The Stitch Up

Finding Focus

I obviously haven't been posting over the past few months.  I've found that I've had some difficulty with focus outside of work.  I haven't been finishing craft projects during the first part of this year. While stitching used to be my way to unwind at the end of the day, for the last few months I've had trouble even picking up projects, much less setting goals for hobbies and keeping to a time schedule to finish items.

I know it’s stress related, but I have been putting off really looking at how to improve how I’m feeling and instead just tried to push through it, thinking I’d get to the other side of the bulk of the stress and get back to normal. Unfortunately, I’ve realized that getting rid of the primary cause of my anxiety will not be happening right away so I have to find some ways to deal with it and try and get healthy.

In case anyone else is having similar problems, I thought I'd share some articles I've been reading about the physical affects of chronic anxiety, including difficulty concentrating.  This article points out that it is not so much that you can’t concentrate; it’s that you concentrate on the wrong things. Your mind is so preoccupied with worry that when you want to pay attention to a task, you can’t bring yourself to focus. it’s not that you can’t concentrate on a craft for instance; you’re just too busy concentrating on your fears.

The article also provides some great ideas for dealing with this level of stress. The tried and true recommendations of journaling and meditation are included in the recommendations, but also some practical ideas such as setting electronics to “do not disturb” so you can't search the web when working, or setting an alarm so you can time block your work.

I also found this great article that reminds us not to make hobbies another thing that stresses us out. And I really love the author's description of just going into her sewing corner, taking it slow, reorganizing fabric, and slowly re-engaging with her hobby. An area I might have also not recognized as a source of anxiety that she points out are all the images on sites like pinterest and instagram that can sometimes make you feel overwhelmed by content and lose your own inspiration.

This last article I found helpful focuses on creating a plan: First, making sure that you are healthy, there are no other reasons like side effects of medications, hormonal imbalance, or vitamin deficiency that are causing the brain fog/anxiety. Once you’ve confirmed you don’t have some other cause, then you can create a plan to improve the brain fog issues. This includes, eating well, exercising, meditating, and getting enough sleep. But also, setting aside 30min – 1hr for self care which can include anything from yoga to hobbies.  The final VERY useful point in this article is a reminder to set boundaries and learn to say no so you are not overwhelmed with obligations.

A quick suggestion I also saw in online forums was to sometimes work on hobbies at the beginning of the day, before work, when focus and passion are still there.  That's something I've really never done, but I might incorporate into my mornings instead of something that will probably just add to stress like reading email or headlines online.

So I am on this particular journey and starting to get a bit of a spark back. I've got another panel completed on my Mexican Tourist jacket and I'm looking forward to completing the embroidery and start stitching this all together:

 

I’m always interested to know how other people deal with things like waning interest in hobbies, lack of spark or just being too overwhelmed to do the things you enjoy. Any thoughts or tips? 

 

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!

 

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!

 

Wrapping Up Summer WIPs

The end of summer is fast approaching and I’m happy to report I did finish a couple of the projects I've been working on.

First up, I FINALLY finished my Mountmellick project:

Overall I’m happy with the way the purse came out and I think Mountmellick is one of my favorite embroidery techniques.  I’ll definitely be doing another Mountmellick project soon.  However, my finishing work leaves a little to be desired. I think juggling multiple WIPs can result in my just trying to finish one or two of the items I’m working on rather than focusing on just one item until it’s done.  I would have a more refined result if I was willing to rip out bad stitching and start again when something goes wrong. In this instance, my attachment of the purse frame to the exterior and interior purse design is a bit sloppy since I was forcing it all to fit.  You can see it in the photos of the interior:

Ultimately I do have to be honest about how I craft and the truth is I just get bored sometimes with one project and I need to pause and work on something else. After I've started and stopped a few projects there’s a point where my craft room gets messy and disorganized with various half done projects I'm working on and I realize I have to crack down and actually finish a few.  My plan is to find a way to organize my disorganization so I'm less stressed about the various projects I'm juggling.  Thankfully, a lot of crafters seem to have this same problem and I've found some suggestions to corral the chaos.  I'll try out a few and share any that seem to work!

