Waitaminit...where was I going?

You ever have one of those moments when you walk into a room and you forget what you were planning to do while there?

I walk into the kitchen, stop and say "What the hay am I doing?".

There's no reply in my head. The incessant chatter bug that is normally my brain wakes up, says "I dunno" and then promptly falls back asleep.

Hmmm...what was I supposed to do? Run for President? Refill my soda? Recycle my kids?

GAH!!!!

Ah yes...the brain cramps of an overly tired person. I feel like I've literally flown by the seat of my pants today because I can't remember most of what I did today, other than nap. :D

Wait...what? I did what?

I RIPPED MY PANTS!

Oh, that explains it! My brain fell out!

DOH!

(Please pardon the Spongebob humor but this is really sort of kind of what I might feel like at the moment. ;) )

Finishing a Hoop with Felt

Now that you've finished the stitch work for a Hoopla*, how do you finish it?

(*Hoopla is a Craftster term for a piece of embroidery that is finished and mounted in the embroidery hoop.)

This is my take on an easy way to nicely finish a hoop but there are other examples on the Net. :)

You will need:

• your finished bit of stitching 
• the hoop to frame the stitching (embroidery can still be in it)
• coordinating piece of felt
• coordinating sewing thread, extra embroidery floss can be used
• scissors
• acrylic paint to match the embroidery
• paint brush
• fabric marker, in the picture is the vanishing marker version which I prefer

Painting the hoop (completely optional, but definitely a cool effect!)
Some people like the natural look of the wood but you can switch that up if you wish! With a bit of patience and paint, you can make the perfect pairing between the hoop and your needlework.

Using the acrylic paint, put a good coat of paint on the outside hoop only. There is no need to paint the inside of this hoop because once the embroidery is mounted, it won't be seen. Also, you don't have to paint the interior hoop because it will be covered in the upcoming steps!

Allow the paint to dry. On this hoop, it took less than a half hour.

Don't be concerned about getting paint on the the metal clasp! Once the paint is completely dry, you can scrap any excess off with your fingernail. :)

Don't have extra hoops, one for stitching and another for painting/mounting? You can take your embroidery out of the hoop that you stitched in. Paint as directed. Once it is dry, you can put the embroidery back in. 

Finishing the Hoop

Step 1
Trim the excess fabric around the hoop to be finished. I prefer to leave about an inch of extra fabric all the way around for finishing.

Step 2
Thread your needle with a length of thread that is longer than the circumference of your hoop. Tie a knot in the end leaving a goodly length of thread as the tail.

(I swear I didn't see that black thread/hair until I cropped this picture! Gah! lol!)

Step 3
Run a basting stitch (aka a running stitch) around the hoop through the excess fabric.

When you have stitched all the way around, gently pull the two thread ends causing the excess fabric to gather into the center of your hoop. Tie an overhand knot to secure it.

Step 4
Using the coordinating felt and the fabric marker, create your back cover. Lay the hoop face up on the felt and trace around the underside. (If you are using the vanishing marker, you don't have to worry about getting the ink on this hoop that you've worked so diligently on! :D)

With your scissors, cut out the felt circle, only cut it on the inside of the tracing. I tend to cut about 1/8" inside the circle making it just a wee bit smaller than the wooden hoop so that there's no overlap between felt and wood.


Step 5
Thread up your needle again with a bit more thread than previously. Knot it. Bring the threaded needle from the underside of the gathered fabric to the outside of the hoop. I prefer to start this stitching at the bottom of the hoop, opposite of the metal clasp.

Using a whip stitch, begin stitching the felt to your gathered ground fabric.

If you find that your ground fabric is "bubbling out" between your whip stitches, you can use the tip of your needle to gently poke the "bubble" back underneath the felt.

If you find that your felt isn't quite big enough, you can gently stretch it while you stitch.


