Here is another addition to My Etsy Shop. Gerard has been making tiny crazy quilt hearts and I put together some embellishments for a little kit. To me this one feels really elegant. It has a cameo button with the shank removed, gold metallic DMC floss, a bit of lace, pin back, and size 15 seed beads in black and white.
This one is more of a pretty floral feel. It has a butterfly motif and some silk buttonhole twist along with size 11 seed beads, lace, and a pin back.
My Mother-In-Law, Gloria, absolutely loved her monogrammed pillowcase that I made her for Christmas and told me that she has 2 pillows so she needed another! LOL So I told her I would make her another! It's not the exact same monogram but I love this one as well and I thought it would make a nice complimentary pillowcase. It is the same pink flannel pillowcase though. The stitches I used are back stitch and satin stitch in 2 strands DMC floss and 4mm silk ribbon in lazy daisy and colonial knots.
These are the last 2 onesie's in this size (3-6mo.) that I had prepared to embroider for Baby J, who is now Nathan Marc Johnson. (Still to be born)
I'm almost finished, but I ran into a tiny bit of a problem...I ran out of the ribbon I was using! I was using Ribbonsmyth's 4mm Moss Green silk ribbon which comes in 5 yards...I used the whole 5 yards up! It's big motif because the block is a 12 incher! So the motif is about 9 1/2 inches high by 6 inches across!
Gerard made this tiny crazy quilt heart. Isn't it cute? He made it by sewing a scrap of red Dupioni silk onto muslin in the shape of a heart and then he added the other bits of fabric over the top. Since it is so small that was easier than making a tiny 5 sided center piece. Then he stitched the heart shape over the top again.
I added more to My Etsy Shop! You know how in Crazy Quilting we are always looking for more texture? Well I always find myself drooling over the specialty yarns but don't want to spend the money on a whole roll just to use a little bit of it. (And they can be expensive) So I got the idea to create fiber packs of it so this way I can have some and share some with you too, without us all breaking the bank!
I think it's pretty neat how people can use the same design and do it in all different ways. This Heart Pattern is meant for redwork but Gerard and I did it in totally different ways. Here is a link to Charlene's version of the heart done in silks! Here is a link to Leslie's done with Brazilian Embroidery.
Here is Gerard's heart all finished! Isn't it wonderful?! I love the frayed edges. The embroidery stitches he used are french knots, back stitch, and lazy daisy. See he made lazy daisy leaves in 2mm silk ribbon! I think it's a really cool heart!
I worked on Jackie's block today starting a climbing rose motif. I used Ribbonsmyth's Buttonhole Silk Twist for the feather stitch. It was my first time using it and I loved it! It's also on sale right now as well as her silk ribbon. I used Ribbonsmyth's 4mm silk ribbon in Moss Green and Honey Gold for the lazy daisy leaves and the Melanie Rose. I used a fly stitch for the base of the rose.
I worked some more on my jacket adding 5 petaled ribbon stitch flowers. I also added some clear Swarovski crystal beads to the middle of the roses and amber seed beads to the middle of the light purple flowers.
Here is a packet of yarns I put together and have up on Etsy. I always look for ways to vary my stash but I don't always want a whole ball of the yarn so I cut some 1 yard pieces of some yarns I've bought for my stash.
A few months ago I had gotten a really good deal on Dupioni Silk and I stocked up. I got much more than I'll ever use so I decided to open up a Etsy Shop and share it. I have no idea what would be the best way to bundle or what sizes would be the best for projects but I started out by creating 2 different bundles of six 10x10 inch squares of 3 fabrics. I just thought these colors were delicious!
Here it is! My Hubby's first embroidery work in progress! So far he's done the french knot and the back stitch. You can click on the photo to see his stitches better. They are so neat and well done, I'm so proud! His idea was to couch the little fabric bits down with embroidery and let the raw edge be showing and frayed. I love it! He's going to put a cool looking button in the middle of the flower with seed beads in it's holes too.
These are going to be my hearts for the Valentine's Heart Swap. I got the pattern for the unfinished one Here, and the red one I made up my own design. What I did on the red one was cut out a heart shape in white lace and then couched it down with the colonial knot heart motif in 4mm white silk ribbon, then I added bead embroidery hearts to the middle of the colonial knot hearts with silver lined clear seed beads. I added a running stitch between the lace and the edge of the heart with 4mm white silk ribbon and then made a "bow" at the top by making a large loop and taking my needle up the middle of it and doing a french knot. I added a little silver bee with seed beads tassel to the bow.
Over at the Hand Embroidery Yahoo Group Gerard was voted in as an honorary member by proxy. So Gerard decided he better learn a little embroidery! LOL I told him I had to take a picture or no one would believe me! LOL He had an idea using this pattern and I love it! I'll show you what his idea is later. So he wanted to learn a knot that would do for the little dots and since he picked out a size 5 Perle cotton I showed him the one wrap french knot. These are his very first ones ever! Aren't they really, really good?! I also showed him the back stitch and I tell you his back stitching is so neat and even! I showed him how to do the Quilter's Knot for the end of his thread and how to end off when he's done with a section. I am so impressed! And wait till you see what his idea is! Can you guess from the look of the fabric?