Next, I also finished weaving the pink scarf I was working on. This is the second project I started in the weaving class I took in January. I love weaving! The casting on process is still going to be a learning curve for me, but I’ve found some good resources on youtube and I've been checking out the blog Hello Hydrangea  which has a lot of amazing tutorials so I’m hoping to slowly progress with this new technique.  My goal is to make some gifts for the holidays – I’m thinking dish towels or something similar.

I also fit in a quick project for my friends. I’ve been trying my hand at macramé and had seen some cute car air fresheners I wanted to make. I have two friends with birthdays coming up and decided to make this cute craft for all my ladies.

I’m still learning the various macramé knots and the process of learning knots has taught me a bit about how I learn things in general. There are some GREAT youtube videos which helped me understand the whole process for making the air fresheners. However, I often need some kind of illustration when I’m learning a new knot. I need a real step by step this string goes over this string’ type of explanation to really understand what to do. Once it all makes sense to me thanks to the diagram, I can follow along with a video. And can I just say there is such an art to making a great video or written tutorial. I’m so appreciative of people who can take a detailed process and explain it so that others can follow along. The awesome video I used for this macramé car air freshener is from Macrame Princess here.

Lastly, I started a new project (of course) because I just can’t help myself.

I'm starting on a Sashiko Quilt.   This is actually turning out to be a fun project and the process of using sashiko embroidery for each square is a pretty quick process. It’s also fairly portable as I can just stick one or two squares in my purse and stitch whenever I have a spare moment. It will take some time to finish all the squares I need for a complete quilt, but I’m off to a good start.

I still need to calculate exactly the number of squares to complete the quilt but I kind of changed my concept once I pulled everything out and put it together. My original plan was to do one side of the quilt in just Sashiko embroidered squares and then on the back use a couple Tenugui Towels I’ve bought at Japanese book stores in the past. However, once I pulled everything out, it really made more sense and creates a much cooler look to use the blue and white Tenugui Towel I have with the squares I’m embroidering in white and then on the flip side, go with the colorful Tenugui towel I have which I plan to partner with embroidered squares in bright pinks, blues and purples.

And that brings me to the end of summer and starting to inch toward fall. Soon I know I’m going to get the itch to start on some knitting or crochet projects so, once again I need to shake my tail feathers to get a couple more things done before diving into new projects. I hope everyone is enjoying the end of Summer, looking forward to Fall and progressing on all of the projects you might be juggling!

Crafty Status Check

I know the saying is that 'time flies when you're having fun' but it also seems to fly when you're just working and meeting deadlines.  I always feel like I should have more to show – craft-wise – after more than a month since my last post.  Truthfully, I've been working away on a few things, but my day job and some back yard projects have been taking up the bulk of my time.  That said, I wanted to update the blog with my current WIPs and upcoming projects.

I HAVE completed one project - the “travel project” from my Texas trip. I turned the embroidered piece into a textile necklace.  I'm happy with the end result but I learned a lot of things for my next "jewelry" project.

After I finished stitching the pattern I designed, I used some fabric glue to attach it to a cream colored felt.  It gives it a bit more structure and gave me a way to attach a necklace cord.  I outlined the design to reinforce the attached backing.  I used black embroidery thread for the outline which had the added benefit of giving the design a bit more pop as well. 

I wasn't quite sure about attaching cording or chain, so I ordered necklace cords in a variety of colors and sizes to see what color and texture looked best with the design.  I decided to use a black cord that I cut in half and stitched to each side of the design.  It worked but I did not anticipate the cord fraying like it did so I ended up doing a combination of glueing and stitching the cord to the back of the design.  The next time I do this I will use more of a formal connecting ring or something for the cording.  I enjoyed this process enough to read up on it a bit and try a few different things until I get it right.

