Sweet Little Hoopla

I such a push over! I tell myself "Ok, let's take a small break from embroidery and do some other crafts for just a while." Then, while swapping, I find the opportunity to make something like this hoop. How could I pass up this opportunity?

I found the inspiration for this hoop in a partner's wist. She asked for it to include her and her husband's name and I worked it up in her favorite colors. I love this hoop's simplicity and it's so easy to personalize.



I will add one note though. I did the flower centers in french knots using DMC's Light Effects Metallics. I have to say that working with that thread was difficult. I would not recommend it to anyone who hasn't been embroidering for a while as it requires tons of patience.

Curtains for my daughter

I'm a bad mommy. I have procrastinated all summer. I bought the fabric to make curtains for my daughter's room in June. I even prewashed and ironed it. Then, July ran over me.

Here I am in the last week of summer, and I finally made them! Bad, bad mommy.

I decided to cut, sew and hang them all in one day just so I could see my daughter's reaction because she had completely forgotten about them.

I managed to hang them before I picked her up from summer camp. After we get home, she did her daily dance off of the couch routine. (I don't understand why she does this but she runs into the living room does a belly flop on the couch and then pops back up to run elsewhere. She does this every day. LOL!)

She finally goes upstairs to her room while I'm cooking dinner. All of a sudden, I hear "WHOA! YIPPEEEE!" followed by lots of stomping which means she is doing her happy dance. (You have to see it to believe it.)

I think she liked them. :D

Pretty little coasters

I drug out my crochet hooks last week to make these cute little flower coasters.

I don't normally like yellow but I find these coasters turned out pretty. I hope they like their new home. :)

Mother Nature's Message pt 2

I just had to do another Mother Nature's Message hoop. This is a 4" hoop with about 3 hrs of doodle stitching.

She has one message comprised of 2 words within the vines and leaves. Can you find it?

My Hoopla Wall Update 7/11

I've been participating in Hoopla swaps over on Craftster for several months now. I have received some AMAZING needlework for my wall.  Today, I added the hoops that I've received this past month and snapped a picture of my hoopla wall with my newest additions! :D

1. Celtic Christmas Tree by Bexieboo from Embroidery Hoopla OTT (round 3)

2. Hand of Hamsa by Me

3. Tree Love! by Me

4. Peggy Hill by Sarad in the February 2011 Birthday swap

5. A Bit of Zen by Me

6. Rising Sun by Krafy Karasu from Embroidery Hoopla OTT (round 3)

7. The Lotus by Ffrogg526 from the IYP swap

8. Orion by audio from OHS r1

9. Avis by ZidishaLuxe from OHS r1

10. Golden Koi by thenorm02 from Embroidery Hoopla! (the very first round!)

11. Greenman by Ffrogg526 from OHS r2

12. Celtic Salmon by luckdragon from Hoopla Swap round 5

13. Swirly ME hoop by onegroovyday from OHS r2

14. Ganesha by bowlordie from OHS r2

15. Celtic Knotwork by Averia from OHS r2

16. Gnome No Evil by Me

17. Gnome and Mushroom by SciFunk  from OHS r2

PURPLE!

I decided to spend a week or so doing something other than embroidery. My fingers decided that it was time to take a break from gripping that little needle. LOL

Believe it or not, I do other things beside embroidery. ;)

I jumped into the Ongoing Wish Swap to mix things up a bit. I claimed a lovely lady across the ocean in the UK for a hat. I found a nice pattern over on the Lion Brand website called Einstein Hat . It called for using LB Homespun and a smaller hook than normally required for that type of yarn. I jumped into making this hat and realized that it went together super quick! :)

(This picture doesn't show the color well. It's a royal purple with a swish of grape purple running through it.)

After I finished the hat, I still had yarn left over so I made some simple wrist-lets for my swap partner as well. :)

What's even better is that these goodies made it from my house to her in the UK in FIVE DAYS! Woohoo! It renews my hope that not all international packages take 2-3 wks to arrive. ;)

VROOM!

I did it! I finally did it AND I understand the HOW. I mean I really understand it. WOOOOHOOO!