**I find that I do this step best when I have the hoop laying on the table in front of me which leaves both of my hands free to manipulate the hoop, needle and felt.**

Step 5
After you have whip stitched all the way around, make a couple of tacking stitches. Knot your thread again but this time, don't knot it up against your felt/ground fabric. Leave approximately a half inch between the knot and the fabric/felt.

Place your needle between the felt and ground fabric and poke it out on the inside of the hoop away from the tacking stitches. Pull the thread and knot through the underside of the felt and cut the excess thread.


VOILA! You have a nicely finished HOOPLA! :D

To personalize it a bit more, you can stitch your name and date onto the felt with a quick back stitch or put write a note to the person who will receive your needlework.

This is the board.

This is the board.
This is the board that I broke.
This is the board that I broke with the ball of my foot.
This is the board that I broke with the ball of my foot in one single kick.

About 2 months ago, I started taking karate at the same studio that my kids do. Originally, I did it for exercise. Now, not only is it great exercise, but it's amazingly empowering. If you had shown me an 8" board and asked me to break it several months ago, I would have laughed and said "You're nuts!".

Now, I can and it feels so awesome! The adrenaline rush is well worth it.

Unfortunately, I don't have an action shot. Not yet anyways...I'll post one when I do.  :D

Wheat ear stitch

I jumped into the land of composite stitches about a month ago and I'm in LOVE!

What's a composite stitch you ask? It's a stitch that combines basic stitches into a new stitch form.

I'm going to start with my favorite of the composite stitches that I've tried so far, the wheat ear.

What's a wheat ear? Here's a drawing of an actual wheat ear. It contains the seeds of wheat that get ground into our flour.

Now how do we get an embroidery stitch to look like that? It's easy! We're going to combine a lazy daisy stitch with a couple of back stitches.

**Please note that this stitch works backwards! You will start at the top of the area to be stitched and work downward!**


Step 1
Bring your thread up through the fabric and loop it as if doing a single lazy daisy stitch.

Tack down the loop. (This tacking is only done with the first loop!) Then bring the needle back out of your original hole.

Step 2
Put your needle at a diagonal to the lazy daisy and make two diagonal back stitches.

Step 3
Bring your needle back out of the fabric to start the next stitch.

Step 4
Pass your needle underneath the two diagonal back stitches. Be careful not to catch your lazy daisy because it could mess up your loop.

Continue Steps 2-4! You are now doing the wheat ear stitch! :D

Here are a couple of examples of my use of wheat ear...

My Flower Sampler

Red and Purple Flowers

HOOPLA GIVEAWAY!!

Wow! This so exciting! My first blog giveaway!

In celebration of reaching 50+ followers, I am going to create and giveaway a 6-7" wooden hoop filled with the embroidery design of choice of the GIVEAWAY WINNER!


Here's how to enter the GIVEAWAY:

1. You must be a follower of my blog.
2. Post below about where you find your crafty inspiration! Is it in a book? Nature? Your kids?
3. On June 14th, I will draw randomly a winner! (I have to figure out how to use that randomizer thing. ;) )

I will then send an e-mail to the winner to get design ideas and mailing address.

And for some added incentive, here's my latest bit of stitching.

I made this for a fellow Craftster in the Ongoing Hoopla Swap. She loves the same colors as I do and had a floral theme on her hoopla wish list so I created this hoop.

 

 

Detail shot of the flowers

As for a tiny bit of Me update, I get my life back as of Friday. This year's End of School Year Crazy has been more taxing than previous years. I don't like being the bearer of Bad News but it is part of my job. *sigh*...Only 2 more school days to go! I think I can...I think I can...

FIFTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's official! My blog has 50 followers so I'm going to have a Hoopla GIVEAWAY!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

However, I am in the middle of Final Exams Week at school. It will be Wednesday before I can get the GIVEAWAY set up so watch for my next post. :D

And thank you for all of your support and comments! I appreciate your support. :)

Obi Sue Kenobi

I've become a bit enamored of Sunbonnet Sue. I grew up in the mountains of TN surrounded by lots of women who quilted so I spent many an hour cutting out bits and pieces for another Sue quilt.