I am SO close to finishing the Mountmellick purse is as well.  I’ve sewn the outside and inside purse panels together and now it’s just a matter of sewing in the purse frame.  My problem with THAT is I did not fully understand the process to attach the purse frame - which - honestly is not exactly difficult.  But I thought the frame would be attached on the inside of the purse and I could fudge a bit with the size, but it's actually attached to the outside of the bag which made it obvious that I had ordered the wrong size purse frame.

I am a big proponent of guiding principles in sewing such as "measure twice, cut once".  Everything works better if you read all the instructions, work with precision and follow directions.  But I am also the great granddaughter of Ida Tunnell and her more organic, "It'll Never Be Seen On A Galloping Horse" type of crafting, so sometimes I have to learn the hard way.  The lesson here is that with purses that utilize a frame you should really be making your purse pattern around the frame rather than making the purse and trying to find a frame to fit it later.  WHICH I KNOW NOW.  I think I've found a frame on etsy that will work and the purse will come out cute despite the hiccups.

While wrapping these two projects up I’ve been fitting in some time to work on my second weaving project.  It’s basically set up to be a scarf although I might see if there’s some other way to use it.  I do want to experiment with embroidery on weaving so I might use this finished project to try out some different techniques.  I also finished another square for my "Spanish Ladies" quilt and did a couple of “quickie” up-cycling projects.  

I’ve been collecting patches from places we visit over the years and also some patches that I’ve seen when shopping that I just find cute.  I used them for fancy up two items.  I used a beautiful bird patch I found at World Market to class up an older blazer that I don’t wear much anymore but I think I’ll get a lot more use from now!

Most of the other patches I put on a denim jacket that I bought on Thrifted.  I love that this is kind of a wearable souvenir display.  There are patches from our recent trip in Texas, from Vegas trips, New York and other spots.  Plus I'll also be attaching patches that I make, like the swallow tattoo design that was a previous "travel project".  

I’m excited to keep adding to this with more patches from future trips.

Summer took a while to get going this year, but it has officially arrived and we are soaking up the sun.  We’ve been fitting in some pool time and grilling every chance we get.  I really love to slow down and spend time outside once the great weather starts so I focus on portable projects I can take outside on the patio or to the pool.  My next project is going to be a Sashiko quilt.  I’m planning to use denim I’ve up-cycled from jeans we don’t wear anymore that I’ve cut up into squares.  To start off and kind of "learn" the process I bought a cool pre-printed Sashiko kit on Etsy.  It comes with everything you need to start.  I'm finding it's a different way of working with thread.  My plan is to use this for the back of the quilt along with some really cute printed "tenugui towels" I've bought.  The Sashiko process requires some practice to try and get the stitch lengths equal and thats working WITH a preprinted pattern.  I think this is a good way to kick off learning this technique and it's helping me work up the confidence to try some free form designs for the front of quilt squares.

I hope everyone is enjoying great weather and finding time to stitch in the sun!

Ukrainian Roses

In 2012 on a trip to New York I visited the "Little Ukraine" section of NYC.  One of the spots I visited was the Surma Book and Music Co. where I purchased some really lovely stuff including a book of Ukrainian Rose needlework patterns.  Surma has since closed it's doors and I had stashed away the needlework book, but with all that's been going on in Ukraine I pulled it out and started on one of the patterns.

The first page of this book has a lovely preface that gives the background on Ukrainian Rose Patterns.  It notes that The Rose is a symbol of love and has been used as embroidered embellishment of women's shirts for years.

The book details how 100 women's shirts with rose embroidery arrived in Surma, and one of the salespersons recalled her youth in Ukraine where she embroidered her own shirt.

"I recall the sweet scent of the blue-flowered flax, and the sound of threshing in the village.  And the warm cottages on cold winter nights where girls gathered to spin the flax into yarn, to weave the yarn into cloth, to talk about a secret love, to sing, and to dream quietly on their own...And then, on summer evenings, after a day's work done in the fields, the girls gathered again.  This time it was to embroider and sew, to complete the work, to fill their hope chests with embroidered towels pillows, and shirts."

