Sewing Stars

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Heather

I love my sewing machine!

Organizer and Tea Wallet

Organizer and Tea Wallet

The other day I made these two cute things for my purse. The first is the On the Go Organizer, which was very simple to make. Okay, I made a small mistake and it ended up a little narrower than it should be. But it still fits everything perfectly.

Inside the organizer

Inside the organizer

The little pouch is a tea wallet. I followed the tutorial on Is It Naptime?

Inside the tea wallet

Inside the tea wallet

I’m not the world’s best sewest, obviously. But I’m really proud of how my sewing skills are improving. My lines are pretty straight now, and there is less yuck in the corners. And, I even learned to use edge stitching to close up the hole you leave to turn things right side out. (Of course, that doesn’t work on every project.)

What’s next? More complicated purses, and maybe finally finishing up my quilt.

6 Comments | Posted in Sewing | Tagged ,

Beaded Chain

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Heather

The other week I took a fun little class from Brenda Franklin called Altered Chain. Take a look:

Altered Chain

Altered Chain

Isn’t it pretty? And it was so simple! I tried to find some instructions on the Internet, but sadly there doesn’t seem to be any. But, I will say that with some beads, an inexpensive chain (this one is aluminum!) and some beading thread, you can snake your way to a very pretty little piece.

Close-up of altered chain

Close-up of altered chain

I suspect that I will be making a few more of these, perhaps for purse straps or scissor fobs. Simple and effective, what’s not to like?

 

 

4 Comments | Posted in Crafts | Tagged

Ornament SAL – April Check In

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Heather

Happy April Check In Day! It has been a wild month, but I’ve hope you have found some time to stitch up your ornament.

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This month I stitched Dragon Dream’s Snowflake of Hope, from the 2011 Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. The chart didn’t include the cutting lines, so I did the best I could by looking at the picture. It isn’t exactly the same, but I do think it turned out nicely. It is stitched with the called for fibres on white and parchment perforated paper. (I had the blue paper for the earths, but misplaced it when it came time to stitch. And guess what I found today…)

Snowflake of Hope, designed by Dragon Dreams

Snowflake of Hope, designed by Dragon Dreams

In a lovely little bit of serendipity, I had the little earth from the pattern stitched in time for the little man to wear it to school as a pin for his class’ Earth Day celebration. (I actually stitched two of the three earths included with the pattern, so I could paste them back to back when finishing the ornament.) Unfortunately, he lost it…

Here is Angela M.’s ornament for this month. She says it is from a kit by Vervaco, and she calls it Belgium Holiday. Great job, Angela!

Angela M.'s April ornament

Angela M.’s April ornament

So, how did you do this month? Please fill in the form below (I love comments, too!), and be sure to use the link for your ornament post. The form will be closed to new entries sometime around 10pm Eastern on April 30th. (Or the next morning if I forget!) And please, stop by the blogs of some of the other participants. I’m sure we would all love to have some visitors come to see our ornaments.

Lastly, May’s check in date is the 29th. Don’t let the nice weather lure you outside. Stay in and stitch your ornament of the month!!

8 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , , ,

Namaste

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Heather

Oh, you know me. I can never be loyal to just one stitching project.

Namaste; designed by Ink Circles

Namaste; designed by Ink Circles

I’ve finally gotten around to stitching Namaste from Ink Circles. I’ve had it for a while, and I even had cut a piece of linen to stitch it on. But I decided that I wanted to do it on some banding, which meant I had to go buy some. (Horrors!) I’m so glad I did, because I really love how it looks with the simple border on this piece of banding. But, because it is a little wide, I’ll be spacing the motifs 10 stitches apart rather than 7.

Also, I am so in love with my Gingers!! I had no idea they were such lovely scissors. Now I understand why some of you  have so many pairs.

Reminder – Tomorrow is Ornament SAL check-in day! I can’t wait to see what you’ve been stitching.

6 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

Still Stitchin’

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Heather

Gosh, that took longer than I expected! I’ve been in bed sick with a cold since Monday evening. And it seems I picked a good week to check out of the world and be away from the crazy 24-hour news cycle.

Anyway, on to the stitching! I’ve made some progress on Peace, Love and a Cure over the past couple of days. I’ve had several hours of Coursera videos to watch since I’m taking four classes right now, and I had to get caught up on everything I missed while I was peacefully sleeping away the day.

Peace, Love and a Cure; designed by Lizzie*Kate (WIP)

Peace, Love and a Cure; designed by Lizzie*Kate (WIP)

You know, when I started stitching this, I was a bit worried I wouldn’t be pleased with the final result since I chose to use the DMC conversion rather than go with the overdyed threads. But, I’m very happy to discover that I like it just fine in the DMC. Yay for being cheap. 😉

More stitching tomorrow! Honestly. No, really. 😉

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Oh, and don’t forget: Wednesday is check-in day for the Ornament SAL!! How’s your stitching coming along?

3 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch | Tagged , ,

TUSAL – April 2013

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Heather

Different month, but same old song–I’m late posting again. That’s me. Would you believe I have this in my calendar? So, TUSAL time! (Want to know what TUSAL is about? Check out this link.)

TUSAL - April 2013

TUSAL – April 2013

This month my little container is full of a lot of bits from Canvaswork Dragon. (I am finally making more progress on it!) And, there is a lot of browns from Santa’s Journey Stocking too, and all kinds of orts from the Love Stitching heart.

Large TUSAL jar

Large TUSAL jar

The little thing underneath my jar is a mug mat. I followed this tutorial from Meanderings of a Crazy Quilter. The fabrics are various leftovers, but the majority come from the quilt I haven’t finished yet. (I’ll be getting back to it soon!)

Mug Mat

Mug Mat

I really like the way it turned out. I hope the lady who requested it feels the same way!

 

6 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch, Memes & Collabs, Sewing | Tagged , , ,

Sock Madness – Round 3

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Heather

First off, I’d like to say thank you for all the kind words and good wishes yesterday. I consider our family extremely lucky, especially since the person affected is back to normal and back to work already. Thank goodness for modern medicine!

Now, on to something very sad: a not so great pair of sock. 😉 (Pardon the humour. Sometimes it is the best way to deal with things.) These were finished up Thursday evening.

Greenhouse Sock

Greenhouse Socks

The pattern is Greenhouse Socks and the yarn is On Your Toes Bamboo in colour Blooming Pink.

This was an… interesting sock to knit. Unfortunately, they are much too wide for my feet. And I’m not sure how I feel about the seam across the toe.

Greenhouse Socks sole (colour is wrong)

Greenhouse Socks sole (colour is wrong)

Still, they were interesting to knit, and I like the idea of the shaped sole. And, I’m so glad I made it on to the next round.

2 Comments | Posted in Knitting | Tagged , ,