Now that I'm grown and no longer living near my family, I find that Sue keeps popping up in my crafting only this time, I added a twist of my own. ;)

...and so Obi Sue Kenobi was created!

What's even funnier is that my son finds this hoop to be hilarious even though he doesn't understand the Sue reference. :)

Oh yeah? Well....

 

I whipped a Badtz Maru hoop of for a gal in the Ongoing Hoopla swap. He was so much fun to make! My 10 yr old son has already asked for a Badtz hoop for his room. :D

Only Four More to go!

That's right! I have 46 lovely followers to my blog. When that number is 50, I will have a HOOPLA GIVEAWAY!!!!

*insert Happy T dance here!!*

I've managed to survive a rough week at school and am so thankful that I've managed to do so without being completely exhausted.This weekend, I'm going to work on Part 2 of the Shisha tutorial, traditional shisha work!

Until then, I am going to give you a teaser picture of a piece that I just mailed off for the Ongoing Hoopla Swap on Craftster. :)

Right Now

I really want to post another couple of projects but can't.

This is ME right now.














Ah yes, the End of the School Year crazy is in full swing. I'm dealing with tons of paperwork, students who are whiny (for various reasons), stressed out Seniors and demanding parents.

Never fear though,....I'll be back! I'll be back my pretties! :D

Only 6 more days of school left, I think I can. I think I can.

Shisha Mirror Work - American Variation

A couple of weeks back, I promised a shisha tutorial so here it is!

 

 So far, I've learned two styles of shisha mirror work, the Traditional (orange on the right) and the American Variation (red and pink mirrors). I'm starting with the American Variation and will write up more tutorials on the others soon.

First...What is Shisha work?

It is the art of attaching little mirrors to a ground fabric using embroidery stitches. Most commonly found in Middle Eastern work, they are gaining popularity in here in the States.

I ordered a multi size pack from Joanns for under $3. There's about 25 in the package.

Now that we know what Shisha Work is, let's get to stitching!


Step 1
Place your mirror on your ground fabric. Make 3 horizontal stitches across the mirror. It helps to hold the mirror in place with your thumb when you first start these stitches.

Step 2
Now, make 3 vertical stitches across the mirror. This makes a cross hatch effect.

 

Knot your thread securely on the underside of this fabric to make sure your mirror stays put!  Do this even if you plan to use the same thread for the next steps!

Step 3
Bring the needle back out of the fabric well away from where the thread has passed through the fabric so as to lend even more stability to your stitching.

Step 4
Work a chain stitch closely along the outside edge of the mirror.

To finish chain, you can tack the last loop into the beginning chain.

VOILA! You have Shisha!

You can see my first Shisha work in My Floral Sampler .

Chain Stitch

The Chain stitch adds a wonderful texture to your embroidery.

Start with your fabric with pattern in your hoop or frame.

I drew a line on my fabric so that you could see the stitch as it progresses. This can easily be free handed!

Step 1
Starting on the right hand side of your pattern line, pull your thread up through the back of your fabric.

Loop your thread around bringing your needle back to where the thread originally came out of the fabric. Place needle back into fabric.

Step 2
Bring the needle back out of the fabric catching the loop underneath the needle.

Step 3

Gently pull the thread so that the loop is "caught".

Step 4

Continue stitching!

To finish a line of chain stitch, just tack down that last loop. Instead of putting the needle back inside the loop (as if making another stitch), put the needle back through the fabric on the outside.



Troubleshooting

My loops aren't loopy. They're flat!

You need to pay attention to how much you are pulling the thread in Step 5. This can be difficult for someone (like me!) who likes nice tight stitches. ;)


You can see my use of Chain stitch in:

A Sweet Tweet! - the outside border is chain stitch

Too funny not to share!