(From Surma Book & Music Co., Ukrainian Rose Patterns, (1981))

I'm contemplating all of the beautiful history, the traditions, the art and the people of Ukraine and hoping for a swift end to the trauma that this country and it's people are currently enduring.

 

 

 

Circling Back - Way Back

I know that it takes me a while to get back to projects that I've started, but this one more or less goes back 13 years, which seems kind of crazy.  I posted about our trip to Ireland back in 2009 (!) and the day trip I took while we were there to Mountmellick in County Laois.  The purpose of the trip was to take a class on Mountmellick embroidery at the Mountmellick Development Association and it was wonderful.  I'll let you go back in time to that old post if you'd like to read a bit about the class.

After finishing up the project I started in the class (it only took a year to finish it)  I intended to create my own "Mountmellick" project.  In 2019 I created a design that I had hoped to submit to the Mountmellick Embroidery Competition, but, as often happens, I cut it a bit close and didn't finish.  The project I intended to submit is a purse.  I finished one side, then put it away to work on some Christmas crafts and didn't take it out again until now.

Looking back through the blog I realized I didn't write anything about the design, what my plan was or how it relates to the traditions of Mountmellick embroidery or the class I took back in 2009.  So, as I'm picking this project back up, I'll try to remedy that now.

Essentially, in reading about Mountmellick embroidery and in my discussions with the instructor, I learned that the motifs used are usually inspired by nature.  I wanted to create something that, while referencing the Mountmellick embroidery designs I saw in Ireland, incorporated the flowers that are distinct to my region.  So my design is daffodils and cherry blossoms - with a few leafs and berries thrown in for effect.

I managed to finish one side before packing this away and "past me" did "future me" a solid by making a stitch guide I could use when I picked this back up again.

I wanted to use at least one of the stitches that is specific to Mountmellick embroidery, so I've used the Mountmellick stitch here along with stem, satin, french knot and coral stitch.

I've got the first few stitches going on the second side.  It actually stitches up pretty quickly which is great, but doesn't really explain why it's taken me so long to finish it in the first place.  I think it's primarily the never ending list of projects I want to work on and the battle to focus on them one at a time.

For this one, once I'm done with this side, I'm hoping to line it with a fun fabric that will give it a pop of color when you open the bag.  As I'm working on it, I'd like to focus on some history of Mountmellick embroidery and provide links to some great resources.  Look for that next time when I update on this project.

 

Angels We Have Heard On High!

My friend and I were finally able to do our Christmas craft exchange.  I always love seeing our different takes on the craft for the year.  This time we chose Christmas Angel tree toppers and as always it was a super fun project and really put me in the Christmas mood.

There are a number of different ways to do this.  I used a few different tutorials to get me started and give me some ideas.  If you're interested in this project some good places to start are with a few youtube videos that walk you through the process.  I liked this one from Carly Sunshine Crafts and this one from Mi Cottage Crafts.  You can find the porcelain angel faces and hands on Etsy.  The cone I used is available on Amazon.  My friend actually found a pre-lit plastic cone that she was able to use for the base.

I started with decoupaging a little message onto the cone for my friend.  

I'll say that if you use the paper mâché cone, it might be a good idea to paint it white as it does show through a bit through a white satin or other fabric.  As I ended up layering my fabrics it wasn't too much of a problem.

My friend is Italian so my "vision" was to come up with a design that celebrated some Italian aspects of Christmas.  I came up with a nod to the feast of the seven fishes and a ribbon banner reading "Buon Natale".

I didn't do much sewing.  It was mainly draping and then hot gluing fabric in place.  The only sewing I really did was to embroider the banner and then some fish designs on the back of one of the fabrics.

I loved this angel porcelain doll head I found - she looks like a botticelli angel!  

I layered a green silk on top of the white that I had embroidered with fish.  I'll have to upload my sketch as I included some italian words in the design, but it doesn't show up too well.

I added some additional gold silk over all of it and hope it looks very angelic!

My friend is an avid thrift store aficionado and estate sale pro.  Her take on the tree top angel utilized tons of vintage costume jewelry that she's collected over the years.  The angel she made sparkles and shines even without being lit up.

