Gifts given

I wanted to post a few things that I've made lately that I've given to other people for whatever reason.  Usually, I'm taking the pictures in a big hurry on the way to the post office so I'm not thinking about lighting or angles etc.  I just want to document the sweat and tears heheh.

The above is a mug rug that I made from a design from Der Stickbaer.   The site is in German and English I believe and there are some nice in the hoop designs here.

This is a set of dishtowels completely handmade by little ol' me.  I purchased a linen fabric the ric-rac and fabric accent band and embroidered the veggies using designs from Embroidery Library.  I like them so much I need a set for myself. (click the picture to get a the picture to pop up bigger)

The pillow was for a friend who works at the cutting counter at JoAnn's.  She is always so upbeat and I loved it when she was working  while I was working my shift selling sewing machines.  The cutting counter and our little store- within-a-store is right next to that area.  Designs from Embroidery Library.

Allllllll of this stuff was a late Christmas gift to my mom, there's a thread-catcher bag with Bluebirds embroidered in their little house, an eye mask for naps, a triangle pouch that I laminated also to hold threads, a pincushion filled with crushed walnut shells and a 10-minute table runner that was really about that long to make. Designs from Embroidery Library.

Above is a cute little purse from one of the Husqvarna-Viking packs and also built into the Designer Diamond Deluxe. This was SUPER easy to do in the hoop.  The hardest part of this was picking out about 4 grey thread colors to contrast.  It is lined in green satin.

Viola!  There you have a plethora of stuff that I remembered to snap photos of.

Pouch Cubed - Little Square Bags

I've been working part-time at a local Husqvarna-Viking dealer and in between customers I have time to work on projects.  Lately I've been having fun making these cute little bags. The pattern is by Leah Williams of Sew Spoiled and is called Pouch Cubed.

The first one, using the Batik fabric, that I did I just used a soft interfacing and it's pretty flimsy.

Then I found this awesome "Where the Wild Things Are" print and used a craft type interfacing and it had more body but is a little more"crumpley".

And finally, I enlarged the pattern on the copier and used an old test stitch out for an embroidery design and made this one.  I think some people I know will be getting these as gifts.

What I didn't show is the lining.  Half the fun is choosing a contrasting lining and zipper.  These are fun to make and go together in about an hour.  The pattern is available on Etsy I believe.

iPhone Case

 

I purchased an iPhone not too long ago and the next day I made a felt case for it using the tutorial from Lana Red Studio.

The embroideries front and back are from OESD packs called Natural Settings and Woodland Spring.

Here are a few pictures and then I'm over and out.

Misc. Finishes

It's been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd fill in some "dead space" with some of my finished projects from the past year or two.  I never think I get that much done but then when I go back and look through my photos I realize that  I actually did accomplish some finishes.  Yay me!

The Green Man design is from Urban Threads with the corners from a pack from OESD but I didn't look it up. If anyone is interested I'll let them know.



Below is a little pressing pad that you would use under your embroidery machines hoop while doing "in-the-hoop" projects.  I can tell you I wish I had it while I was making it.  This one comes from the book Piece in the Hoop by Larisa Bland.  I did remove some of the design which was written text and added the crazy little flower instead.

The steno pad cover is by This and That patterns called Nice and Easy Notes.  The design on the front using applique is from OESD.  It came out a little wonky because I did in quickly in class and didn't take the time to cut the pieces out very straight but since I kept if for myself I'm cool with that.

There you go.  An update!

Halloween Stitching

I saw this little quilt on an awesome blog that I ran across called Aunt Polly's Porch and it was on the cover of Quilting Celebrations magazine and knew I had to make it.  It is done using a fusible applique method so it stitches up quickly.  I bought the stand from Ackfeld Wire  just like it was displayed in the magazine and I plan on using the template for future little quilts .  If I would have worked on this in one block of time it probabley would only have taken about 4 hours max to complete.

I wanted to show the back because the magazine didn't show how it was hung and neither did the site where I bought the stand.  You just make an upside down pocket and a half circular shaped wire piece on the stand fits up inside the pocket to hold it together.  CUTE!

Seen and completed in one day - a world's record!

One of the things I've always admired (and been nervous to try to do) is free motion quilting / embroidery.  This morning on Quilting Arts TV there was a short segment on this type of thing that I thought just might be a good beginner project and as an artistic bonus it also involved painting on fabric.

Basic steps were to draw a simple picture (so simple that I copied their dragonfly idea) copy that off onto a piece of fabric which is then placed on top of batting and free motion quilted. Once you do that you simply dilute acrylic paint 6 parts to 1 and go to town painting.  The paint does bleed but I liked the effect.  Once it dries you layer that piece onto felt and use a decorative thread and a nice stitch to stitch to the felt.   

