The Stitch Up

Tourist Season

I've been slightly obsessed with the Mexican Tourist Jacket since seeing one on Shelley Duvall in "The Shining".

Over the years I've come across articles or photos or actual examples of the jacket which peaked my interest even more.  This great article from the fantastic Atomic Redhead blog provides a nice summary of the history of the Mexican Tourist Jacket as well as lovely pictures of the different versions that can be found.  Piecework magazine also had a great article with a little history on the embroidery used on the jackets.  I also loved this article from The Animal Quilter which again has a bunch of great pics of different styles of these jackets and has some additional insights on the history of the period and the popularity of these jackets.

Most recently on our trip to Tuscon last year, I ran into a lovely version of the jacket, framed on the wall of El Charro where we stopped for lunch.

This last run in made me decide that I needed to look into getting my own version of the jacket.  I shopped a bit online, and while I think I will probably buy one of the vintage jackets I saw online, I ultimately decided that I'd like the challenge of creating my own jacket: both for the basic sewing challenge and the opportunity to use the colors I like and personalize it a bit.

I bought a recreation of a McCalls vintage pattern for the coat from Revival Designed.  I'm not sure if they still have that particular pattern, but I've seen other versions online.

I loved the yellow of the jacket that Shelley Duvall wore in The Shining, but ultimately I decided to go with more of a bright green felt.  At this point, I've cut out the pattern pieces, and now I'm starting on the embroidery for each section before putting it all together.

It's a bit of an undertaking but I'm excited about all that I'll learn from this project and hopefully come out with a super cute jacket at the end!

Lastly, if you're not into making our own vintage jacket, or if you're not into vintage at all, I've seen new, reimagined versions of the jacket, including this version from Double D Ranch in suede!

I'm looking forward to sharing my finished version of this classic with everyone!

 

Memento Upcycling

I have a number of textiles I’ve picked up on our travels. I usually pick up a tea towel as a memento of the trip if I spot them in a store, but when I get home I just can't bring myself to use them for everyday stuff around the kitchen.

I’ve had a vague idea of creating something with the tea towels like a quilt or blanket of some kind but then while scrolling on Pinterest I saw a few examples of tablecloths made from tea towels and thought that would be a great idea and would be something I would actually use.

For this one, I used tea towels from our international trips. They include our time in Spain, trips to Ireland, Italy, France, Scotland, Latvia and Berlin - plus two tea towels celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s diamond and platinum jubilees– because she deserves two tea towels!

There are a few different tutorials on Pinterest that give great guidance on turning your tea towels into a tablecloth. Ultimately I think you have to figure out the size of your table, how many tea towels you want to use and how you want to place them.  You also have to decide how much you're willing to cut the towels for alignment.  Ultimately my alignment on the last row of towels is a bit off, but I loved the patterns on the Berlin and Italy tea towels and really didn't want to cut them down a bunch so I decided to just accept a little bit of an offset row.  I used a bright blue bias tape to edge the tablecloth that I thought went well with all the different colors in the various tea towels.  I've seen some super cute versions using pom pom trim and I almost went with that, but I want this tablecloth to be part of our regular rotation and I thought the bias tape might hold up to frequent washing a bit better.

I'm so happy that I can enjoy these tea towels on a regular basis.  This was a pretty quick and easy project, so I think I'll do the same with tea towels I've squirreled away from our trips around the states.  I really want to incorporate items that have happy memories attached to them into my regular daily life rather than packing them away.

Although I used tea towels that I picked up on our trips, this is an easy and fun project for vintage tea towels or linens that you might find at the thrift store.  I have a hard time not "saving" any hand embroidered pillow cases, tea towels or other items that I find in thrift and vintage stores.  This is a good way to use them and give them new life and let people appreciate their kitschy, fun beauty.

Southwest Spring

We took a trip to Nevada and Arizona in the spring. The desert is really my happy place and I feel so relaxed when I’m driving through that landscape.

We spent a few days in Las Vegas where I had the chance to see Miranda Lambert’s Velvet Rodeo concert (OMG!!) as well as eat some great food, and meander around soaking up the Vegas vibes.

One of the things I love to do whenever we’re in Vegas is go see the latest installation at the Bellagio Conservatory . This visit was a celebration of Spring and was so beautiful.

