Foxy

I'm so happy to be able to post this now. I made it for a friend's birthday and I had an incredibly difficult time not talking to her about it. I'd find myself starting to send a picture (as would be usually for a project I'm working on), before going NO! Plus, then you have to make up other things you're working on when they ask. So hard.

The design is from some wrapping paper the same friend used on a Christmas gift for me. There's the big lesson - use super awesome wrapping paper for me and I will embroider it for you. It was impossible to resist.

The tail satin stitching got rumpled while I tried to rinse out all the fabri-solvy. AWFUL. Never using that again when there's much satin stitching. It's all the most satin stitching I've ever done I think. I don't know why I've avoided it, as it's really not difficult, and certainly faster than the loose long and short I often use for big fills. I guess I worry because it's easy to snag and mess up after you're done.

The third season of The Great British Sewing Bee starts next week! So excited. The real draw of it and the Bake Off are seeing a group of lovely, kind, caring people do something they're really passionate about. When it's something that many (or most) people don't do at all that makes it even more special. Since there's no big prize and they're amateurs they're all just lovely to each other. 

I've gotten swept up ordering some hand dyed silk embroidery floss. No immediate plans for it of course, but it was soo pretty... I bought a vintage tablecloth embroidery pattern on Etsy (one of those with the design printed on the fabric), so maybe I'll finally start work on that.

Also finished a new piece for Etsy, so I'll post again soon with that. It's a quote form Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Rewatched that for the first time since childhood recently and it's so good. Still just incredibly enjoyable.

penguins! reading!

My swap partner received this, so now I can show you what I made for The Great Tumblr Needlework Swap! Hannah had reading and penguins on her list so I felt compelled to design this.

I might clean up the drawing a bit and put it in my free pattern section (just added The Cheat and my dalek pattern there), or I might try to design a slew of cartoony animals reading patterns and sell them as a group. Who knows!

The World Cup has been slightly breaking my heart. Not so much in terms of the US loss (I never expect us to do that well, and I don't think much of Klinsmann's coaching), but I'm still upset over Mexico's exit (due to cheating by The Netherlands) and Algeria's near thing with Germany. So pleased for Costa Rica and Colombia though, and I will be cheering for Belgium due to personal connections.

Pain

 My legs have been in more pain than usual for a while and not my upper body has joined them in this shameless mutiny. I am getting very close to the end of my tether.

I super messy stitched a quote from a Leonard Cohen poem onto a handkerchief. We'll call it pain-stitching, which you do just to be stitching something anything, just for that focus it provides. If I can focus worse pain into just my hands it's easier to cope for a bit, but there's a limit.


Right now I am knitting a Clanger. I will eventually make two, one for my niece and one for my nephew. They're extra big, since I just kind knit with size two needles. Size five is pushing it already. 

Hoping I can take a bath at Madre's tonight which will maybe help? Who knows. My body is an evil unto itself.

Selfie Napkin - WIP 2

The beach was good, guys. I got no embroidery done, and very little reading, but that's okay. 

My goal for this year was to actually fill the serious gaps in my wardrobe at the trove of great thrift stores there (thanks military families!). It's been four years since I've had more than one pair of pants that fit well (and usually a second pair that fit enough to wear but not well). I also have a need to look more like an adult, both for doctors and gaining their respect and so maybe people will stop thinking I'm 18 (I'm almost 29).

So. I bought 7 pairs of pants, 5 skirts, and 13 shirts all for $60 which comes out to $2.40 per piece, which I think I can live with. I'm glad I saved up some money and really made myself do it. All of them are office-dressy things, so that's good. The only shirts I owned were Threadless t-shirts, barring three things two of which were too worn to look very nice.

I also brought books from home to a couple used bookstores and got more than I expected in credit (though gave them some very nice things, including a brand new audiobook from a very popular series). The best part - I got almost all the books for free initially, through the early reviewer program and stuff that was withdrawn from the last library my dad was at! So in the end I only spent $2 of actual money on books.

At least I got the third sketch on the napkin done at the beach, and stitched when we got home. I was always hurting so much at the beach that doing anything other than watching TV was hard. However, we discovered the show Rehab Addict, which is awesome. No massive pieces of linen in the thrift stores this time, but we can't have everything.

The Selfie Napkin

A post? Already? From me? Gasp!

Started a new project already, a little free embroidery. I have this small linen napkin that's been sitting around, purchased in a small lot of old linen. It's 7 3/4 inches square, and lovely fabric.

So this will be the Selfie Napkin. Self portraits, probably all in cartoony style (but in a variety of those) and colors chosen via the color wheel, though of course it's a square. Maybe I'll do little bits and pieces in the blank spaces, flowers and such, or maybe words. Not sure yet!

It's a good project to take to the beach, since I'm just sketching the design onto the napkin with washable marker as I go. It is making me realize how long it's been since I've drawn regularly. I need to reinstall my tablet (drawing tablet) so I can use it more easily and draw every day again.

