She found a home...

...in an art quilt!

Here's the first of the girls. This quilt is 20'' x 10''. I had the embroidered "Create" waiting in a fabric book for about a year. It found a home too. She's in my shop now as well.

I love this fabric I found. It has a cute story throughout.

I learned something about my sewing machine and free motion quilting recently. I have been messing with the tension and things trying to get the back of my quilting "prettier", but there were always big loops and it was quite messy. A couple weeks ago, I went to do some free motion and forgot to drop my feed dogs.....and it worked better! It moved around better and got a lot cleaner on the back.

Everything I have watched and read says to drop those feed dogs...but I think I may never drop them again.

Have a great weekend!

I'll never be a redhead...

Believe me--- I really have tried to dye it three times. It ends up as an icky, rust orange color.

For now, I put these in my all inclusive fabric journal. We'll see if I make enough to give them their own home. 

Also, I have to thank Jill from Recycled Daze----I love when a blogger is having the same problem as me and posts about it--- I was about to freak out on the uploading pictures! Google Chrome worked for me too, Jill! 

A belated Happy New Year!

More Pages in the Works

More painting and sewing...

 

 

She's my little Goth girl.

 

Playing In Photoshop

Hi everyone!

I haven't been around lately. Honestly, I haven't made too many new things---except mail art that has been happily making its way out into the world.

I have been playing in Photoshop a little....messing with new banners. How do you like the new one I put up there today? I'm not so sure yet, but thankfully, I'm not afraid of playing with my blog and changing it up now! I was always terrified I was only one click away from destoying the whole blog. Ha!

I suppose I still could. Eek!

For my shop, I took a photo of me in the felted earrings and doctored it up so I wasn't so recognizable. Turned out kind of fun.

I did manage to finish one thing on my "to do" list ( that I rarely follow) and made a needlecase. It took on a little life of its own and ended up with a clever little pocket for a mini notebook.

I really like this one....It makes me feel good to say I dyed the fabric myself, handcarved the stamp, and added the embroidery.

 It just makes me happy.

I am hoping to find time this weekend for a lot of crafting and creating. I have my mind set on starting a new doll. I haven't done a full doll in awhile.

But, like I said, I rarely stick with the list.

Oh, I need to get caught up on Darcy's postcard challenge too!

Uh-oh, the list is growing!

Hope you all have a great week.

So in Love

I used an embroidered girl I had done and put it into a sketchbook. The embroidery was one I drew freehand and stitched. Here's how she turned out.

I love this fabric I found with postmarks and mail.

And the winner is....

Kimmie at Art In Red Wagons!

Congratulations! Email me with your address and I'll drop your new needlecase in the mail.

Autumn Giveaway!

I decided to kick off my favorite crafting season with a giveaway! I thought you may like this little needle case I made.

All you have to do is leave a comment- tell me what you are looking forward to working on this winter- and I'll pick out a winner on Saturday, November 12th.

ps. I forgot to answer my own question. Ha! I have some silk cocoons coming my way and have big plans for them! All kinds of ideas swarming around. I've never worked with them, so we'll see how they turn out. I'm sure you will be seeing the creations soon.

stitch...relax

We are off on a camping trip this weekend in Olympic National Park, just up Highway 101. I am soooo looking forward to sitting around playing with my embroidery. May finish this tree pattern, and do some freehand stuff. I've got a giant bag of threads and am ready to relax...and eat S'mores!

Fabric Book Journey Continues...

I have been working on a new fabric book. A few months ago I made a fabric book for a Longfellow poem (you can see it here) and realized I needed to work out a better way for the binding. Thanks to Anni at Fabric Art I ordered Pam Sussman's book and it has been so helpful! I started out with the most simple (looking) type of book and started construction. For the most part it turned out nicely but I should have made the cover larger to fit in all my intended pages. Serves me right for not actually measuring and following instructions!

I added on some ribbons, lace, bling, and stitches.

Made some pockets for a couple pages.

My friend Deborah had a good idea for using a fabric book to pin in embroidery projects while they await their fate. I threw in a sketchbook too. I thought this book may work nicely for a travel companion of embroidery and art. It'll keep it all together.

I was really happy with this embroidered girl. She might need a jewel for her neck and I haven't decided what type of closure to use. I already have some more covers started and I'm ready to play around with more types of fabric books. I also saw that Lovey at Fabric Photo Memories has a new book on sale. Oooh, add it to the pile!!

Thankfully, I have a 3 day weekend with my sewing machine!

Lovin' these embroidered ladies

More fabric book covers in the works.

French Knots and more practice

Just working away on various embroidery projects...not sure what they'll end up in yet.



added the So In Love and hearts



I learned a lesson from this last picture. This shot is before I started sewing this into my fabric book cover. If you look at my last post I see it ended up being smashed down a bit when ironing. oops. Live and learn.

I am also excited because today I signed up for a class with Serena Barton in Portland! It is "Transferred Secrets: Photo Transfer Techniques. And it's just a few weeks away. She has several  classes that sound wonderful. You can check them out here.

Take Cover

I am working on turning my bits of practice embroidery into fabric books and journals. Here is a cover I finished today.

My New Love

Why did it take me so long to find embroidery? Now, I am in love.

Having a wonderful time playing with stitches.

Doodling with paints and threads

In between work and whatnot here is a bit of what I've been doing...

 Playing around with Carla Sonheim's Drawing Lab book. These watercolor doodles are a lot of fun!

 Practicing my embroidery stitches and got a crewel book this weekend. Like I need another book!

I am going to make this Postcrossing embroidery into a postcard to send somewhere in the world.

Hanging at the pub,embroidering

this hand pattern is from stitchers revolution

My friend's makeshift loom...another use for cardboard



playing around with drawing faces to embroider



What better place to sit and embroider, and share projects, than an Irish pub? A nice Wednesday evening.