A Christmas Post

I saw a free embroidery pattern yesterday on the Wild Olive blog and immediately got down to stitching one up.

It's part of Mollie's "25 Crafts of Christmas." Adorable!  And it stitches up quick because it's so teeny.

(Find the pattern in this post.)

I don't know if any of you watch any Cartoon Network at your houses but I just love Adventure Time and this little, swaddled Christ-child kind of reminds me of Finn when he sleeps.



Speaking of Adventure Time, that reminds me of this quote by Cake the cat!

"Sweet babies!"

I'm a sucker for nativity sets.  More specifically, I can't resist rescuing orphaned saviors when I find them lost and alone among an incomplete crèche.  And while I don't want you to read too much into this, I do want to share my collection of baby Jesus figurines with you today.

Wait! Where are you going??

I'm amazed at the variety of little messiah repre-sentations out there...

Don't forget cookie cutter Jesus!











I'm not crazy.  Really.  They all live in an old Coca-Cola crate hanging on my wall.  But I am working my way up to one of those blow mold light-up ones someday...

Now I'm working on another project from Wild Olive (find the pattern post here.)





I cannot help myself.  They bring me joy!  And joy is what I wish for you this holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

~Kristin

Adventure Time  ™ & © Cartoon Network 

Sit & Stay

Two new pillows at my house y'all!  (I mean, seriously...the white pillow party has to stop sometime but come on.  Aren't they cute?)

Simply click on any of the photos in this post to see them enlarged.

Meet Sit:

And Stay:

Wait.  Somebody photo-bombed that last shot but you get the idea...

It's tricky to photograph but I stitched the words "sit" and "stay" on the backs of the pillows.  Because I used white thread on white polka dots, it sort of blends in but it's a nice surprise when you snuggle in close with your little pillow pals.

I'm really pleased with the effect.  These started out as some simple embroidery from free patterns online (because I was IN LOVE with this one I found at Hopscotch Lane...and I already had the polka dots.)  Since I long ago stitched my English-paper-pieced hexies into another pillow, I decided to finish these for the summer handwork challenge at my guild.  I just love wooden embroidery hoops, hangers, clothespins, you name it.  So in order to add my own spin, I added embroidery hoops with raw-edge appliqué.  I quilted one with a compass star pattern and the other with a sort of life bouy shape.  They are 16 inches square.



That's what I've been up to.




And did I mention I won another block lottery at the Minneapolis MQG meeting?  Did I mention only three of us made the Cathedral Window blocks?!

Anywho...what should I make with them?  They are each ten inches.  I'm thinking anything from a sewing machine cover, a window valance, a pet bed, or a bigger quilt.

I think I may have a vital source for some more 1930s prints...






       But that's enough for now.  It's the weekend!

See ya.

Kristin

Hexagami Handiwork

The Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild's current challenge is hand work (MMQG Take it with You.)  Besides embroidery and finishing projects -- stitching up stuffing holes and quilt binding backs -- I don't usually tote around my needlebook and thread but I think I'm up for it.

On Saturday a few of us got together for a Sew-B-Q (a sewing barbeque! Get it?)   Lisa of Pixie Spit played an excellent hostess and we had a lot of fun stitching in the sunshine, getting to know each other, and learning to spray baste with 505 (it's a miracle!)

iHeart Cutebots! and Kaffe Flame Stitch

Then as it got cloudy, we piled into her studio's beautiful stash lair to touch everything!  It was awesome.  She has great taste; she literally doesn't have a single bolt, bundle, or ribbon I don't covet...and that has never happened to me in a LQS. (Take a look at her Etsy shop, Fresh Stash, to see what I mean.)

I did not come home with the Heather Ross -gasp!- but I did pick up a nifty half-yard bundle of Rashida Coleman-Hale's iHeart linen blend and Kaffe Fassett ribbon. (Did you know his name rhymes with "safe assett"?)

Anywho, back to the Q.

Each member received a neat little package of notions from the guild, including punch-cut hexagons in three sizes for English paper piecing, fancy threads (Aurifil 50 weight cotton and Bottom Line 60 weight polyester),  Milliner needles (John James Gold'n Glide sizes 10 & 11), a washable glue stick, Clover Wonder Clips, and a mini charm pack to play with!

