Well, Well, Well,

It’s Monday night and I have a tip for you. Well that is if you are doing French knots. Talking embroidery here.

I frequently use a lap pillow when I’m doing handwork to support my hands and wrists. 

Lap Pillow for Handwork

But when I started doing the daily Stitch Meditations I grabbed one of my small block/applique holders to contain the small pieces I was working with. These holders are just made from the purple insulation boards or foam-core boards that are then covered with either batting, felt, or flannel. I made these many years ago when my son helped me put up my design walls. We have small pieces of the purple board left over so I covered them and used duct tape (the fancier kind) to hold the fabric down and to neaten up the edges of the boards. 

Boards

You can see I have several sizes.

So one day while I was using the smaller one, I started making French knots and just happened to stick my needle into the board. The board held the needle while I tightened up my thread before I pulled the needle and thread all the way through. I found that I could even lift the knot and fabric up to the top of the needle before removing it from the board. This made for some much neater knots and more consistent knots.

Needle stuck in board while making French Knot

Pulling the thread taut for the knot

Knot ready to be finished

The finished knot:

Completed French Knot

Now if you are wanting the looser, sloppier knots this probably won’t help much. But I’ve found myself using this method more and more. I may even modify the pillow pattern to put a pocket on the bottom to hold the small board so I have it when I stitch other places than home.

And that’s my tip for today. I’m not sure I will have a new tip every Monday (some of them may seem a little far-fetched I guess) but you can always search my blog for some of my older ones.

Happy French knots!

Rose

FIF and Catch-up

Stitched and waiting for inspiration

I did finish the stitching on this as hoped but I was sitting in the hospital that weekend with my husband (he’s ok) so I didn’t get it soaked in water until later. But it did work and it has been dried and then damp stretched. Great! Now the embroidery is on my design wall waiting for inspiration. I’m thinking I may want to fill in some of the areas with free-form stitching. I’m also considering making it the center of a quilt that will feature my scribbling stitching.

Speaking of scribbling, my use of scribbles for embroidery is somewhat humorous and not very “artsy” to me. I started scribbling as “art” work when I was a child. I picked it up again when I reached 60+ (is that called becoming like a child again?). Then this last time I was at the local hospital I walked a corridor and glanced at the art work on the wall. To my surprise I saw scribbles incorporated in collages. Suddenly I don’t feel silly using scribbles as a basis for my embroidery work anymore.

Hospital Collage Art Work using Scribbles

Now for some catching up, I’ve been busy making things for my new granddaughter Samantha! First while I was still at the hospital I started making a cupcake hat for her (she hadn’t arrived yet). 

Crochet Cupcake Hats

I started using a pattern I found on Repeat After Me and used it as a guide for the top part. For the bottom (the brown section) I decided to do my own style using a crochet ribbing stitch. And I eliminated the earflaps also. If I make another one I think I will make some more modifications. I finished three tops while at the hospital (since that was all I had with me to work with). Later the bottom was added to one. 

Then after she was born I made a receiving blanket using a method a quilting friend had shown me (I also watched a Youtube video  by Missouri Quilt Company that my friend recommended. Actually I watched it several times and the only thing I can say is the video says it will only take about 10 minutes and my feeling is that may be true after you have made a dozen or so. 

Cupcake Receiving Blanket

So since the fabric was cupcakes and I had already made the cupcake hat of course I had to continue the theme.

Cupcake Sleeping Beauty

Yes that is my sweet Miss Samantha!

And then I moved onto roses.

And then she needed some mittens to keep from scratching her face.

And of course a sweet little yoyo and button band for her head can next.

Some sweet stitching for Samantha

Plenty more ideas of things to make but for my finish it Friday I think I will try and complete the other two or three cupcake hats I started while sitting in the hospital.

Happy Catching Up and Finishing Friday!

Rose

Wow it’s Friday already! Time for FIF:Finish It Friday!

I’m back to trying to finish some items on Friday. First up are the three Flash Cards I’ve been trying to finish for several weeks now. So fabric in hand and sewing machine at the ready here we go!

Flash Cards to finish

Next I’ve selected some embroideries I had done since April of 2011. Yes 2011 and the only thing they needed was to get permanently framed in hoops. Only thing was I wanted the hoops to be black. When I first tried painting a hoop the paint didn’t take well so I laid it all aside. Now I’ve sanded the frames, painted them black and I’m ready to go with the finishings. 

Embroidered Hawaiian Petroglyphs

I’ll be back later to show the results (hopefully).

Happy Finishing Friday!

Rose 

Hello there! WWW

Thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts! My surgery went well. The tumor was a very small one and only Stage 1A cancer so no more treatment is needed, just watching me closely for a while. I’m feeling great just have to be sure I don’t overdo it with lifting etc.