 

Most of our visit was spent with family in Arizona. I love the pace there and how every sunrise and sunset is a photo opportunity.

I get so much inspiration from the colors and the landscape in Arizona. It’s an amazing reset that I take home with me and incorporate into my home and my crafts.  I hope everyone had a great Spring and that your Summer is starting off amazing!

Stitching the Year - Spring

I think I mentioned that I was starting a “Stitch the Year” tea towel. I'm managing to keep up each month so far.

January included setting resolutions and goals during a full moon bonfire. In February we went to the Red Fox Inn in Middleburg, VA for Valentines Day and in March we took a trip to Vegas and AZ (and celebrated St. Patrick's Day of course.)

The small sections for each month make it manageable to keep up but it's also been a little bit of a challenge to find tiny patterns or design something myself but it's also been fun to work in a smaller scale.

I hope everyone is having a great Spring and enjoying the change of seasons!

What's Your Sign?

I bought these vintage Zodiac embroidery patterns in August of last year from ReGale Vintage Plus on Etsy.  I think from researching similar patterns on Etsy, that these patterns are from the 70s. ReGale Vintage sole these as kits, including additional fabric which I could have used to make a small pillow, but I wanted something a little bigger and to give the pillows a more 70s feel.  So, I used some stash fabric and bought some pom pom trim to make bigger pillows and a bigger statement!

The fabric on the front, around the embroidery patterns, is fabric I bought during a trip to New York in 2014 at The City Quilter. The design is a glittery “constellation" pattern that I bought in white and light blue and it worked out just perfect. On the back I used some “mid century modern” fabric I’ve used for other projects like these coasters and these pillows. I love the pop of color if we decide to flip these over.

I used a basic envelope pillow cover pattern that I found on Pinterest and as the pillow covers worked out to a basic 22x22 I was able to find some standard throw pillow inserts on Amazon.

I love the way these came out.  The plan is for these to be part of my Spring/Summer bedding update. I’m trying to put a little more of our personality in the bedroom. I’m including some of the things I’ve made by hand, which, along with the re-upholstering I did on the headboard and the bench is making up the room much more relaxing and personal.

I made the below color template as part of my effort to document the projects I'm finishing but also I’m interested to compare all of the templates at the end of the year and see if I innately use the same/similar colors for my projects.

Summer is officially on the way. I’ve started some seeds for a tea/fragrance garden. I’ve got lavender, bergamot, chamomile, white sage, and lemon balm. I’m hoping they all make it through the transplant process and I have a lot of yummy plants to use for tea and maybe some oil and other infusions.

I hope everyone is finding great projects that get them excited for the changing season!

Getting in the Groove

I've got a little momentum!  I wrapped up two of the projects I'd started this New Year:

First, I finished the macramé hat holder. I thought I could add in space for another hat but I ran out of yarn - plus I don't think three hats would fit well on the wall, so I'm sticking with the two hats. 

I have really been enjoying my macrame projects, but I probably need to give away more of what I make as gifts otherwise the whole house is going to covered in macrame.

Next, the project for my husband.  This is the "Predator" cross stitch.  It's all done, framed and ready for hanging in his office.

I'm still working on some of my longer term projects, the Spanish Ladies Quilt, the Sashiko Quilt and a couple of needlepoint projects.  I'm looking forward to sharing more finished crafts soon!

Organizing and Planning for the New Year

I’ve been doing some planning for 2023.  I've created an initial list of crafts I want to finish this year and I'm also trying to develop a process for tracking their progress.

 

My working list of projects for 2023 is:

 

-Predator Cross Stitch for the Husband

-Macrame Hat Rack

-Complete Spanish Ladies Quilt

-Tea Towel Placemats

-Complete Sashiko Quilt

-Leo Horoscope vintage pillow pattern (and complete making both the Leo and Taurus pillows)

-Stitch the Year Tea Towel

-Frank Lloyd Wright Saguaro Cactus Cross Stitch

-Start the Western/Cowgirl Quilt

-Sew a Mexican Tourist Jacket

-Participate in the 2023 Mystery Quilt a Long

-Create a New Textile Necklace

-Establish Mending Days (and work through mending 'to-do' pile)

 

A couple of highlights from the list:

 

I’m finishing this Predator cross-stitch project by Son of a Cross Stitch.   It’s a gift for my husband and while I don’t totally understand the Predator love, it makes him happy so I'm happy to make it!