But when she does light up - she is the perfect Christmas tree topper!

I am fully in the Christmas spirit - I hope you've all had time to enjoy the season and are getting ready to snuggle in for a wonderful holiday!

 

Plugging Away

I had a little break for travel last month and then some busy days at work so I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked on my ongoing project.

 

For the Spanish Quilt blocks, part of my issue is I'm still playing around with a plan for the quilt squares but I'm a little closer to figuring out what I want to do.  I decided to use a pattern called Tiny Treasure from Etsy Shop No Frogs Allowed to create what I hope look like talavera tiles.  What I'm toying with now is whether to shade sections of the tile pattern using some blackwork techniques.  Because I"m still toying around with this idea, I think I'm going to do several of these blocks with the tile pattern outlined and then decide later whether to fill them in.  

 

This is why this project is probably destined to take forever for me to finish, but I also just kind of want to follow my instincts on this and hopefully come up with a finished product that makes me super happy.

 

The  sampler project is also coming along.  I'm done with the flower borders and I've moved on to the horse and what I know will be some challenges with filler stitches for the horse body.  This is a little closer to completion.  I don't have any existential questions about additional techniques to use, just pushing through and finishing it.

 

 

My needlepoint bag is similarly moving along but still has a lot of work left.  I's a big project that I bring out when we are sitting outside for a little mindless stitching while I sip wine and the husband grills.  Because it is something I just pull out for a bit here and there, it may take a bit longer to finish, but I WILL finish it by the end of Summer (don't quote me on that).

 

I did start a new travel project while I was traveling in May.  I used a tattoo pattern that I'm hoping to use as a patch for jeans, or a shirt or something.  This is one of those smaller projects that I could knock out in a weekend, but I think for now I'm just going to keep it for a little stitching while traveling.

 

My friends and I are still sharing various art journal challenges which have been good for inspiration.  Check out my Flickr feed for my occasional attempts at art including a pasta self portrait!

 

Our current art challenge is to make a tiny magazine.  I'm thinking that I might do a digital version as I've thought I might like to do a magazine as a spin off the blog and this is a great opportunity to play around with that idea.  I'll post some pages here when I've got something finished.

 

Hope everyone's Summer is off to a great start and you're enjoying lots of stitching outside!

End of Spring WIP Update

Progress on WIPs!  It always feels good to be able to say that I've actually knocked out a project here or there and that I'm progressing on others.  I managed to finish up my "travel" project - the Cowgirl Boots.

I'm happy with the way it came out and glad that I decided to fill the boots in rather than just leave them outlined.  I think the colors pop and it should go well with the other material I'm planning to use for my "Cowgirl" quilt.  In a pretty glaring departure from my plan to just use up patterns and materials I've already bought, at the same time I was finishing this up, I purchased a sampler with the Calamity Jane quote "I figure if a girl wants to be a legend she should go ahead and be one."  In my defense, I was shopping in a really cute needlework store that I wanted to support AND although I bought a new pattern I plan to use fabric I already have stashed.  REALLY.

For the Spanish Lady quilt, I've finally got a plan of attack for the additional quilt squares. I'm planning a mix of nine patch (pic below) and a few "mosaic" quilt square patterns.  The nine patch is a bit plain right now.  I think the color goes with all of the embroidered squares as it picks up the green and blue that dominates the squares.  I do plan to embellish the center of some of the nine patch squares with some blackwork designs with either blue or green.  So, while I've at least started to dive into the quilt squares I'm still struggling a little with what I envision as the final design.

Picking up my other two WIPs has been good and bad.  Good in that I feel confident that I'm going to be able to wrap them up this time.  Bad in that, being away from a project for a bit gives you a critical eye when you pick it back up.  There are a few spots on my Ida Tunnell sampler that I'm contemplating picking out and redoing, but I'll decide after I finish up the parts I need to finish.

In other news, this weather is so amazing right now.  Perfect for sitting outside with some stitching, some wine and a sleepy cat!  I hope the weather is lovely where you are as well.