 Thank goodness it was supposed to have a stitchy-sketchy look but if I ever get good at this one day I know I'll probably look back on this example and get dry heaves. Hehehe. It was fun though.  Now I need to take a drawing class because that dragonfly was stretching the limits of my skills in that area and even so it  was copied from the TV show.

Hey, why don't you just go...

 

This is a project that I found on the Bernina blog.
All of the letters I used were purchase from Embroidery Libary.  There are tons of pretty fonts to choose from so if you are interested just take a look and pick three.  I looked for large sized monograms that were approx. 6" tall.
 

 

I did use stretcher bars in two sizes - 12" and 28" and used some wood glue in the joints because I saw that tip on another blog.  The only thing holding this up is 3 thumb tacks in the wall.  Light weight, easy, and a handy reminder.

 

Earbud Case

I've recently started working out at the gym and it helps me to listen to rousing music while I ride the stationary bike.  Up until today I've just been shoving my headphones into a pocket but now they have a nifty little case thanks to the blog Dog Under My Desk & Erin Erickson's tutorial -

Circle Zip Earbud Pouch Tutorial

This project stitched up pretty quickly and painlessly and I plan on making a few more as gifts.

I would probably be a little more careful in putting in the zipper as one side but all in all not too bad.

Potholder for Lotta

Lotta is a wonderful blogger who is a member of one of my yahoo groups.  Her blog, Squirrels Do Sew, is a good one to keep an eye on because she posts something almost daily.

This is a potholder tutorial she posted a while back and Lotta was very helpful to me when I got stuck and had a few questions about the project.  I promised her I would send her a photo of the finished project but since it was almost exactly like hers I hesitated.  It's hard to improve upon perfection don't you think?

The Pepper and Salt designs both came from Embroidery Library.

Thanks Lotta!

Sewing Room Redo - Intermediate Stage

 

I like to say this is the room in the "intermediate stage" because it is still pretty disorganized.  I carefully edited out the extra messy parts - like under the cutting table.  Anyway, underneath that fancy machine cover sits my Brother 2800 that you saw in my earlier post. The cover is ACTUALLY for my new-to-me Pfaff Creative Vision 5.5 (hello 14"x14" embroidery sewing area) but since I use the Pfaff more - I use it to cover poor Brother.  It's so traitorous because the designs used on the cover are actually built in designs on my Pfaff.   You can see my darling Pfaff two pictures below but you won't see a caption near it because Blogspot is being silly right now and won't let me move around. So, peruse the room at your own pace.  A reminder that clicking on any photo will bring it up bigger (except for the first one - again Blogspot weirdness).

 

Above are a few shots of my 2 new Billy bookcases from Ikea.  I was able to squeeze one in next to my Pfaff sewing area.  It's holding some of my embroidery thread, my Janome Embellisher, Anita Goodesign embroidery packs and the other holds mostly fabric wrapped around the comic book backer boards as you can see above.

I sacrifice some good wall space to have a bed in here but I love to lay down and read while the machine embroiders and it's a good place to plan out my next project.  I also love it at night.  The Black Willow is next to this window and a huge wild rose right below so there is always a bird out there hanging around.  From that window, I can look out to the start of wild fields and a hill with small herd of cattle and look up to the stars at night and, if I get lucky, and it's cool enough for the window to be open I might hear the owl that comes around sometimes.  See how I wax poetic over this bed...

The Yard - Before the Summer Smackdown

I moved into this house on December 11, 2002 six months after moving to Austin from Atlanta, GA.  I watched it go from a dirt lot to my own little nest.  It even came with my first dog Bucky.  He was roaming one of the nearby fields with a few other dogs. The day I saw my newly poured driveway he was curled up sleeping on it.  He's never left and he's the BEST dog.

The first two years I lived here my parents came and helped me plant the flower beds in front, moved a live oak from the front yard to the back yard and just helped me get it going.  Incidentally, I am one of about 5 people out of 250 who had the foresight (ok the folks had the foresight) to put a tree in the backyard and I am SOOOO thankful.

My folks haven't been to visit since so I took a few pictures yesterday to show them how it's grown up and what I've added to the yard.  It looks pretty good considering the horrible drought we had last year.  I tried to water but we had severe water restrictions and with 90 days of over 90 degree weather and something like 60 of 100plus it was brutal.

This rose is a good deal longer and taller than my Honda Civic.  It is an antique rose called Mrs. B.R. Cant and actually looks better from my neighbors side.

The tall tree on the side reaching above my house was planted by a bird.  I have a few of those and they all grew really fast.

 

There's Bucky walking away to see if one of his cat buddies is in the cat "yard inspection" chair.  The tree you see there is another bird planted tree and is a mulberry tree.