 

I’m also going to start a tea towel calendar for 2023. In the past I’ve loved September House’s tea towel calendar kits but as she didn’t have one this year, I thought I’d try this "Stitch Your Year" template from Stitch Doodles Design where you stitch some thing each month to reflect what happened or what the month meant to you. I’ve only just made it to transferring the template onto a tea towel so I’ve got to get moving so I can do a little stitching for January – I don’t want to be behind the whole year!

 

 

I managed to finish all the quilt blocks for the Spanish Ladies Quilt this month but I still have several “mosaic” tiles to finish embroidering on the quilt and I plan to add some fabric to frame the squares.  There's a decent amount left to do, but I think I can get this done in the next month or two and check this long term “WIP” off my list.

 

The other big thing I’m working on is a plan to update my project documentation process.

 

Last year I worked out of a notebook: and I captured some information about my projects there, but I wasn’t great at updating the status of the project and once I'd completed something I would often just put all my thread and other supplies back in my “stash” before documenting what I'd used for the project in the notebook.  This defeated a lot of the point for me as there are some projects I think I'd like to recreate and I want to have all the details of the thread colors, fabric, pattern I used etc.

 

My plan for this year is to create a “stitch palette” at the beginning of each project to document the threads and colors I’m using and then use a form or maybe a spreadsheet to try to track the time spent on a project and my current progress. I’d like to regularly be keeping track of how long it really take me to finish a project and how much time I’m usually spending on them.

 

My “test run” for a stitch palette is here:

 

 

This obviously isn't all of the colors used for this project, but this was good practice to set up a standard palette template.  

 

I think these goals are pretty realistic. I know I will probably add to my “to do” list through the year. New inspirations inevitably come up and I sometimes just get excited and want to jump into something right that moment despite whatever I have scheduled to work on next.  If my project priorities change over the year I think that's fine, I'm just looking for ways to stay motivated and organized.

 

I hope everyone is enjoying lots of inspiration and new projects in the new year!

2022 Craft Wrap Up

I completed a lot of crafts this year and overall I’m happy with my progress.

My projects this year included:

-Designing a patch using a tattoo design and then up-cycling a denim jacking with that patch and some others I bought.

-Learning to weave! An exciting new skill I’m slowly working to learn and creating a couple of scarves.

-Getting close to completing my Spanish Quilt. I have figured out the design and can hopefully wrap it up this month.

-Starting a Sashiko Quilt. Figuring out the design and getting quite a few squares done.

-Finishing my Mountmellick inspired purse design.

-Completing a few gifts: Macrame car diffusers for my friends and my yearly Christmas gift exchange with my friend Teresa.

-I also knocked out a few small stitch projects: a Ukrainian rose project, a vintage Horoscope pattern, and currently a “Predator” inspired cross stitch project which will be a gift for my husband.

I’m still struggling to come up with a process that helps me plan my projects, track my progress and then document the finished product. I worked out of a notebook this year and I was able to document the final result of most of my projects but it wasn’t a great way to keep track of progress or do the initial planning. I’m going to try going digital this year and combine a "progress tracker" with project related blog entries to plan and follow progress on some of my larger projects throughout the year.

I love the new year and the opportunity to make changes, try new things and see what works.  I'll be playing around a bit with the blog design, posting plans for crafts for this year and hopefully share some upcoming travel.  Happy New Year All!

Christmas Craft-A-Rama

I did my yearly Christmas craft exchange with my friend Teresa this year and the them this year was: garlands!

What I love about this exchange is seeing how we each interpret the assignment. My friend Teresa is so creative and she will often incorporate vintage items into her projects and they end up having a quirky and cool vibe - very much like my friend herself - that I love.

My friend Teresa used a garland she found on Etsy as the base for her design. 

She then modified a Danish pattern for the little trees as the trees were very tiny in the original pattern. She made the trees bigger and then used some of the vintage items she’s collected over the years to ornament them.

My cat is already a big fan.

I wanted to go with a forest friends theme for my garland project and realized that the patterns I have from Alicia Paulson for felt ornaments would work great for this. I made a few changes in order to give everything a cohesive "woodsy Christmas" feel and I also created a fox pattern to add another cute animal to the mix.

