about it...my grandmothers all did some type of needlework. I also appreciate (very much)that it doesn't require any type of technology to embroider ! OK, I just realized that last sentence sounds a little like Michael Scott from this week's episode of the office! ha! Don't get me wrong, technology is great, really. I use it on a daily basis and would be lost without my computer, cell phone, ipod, etc. But don't you think our world moves awfully fast? Does anyone else long for a little simplicity every once in a while? There I go again....I'm too young to be talking this way! Sheesh!

ANYWAY...I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes it's nice to just slow down, park myself on the couch and use a needle, some thread and my own two hands to make something pretty.

I want Ham to Eat! AND I'll wear my Victory Apron to eating the Ham.

Can't mention ham without doing a Brian Regan imitation...even IF no one can hear me.

Anyhow, This is another one of those slap in the forehead things. Why did I never do this before? Just used a 2.5 lb. pre-cooked & sliced Smithfield ham. Turned out delicious...I'm still eating this ham two days later! The package gave the directions to add a little water to the baking dish before cooking, I added a little cola instead.

EASY MUSTARD GLAZE
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 TBS. pineapple juice
1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Combine sugar, fruit juice and dry mustard. Spoon over ham 2 or 3 times during the last 30 minutes of baking time.
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I decided to continue sewing, even after the giant waistband fiasco. This time I chose an apron pattern with a smaller waistband, thinking smaller is easier(ha!). I also decided to add a ruffle, eyelet, and an eyelet trimmed pocket(which I had no pattern for...mine were either too small or too big). It was TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! Too many things that I didn't know how to do going on at once! I have never BEEN so frustrated! I took the seam ripper to this one about six times, no kidding! But I have to admit, when I don't focus on all the mistakes, it's pretty darn cute.

I wanted to participate in Tie One On. It's an online show and tell from crafter Angry Chicken. Each month or so she tosses out a theme you create an apron that in some way fits the theme. Past themes have included Pink Lemonade and Apron! the Musical. I think it's a wonderfully creative, fun idea and participating just might keep me motivated to continue sewing. When I read that this month's theme was pockets, I immediately thought of embroidery. Later, I was checking out vintage apron patterns on ebay and came across one for a Victory apron from the 40's. Voilà! There's my idea! I knew I had embroidered a set of Victory Tea Towels ....and the Fourth is right around the corner. I'd do my own Victory Apron! SO I had a good idea, even if the execution wasn't perfect.

Since I only have to submit a photo for Tie One On, and all my mistakes aren't evident in the photo....I'm going to go ahead and do it! I'll post a link to the June gallery in case you want to see what others do with the pocket theme. Here's my Victory Apron...

...another hobby...

I forgot to mention this hobby in my last post. I really enjoy doing embroidery and have been at it off and on for about three years now. Nothing terribly elaborate or complicated. My favorite thing to embroider are dish towels, although I have a table runner, a pillow case and a couple tablecloths waiting to be embroidered. My favorite subject for embroidery are anthropomorphic dishes, fruits, veggies and whatnot. Call me a nutjob, but there's something about a smiling face on a dancing stalk of celery that just makes me giddy! I think once I get the sewing thing down, it might be nice to incorporate the two somehow. Here's a look at some of my towels.
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I made this set of anthro dishes DOW towels for Trish as a Christmas gift.


Made a set of Chef DOW towels for Mom for Mother's Day a while back.


These were just for fun!