forest friends for katie

happy birthday, katie! for a dear friend's birthday, i made her a forest friend from sublime stitching. she loves pink. so.... why not make a fuzzy squirrel?? i used a running stitch, a back stitch (my favorite!), and a stem stitch (have been working on improving that technique).

why the "lalalalalala" at the bottom? there was space, and it was goofy.

sugar skulls

so it's been forever... all apologies. i love to stitch, but blogging isn't my strong point.

so i was invited to a 'mexican halloween party'. my friends had plenty of taco meat & supplies from a fundraiser they threw earlier... and since it was a theme party, i figured that i'd take a tank top and stitch one of jenny hart's sugar skulls on my shirt. i took some fun bright colors and whipped this together.

it made me smile!

teeny vulgar stitches

tried out an experiment of using a very small weave and cross stitch. the final product is about 3 or so inches tall. :) made from a julie jackson/subversive cross stitch pattern:

gave it to my friend stephanie. if you know mama steph; you know that this is right up her vulgar-mouthed alley. love you mama!

happy valentines day, baby.

we spent a wonderfully relaxing valentines day at home, catching up on DVR together, while he wasn't allowed to look at what i was working on. i figured that i'd combine our shared love of law & order & my new hobby.

have you seen the svutines? this artist is brilliant. http://www.brandonbird.com/svutines.html

i really wanted to try a portrait. a portrait in embroidery sounded like such a challenge. now... i'm not an artist. so what will i try out? a SVUTine already had a line drawing aspect to it, so i figured i'd give it a shot.

i took a valentine with dr. huang (i DARE NOT begin with his precious Marishka Hargitay/Olivia Benson!!!), traced it onto the material from the laptop screen to fabric, using my disappearing ink pen, and began. here are a few "in-progress" shots:

he appreciated the effort & had a big goofy grin after i gave it to him. now i should put it on the wall sometime...? not sure what else to do with it... :)

julie west patterns

at the jenny hart workshop, i picked up a packet of patterns from julie west. some very fun and cute designs. i put them together onto a double hoop product. i found some fun quilting squares in an effort to see how embroidering onto a patterned fabric would work out. it was an interesting project to work on, to not let the pattern of the fabric deter from the design that i was about to stitch on. it's something to work on. maybe i should use a "smaller" pattern to stitch on?

april showers...
bring may flowers!
buzz buzz buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............
the set.

and let's not forget the signature that i try to put onto my designs (not all; just some)....

hope you like 'em, katie! gotta package them up for you & actually *give* them to you sometime, huh. :)

AHOY!!!

ahoy, matey!!

i believe this is from a sublime stitching design... just felt like making an anchor one day. an entire project using satin stitch. i like the silvery thread; it was very very smooth, which was new to me. what do you think?

doves

i did a set of doves & gave them to julia - i thought they were sweet & gentle. the border was created by green & yellow thread that i sort of figured out a weave to make a design around them. a few little flaws here & there, but cute, i thought...

for the fabulous sister...

merry christmas to Theresa!!

my sister knew that was something was coming to her from me for the holiday. mainly because she and i went shopping for the hooded sweatshirt.

i used some of sublime stitching's patterns - the rock & roll patterns.

the drum set? i love it. that was the first thing that i stitched onto the sweatshirt; and it means something to me b/c our brother plays drums.

i thought that it needed more cowbell.

right front pocket area; like where you'd put a "hello my name is" sticker. i added the phrase 'a mix tape' onto the label.

you know how the latest place to put tattoos on your body is the wrist? i put the record adapter there. a bit proud of this one.

final product, beautiful sister.

birds on a bag

a friend of mine loves birds; and i got these beautiful designs from jenny hart's latest book 'Embroidered Effects' - i had picked up this canvas bag and thought i'd combine the two. i'm pretty happy with the color scheme, the bright colors. i feel as though i need to incorporate brighter colors in my work.

i added a few stitches to this that i don't usually do; a satin stitch, a fly stitch (new to me! so happy with it once i "got it"!), and my "usual", back stitches.

meat. meat. meat!

christmas 2009 grab bag gift went to joel and he got....

meat. patterns from sublime stitching.

love of french knots

OK.

i've got this new book with some great designs. i'm ready to go. what do i work on? FRENCH KNOTS? am i crazy?? well, luckily after the french knot training at the workshop - i was ready. and how great is this chandelier? had some good inspiration from the book & a good selection of colors from supplies i got from the workshop. i'm pretty happy with this!

I FEAR FRENCH KNOTS NO LONGER!

renegade handmade & workshop

over the summertime a few friends of mine and i went to the renegade craft fair in chicago. it was a great time!

while there i tried to go to renegade handmade (a store i recently fell in love with) and pick up jenny hart's new book, Embroidered Effects. the book wasn't available at that time & i contacted the store about it, and they told me about a workshop with jenny hart herself! how fun is that? the deal was to purchase the book from their store online (no problem), and pick it up at the workshop. great deal. i'm IN.

so i went, and had a great time. here's a link from their site about the workshop; and there i am right next to the teacher. :) jenny was a doll! it was really great to see her work & teach - we also got to learn some new techniques & tricks. and my new book signed. :)

had a blast! hope to be able to take part in more workshops like this in the future!

who said MEEP?

years ago day one of tech week was hitting me hard. two friends of mine rescued me by a midnight run to dunkin donuts. someone ordered milk. i'm sitting in the backseat, listening to the guy send the order thru the window, and i hear the phrase "meep...". i'm, of course, horrified, or offended or something... and i say very loudly "WHO SAID MEEP?" it's been a joke ever since.

found a milk carton design online & adjusted it as needed.

what did i learn from this project? the disappearing ink marker that i used to trace the design on the fabric runs, so be careful... and fertheloveofgod, don't use a blue sharpie.

what's a newborn to wear?

why, onesies from mandy, of course! taken from some of sublime stitching's patterns & some from the previous book i mentioned, here are a few tops for the new arrival.

porcupines? who cares; i find them & their pink noses adorable.
i am sure this little lady will show up in more projects by me in the future. the back says "Sweet Thing"

thistle? dandelion?

i sort of coordinated the bird on the butt to the shirt with the star... of course it was all up to mommy & daddy as to how her outfits were coordinated. ;)

welcome to the world, caroline. mandy loves you.

blankets for baby

welcome to the world, baby caroline. jen and jer were preparing for caroline's arrival, and jen gave me a few blankets to decorate. i used some of the designs from jenny hart & her designers - i used the kurt halsey patterns & the roarin' twenty patterns. the kurt halsey patterns are so precious to me, especially making something for jen's baby; they are a mix of angels, birds, love and peace. and the roarin' twenties? so much fun! i stitched without any sort of backing since it was a blanket and i didn't want any sort of scratching on baby.

i took some artistic license & changed the cigarette the dancer girl was smoking and turned it into music notes. :)