Today after karate class, I felt the need to do a bit more stretching to work out some kinks, especially in my hips. Since my husband wasn't home, I put in one of my favorite dance cds (Oojami!) and started dancing through the kitchen and living room while house cleaning.

My daughter, who is 5, watched and giggled. "What are you doing mommy??"

She's never seen me dance!

Back in the day before marriage and kids, I had a life! I studied Middle Eastern style dancing for about 5 yrs. It was AMAZING! Some of the best workouts I've ever had. :)

I decided to share a clip of the troupe that I was working with. Now, I'm not in this video as it is relatively recent. However, the gals in the front (not the one in the back) are a couple of my dance buddies. They are both just jaw dropping fantastic!

After watching the video, my Little Miss has been dancing around the house since. Too cute! :D

My Flower Sampler

Have you ever had a dry spell in your crafting? No matter what you do, nothing feels right. The glue won't set, the paint drips and the seams won't iron flat.

Then, there are days when the Muse doesn't just speak to you, she's yelling incessantly "Get off of you duff and make this NOW!"

Well, my muse yelled those very words to me about a week ago. :)

I'm in another Hoopla swap on Craftster and was fortunate enough to get the Most Awesome Luckdragon as my partner! As usual, the moment after I get my swap partner, I go straight into stalk mode. I look at their profile, wist, pinterest, blogs looking for inspiration, color preferences, etc. This time around, I knew that I wanted to make something special. In Luckdragon's wists, I found 2 items that just jumped out at me, shisha mirrors and an organic flower motif.

And POOF!, here's my latest Hoopla creation! I combined the two concepts into a design that turned out fantastic. :)

All of the stitches are new to me. I opened up my copy of the Mary Thomas Embroidery Book and simply started stitching. I didn't allow myself to use any sort of pattern, only the very slightest of marks just to make sure that the flower petals were somewhat even. (This was super hard for me! I never realized how much I prefer symmetry.)

Now for a list of stitches that I used:

LEFT FLOWER - center is shisha mirror work in American Variation, petals are God's Eye stitch (LOVE THIS ONE!), stem is whipped chain and leaves are wheatear stitch

MIDDLE FLOWER - center is traditional shisha mirror, petals are fishbone (evil stitch this is!), stem is whipped chain and leaves are wheatear

RIGHT FLOWER - center is American Variation shisha, petals are shaded seed,stem is whipped chain and leaves are wheatear

Now for a closer shot of the "soil"...

 

Starting from the bottom row and going up, you see the following stitches...

tete de boeuf (fancy French words for cow's head)

feather
Pekinese
feathered chain
pendant
coral
composite cross
back stitched chain
and the top row is knotted blanket.

All told, I finished this piece in about 4 hours during a Lord of the Rings movie marathon that I indulged in while the house was quiet the night after I was given my swap partner. My Muse lit a fire under me that night!

I'm planning some tutorials on shisha work and my favorite stitches from this sampler so keep an eye out for those soon!  :)

Here's the SHISHA WORK tutorial! :)

What to do??? Advice Wanted!!

I'm so excited that I can't make up my mind!

I'm soon to have 50 followers on this blog which makes me VERY HAPPY!!! (You guys really like me. :D)

So in celebration, I've decided to do a give away when I hit Numero 50!


Should I do a hoop embroidery or a craft book as my prize? 

About Change

Let's see...what have you learned about me that is NOT in my profile?

Hmmm...

I'm a professed chocoholic (dark, shaken, not stirred if you please).

I'm Buddhist and proud of it even though it can be scary living in the Bible Belt at times. ;)

I'm unashamed of my puddle jumping.

I'm also a bit obsessive about reading church marquees.

Yes, you read that correctly. I will slow down to read a church marquee, especially if it's really good. :) I find them insightful, comical and at times, mind boggling. I'm not picky about denomination. I'll read every one I pass.

