Everything has been pink around here for the last couple of weeks. Cherry blossoms are everywhere but so are apple blossoms, dogwoods, and all kinds of other flowers. It's all coming to an end so I thought I'd post a little homage to all the shades of pink I've been seeing this month.
This is one of the highlights of the changing seasons around here and it's been so pretty. Next up is starting our garden and getting ready for Summer!
I do quite a bit of embroidery, quilting, crocheting etc and I've done some basic sewing. The sewing has pretty much been limited to piecing together quilts, making curtains and the occasional skirt. Despite taking on these projects over the years, I always feel like I'm wrestling with my sewing machine a bit. I wanted to feel a little more confident on sewing projects so I signed up for a basic sewing course at Stitch Sew Shop in Alexandria, Virgina. It was a class a week for a month and I learned so much and had fun at the same time.
First class was a basic intro to the sewing machine. They get you familiar with the sewing machine and then walk you through making a pin cushion to bring everything you learned together in a cute little project:
I'm already using it! The second class starts you on learning to read a pattern, how to put the pieces together and the right settings on the machine. For this we made a tote bag and I could not believe that I put a tote bag together, from fabric purchase to completion in under 3 hours:
It really helped having an instructor walk us through the process as there were some specific ways you had to sew the pieces together and then turning out the pieces, as well as exciting techniques like box pleating (!!) I'm not sure I would have been able to do it right the first time. The instructor at Stitch, Sew, Shop was so good and so patient though, it made everything feel easy.
Classes three and four were all about making a pair of pajama bottoms. This moved in to some additional techniques like french seams which made me feel so competent! This was a lovely finishing touch and just made the pajamas look professionally done. Again - this project from buying the fabric to trying on the finished product took 6 hours all together which amazed me.
This cute fabric is a Cotton and Steel pattern and I loved it. Stitch Sew Shop has an awesome fabric selection and is great to shop around in even without a specific project in mind.
So over all, after these classes, I feel much more confident with my machine. Now I'm pawing through my pattern collection, which had previously just been drawing dust, to find my next project!
Last month I finally had the chance to take a Tambour embroidery class. I've been wanting to do this for awhile but just couldn't figure out how to fit it into my schedule. Luckily Hand and Lock came to Virginia and I was able to escape work for a couple of days to learn a new technique.
I've blogged about The Williamsburg School of Needlework before. Its a wonderful place to take a class. They schedule classes on all types of techniques and host Hand and Lock and the Royal School of Needlework.
Sadly I did not have time to take the whole week off, so I just did the first level of training, but our teacher was great and I learned all the basics I need to practice and get a little better before I get the chance to take the second level and learn a bit more.
I thought the hardest part was just getting the fabric set up on the frame. Our teacher was really great and taught us exactly how they would prep for stitching at Hand and Lock. It's a bit time consuming to do it right, but I can see for big projects how important it is to start correctly.
We started with learning the foundation stitch we would need for beading. It took a while for everything to look smooth and evenly spaced. Its a bit strange to be working on the back side of the project, but there was plenty of time built in to the class to allow us get the hang of it before we moved on to the actual beading.
We learned to bead seeds, bugles and sequins. They each took a little different technique with stitch length.
I have been busy since getting back but I am hoping to finish up the practice patterns the instructor gave us and post it. I love how creative you can be with different types and colors of beads. It was hard not to get a little crazy with all the options the instructor brought.
I really recommend the Hand and Lock Tambour beading class and any course at the Williamsburg School of Needlework. The instructors are great, but also the other women in the class were so interesting. One of my favorite parts of the two days was, once everyone got comfortable with the technique, we shared our backgrounds and experience with stitching. These women were so creative and accomplished. It was an extra bonus to an already great class.
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!
I had to head to Richmond for a conference last month and took the opportunity to do some sight seeing. First up on the way in I stopped at the cute little railroad town of Ashland. It's about 15 miles out of Richmond and is a scenic place to stop, grab a cup of coffee and stretch your legs.
This love sign is apparently part of a Virginia is for Lovers campaign - I thought it was pretty cute parked out in front of the train station.