I have been slowly getting back into stitching so this is what I have in progress this Wednesday.

I finished a block for my quilt guild’s monthly block exchange, I’m only two blocks behind now!

Scrappy Blues Block

My first fifteen minute project is now complete. It was surprisingly easy to keep it going. The day of surgery and two days of recovery did not see any stitching but I made it up later in the week by stitching extra fifteen minute periods. Thirty eight days later the monkey is now done but I think he will just go in the box with all the rest of my TAST2012 pieces. I haven’t decided what to do with them yet. (Please don’t ask how many French Knots are in that piece!) I did add ears which were not in the original scribble. Generally I do not add any lines or scribbles to one once the pencil leaves the paper or fabric but he just needed some ears so they were scribbled in.

French knot monkey 15 minutes a day priject

I’ve gotten back to working on my summer hexagon project that I started last year using embroidery designs from Wild Olive. I modified a few of them. This is my first time making hexagons and I struggled with sewing them together. I worked at it during a few of the Friendship Stitchers group I belong to. Then I decided I really want to get it finished (I have the designs for Fall, Winter, and now Spring waiting in the sidelines). So I started doing it as one of my just fifteen minutes a day projects but I got carried away with it and worked more than fifteen minutes. So it is getting done a little faster than expected.

Summer Hexagon Embroidery Pioject

Painted hoops

Next I painted some outer embroidery hoop frames in anticipation of another Finish It Friday project. I’m hoping this Friday to have some results to show.

Happy Stitching! 

Rose

The 15 Minute Project Update

Monkey French Knot Scribble 10 days later

Here’s my monkey scribble after 15 minutes a day stitching since the last posting. Can’t believe I’ve gotten this far with him. I do need to add his ears. I don’t normally add anything to a scribble but I am making an exception to this one for the ears.

Nest in Tree 

My other 15 minute project has taken a detour, I’ll explain later when I have some photos to show. But this is where it is at for now. I won’t be stitching on it for a while. Need to do some planning.

One more thing I did this week was for a special order in my Etsy shop. These are hope rocks in felt pockets. My son does the etching and I make the heart pockets. And I finished them today so they are my FIF (Finish It Friday) for this week! 

Hope Rocks in Felt Pockets

My posts will probably be sporadic for now since I will be having surgery on Monday. I hope to get back to a more normal posting schedule in a few weeks.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts!

Happy Stitching! 

Rose

WWW - The 15 Minute Project

So I posted last Friday a picture of my scribble French Knot monkey that has been sitting in a pile of unfinished projects. I knew I had too much to do to be able to finish it in a Friday. So I decided to just work on it 15 minutes a day, you know, slow and steady. Here it is as of today.

Monkey Face 

Can you see the progress? I’m not the fastest stitcher for sure but I am actually enjoying my fifteen minutes a day with it. I read somewhere recently that our attention holds onto something for about 28 minutes. So we should set a 28 minute time limit for each project and at the end of 28 minutes go on to something else. Well I’m not sure that is really true as I know I can get started stitching and lose all track of time. Now when it comes to cleaning or organizing well yeah

about 28 minutes as all I can handle!

I’ve decided to take the 15 minute approach to some of my other projects that I have sitting around waiting for some attention. This is a piece I started back in 2012 while taking an online class from Sharon Boggon.

Bird Nest in a tree

It is a monochromatic encrusted nest in a tree. What you don’t see the encrusting? Right. It’s not there yet. I got stuck on the tree part. 

Here's a close up on the tree which I worked on today.

Tree stitching

I really would like to get it finished all though I’m not sure what I will do with it when I’m done stitching. I’ve added some more stitching (couching) to the main tree section and I’m happy with it. There is one stitch that sort of sticks out like a sore thumb but I think I know how I will fix that. Anxious to get started on the nest. You can read more background about this piece in this post. 

And I’m not sticking to my fifteen minutes on this piece. I may go over that time if I get really into what I am stitching on it. I think when I get to the encrusted nest part I will happily get lost in it.

Only time will tell.

Happy Stitching Wednesday!

Rose 

FIF:Finish It Friday! Didn’t Happen!

Well this week Friday didn’t see any finishing. Not that I didn’t try! I had planned to finish the next three flash cards that I started a while back. So I finished embroidering the circles.

Circles finished

Love how the running stitch one turned out. I wasn’t sure when I started it but as I saw it progress I liked it more and more. I will have to experiment with doing the running stitch in multiple rows. I think it has potential!

Then I damp stretched the three. Friday I cut the inside stiffening material, and looked through my black and white fabrics for suitable candidates. If you look closely at the “T is for Triangle” one you will notice that I used a white fabric that had little tiny black triangles on it. Now I know I won’t be able to continue this theme if I decide to make more shape flash cards but I wanted to try for the next three. 