I am officially no longer afraid to set a zipper!

Ok, maybe some of you are thinking "That's exciting to you? Um...why?" but I've been intimidated by them forever. I learned to sew by hand and zippers were not something that were ever explained to me. Needless to say, this is a huge step for me and my sewing machine. ;)

Without looking at a tutorial (which I've done every time up until this point) or using a pattern for this project, I made a matchbox tote for a swap on Craftster.

 
What's even better about the tote other than the zipper and the no need for a pattern is that it's completely lined and I put it together properly the first time. I didn't have to take anything apart and reassemble! WoooT! :D

To go with the matchbox tote, I made a matching crayon roll using the remaining bits of fabric from the tote. I added black racing stripes on the interior to help coordinate the tie cord to the piece a bit more.

(Please pardon the remaining purple vanishing fabric marker that you might see. My marker was being slow in fading for some reason. :/ )

My Daily To Do List

Several years ago, I was going through a rough patch. Life was not happy for me. I shut myself down and went into DO mode to make through the Day to Day stuff knowing that if I threw myself completely into work and daily life, that I'd survive what Life had thrown at me. I stayed in DO and GO mode for several years.

Now, I'm just beginning to let go of DO and GO. I'm finally beginning to breathe again.

Almost every day, I have a To Do list. During the school year, it is filled with lesson plans, grading, meetings and more paperwork. During the summer, it's normally house cleaning, packing, unpacking and laundry. I have something to do at any given moment and usually it's something that has to get done, not necessarily enjoyable.

Today, I decided to add something to my daily To Do. I'm adding Sit Still to the top of my list and occasionally, I'll add Breathe. I'm giving myself permission to sit down, relax and maybe even nap if need be. Our society tries to make us feel like we must have a crazy, hectic life all of the time. As a mom, I'm not a real mom unless my house is clean, my kids are in a dozen different activities all at the same time, and I'm working on another degree or second job.

I came to the realization just how my life suffers if I don't sit still and relax. It does more than affect me. It affects my husband, my kids, my students and anyone else in my range. They deserve the best of Me which means, in order to be at my best, I have to have Me time.

So yeah, some of you are saying "Duh! You just figured this out?", but I'm a thinker and I generally have to noodle things for a while before the obvious truth of any situation lands in my lap.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I plan to go kick back on the couch and maybe read a book. :)

Flower Reflections

I've got a secret! I've got a secret! And I'm not telling...yet!! :D

Now that my merciless teasing moment is over, I thought I would share with you all my latest bit of stitching.

As some of you may have noticed, I finally posted my second shisha tutorial. While doing so, I turned the piece used in showing the step by step pictures into a finished piece.

This is Flower Reflections.



I did the basic shisha work first. Then, I added the pendant stitch in yellow to make the flowers pop a bit more. The stems are whipped chain and the grass is a mixture of back stitch and wheat ear. :)

And for a close up because it's not easy taking a straight shot on a piece with shisha mirrors!

Basic Shisha Work

I finally found the time to write up my next shisha tutorial!

Step 1
Holding the mirror in the desired position with your left hand, work two horizontal lines across your mirror. Think of it as "cutting" the mirror in thirds. Don't stress if your lines aren't completely parallel because it won't be noticeable in the end.

Step 2
Now make 2 vertical lines across the horizontal lines, only catching the horizontal lines as you go across.

Bring your needle up through the back of your ground fabric (think in thirds again!). Place your needle under the first horizontal line wrapping the embroidery thread around it once. Do the same with the second horizontal line.

Do the second vertical line wrapping just as you did previously. Now, put your needle through the ground fabric and knot the thread on the underside. This knot is important because it will help you maintain your tension in the upcoming steps. :)

Step 3
Bring your threaded needle back up through the ground fabric. (I prefer to do this stitch away from the knot that I made in Step 2 just to be sure that the knot doesn't pull back through the top of my ground fabric.)

To work this stitch, you will need to be mindful of your stitch tension. If it is too tight, your mirror will be able to slip out when you are finished which is not something that you want. Notice how far the line crossing the mirror is from the edge. Try to not pull the "crossing" line any further than half way to the edge of your mirror.

