Inspiration

I am always looking for fresh inspiration for my work and most times I find it's from color.  I love finding new and interesting color combinations then figuring out how it will work as a bracelet or a brooch.   Pinterest has been a veritable font of inspiration lately, for instance.....  

This colorful blouse:

Inspired this bracelet:

This room:

Inspired this bracelet:

I have a whole Pinterest board waiting to be translated into embroidery pieces.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Filling The Shop

I have been working hard to get things listed in my Etsy shop for the holiday season.

  Like this:

And this:

And Some bracelets too:

 

Every year I tell myself that I'm going to have all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving and without fail I get a few presents early and get everything else at the last minute.   Are you one of those fabulously organized people that have everything done early or are you a horrible procrastinator like me?

Pile of Bracelets

I have a pile of bracelets ready to be photographed and listed in my shop for the busy holiday season.

So far I have listed.....one

Dark Vine Bracelet

I love making these things and am perfectly happy watching Netflix, drinking chai tea and stitching all day long.

Little Needle Case

I decided to take some time this past weekend to make myself a wee little needle book.  

It's small enough to fit in the palm of my hand

how cute!

I like to keep my needles in my floss case so it had to be small enough to fit flat under the lid. 

 I was keeping them on a scrap of fabric but as I added more it started to look like this  

It was driving me absolutely crazy

To make it I started with two pieces of linen, one black for the outside and natural for the lining

they are around 5 x 2.5 inches 

They are a bit wonky because I didn't pay close enough attention to the grain of the fabric and I didn't  measure

I put a bit of fusible interfacing to the back of the black to keep it nice and flat, then added a bit of embroidery detail.

Sew the two parts, right sides together, turn, press, close the hole, and add some blanket stitching to the edges.

I only used one piece of felt for the inside to keep it small and not too bulky but I did add some ribbon to slip the needles under, that way you can put needles on both sides of the felt without showing on the opposite side. To attach the felt I just hand stitched right down the middle, the only part I used my machine for was sewing the black and natural together.  Add a little tie and that's it, a sweet little needle case. 

No more needle mayhem.

Thinking of Autumn

Here we are in the middle of summer, so far the weather has been kind of odd, we have had some summer days but also quite a few days thrown in that make it feel like Autumn is almost here.   I was complaining about the late start to the warm weather, but after watching most of the rest of the US suffer through heat waves, fires and now drought, I have quit complaining.
All the fallish weather has put me in the mood to make some fallish embroidery,  today I listed a couple of burnt orange embroidery pieces.

                                        Also, my sweet sweet little boy picked a bouquet for me.

I think it may be time to mow the lawn

Work

Some work in progress

I just need to finish painting the hoop

A few pins, bracelets and a poppy

I just need to add some clasps and take some photos.

Organized

I spent a little time today organizing.

When inspiration strikes I like to be able to get started right away, no searching for the right supplies, no digging through piles of fabric, a place for everything and everything in it's place.

I'm by no means organized like this in every area of my home, you should see my bathroom drawers, they're horrible.

What do you prefer, do you like your space organized or are you more inspired when things are a bit higgledy piggledy?

In Progress

some work in progress

I picked up a great book over the weekend

Reader's Digest Complete Book of Embroidery by Melinda Coss

It's got great step by step stitch instructions

I'm always looking for more stitches to add to my repertoire

.

Bracelets

I'm taking a break for the rest of the day (after this post)!  I have been sitting at my desk stitching away for the past 4 days, I'm in dire need of a shower and my eyes are getting blurry.

This is some of what I have been working on:

The black linen one

Pink ribbon flowers

Sweet peach n grey

So far only a luke warm reception in my shop for these, but I am having fun and plan to make more once my eyes don't feel squeezed anymore.

It's time to go make some popcorn and watch a movie with the family.  

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

Stitching Away

I'm still working on re-stocking my Etsy shop.  My family has been keeping me pretty busy but I've managed to eek out a few things.

Like this:

red poppies

and this:

Pink Bloomers

and this one:

Yellow (with a bit of orange) poppies

One more:

Tattered Garden

I plan on re-making some of the one's that have sold, although they never come out quite the same.  I also have some ideas for new things, so I had better get back to work.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Just Working

There are simply not enough hours in the day.

I have been working my little butt off....more accurately my butt is probably growing from all the hours I'm spending sitting on the couch watching shows while I stitch.  

On the plus side I have been getting a few new items listed in my shop.