Yesterday, as I was taking advantage of a brief moment of Mother's Day Freedom to do a bit of Me shopping, I ran across a particularly interesting saying on a local church marquee.

It read "Our pastor said "It's time for change!" ...so we changed our sign." (<--referring to their marquee)

I love a sign like this one. It says so much if you take just a minute to really think about what it means.

The concept of Change (big C meaning potentially life altering, not the nickels in your pocket) is one that many people like to embrace and yet at the same time, fear. We support making changes in our diet to be healthier, changes in our own fiscal responsibility to become more stable, changes in our government to help our nation grow, and so on.

It's when the rubber hits the pavement, when it's time to put actions to those words, when it's time to Stand Up, that we falter. Why?

We fear Change. It's an unknown. It's that closed door that we want desperately to open but we don't know if there's cookies or monsters on the other side.

It is the next step that defines us as Who We Are. If we allow our fear of Change to control us, then we can never move forward in our lives. If we embrace the Change, we take great risks without knowing if there's a reward at the end.

Stand still or Step forward. Which do we do? Stay in our comfort zone or keep our eye on the prize as we turn that door handle.

You see many people tend to see change as a Black/White scenario. The change is good (white) or bad (black). Unfortunately, Life is not that cut and dried. You need to see things in shades of gray. Most every action, every word, every thought has the potential of being good and bad at the same time. It is what we do with the action, word or thought that defines it as such. However, if you begin to see Change as a stepping stone as opposed to a hurdle or closed door, then you see more beyond the doorway itself. You see past the cookie or monster to see the glimmer of light on the other side. This doesn't mean that you won't experience more doors as we strive to move towards that glimmer. You just need to maintain your forward momentum towards that weight loss goal, or your goal of paying off all credit cards.  (Dave Ramsey is my hero!)

Being afraid of Change will not bring about the desired end result. Staring at a door will be just ...well, staring at a door. It doesn't do tricks. It won't make a silly face at you. It won't even tell you Knock Knock jokes. (Although if it does, get it on YouTube ASAP!)

To finish up this fine bit of rambling (no alcohol has been consumed prior to or during this, I swear!), I leave you with one question...

So did the people at that church make a Change or are they just staring at their sign?

Gnome NO Evil

Ever since watching "Gnomeo and Juliette" with my kids several months ago, I've wanted to embroider a gnome hoop, but I had a problem.

I don't do cute. Most all of those cutesy vintage animal patterns creep me out. Many times, the eyes aren't right and it kind of looks like they're considering making you their next snack.

It's hard to find a gnome pattern that doesn't fall into that line. However, I was blog surfing and found this pattern on Digital Misfit 's site! I LOVE IT! :D

 

First, I crayon tinted. Then, I did the facial details are done in single thread back stitch and everything else is double strand split stitch.

I've yet another obsession...SHISHA!

I just have to share my newly learned stitching technique!

Once upon a time well before I married and had kids of my own (when I had a life! ;) ), I was into Middle Eastern dancing. I studied it for 4 years and let me tell you, that was when I was the most physically fit in my life! We did every aspect of dancing. We studied dance steps, costuming, jewelry, history of dance and for me, the use of symbolic embroidery. I was constantly seeing these little mirrors pop up in my research and I said to myself "One day...one day, I will do some embroidery with those!"

Well a couple of months ago and on a whim, I ordered some little Shisha mirrors from Joann's. They have sat in my supplies container since then just waiting for the right opportunity to come out and shine!

I'm not really sure why I allow myself to get intimidated by crafting, but every once in a while, I look up and say "You are a silly T! Go for it!". So I did.

Here's the result of some of my shisha work!

The mirror in orange on the right is Traditional Shisha work and the red (and pink) are worked in American Variation.

Both of these techniques are truly easy! I will be posting a tutorial on Shisha work this weekend! :D