After reaching Richmond I had to hit a couple of meetings and a dinner but I had plotted out a schedule of places to see starting first thing in the morning. My first stop was Carytown - a neighborhood with great shops and restaurants. They had the perfect place to get a little sugar and coffee rush - Dixie Donuts.
I had samoa, french toast and dixie spice flavors - they were AMAZING.
Next up - what I heard was a Richmond institution and a fabric mecca: U-fab.
It was pretty awesome, although it's primarily home decor fabric, and I did not have a project in mind but I SO wish that I did because the selection was amazing:
They also had a completely adorable machine for dispensing upholstery tacks - it looked like an old school cigarette machine:
Another highlight of Carytown was the Byrd Theatre - a very beautiful and old school theatre that still shows movies.
The neighborhood around Carytown is also pretty, with lovely row houses, shady lawns and balconies.
My next stop was the Hollywood Cemetery. It's a historic cemetery where James Monroe, John Tyler, and Jefferson Davis are all buried.
The commemoration to Jefferson Davis:
Some of the older crypts near the Jefferson Davis memorial.
The cemetery is on the banks of the James River and has some beautiful views.
Palmer Chapel in the cemetery, overlooking the James River.
On the way back to MY hotel I stopped at the Jefferson hotel. It has a beautiful interior with a statue of Jefferson.
It's apparently a great place to have high tea. They do it up in the lobby. Unfortunately I didn't have time - hopefully I'll have time next trip.
The next day I headed back towards home, but on the way I stopped at Woodlawn Plantation for the Needlework Exhibit. They have it every year and take submissions from stitchers from all over.
I wasn't sure what to expect but they had a lot of submissions in a variety of techniques. The only criticism I had is that they were a little crazy about photos - I took a couple of pics before they told me that they weren't allowed.
There were very few original works but some lovely kits and samplers stitched up. I wish they provided the info on the designers for the various patterns. A lot of the people viewing the exhibition were interested in where the different designs came from and I think it would be nice exposure for the designers.
I like these short trips around Virginia. There are so many pretty historic places to see. I probably only scratched the surface on Richmond and it's worth a trip just for the donuts alone.
We took a drive through Virginia horse country a few weeks ago. It's always beautiful and green and a lot quieter than the DC suburbs.
We started our drive the best way possible - with a stop for breakfast at The Apple House. Their apple butter donuts are amazing and the sugar jolt gave us plenty of energy for the rest of the day.
What always amazes me about this area of Virginia is that you can be driving along through some little town in the middle of farm lands and come across some beautiful surprise.
Driving through some back highways we came across the Waddell Memorial Presbyterian Church. It looks like an old church from some English village, although as it was built in 1874 - it is an old church, just one nestled in the Virginia countryside.
We headed for downtown Culpepper for some lunch. The area is picturesque with cute shops and as with many areas of Virginia - lots of Civil War history.
We had a couple of great burgers at The Stable and then took a stroll through downtown where we found My Secret Stash - cute store with vintage and antique goods as well as an old school candy bar. The husband left with some lovely old maps and I left with a mix of pumpkin, gingerbread and chocolate mint malt balls.
Our last stop on our country drive was Charlottesville. A bigger town than the little spots where we'd spent most of the day, but we were in the neighborhood, they have a great downtown, and - I wanted to check out a yarn shop. (of course.)
The Needle Lady has a great collection of yarns and some very nice and helpful staff. I bought this yarn:
It is really soft and I thought it was going to be a bulky yarn. I planned to use it to crochet a cowl with this pattern from Handmade by Anne Potter. However it turns out this yarn is a thick/thin yarn and trying to crochet with it was really a mess. I made the cowl anyway using some basic Red Heart yarn I had around. It came out cute, and I'm sure I'll get some use out of it this winter, but it doesn't have that snuggly bulky quality:
For the thick/thin yarn I did a little research on patterns. Most suggested using really large knitting needles and a basic pattern - either straight knit or stockinette. I started a scarf using size 15 needles and just knit stitches. I've had to rip it out and restart a couple of times, as its a little tough to get used to the yarn and I want it to look symmetrical, but I think it's looking good now and I know it's going to be soft:
This is pretty amazing for me - to have two scarfs finished or almost finished before the cold weather really hits. I'm trying to get organized now to start on some Christmas crafts. It is early but it's the only way I'll get anything done in time.
