D-day

Time for the { Urban } HOME Goods swap mail day. I have been mostly finished for a few weeks now, but have been procrastinating with the mail out. I am super anxious that my partner like what I've made. Oi - the pressure!

I noticed that my partner (who participated in the last UHG swap) has listed a sewing machine cover twice in her list of asks. One of her comments indicated that she wanted a cover that was closed on the sides for maximum dust protection. I surfed the net and found a good tutorial at Notes from the Patch. I made a few small adjustments to suit my own purposes, but followed the instructions for the side pockets exactly. Love them. They would be a great little spot for scooping all of the little bits of sewing equipment out of the way in a hurry. BEGONE stitch ripper! BEGONE rotary cutter. I think that my partner sews in her living room, so I would imagine quick clean-up would be key.

My partner's "likes" also included turquoise and vintage. I happened to have some vintage linen with turquoise polka dots - MMmaaaaaAAAAAnnn, I hope that she doesn't dislike dots.


In an attempt to keep the scale of the swap reasonable, we were instructed that we are only allowed to add one "small" handmade treat in this swap. I had a hard time picking, until I saw a post at the Martha Crafts Dept. I am very happy with my choice. Hope that my partner is too! I opted to stretch the cross stitch over an artists canvas (again!) because I like the clean, modern look. It could easily be dropped into a frame if preferred.

Dear swap partner, I hope that you are happy with your treats. I had a great time picking, plotting and making them!

X-Stitched lemonade from a lemon

I made this cross stitch at Christmas for one of my very dear and crafty friends.

I had plans to wrap the finished cross stitch over an artists canvas, as I had done with some pieces for the craft show last year. I like how it makes the cross stitch look really simple, clean and a bit more modern (cross stitch can easily walk the line into the dreaded "quaint" territory!).

The problem??? Once again my lack of planning. I thought that I was being clever in using up an end piece of aida cloth (the fabric used for cross stitch). I thought that it was just "the right size". I thought wrong - AGAIN. Hmmm...Why do I always feel the need to "feature" my crafty mistakes???

This does not make for a pretty, modern, clean edge at all. Behold...the Frankenstein of cross stitch!

I set this monstrosity aside and did not deliver in time for Christmas. I just couldn't stomach what my lovely cross-stitch had become (visualize a dramatic crafter with her had placed dramatically on her forehead here).

When I was finally ready to revisit this project, I was able to adopt a more reasonable approach. I decided to do what is done with all major flaws - cover them up!

I made a strip of fabric and wrapped it around the canvas, sort of like a quilt binding. In the end, I rather like how it turned out!

That is what I love about the hand made...It forces me to get over my "imagined" perfect ending and make the best with what I've got. From Frankenstein to an extra excuse to add fabric to a project. Hmmm....there could be a lesson for me to apply to my life in this....

PS - Martha is doing a cross-stitch feature in her March issue. Find a preview here.

Today's the day!

My partner for the {Urban} Home Goods Swap will be revealed today! Sorry that I won't be able to tell you right away who it is (sshhhhh! it's a secret!).

I participated in the first round and had such a great time (both creating and receiving!).

I know that I posted about what I received (and perhaps gushed a little bit), but I'm not certain that I was ever organized enough to post pictures of what I made (it was sent out in a rush right before my trip to Amsterdam in the Spring). I indulged in some hand stitching fun (my partner listed a preference for embroidery). I happened to have some lovely linen, which I embroidered and made into napkins. For your viewing pleasure:

As a little extra I included an ode to buttons in cross-stitch (to accompany a small collection of vintage buttons):

I'm looking forward to some more creative fun this go-round!

little red stitches...

I am so completely immersed in the loveliness of hand stitching.

Here is the last cross-stitch that I finished from a pattern found in my new favourite book:




I also have an idea that I will stitch some lovely snowflakes and sew them into ornaments for Christmas trees. YES...I do know that Christmas only ended 3 weeks ago. If you are going to look at my blog (and I am so happy that you are!), you should know that I make Christmas things year round. I like to give hand made gifts whenever possible, and my husband and I both have a relatively large number of family members and friends that we exchange gifts with. I may also participate in a Christmas craft show again this year (which reminds me...I don't think that I ever did write a wrap-up post). I digress....wouldn't these look sweet stitched into an ornament (maybe with some ric rac tucked into the seams?)?




The pictures are all a bit dismal...and will likely be until April. What can I say? It's dark when I leave the house in the morning, dark when I get home and grey for all of the hours in between! I'm a Canadian after all...

You can't see it in these pics, but there is a pretty iridescent filament blended in with the white floss.





I'm not the only one who has been busy hand stitching. Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy is inspiring me to try stitching with waste canvas. Waste canvas allows you to have the nice even grid of aida cloth (which is the fabric used for the snowflakes shown above), but the flexibility to stitch on whatever piece of fabric passes your fancy. You just baste the waste canvas to the non-aida cloth fabric, stitch away, and then the waste canvas pulls away when you are done. All that will remain are lovely (hopefully even) stitches on the fabric. No grid looking aida cloth to mess with the aesthetic of your work. Check out the links in Alicia's post. I suspect that she explains it much better than I am.

Oh the possibilities!!! I don't actually own any waste canvas, so for now I will have to dream about the possible projects. I do however, have some lovely mushroom coloured linen. No doubt more photos of cross stitches will follow...

The GREATEST stitch book ever??!

Dunno...I haven't seen every stitching book ever made, but I have seen a good number of them and this is my favourite so far!



A Rainbow of STITCHES, Embroidery and Cross-stitch basics

ISBN: 978-0-8230-1478-1 (0-8230-1478-9)

I should point out that I might be biased. I LOVE hand stitching. I learned how to cross stitch when I was 7 and only stopped recently because I couldn't find any patterns that I wasn't embarrassed to make. This book takes embroidery and cross-stitch and turns them into beautiful patterns that I would love to have around my house (in fact I have already done a pattern from the book - and I just got it on Friday night!).

Here is a close up:

I'm not totally sure if I will just pop this into a little frame to have as a little surprise somewhere on the wall, or if I will build it into a cushion for the couch. I'm open to suggestions! It was so much fun to make!

I love the idea on this page of just taking the linen and wrapping it unframed around an artist canvas. I already had a similar project in mind for my living room.

The contents of the book are separated by colour (thus the RAINBOW part of the title). I adore the vibrant and fresh colours found in the book:

GREEN

PINK

Be sure to take a look at the book and spend some time admiring the RED section!

My only complaint is with the book binding. The book doesn't really lay flat - a spiral binding would have been so much better, especially for cross-stitch patterns (you need to refer the pattern chart frequently!). I will likely just have to scan and print some of the patterns on loose leaf paper...but it is a bit of a hassle for an impatient crafter like me. A hassle, but not an insurmountable one for such a beautiful book!

Happy stitching!