Fabrics to chose and inside stiffener cut

One is a very busy print but if you look closely (for a better look at any of my photos just click on them) it is made up of angles. Good! Next came the dots and I waffled between the tiny, tiny white dots on black fabric or the larger black dots on white fabric. I think I will use the tiny dots for the dot card. Next came the circles, the black fabric with the white circles in different sizes is good but the fabric is more of a silky where the others are cotton or cotton blends. I think I will look for a different fabric for the circle one and while I’m at the store (excuse to go shopping!) I will check for the other two also. Just in case there is something that will work better. I’m thinking if I do continue with more flash cards I may just have to design my own fabric and have it printed professionally!

Monkey from 2012

The other thing I did was decide to try and stitch French Knots for 15 minutes a day on my monkey face scribble I started back in 2012.He’s been staring at me for a while wondering when I was going to give him some attention. One day he too will be a Finish It Friday project.

Monkey today

Plus I had my grandson with me most of Friday and he’s my best reason for not getting more finished. Any time I get to spend with him is a joy filled day!

Well at least I didn't start any new projects on Friday!

Happy Finishing ( or almost finishing!)!

Rose 

What Am I Working On You Ask?

Okay so you didn’t ask but I’m going to share anyway…

So I said I’d post updates on my healthy eating habits. I’m still down 10+ pounds but I haven’t been being good so I’ve just been maintaining. I know, I know I’ll get back on track, you’ll see.

Now for some project updates:

SummerSewing Club

I’m still stitching away on this project. I’m caught up with the weekly embroidery and have started sewing some of the hexies (hexagons) together in rows. I think sewing the rows together will be a little tricky.

 Here’s the latest embroideries:

Picnic Basket

A sweet little picnic basket with a woven handle. I added a blanket to the basket so we can spread it out on the ground.

Shaved Ice

For the icee one I went for a shaved ice look with a fine French knot packed in nice and tight like the old-timers make for shaved ice in Hawaii. The ice is very finely shaved and packed well not chunky and loose like. My flavors, watermelon, lime and coconut. Yum, yum, you can’t see it but there’s a scoop of ice cream in the bottom of the cone.

Coconut Drink

Then we received a pattern for a coconut drink. I decided to try and make the coconut more coconut looking and put a striped straw with a fancy umbrella.

Lime Popsicle

Next up was an ice cream bar which I turned into a popsicle so I could share with a friend. Lime of course.

Radio

And finally a radio so we can have some music while enjoying the summer breeze. I went with a silver gray radio with black to represent the speakers and yellow in the dial area to show that it was turned on. I made the music notes colorful but I think music is colorful and I added a few more notes than the pattern had. I wasn’t sure I like this one but once it was done I rather like it.

I also started and finished embroidering a stitch-a-long that was published by FeelingStitchy. The pattern was supplied by Megan of Studio M.M.E.

Front of Pirate Hummingbird Print

Back of Pirate Hummingbird Print

If you visit the blog and see the pattern you will notice that mine has a different orientation. This is because I decided to print the design on some fabric that was prepared for printing (I found a roll of it in my stash when I was looking for something else). I cut off a piece 8.5 by 11 inches. I wasn’t paying too much attention to what I was doing and printed it so the design filled the piece. Second I didn’t adjust the intensity of the lines so it printed quite dark. Not wanting to have to try and cover the heavy dark lines I turned the piece over and noticed that the back was better, so my hummingbird faces the opposite direction. You can see in the photos the difference (sorry for the wrinkled state). I plan to turn this piece into a pillow that will go with my hummingbird chair once I cover the chair with hummingbird fabric. That project is still in the planning stage.

Stitch Along Reginald the Pirate Hummingbird

A neighbor asked a while back if I knew how to crochet and would I be able to finish a doily a friend's mother's mother had started and not finished before she died. Sure I said although I hadn't crocheted with fine thread for quite some time. It just needed one more large motif and then the joining motifs and the edging. Luckily she also had the directions for the pattern. I finished it and gave it to her the other day. She was thrilled. So that was my good deed for the month and another to add to my 1000gifts.
Being able to use my skills to bring happiness to a friend.

Crochet doily finished

Well that’s about where I’m at for now. I did finally start writing directions as to how I do my fabric yoyo’s for a friend who wants to do a vest similar to mine. This will also come in handy as I plan to offer kits for my button/yoyo flowers in the near future.

I’m behind on sewing some blocks together for the quilt guild I attend so I guess I’d better get on that next. Pieces are cut for them just need to clear the clutter from around the sewing machine. You know how that goes – lol!

Summer fun!

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Did I Say I Was On A Diet?

Lamb Stir Fry

Does this look like a diet?

Scrambled Eggs with Veggies

Tuna Salad

Well I’m not but I am trying to flush fat from my system and get healthier at the same time. Sensible eating, light exercise (chasing after my grandson and swimming) enhanced by a little help from the Fat Flush Plan. 