For the 'Love' I used a disappearing ink pen and wrote love on the fabric. I find it best to practice writing it out on a piece of paper first and then writing on the fabric. Also if you just don't like your handwriting you can use your computer! Just open up a program that you can type in and type the word you want and then play around with changing the font and size of the word. You can then print it and transfer it with your preferred method.
I stitched in the 'Love' in the medium colored pink DMC floss in 1 strand using the stem and outline stitches. I switch depending on which way the curve is going. I also find it easier for me to do the stem stitch without a hoop even with loose tension in a hoop. For me I need to move the fabric to get the best looking stem stitch and I just can't do that if it's in a hoop.
Next I pinned my leaf design in place and embroidered that in the same way I did on the larger rose motif. With the darker shade floss for the stems and the lighter shade floss for the rest of the leaf and veins.
Then I removed the tracing paper. This time I just used the blunt end of a needle to help get the little bits out instead of the tweezers.
I basted the heart shape with the pink floss so that it will be easily visible for finishing and can be pulled out without scarring the fabric after sewing over it.
After rinsing out the water erasable ink with cold water I let it dry and cut it down to a nice size to work with. I'm keeping it square and giving it enough room around it because it is easier to finish the heart that way.
Well it has been a long time since I have done the Rose Challenge. I've been thinking that it needs to be monthly instead of weekly because of Take A Stitch Tuesday. It would just be too much to add learning how to stitch a new rose every week also. So my rose for January will be the Melanie Rose
On #1 the stem stitching was twisted a little oddly and the first part was a little odd too. #2 I made the stem stitching too loose and it was overly loopy and looked a little disproportionate. #3 was better but I made the first section with the straight stitches and ribbon stitches too tight compared to the looseness of the stem stitches. #4 I love! I made the ribbon stitches looser and the stem stitching I tried to keep just right and keep re-twisting the ribbon as I went.
Here is a finished motif using the Melanie Rose! I put a foundation of feather stitches and then added lazy daisy leaves and Melanie roses.
Here is another project I'm starting. My hubby and I saw these Chihuahua patterns here and just knew that his Mom would love them! So we bought a set and got a large blank T-shirt at JoAnn's. Since the shirt is black I couldn't iron-on the iron-on patterns so I'm trying out the Golden Threads Quilting Paper instead of tracing paper. Hopefully it will tear away easier. I basted the paper with the traced pattern on it and picked out the floss colors I'm going to use.
Here are a couple of onesie's I embroidered for my nephew Baby J. I've been working on them for a few weeks off and on. I used some iron on transfers from Sublime Stitching and arranged them to my likes. I used an iron on alphabet in the book to create words too. I also embellished the designs further by adding things like seed stitching, french knots, straight stitches, and a twinkle star on the moon. I have some more onesie's to stitch up as well! I hope they are well loved and get all stained up and used to death! I made these to be used. I even added some iron on interfacing on the back over the stitching to make sure they won't be scratchy next to his skin. I don't have much "baby" experience so I have no idea what would be too scratchy so I figured I'd better be safe than sorry..jpg)
First take your ribbon to the top of the fabric. Be sure to pull the ribbon up in the direction of where the tip of the stitch will be, this helps control the ribbon to curl under and be puffy. Click here to see more on how to pull your ribbon to get the results you want..jpg)
If needed you can take your needle and on the underside slide it up and down to get your ribbon to behave how you'd like. Sometimes it just twists and this is an easy way to try and fix it..jpg)
Next lay your ribbon flat in the direction of where the tip will be. Let it puff up and not be completely flat against the fabric. Hold the ribbon in place with your thumb. Take the needle and pierce at the desired length of your stitch..jpg)
Here is a side view of the stitch so you can see the puffiness. The puffiness is what creates the lush leaf look..jpg)
While holding the ribbon in place with your thumb, draw the needle and ribbon to the back of your fabric. Be sure to straighten any twists that may occur..jpg)
As you can see the ribbon is being pulled back and there are no twists in the loop as it is being brought to the back. My thumb is "helping" it along, making sure it is straight..jpg)
Almost finished! Be gentle as you pull the last little bit to complete the stitch..jpg)
Completed Ribbon Stitch Leaf!.jpg)
Side view of finished Ribbon Stitch..jpg)
If you happen to pull it too far or it gets a little twisted just take your needle and run it under the "belly" of the stitch to try and straighten it out or wiggle it back into place..jpg)
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Remember not every stitch will be perfect! Not every leaf in nature is perfect either! So think of any less than perfect leaves as creating interest and texture. If a stitch is really bad or pulled too much that you can't fix it don't worry! Just make another ribbon stitch right over the top! No one will know and it will look just as pretty. In fact you might like the look of a "padded" ribbon stitch and do it on purpose!
Buttonhole/Blanket Stitch