Hope everyone is enjoying the start of Fall and all the warm knits we can start wearing now!
We've been getting around a bit to different spots around Virginia for Christmas celebrations. My favorite every year is the Christmas weekend at Middleburg, VA. Their Christmas parade begins with the Hunt parade: hunting dogs and horse and riders decked out to go chase some foxes.
In addition to the parade they had wagon rides around town. In past years, I think they've done sleigh rides, but this year has been totally snow free.
These horses were so cute and all dressed up for Christmas.
Middleburg had a craft fair and lots of other activities - the whole town was festive!
Santa apparently likes the Hunt parade as well!
Another week we took a walk in Gulf Branch Nature Center in Arlington, VA. The Blacksmith Guild of the Potomac was doing a presentation and had made a bunch of bells and candy canes for the holidays.
I loved watching the artisans at work. They weren't selling anything, which was too bad as I think it would be cool to have an iron candy cane to decorate the house.
I think this last week before Christmas we'll be laying low, finishing the gift wrapping and chugging some egg nog. I need to finish a few embroidery projects before the big day arrives and I'm cutting it close. Good luck to everyone with their last minute shopping and crafting!
I do most of my Christmas shopping on-line, but I do love to hit up the antique stores around town to look at vintage Christmas decorations and soak up a little old school Holiday flavor. Our favorite antique store around here is Falls Church Antique Center. They always have a great selection.
I loved these little choir girl candles.
This store always has great textiles - I have to control myself to keep from buying up big handfuls of vintage embroidered pillowcases and kitchen towels. I bought a few Christmas themed handkerchiefs.
And then I just drooled over the stacks of other textiles.
This clever sampler also caught my eye:
And I always drool over the huge variety of tea cups and saucers:
Alas, this time of year I need to concentrate on Christmas gifts for others and I don't know too many people with the same rabid love of vintage embroidered cloths that I have. But a few things did make it to my Christmas wish list, and window shopping at any time of year is fun!
We've been continuing to enjoy Fall, the best season in the mid-atlantic. We took a trip to Occoquan, which is a quaint town on the Occoquan river.
We meandered around the downtown area a bit.
We ended up at a cute tea shop (my choice obviously!) called the Pink Bicycle. It was charming and the owner made delicious scones and sandwiches.
It was a relaxing way to spend the day.
I also FINALLY finished the third square in my Spanish Quilt Project. Ta da!:
It involved a lot of little stitches, but it was so fun to do.
I've also gotten a jump start on some Christmas crafts. I'll start posting some of those projects after Thanksgiving. Until then, I hope everyone eats their fill of turkey and mashed potatoes and has a great Thanksgiving!
It's Fall in Virginia which is always a perfect time for a drive out to the country. And as long as we're headed out to the country, why not hit up a winery and a distillery? With the rolling green hills and the leaves changing color, it's my favorite time of year here.
We hit up Willowcroft Farm Vineyards first.
It's in a very pretty location and they have a good selection of wines. After trying a few we set up a little picnic to enjoy the view. It was brisk, but that crisp, Fall air is what we've been craving for months, so we enjoyed it.
After our impromptu wine and cheese party, we hit the road to check out a local whisky distillery. This is something Virginia does right! We tried Catoctin Creek Distilling Company.
The name comes from a local creek that the company uses in their distilling process. It's a small business and one of the owners was there during the tour and tasting. Apparently in addition to whisky they make brandy and their pear brandy sells out immediately. I'm keeping an eye out for the next time they have it in stock.
After all that drinking we were ready to eat so we went to downtown Purcellville. On the way I snapped a few pics of the barns and farms we drove by.
I love the worn exteriors among all that green.
Downtown Purcellville is small and charming with a couple of good restaurants and some cute shops.
We ate at Magnolia's at the Mill and had a great lunch. Everything was good and the interior is warm and rustic. The building was built in 1905 and served for years as a flour mill.
Even with all that relaxing and eating and drinking, I got some stitching done on the drive. Pics of finished projects are on the way!