Beach in one week! Weather forecast isn't good, Madre will be unhappy. I'm hoping it will change a bit, but since our primary pursuit while there is thrift store shopping I'm not too worried. I'm more concerned that we won't be able to take the van, which is far easier for my cat to travel in, and allows us to take my wheelchair (though if the weather forecast holds there won't be much point to that).

Dreams and Nightmares

I finished this piece last night. It got messier in the last couple of sentences because I was getting upset and had a hard time wording what I wanted to express.

This is a piece that will grow. I'll do other installments in different sizes of hoop, and different colors. I might add song lyrics sometimes. I don't know.

It was hard to get through at the end. I had to speed through my new favorite show, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. It's Australian, set in the 1920s, based on a recent book series. It is absolutely perfect. I love Miss Fisher in every way and the chief inspector is so handsome (though less so when not done up in 20s style).

Today it's back to the Women piece, and the floral details, which is pretty mindless. I definitely need a little of that.

Scraps - Finished

So here's the finished Scraps, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Probably the most appropriate Oz character to stitch!

Here's a secret for anyone using the red iron-on colored pencils for pattern transfer. It doesn't wash off, but you can fade it completely if you let the piece side in the sun for a week. This one needs some more sun time, but I couldn't wait to show it to you.

It's on a vintage handkerchief, which still has quite a bit of room left. I'm considering filled the entire thing with Oz illustrations, because John R. Neill was an amazing artist. I used to copy the illustrations all the time in middle school. Loved drawing them.

I wish I could share what I'm stitching now, because it's really pretty. Sadly it's a Christmas gift and you know how that goes...

speedy stitching

We are in trouble as a species if people will refuse to believe
in things they couldn't actually do themselves.
--David Mitchell (not the author)

My parenting owl stitched up SO quickly. I have to wash him and then stitch a few more details, but that should be very quick.

In the meantime I decided to be totally crazy and just stitch up a beloved quote from comedian David Mitchell. I sort of feel bad, because I think maybe it's the kind of thing he would disapprove of/be uncomfortable about, but oh well. I can't go around worrying about what celebrities think.

Of course this is the time when my washable marker would completely disappear, so I stitched it without any guide whatsoever. It's messy (impossible not to be on that fabric and at that size, honestly), but not nearly as messy as I feared it would be.

The quote is from an episode of QI. They were talking about people who don't believe the moon landing happened. It's part of this clip.

St. Trinian's

Well, here she is, in all her finished glory. Actually this piece needs to be watched in an actual washing machine (in a mesh bag and on delicate, of course) to get all of the printable solvy off so the thread isn't stiff, but it will be a while before I get that done (do not trust my building's washers).

I am having a rough time of it lately, in terms of depression. I think it's probably an every summer thing, since I can get out of the house even less now. The next project I want to do, with the owl, can't be made until I have the right handwriting for it. I've thus far been after at asking my sister to do some samplers for me. 

There's a cross-stitch pattern idea I have too, so maybe I'll work on that a bit. Right now all I want to do is eat constantly, maintain a slight alcohol buzz all the time (impossible for monetary reasons), and watch humorous shows I've seen 5 times already.

Hockey Sticks and Balls of Steel

First, let me say that field hockey is the best sport. They give you a big wooden club which is weighted with lead at one end! There's nothing that can make a teenager happier. Just for fun, here's a picture of our more laid back spring hockey team from my sophomore year. I'm the one at the back holding her stick aloft (with dark hair).


Second, I grew up with St. Trinian's comics. We used to look at the books when going to work with my dad, starting when I was in second or third grade. Those nasty girls were part of my life before I went to boarding school and became the terror of the field hockey field (right forward, if you must know). There's never been any other sport which I've loved playing more. I liked playing soccer, but it was for a bit of fun, whereas I was actually competitive with field hockey.

So I am now stitching some fearsome field hockey lasses from St. Trinian's (by Ronald Searle) and wanting to rewatch the recent St. Trinian's movie remake with everyone.

It's a lot more solid stitching than I've done before. I used satin stitch on the right side there, because it seemed like it would work better on the narrow parts. I've used long and short stitch on the rest of it and it's honestly looking better than I'd predicted.

I go back to feeling very childish with non-counted embroidery. I just think back to being shown how to thread a needle and make a stitch and how frustrated I felt at not being able to make my stitching perfectly neat.

Vagina!

This is my late (though always relevant) tribute to women getting shushed for using the word vagina during political debates and such.

It's going to have the main parts of the female genitalia stitched repeatedly in reds, pinks, and browns. Then I thought I'd fill in the smaller spaces with slang words, done in blues. 

I've also started on a commission piece/pattern I've started for a friend. It's the Cthulhu one I've mentioned before, just still in such early stages that an in-progress shot seems silly.

Mermaid!

