The Stitch Up

It's a Wrap on Winter WIPs

I finally finished up my final two projects from my list of Winter WIPs - the patchwork bag and the lacy crochet scarf.  The bag was ultimately a really quick project once I got started.  I used a charm pack tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company - the tutorial is quick and the instructor is great.

The embroidered squares are from vintage textiles that I cut up and the other squares are from scrap Amy Butler and other fabric.

For the lacy crochet scarf I wanted to use the Mrs. Moon pattern but I had a little trouble following the directions.  I think for new techniques I learn a lot easier by watching so I found a good youtube tutorial for a similar scarf by Wooly Wonders Crochet.

I need to block the scarf so that the shell pattern is a bit more distinct but I'm happy with the way that it turned out.

Now it's time to move on to Spring crafts but I think first I'm going to try and make some face masks.  It's another great stash busting project and I also just want to feel like there's something useful I can do right now.  

I hope that crafting is keeping everyone sane and focused right now and that the Spring weather will let us all get out and enjoy some sunshine!

 

 

 

Winter WIPs - Working Through 'Em

I've finished a couple of the WIPs on my Winter list - the tea towel and the tablecloth.

The tea towel was a nice project. A stamped project is a great way to kick off crafting in the new year and the September House has such great patterns.  

I spent a little extra time outlining some of the flowers and leafs and I think it helped them pop.  

I also finished the tablecloth.  This was exciting since I'd been stashing this fabric for YEARS and saying I was going to turn it into a tablecloth and now I finally have!

I even managed some mitered corners so it has a finished look.

This is going to be a perfect "anytime" tablecloth - it's neutral but the fabric is so nice.  It also goes well with my mom's china which she passed on to me last year in an effort to start downsizing a bit.  

Just a couple of projects left to finish up before Winter officially ends.  I've got my scarf started and the textiles cut up to start the bag, so this week should be just some wrapping up of my Winter efforts before I start planning for Spring! 

Christmas Doings

We kicked off Christmas this year right after Thanksgiving with a trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for the Christkindlemarkt.  It's a pretty impressive Christmas Market with a bunch of great vendors, local wineries and distilleries, and really good food.

The coolest thing about the market though is that it's located in the old steel works factory which was pretty amazing to see.

When we got back home we got to work on decorating.  The husband took over decorating the mantle this year.  In past years I have broken out my deer collection and gone deer crazy on the mantle.  For reference, my mantle from a couple years ago:

Peaceful and enchanting right?  This year the husband designed what he called "Christmas in Deadwood":

It's a little more violent than the deer display but it's pretty awesome.  There is, in addition to the culturally inappropriate shootout, an impending bear attack.  I'm choosing to believe that all participants stop fighting and sing Christmas carols before anything really dark happens. 

I also designed an ornament pattern this year!  It's a little rough and hand drawn, but it gets the job done.  I'm still working on my adobe skills so maybe next years version will be a bit more polished.  In the mean time, the pdf for this year is here Download Cactus Ornament.

It's a pretty simple ornament - just two parts.  You can really just decorate it however you want.  I took a few pictures as I put it together:

Feel free to get someone to help you with this project -

In addition to my own creation I made ornaments for my nieces using the first of the 12 days of Christmas pattern from mmmcrafts.  This is the partridge and pear tree pattern set:

These were fun to make and the pattern was easy to follow.  I'm not sure I'll make it through all twelve of the  patterns but they are so cute I"m going to try!

I've packed in a bunch of crafts so far but I'm still hoping to knock out a table cloth this weekend.  I do tend to overload my craft schedule around Christmas but there are so many fun things to make I just want to do it all.  

Of course my Christmas preparations were not complete until I broke out all my Christmas salt and pepper shakers.  I did get a little crazy and decorate my little display case to give it some extra holiday pizazz.

Now I'm just down to sending out cards and doing some holiday baking.  Putting this all down in one spot makes me feel kind of productive - but I'm ready for a little relaxing by the tree.  

I hope everyone's holiday is wonderful and peaceful.  Merry Christmas!

 

 

Trip to Florida

We took a trip to Floria at the beginning of the Summer to do a little relaxing and hit a concert.  I also managed to fit in some craft shopping (of course) and a lot of laying on the beach.

Pretty much my first stop was to A Stitch In Time needlework shop in Jacksonville.  This place had the best selection of cross stitch textiles I've ever seen in one place.  I didn't have a particular project in mind but I bought a length of superfine fabric and a cool sparkly fabric they were featuring that weekend.  I also picked up a cute pattern.

The sparkly fabric has a little tie dye effect as well - I think it will be fun with the right pattern.  If you're near Jacksonville I would really recommend this shop - the selection was awesome.

We also went to see Midland, Kacey Musgreaves and Little Big Town at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.  It's a great outdoor venue - really laid back and the weather was perfect.

 

The rest of our time was split between the beach, some bars and some great restaurants.

 

The spots we really liked were Maple Street Biscuit Company, Mini Bar for donuts, Whiteys Fish Camp, Flask and Cannon (for adorable and delicious tiki drinks), and The Blind Rabbit for great whiskey cocktails and good food.

I have an ongoing craft project from this trip as well - I bought a concert t-shirt that was a little boxy.  I'm in the process of resizing it and then maybe adding some bling.

I actually ended up cutting the holes a little too deep so I now need to add some fabric if I don't want to flash my bra whenever I wear this, but I think it will be really cute when I'm done.  Hopefully I'll have it finished and some pics soon!

 

 

Adventures in Stitching

October was a pretty fun month for craft outings.  Somehow, I had completely missed the fact that there is a textile museum just around the corner from my office.  The Textile Museum at George Washington University is a small museum but it has rotating exhibitions that are very interesting.  When I visited this week the two main exhibits were China: Through the Lens of John Thomson and Old Patterns, New Order: Socialist Realism in Central Asia.  The China exhibit was mostly really interesting photos of people in traditional clothes, but they had a few actual items of clothing as well and the embroidery was spectacular:

  


The Central Asia exhibit had a variety of really colorful fabrics.  The exhibit described these fabrics as a mix of modern and traditional design which you could really see:

It doesn't take too long to walk through the exhibits, but it's nice to have something so near by to take a little break during the day and look at pretty fabrics.  I think they update their exhibitions fairly often so it will be nice to check in once in a while and see what's new.

My big October crafting event was a needle lace class at The Williamsburg School of Needlework.  It was two days of learning needle lace technique and it was wonderful.  The teacher was really skilled and had us tatting almost immediately.  You can (hopefully) see my progress as we tried out different patterns and techniques.

 

I am already looking forward to going back for another class.  There is also some good bar-b-que, microbrews and of course Colonial Williamsburg nearby so it makes for a pretty nice craft weekend.

Now, it's time to start getting ready for some Christmas crafts.  I have a few things planned but always seem to add some last minute projects just to stress myself out.  I'm trying to wrap up crocheting a cowl before going full blown Christmas.  Hopefully I'll have that to show off here before highlighting my Christmas  projects.

Happy Fall everybody!