I've used this plan before quite successfully, unfortunately I didn't stick with it or I wouldn't have to start over again. 

The lamb Stir Fry is 4 portions, the Scramble Eggs with Veggies and the Tuna Salad are single portions. Yes that's right I ate the whole thing!

Week two is over and I’m down 10 lbs. Yea! I’ll be posting updates as I go along.

Now for some project updates:

Summer Sewing Club

We received our pattern a little early and it was a sweet sunhat! Okay I had to dress it up. First I thought of making it a red hat with purple flowers but I finally decided on a Hawaiian lahala hat with a hat lei of fuschia and yellow flowers.

Sunhat with Flowers

Oh yes and I made my hexagons, now I have to start stitching them together. I think I’ll sit outside to do this and enjoy the summer weather.

Summer fun!

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Oh No! Not Again?

 Hmm, I’m thinking I need to stop getting on the internet, Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, and blogs. Oh the blogs! Okay I went and started yet another project. I really would like to force myself to finish something before I can start a new something but there’s too much eye candy and too much fabric and thread tempting me.

So I’m cruising the web and come across a Summer Stitching group, well I can stitch all year long but this one just caught my eye. I must confess that I really wanted to see what the setup was and how it operated. And well the creator was offering the “class” at a discount so there you go.

The creator is Mollie at Wild Olive and the “class” is really booked as a “club”. I’ve seen Mollies work around for some time and love her cute little faces on everything. Just couldn’t resist them. We’re making hexagon blocks (something I’ve never done) with hand embroidery (something I’ve done since forever) on some of them.

It’s a summer theme and each week we get a new embroidery design to work and turn into a block. I’m keeping up (kinda , sorta– need to prepare some more of non-embroidered ones). Here are the first three embroidered ones.

Embroidered "Cat" Sunglasses

I couldn’t resist turning the sunglasses into a fifties style with cat eyes. 

Embroidered Intense Sun

For the sun I did more than just an outline stitch, I thought since the summer sun is so intense it needed some pumping up so I did a satin stitch with a ring of French knots inside and added some French knots to the ends of the rays. I think this is my favorite so far. 

But then there’s the swimsuit. Haha just couldn’t get the song “she wore an itsy, bitsy yellow polka dot bikini” out of my mind.

Embroidered Polka Dot Swimsuit

Okay well it’s not really a bikini and the polka dots are lime green rather than yellow you you get the point.

Here’s the background fabrics I’m using ,I’ll probably bind it with a sandy fabric. I might do a small border with some deep red. The rose flower fabric is fussy cut so that I have flower(s) in the center of each hexagon.

The blue is for my swimming pool which I am very much enjoying this summer and the green is for the shade of my trees.

Summer fun!

Happy Stitching!

Rose

I Love Doing Wheelies!

Buttonhole Wheels

Much to my surprise I found the buttonhole wheel addictive. That’s the stitch assigned to this week’s TAST2012. Maybe I like it because it is round. Round seems to be my favorite shape. I love buttons, fabric yoyos, woven spider web stitch, and dots, just to name a few.

I considered going a different direction for this stitch rather than my usual scribbles but decided to stick with the scribble. I did however scribble in a conscientious way so that I would have round places where I could work the buttonhole wheels. Then I added little individual circles all around my scribble. (And this was even before I knew how enjoyable I would find them!) I like the way it turned out, I used a backstitch to connect my scribble ones and added large French knots to a few of them. I might put a bead in the center of the smaller ones. The thread I used was variegated pearl cotton.

Cretan and Knotted Cretan stitch

The week before was a catch up week but I had already finished working all of the stitches. Before that was the knotted Cretan stitch. Since I didn’t get a post up earlier I’ll show it now. I had trouble getting started with this stitch so I started with a plain Cretan stitch and then worked into a knotted Cretan once I was comfortable with how the basic stitch went.

I’m continuing to work on my butterfly vest. The outer edges of all of the butterflies have been finished as well as their bodies. I’m in the process of adding the antennae.

Batik block

For the quilt guild I belong to the challenge for June was to use four different batiks and made a railroad block. I found some batiks in my stash and then added two more before deciding which ones to use. I wasn’t sure I liked the combination until I actually put the block together. This is how it turned out. Now I wish I had enough to make a full quilt!

Lion and Lamb embroidery

My blocks for the crazy quilt challenge are coming along- slowly. The lion and the lamb for the March block are done.

I know, I know the lion should be roaring but my grandson (8 months old) loves to look at his Tutu’s work and I didn’t want to scare him! Haha!

Finally went ahead and made the blocks for April, May and June. Now to get them all stitched and embellished.

April block

May block

June   block

Happy Stitching,

Rose