Here is my mermaid, all finished. I'm really quite happy with her.

I was weirdly nervous about stitching an iron-on transfer piece, I think for fear that I wouldn't cover the transfer lines or something.

This project went ridiculously quickly. I still need to work on my Frida project, but getting appropriate background color filled in (non-embroidered) has been a pain. I hope I'll be working on that again soon though.

Blackwork Quilt - nearly there!

Well, I got almost half the background done and ran out of floss. It's my favorite purple (154), so it seems stupid that I didn't have an extra skein around. Oh well. I'm hoping to get to the store tomorrow, but I really like the way the purple is making it pop.

Wish I'd chosen a different color for the flowers, or done them in half-stitches, but oh well. This one had a lot of mistakes and things I had to work around. Maybe someday I'll make another and it will be perfect (ha, like that will happen).

In the meantime I've been working on my first kitschy transfer piece! I have a big thing for mermaids, and strong feelings that they wouldn't have pink skin or red hair.  Here she is so far.

Meanwhile my mom is is Italy, taking pictures of things she feels would make excellent cross-stitch patterns (and cats lounging on statues).

Onesie City

My friend got her package, so I can show you the onesies I stitched!

Unlike with all of Benjamin's onesies, I used fabri-solvy as a stabilizer and just drew the design on that with a water soluble marker. It worked brilliantly and make the task SO much easier. 

The designs are a big wonky, because I free-handed them pretty quickly, but I'm pretty happy with them. 

I'm having a block in finishing my robot sampler design, so it's back to work on the blackwork quilt piece.

Finally!

I am finally stitching again! It is quite the relief. I finished two small free embroidery pieces, but I'll have to wait a few days to show you, as they're a gift that's currently in the mail and I'm playing it safe.

However, I found this old piece that I started and nearly finished over a year ago. It got shoved in my purse for a while, and then into a drawer. It was a quick finish, which made me feel nice and productive.

I also spent the last few days cutting and gluing fabric onto hoops so I could start an embroidery display wall! It's not the in the best place for it, but I've lived here for almost three years and my walls are pretty damn crowded.

colorwheel

Yesterday I randomly decided to stitch this color wheel. Other than there being not perfect blue or red-orange, I think it turned out quite prettily. I might outline it in white and then do a ring of each color around that (probably just ROY G BIV).

I really want to work on Frida, but I don't have a good method for coloring the background. I'm out of normal watercolor paint in the colors I need. The next thing I can think of is just grinding up the watercolor pencils I have and mixing that with water (watercolors, at least the kind in tubes, are very staining).

Plus today it was just too cold to stitch. Granted, I could have turned my heat on, but it's a point of pride that I never have in this apartment. When it's really cold I just do some baking (Earl Grey cookies and broiled polenta today) and keep the tea flowing. I'm pretty sure the apartment below mine is empty now, because last year when it was this temperature I had to keep the windows open a bit. Today I've had the windows closed, a wool hat on, and two layers of slippers, one of which were sheepkin. Keep in mind I normally run quite hot.

Frida - stage one complete

I started on Frida such a long time ago, in 2011, I think. I'd barely done any embroidery, especially not free embroidery. I used the figure shape in a painting and transferred the outline onto my fabric. Then I just drew in the vines freehand, though rather incomplete. 

Planning has never been my strong suit. This is by way of saying, there are so many things I would change about this piece. It is so imperfect and frustrating because of that, even if there's only myself to blame. 

There is a need to finish her, though, and I hope I will. The original plan had been to send her to a friend from high school, as a wedding present, though I also made a quilt block for her wedding quilt. She's an extreme Frida fan, or was. We haven't been in touch for a long time. I couldn't bear to have this on my walls. While I love the piece, the reminder of the friendship and the staring face of imperfection would bother me too much.

Maybe I'll send her off anyone. This friend, she wouldn't think it was too odd, I don't imagine, and I don't think she'd feel guilt over it, or like she owed anything. She was always easy-going and accepting where I was controlled and over analytical.

Frida! WIP 08

Well, after saying I would start on Frida again about every three weeks, I finally did! I have to add some more of the light green vine, and finish and outline the brown, but it went really quickly.

Given that yesterday I went through an entire box of tissues (getting 3-4 nose-blowings on each sheet) it's amazing that I accomplished that much. I also finished the book Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm which is only the best thing ever. It is certainly equal to Understood Betsy and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.


I'm a little burnt out on counted cross-stitch, so I might work this for a while. I also have some other free embroidery plans I've had for a long time. Possibly it's also that I'm burnt out trying to keep my store regularly updated. 

Today I posted the finished, but unframed, umbrella piece for sale, and I've been slowly posting a number of finished pieces. I've been sending order pleas to the gods so I can afford more postcards and stamps! Sending mail has always been my addiction, but now I have people who actually write back and of course the international stamps for Postcrossing are super expensive.