Simply Stitched

No Inspiration Flowing in This Mess...

Is it no wonder I'm not sewing anything lately?

It's just not fun in this pit.

I need serious help. Professional help.  Not a therapist or anything.  A contractor!  We have no spare bedrooms with four kids, so for the last 7 1/2 years I have been relegated to the basement.  I share space with junk, holiday decorations, Andy's weight equipment, and his wood/work shop.  I occasionally have to shopvac sawdust off my own work tables!  UGH!  Needless to say, I am officially fed up with the whole situation.  I want a sewing room! But Andy does not see this as a priority on the project list.  Sigh....  So, no sewing has been happening.  This is too depressing to be in.

So, I have been knitting, and cross stitching, and what have you.  Things I can do in the comfort of the family room.  And surfing the web for solutions I can use in my huge problem area to try to make it bright, cheerful, functional, and contained.  And if anyone has ANY suggestions at all, well, I am open to them!  I need all the help I can get!  Because I really want to get back to making some quilts and pajamas for the kids, and so many other things on my idea list!  My sewing machines are calling to me....

Dala Love

I haven't cross stitched in a few years.  I came across this pattern on Pinterest and just HAD to go back to my first crafting venture in life.  I was 7 years old when my mom taught me how to cross stitch.  In fact, she taught her second grade girls how to cross stitch every year for many years when she was a teacher.  My mother never did knit, crochet, sew, bead, or do any other crafting, but she did stitch beautifully.  I was on to Precious Moments patterns by third grade, she was such a good mentor at it!  Anyway, I love all things Dala, and this little one was quick to create.  I'm not sure yet what I'll do with it.  It might become an ornament for the tree next year, or I may even frame it and put it out on the shelf year 'round!  I may just make a few more in different color schemes and make a family of them in a row and frame them in a long rectangular frame?  Hmmmm.... the possibilities are endless....  How I love being Swedish!  The heritage has so many wonderful and beautiful things that go along with it to enjoy! And my girls get wonderful traditions passed down to them as well!

(Stitched on 16 count Aida cloth using DMC threads and size 24 embroidery needle...)

Feeling Crafty...

I've been holding off on this project until everything else was completed.  I bought the pattern and 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Handpaint Chunky in Granite in February to make "Rita's Reversible Cabled Cowl".  I waited because, well, 1) it was for ME, and I always feel guilty knitting something for myself, and 2) the yarn is so scrumptiously soft and yummy, I wanted to really enjoy the project! And I am enjoying it immensely! It's knitting quickly.  This is about an hour and a half of progress shown...  I can't wait to wear it this winter.  We are getting our first real snow today, so it is on the needles just in time!

Now that the New Year is closing in, I'm just about Christmas carolled out.  I've been weeding out my craft "room" (that area in the basement that I try to call a room but is really just space I have my crap spread out in).  In the process I came across some red fabric scraps and got inspired:

This little tea towel went home with my mom yesterday.  She loves to put out things like this for every little holiday.  Even president's day gets the decorating treatment, so it was the perfect project to whip up before they stopped on their way through.  As I was finishing that up, I remembered I had a small quilt to finish up the binding on, so I powered through that as well....

This Valentine's Day quilt will be a table topper in my dining room for February.  Or perhaps on the console table in our living room? I haven't quite decided!  It was a charm pack from MODA in 2007 that I had stashed away.  Super easy and quick.  Nothing special, but it's fun and festive!  See the mitten in the photo?  That was also a project done yesterday!

This mitten will hang on our front door for a Valentine's Day decoration!  It's one mitten from the pattern I designed for my felted mittens (pre-felted, of course!).  It would fit two of my hands in it! I simply cut a red heart out of felt with scalloped scissors and glued it on with fabric glue, and then glued on white buttons.  This was so much fun to make!

Remember how I told you I was addicted to Pinterest?  Well, I got this idea from there and decided to give it a whirl today.  Here's how it turned out:

I used buttons my Great-Grandmother Attie had saved in an old A&P Mixed Nuts tin for years.  She had quite the collection.  I have enough buttons to make probably 10 of these bracelets or more.  I love how it turned out! My oldest daughter is named after her, so this will be hers when she is old enough to take care of it properly. 