I also created a "snowy mountain" pattern, although that is pretty much just a couple of triangles put together!

Once again I love how different our projects are: what inspires us, how we put our own spin on the assignment and how it reflects our personalities. If you’re interested in our past projects you can take a look here, here, and here!

This year, Teresa and I were not the only ones getting crafty. Each year my husband and I trade off on who will decorate the fireplace mantle. I tend to be a little one note: I have a collection of Christmas deer and I usually make them the focus of my display.  Last year I had the deer having an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party":

My husband on the other hand gets VERY creative. His last installation two years ago was an ode to the Christmas Truce in the Hurtgen Forest during WW2.

This year he completely outdid himself.  He created a full replica of Martinis restaurant from the movie "It’s a Wonderful Life".

This is our favorite Christmas movie to watch and Martinis is the location of some of the major moments in the movie. My husband made the restaurant replica from scratch, adding indoor and outdoor lighting and even a light up "Martini's" neon sign.

The special touches include the “Ask Dad – He’ll Know” sign, which graced the soda shop where a young George worked.

I expect this to be a treasured part of our Christmas decorations for years to come.

We're now in that final few days ahead of Christmas where the gifts have been bought, crafts have been completed, treats have been baked and we are ready to just relax and soak up the season.  Wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday to all and hoping your holiday crafting has been fun!

Desert Scenes

I’m close to finishing a cross-stitch project I started a few months ago. This was my “travel project” for our trip to west Texas in March. The designer is Fireside Originals and the pattern is Desert Sunset.  It uses some cool variegated thread that creates a very pretty desert sunset look.

I bought this cross-stitch kit at Old Town Needlework in Scottsdale Arizona during a previous desert vacation. It felt appropriate at the time as I was already inspired by the desert and mountains of Scottsdale. Weirdly, the designer, Fireside Originals, is an Ohio company which doesn't have a lot of deserts but they capture the desert sunset pretty perfectly regardless! In any case I love this design and am excited to be close to finishing it. Currently, I’m not sure how I’ll use it. I have a western theme quilt I’ve got in the planning stages, but I’d like to make this the star of a tote bag or maybe another up-cycling project for a denim jacket.

I'm always drawn to desert scenes - in art, crafts and travel.  I grew up in a little agricultural valley in the middle of a desert and consequently it’s the landscape that I love the best. I think it’s the mixture of nostalgia and the very real beauty of the desert sunsets, the stark loveliness of cactus and the deep browns, reds and purples of the surrounding mountains that keeps me coming back to desert projects.  I think I have taken hundreds of pictures of desert sunrises and sunsets (Check out my Flickr page for some highlights!). I am convinced that each of these pictures has beautiful details with different colors of the sky or they may capture different seasons of the desert and that makes them distinct from the hundreds of other desert pics I've taken.  I can't help myself!  Whether I’m in Arizona or Texas or New Mexico or California, I just find the landscape inspiring.

I'm also always interested in how the desert has inspired artists I admire.  Specifically, Frank Lloyd Wright whose architecture and designs can be found all over Phoenix and Scottsdale has said about cactus:

"A cactus bloom is beyond any bloom, I think, manufactured by plants anywhere in the world. And there you have an interesting syllogism, haven’t you? The desperate nature of the armed plant and the exquisite, beautiful efflorescence it produces. Something to think about. There you see, revealed, some processes of nature, the significance of which I don’t gather at the moment."

This is the Saguaro Cactus forms art by Frank Lloyd Wright that is in the Arizona Biltmore hotel in Scottsdale.  I also have a great cross stitch pattern of this design that I hope I'll get to start soon.

I’m not sure if it’s helpful to try and delve into why something inspires you or if it’s best to just enjoy the feelings that a landscape, piece of art, color, or texture inspires in you. But I do think that you can identify the different aspects that bring you joy and use them to create art of your own. I know for me, the inspiration comes from the consistent palette of colors in the desert landscape, the starkness of the desert that makes the various plant life more precious, the vastness and the quiet.  These projects help capture those feelings even when I can't physically be in the desert. 

Hoping everyone is feeling inspired and enjoying some sun as we wrap up the Summer!