Neat-oh!

This alone makes joining a guild worthwhile because not only do we get free stuff, and support, and advice, and organization... but then we get to see what everyone makes with it (and there are geniuses in this group!)  The challenge reveal isn't until September but in between chewing cookies and sipping beer, I did sew up my very first hexies.  I went with the 3/4 inchers:

Cute, huh?

So I'll admit, since then, I've been working on other things such as the Zakka 2.0 sew along.

But I did get out my trusty sewing kit this morning for a little project I found at Quiltscapes.  The tutorial for Hexagami is here at Riley Blake Designs and the project is very easy; I made mine in about 20 minutes (it really takes less time but I had to pick out fabric, starch it, choose a button, find my hexagon template, etc., etc.)

I started with a 3.25 inch (one short edge) hexagon and it folded down to a 1.5 inch.  Then I added a pin to the back.  I've never tried a method like this but it was just as easy as folding a paper airplane and sewing a button.

If you pressed/starched/cut your hexies ahead of time, these would make a great "Take it with You" project for the summer.

Talk atcha later.

- Kristin

Pillow Talk

  Looks like I'm a little behind schedule!  Isn't that some sort of merit badge for quilters?  I'll look into that later but for now, I owe this space a finished project for my progress report.

  I embroidered this set of pillowcases for a young couple who just married.  I have no idea if they'll love the black but I hope they don't hate it.

  These are wrinkle-free cotton sheets from Target.  If you're an embroiderer and interested, I used DMC floss...3 strands folded for the stem-stitched lettering and two strands folded for the lazy daisy petals/leaves and the french knots.

  The pattern is from a set of Superior Tranfer Design No. 149 "His and Her Motifs for Linens."  I picked it up at my favorite local thrift shop for 25 cents...looks like inflation to me!  I did have to employ some Clover Chacopy tracing paper and elbow grease in order to transfer the designs so I haven't tested yet to see if the transfers still work with an iron on lighter fabrics.



A little closeup:

  These were fun to stitch up.  Every time I embroider I think to myself, "Why don't I do this more often?"  It would certainly improve my stitching if I practiced with more frequency.  In any case, I watched football with the bearded guy and actually found it easier to follow the game when I had something other than the TV to look at.  I usually bore easily from the ubiquitous commercial breaks and timeouts and reviews of the calls...not to mention I never learned the rules of (American) football and still find it confusing.  You can give me crap about it but I'll offer this: I love to watch other sports,  I just never got into football -- probably because it slipped through the cracks of the otherwise ah-maze-ing gym class curriculum of my public school education.  (Golf, tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton, swimming, archery, ping pong, land navigation, track, broomball, baseball, floor hockey, indoor and outdoor soccer, ropes, obstacle courses, Presidential Fitness Awards, dancing...don't get me started on how spoiled I now realize all that torture made me.)  Because of all that, I know how to play and how to score and am not afraid to join-in (or merely spectate) when, infrequently, I get the chance to attempt a sport or activity I never actually played for a team.  I did play soccer, baseball, ran track - 200/400/800 meters - and was fullback and wing for my high school women's rugby team...but I digress.

  The point is, embroidery facilitates marital cohesion.  Let's hope that it works equally well for the new couple.

Book Review

Lately I've been haunting the library one county over in order to sample, in-person, many of the crafty books I hear about online.  So far, my two favorites have been Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love by Hillary Lang and  Dare to Be Square: A Block-by-Block Guide to Making Patchwork and Quilts by Boo Davis.  (These are both from 2010 - I am so hip.)  I would definitely invest in these two as they are full of super cute, useful and gift-worthy, awesomely do-able, fun sewing projects.  So far, I've made the two wee-est dollies from Wee Wonderfuls:

Here are "Evelyn Inchworm" from page 9 and the "Doxie Necklace" from page 95.... And Chips.

I've been so into my sewing machine, I'm afraid I've neglected my hand-sewing skills; they have a ton of mistakes personality.

Happy sewing!