Blue

Orange

Look what I received in the mail a couple days ago

I made a couple of custom embroidery pieces for a customer up in Canada and she sent me these lovely cards she made because they reminded her of them. How nice is that!

Well, back to work.

Woot!

Yesterday my shop views were WAY above what they normally are, I was confused.  

I found out today that one of my items was included in the Etsy Finds e-mail.  I'm thrilled thrilled thrilled to be included!

This is the item they included,  and it sold! Yay!

Click HERE to see the Etsy Finds list.

Another

Embroidery

More Embroidery

I have been working my poor fingers to the bone. Here are the latest fruits of my labor.

Orange Poppies

I kind of want to keep this one for myself

Midnight Garden

Soon I will have to find some time to enjoy summer vacation.

I hope, whatever season you are in, you are enjoying it.

Keeping Busy

Once again I've been a neglectful blogger. I could say I will try to be better about it but it probably won't change so I won't say it.

I've been busy stitching.

Pale Bouquet Pin

Forget Me Not Pin

Poppies Pin

Happy Floss Day!

Happy day after my birthday to me! I had a mellow birthday this year. I prefer it that way, just spending the day with my family and a nice dinner with some cake. So what if I ate 3 pieces it's my birthday and I'll do what I want!

Besides eating cake I stopped at the fabric store to get some more embroidery floss, it was all 50% off because the store is moving and I went a little crazy. I don't think it's all going to fit in my case, it may be time to get another.

Today I plan to finish up the hoop for this little piece so I can get it into my Etsy shop. I should probably do some more too so I can get rid of some of my floss.

Finished Blouse

I have so many unfinished projects lying around it's not funny. On my grand, plodding quest to finish some of my said projects I finished one....yay, ONE!

I made this tunic blouse around about 2 years ago. Sunday I finally sat down to get it completed. All that was to be done was the collar, I wanted to do some embroidery around the neck before tacking it down so I sat and looked at it, picked some embroidery floss, then changed my mind about the design and chose some different floss. That went on for some time till I finally just went with a white on white design. Truthfully, I don't really like how the shoulders fit but am too lazy to take out the french seams to re-do them so I kept the design fairly simple. I like how it came out, it will be a nice cover in the warmer months (all 2 of them).

Okie Dokie, On to the next project.

Embroidery

Hi!

Black Cross

Red Cross

I posted a couple of new embroidery pieces in my Etsy shop today. They are both simple cross patterns. I know it's been done before, and I'm sure it will be done again, but it's a symbol I've been drawn too for some time.

I purchased this necklace when I was about 19 years old (ahem, some time ago). I wore it almost every day for years. I still wear it, just not as much.
Most people recognize it to be a Swiss Cross, although the symbol has been around much longer than that, also the Swiss Cross is white with a red background, not red or black.


Here is a link to what Wikipedia has to say about the cross.

This month I'm trying to make my Etsy shop a priority as I've been quite neglectful, so... off I go to make more stuff.

Happy Wednesday!

Moving my needles

Last year I made a quilt for the first time. I never made a quilt before, but I decided I needed one for all the picnics I plan to take (more on that later). It was fun, more fun than I thought it would be. Still, I don't think I will ever progress out of the crazy quilt stage for I hate to measure and be precise.

Anyhoo, I decided to do a little embroidery on the quilt. Just a little initial here, and a bug there. I hadn't done any needlework for quite some time, but once I got started I couldn't seem to stop. It went from a simple lady bug on the corner of a quilt square to wall hangings and then cuff bracelets. I'm having a lot of fun.

All of my most recent projects have been inspired by gifts from my fabulous parents (hmmm, seems to be a theme lately).

First, these beautiful gloves that my mom bought on the Champs Elysees, on a trip to Paris with my dad some time around 1958. On a side note, she came home from Europe with child... my eldest brother....ahhh Paris.

and the result:

and

Second, this lovely barrette that my father bought for me around 1987 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He said he walked around town all day trying to find just the right gift. I think he did a great job, I love it and still wear it often.

I'm not completely finished with this one

I'm partial to a black background, can you tell.

Third, the fabric from this apron. It was my grandmothers. I can picture her wearing it, some time in the 40's making bread in her sweet little kitchen back in Minnesota...brrrrrr...she probably spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking just to stay warm. =)

I like how this came out, but I may give it another try.

I need to get back to painting some time soon, but for whatever reason I'm currently paralyzed by the blank page...all the more reason to just get painting...maybe after one more embroidery project.