Place your needle underneath the "crossing" line and pull the excess thread underneath the line.

Place your needle into the ground fabric and bring it back up allowing one "needle's worth" of space between the first thread and the tip of your needle.

Gently pull your thread. Be careful of your tension! It's not easy to undo this stitch later on. Remember to pull the crossing line only to about halfway to the edge of the mirror.

Continue this stitch around the mirror only the next time you place your needle through the fabric will be in the "needle's worth" space.

When you get to a "corner" of the lines, just keep working as you have been.

Step 4
When you have worked all the way around the mirror, pull your thread through to the underside of the ground fabric and knot it.

Troubleshooting

I have gaps in my stitches around the mirror that I noticed just as I was finished stitching! Help!

No worries! You can go back and fill in those holes after you have finished the initial round of stitching using the exact same stitch only leaving out pulling the thread back up. You can skip to the next gap and fill it or knot on the underside if you are finished.


Here are some examples of my basic shisha work...

Another Obsession...SHISHA!

My Flower Sampler

Reflections in Teal

A lovely journal cover

This is the other truly crafty piece that I made for the Button Swap on Craftster.

I have learned something in making this. I'm not the best at making slip covers of any sort. The past couple that I've made have either been just a tad too tight or didn't work at all. I think I need to to add more seam allowance. Anywho....

My partner in the Button swap loves to journal so I found the cutest little blank journal and then made the slip cover decorating it based on a button piece that she had on her Pinterest, a cute cream colored tree with RED buttons. I cut all of the pieces out for the slip cover, lined one of the pieces with fusible interweave for extra stability. Then I marked the front cover width on that piece with vanishing fabric marker. I cut out the tree and machine stitched it. Next, it was button puzzle. I sat with a selection of buttons in my lap working one at a time sort of like a puzzle to make them fit together. The journal had an elastic band for keeping it closed. I snipped that off and then made the cover incorporating the elastic back in for the same usage.

Then, guess what? The cover was about 1/8" too small. Back to the book store I go for another slightly smaller journal. Fortunately, I found one that I liked even better than the first! :)  (I kept the original for myself for crafty doodles.)

All turned out well in the end and my partner loves her new journal! :D

The Furchild

I know some of you have poked around on my blog enough to know that I'm a cat kind of person. I am owned by a cat who prefers to use my feet as a pillow (normally just one foot though), talks to me like I understand what she's saying and is the best nap buddy in the whole entire planet!

This is Raven. She's an all black, gold eyed, rescue kittie. She's skiddish around men, but loves her momma. She tolerates the kids because they feed her and give her treats.

I'm also convinced that she is species confused. I love this particular picture of her. It is a common window pose for her. She sits up on her hind legs sort of like a prairie dog and proceeds to chirp at either the birds or squirrels on the outside. I don't think I can explain the chirping and I've never heard any other cat make this sort of noise. It's not completely a bird noise nor a squirrel. It's sort of in between. She will sit in this position for 15-20 minutes just chirping away and watching the creatures on the other side. The second she's distracted, she goes back into normal cat mode.

M!!!

I joined a button swap on Craftster and had loads of fun! Look! I can do something that doesn't involve a needle and thread.

This was a couple of hours picking through buttons and a LOT of E6000. I only worked for about a half an hour at a time on this piece before I had to step away. The fumes were intense.

A closer shot of buttony goodness!

My Cute Matryoshka

I'm still embroidering away for the Ongoing Hoopla Swap. I stitched this up for one of the gals in that swap. In her list of themes, she had Russian Matryoshka, which I king of see as another cultures take on our Sunbonnet Sue who has that special place in my heart. I had to give this little matryoshka a try!

I appliqued the red and yellow ground fabrics to my ground fabric with a bit of wonder under and blanket stitch. Then I added details with embroidery saving the face for last. For some reason, I've always had a hang up when it comes to doing facial details in split and back stitch.(I was talking about this problem with a couple of my friends on Craftster and if I follow through on their suggestion, I could create one very wacked out sampler. ;))



Detail shot