Obviously I've missed being creative for the fun of it.  I've been working on projects all along, but they were things I needed to do.  I really enjoy the projects that are more spontaneous and have no purpose! (Although it's nice if the finished product does serve a purpose in the end.)

Now, off to find my next crafty endeavor! 

 

Happy Holidays!

Looky what I've found on Pinterest!  I really want to do this:

I've resisted Pinterest for ages, because I somehow knew I would be sucked into the void, never to return.  I was soooooo right! I have finally succumbed to it's temptation, and have been lost in it ever since.  But, thankfully, there is one excellent side effect I could not have predicted!  I have been inspired to blog again.  I seem to lean more toward Twitter than any other of the social media avenues, and I think it's due to the "short, sweet, to-the-point" nature of it.  Blogging has really been lost over the last year or two, it seems, and I really applaud those who have been so dedicated.  I've gotten back into reading many of my favorites again, and am thankful for Pinterest sparking that!

I see so much crafty inspiration out there, and now I've gotten the bug to start creating again.  Don't get me wrong; I've been knitting up a storm this fall and early winter.  I've knit 5 pair of mittens and felted them, have gotten half way through a cardigan, and even cast on a cabled cowl.  I've started and finished a pair of socks and knit up a scarf for a friend.  I've even gotten back on friendly terms with my sewing machine and have stitched up a couple pair of pajamas and pillows.  But out of all of these endeavors, only the mittens are an original pattern.  So, even though I'm technically creating with materials, I'm using other ideas and patterns.  Time to come up with my own again!

The holidays can be so hectic that I'm sure I won't be back at my creative force until January officially kicks in the winter season.  But I feel inspired! And I feel compelled to write again, on all of my sites. But for now, I'm going to continue to soak up the inspiration, let some ideas develop, and enjoy this wonderful season with my family. 

I'm wishing you all a peaceful, joyous Christmas! 

Saturday Stitching!

 

Friday's Embroidery Pattern

 

Thursday's Pattern!

 

Wednesday's Embroidery Pattern...

 

Some fun embroidery for beginners....

I'm working on a fun little project for everyone to stitch! If you are familiar with transfer embroidery, then this will seem really simplistic to you. BUT, if you have never tried it before, then this is the perfect beginner project! I am going to post Monday and Tuesday's transfers today, then I will post each day's transfer design the each day the rest of this week.

Here's how it works, if you don't know how. Print out the design onto regular paper. You can save yourself a step by printing it out as a mirror image if your printer has that feature, but I will give you full instructions here assuming you don't.

Once you have it printed, trace the image onto tracing paper. Use a good, dark stroke so when you flip the tracing paper over you can clearing see it.

Now, trace the image again, but use a transfer pencil, such as a Clover red pencil used for transfering designs for embroidery. It will be backwards, but this is what you want.  Once you have the entire image traced with the transfer pencil, position the image with this backward image down on the fabric you wish to embroider on.  Floursack towels make a great first time project!

Lightly iron the paper using a press cloth.  The image will transfer onto the fabric.  Ouila! You have a transferred image to embroider using basic embroidery stitches! These are designed to be stitched using only the basic backstitch and whatever color of embroidery thread you choose. There is only one french knot required, and that is in the "i" in the word Friday, when it comes around....

Have fun! These are great for dishtowels!

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I hope you have fun with these!

 
 

I'm actually going to sew something.... I hope...

So, the basement is as good as it will get... I'm just waiting to put my farmhouse table down there and get rid of the one I have. But at least I have space to work now! My parent's 40th wedding anniversary is this weekend, and we're having a party here at the house. I'm planning on making fabric bunting, table linens, and some other things for decorating the deck. It's Thursday morning. I have golf league tonight, and a wedding to attend tomorrow night.  The party is Saturday. And I still have to get all the bedding washed and ready for guests, and make sure the house is CLEAN. Sparkling clean. And make food.  So when am I going to sew? Wish me luck! I'm hoping tonight I can put in a session!  Anyone have a crafty decorating idea for an anniversary party?