The project that traveled 'round the world

I wrote recently about a project that is special to me. It's a piece of partially finished embroidery sent to me from South Africa to complete. I have finished it, and made it into a little pillow.



I finished the embroidery ...



And found a perfect fabric with birds and leaves and lots of colors to accompany it.



I just measured and pieced it as I went, mixed in some solid brown and added blue piping for fun.



I probably could have done a more even job stuffing it, but it'll work. For the back I wanted to add a little interest, so I used scraps of the bird fabric and pieced it with the brown. I like how it came out.

Traveling project

Long story short: I was on Flickr, visiting an embroidery group, and found this piece of embroidery that the owner just didn't feel like finishing. She wondered if anyone would be willing to take it off her hands and give it a new life.

She lives in South Africa, and when she first tried to get it in the mail to me, there was some upheaval going on. Strikes and such, and she didn't trust those who took over temporarily to get the mail out. It's strange to imagine living in a place like that. I think we take our stability for granted. I get mad when the Post Office is closed for a wimpy holiday like Columbus Day.

She had to wait awhile, and I forgot all about it. Yesterday, I got a package in the mail, and it was such a joy!



She sent me a little, hand-beaded brooch made by Africans as a means of supporting themselves. The beads all have a meaning.

She also sent me the sweetest, most adorable note:



It says, in part:

"I'm sure you must get this ALOT, but I can't believe you are from Albuquerque (whew) -- like in the song! It's such a cool sounding place that I did a little reading up on it. I had no idea that the Rio Grand River went through the city. It looks like an awesome place!"

I love, love, love that note. First, nobody ever is impressed that I live in Albuquerque. Pretty much, if you are somewhere else and you tell people you're from here, the standard response is "Hmmm. I drove through there once, but didn't stop."

I am not sure what song she's referring to, and the Rio Grande is not very impressive, but I'm glad someone thinks my hometown is special. I am going to post this note on my bulletin board!

After I finish the embroidery, I think I'll make a pillow out of it. I found this really cute fabric at the store today, with leaves and birdies and such.

Kind of iffy on this one

Mark was telling some men about the handbags I make/made. I no longer have a business doing that, but a couple of guys thought about getting something for their girlfriends/wives.

One of them had no idea what he wanted, so I just made something up as I went. Mark asked if I'd be willing to just give it to the guy, because he's done a lot for Mark in the past. I had no problem with that at all.

But I'm not so sure I did a worthwhile job on this one. Maybe I should make something else. For one thing, the embroidery should have gone up higher. Second, I just don't really like how the interior looks, and also the straps. Maybe the part between the rings and the bag should have been shorter?



For the embroidery, I sort of just did it freehand using a couple of shades that are similar. They are ever-so-slightly different, enough to give it a bit of depth and texture.



The interior is entirely in the red fabric.



As if I don't have enough picture-taking challenges, it was windy and the sun was setting.

Fall is in the air my napkins.

I bought two brown napkins for $1.38 each at Pier One on the clearance rack. Then I spruced them up a little with some leaf embroidery.

Stitching along

I sent out my final two gifts from this post.

To Elaine, taker of fantastic photographs, I sent two hand-embroidered oven mitts. I used vintage transfer patterns included with the "The Kitchen Linens Book" by EllynAnne Geisel and for the binding and backing I used Amy Butler fabric. Inside, I used InsulBright heat-resistant batting.





To Amy, my friend since college, I also sent two hand-embroidered oven mitts. Amy's were designs from "Sushi Bar" on Sublime Stitching. I used Amy Butler fabric for the backing and binding, and Insul-Bright for the batting. But at this point, I was having second thoughts about whether it would be heat-resistant enough, so I added another layer of cotton batting.





Unfortunately, I made a mistake and one is smaller than the other. I hope Amy will not mind too much. I cannot tell you how much I had to fight the urge to add blood to the chopped off end of that floating hand. But would Amy find the humor in that? I'm just not sure.

For Amy, I also threw in this towel I embroidered with vintage transfers from "The Kitchen Linens Book." She's pregnant and I figured she could use an extra perk-me-up.



Tiny celebrations

Sometimes, you're just eating your lunch/dinner at work. Nothing special. But maybe you can make it a tiny bit better situation by making it special with a nice napkin. I buy napkins (cotton or linen) at thrift and antique stores and then spruce them up in no time with a little embroidery.

Here, I used the Sushi transfers mentioned above.



On the first fish, I did the scales in satin stitch, which I have not yet mastered. I didn't like the end result.



So for the second napkin, I did the scales with fill stitches, and I think it looks nicer.

A fondness for birds

It seems I've been embroidering birds lately. I'm not sure why. (See the scary "Alouette" post)

One day, I was frolicking about on Flickr when I found this vintage embroidery transfer pattern:



Something about it inspired me, and I decided it would make a nice purse. I always need a more plain handbag, but whenever I'm sewing I'm attracted to the fun fabrics. I got some plain, tan fabric and used a transfer pencil (bought at Michael's) to trace the drawing after printing it on my printer. I then transferred it onto the fabric with the iron and embroidered it.



Next, I dug around in my stash for a lining fabric. I found this perfect one. It brought out all the colors in the embroidery, but it's sort of bold, so I decided to but a band of the plain fabric around the interior top so that the lining fabric isn't distracting from the embroidery and is less visible.



Then I sewed her up.



To do something different than usual, I used square rings on the handles. It gives it a nice touch.

Presents are arriving at a mailbox near (five of) you

Hey, y'all! Remember this post about presents?

Well, you can count on me. I have sent three of them out already. The final two are for Elaine and Amy, and both of you I know in real life. You'll have to be patient, but I'll get them to you soon enough.

The first one went to Olga. I hand-embroidered four napkins with sillies. I don't know what else to call these characters. They are from the Julie West transfer pattern on Sublime Stitching.

I wanted to wait for her to get them before I posted pictures, and I'll do the same for the rest of them. The other two just went out yesterday, so no pictures yet.

Keep in mind that these are among my first embroidery projects.



I recently embroidered a handbag that I'm making, and I'm really excited to show you. I just need some sewing time.

Some things you can never escape

When I was a kid, I liked cows. So people gave me cow paraphernalia all the time. As I got older, my fondness for cows waned. I mean, real cows are alright, but I don't want cow stuff all over my house. It took years before people stopped giving me cow-related junk.

A few years ago, my mom wanted to open a cupcake bakery. And ever since, the poor woman is inundated with cupcake this and cupcake that. I was going to embroider a cupcake kitchen towel for her, but she was like, "enough with the cupcakes!" and then she chose regular cake instead. (??!?)



I had trouble photographing it because without the flash it's hard to see, but with the flash it's so washed out you can't see it at all. And, uh, nice trash to the right there, huh? Oops. I forgot to crop that out. But, we're family, right? You don't care about my trash. I don't have to impress you.

She also wanted a towel with hearts, but so far my satin stitched hearts are pretty awful and uneven.

Multi-colored alouette

A French reader informed me after a recent post that alouette is a type of bird. I'm sure it looks nothing like the bird in this post, but that word sure is fun to say.

It also made me want to see what the song was about (see this post). Well, it is quite disturbing actually. It's about plucking the feathers off of a poor bird.

The following information is from wikipedia, the source of all truths. The last line is the best. I started off making it blue, so it would stand out. But I think red is a more appropriate color:

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Skylark, nice skylark

Alouette, je te plumerai

Skylark, I shall pluck you

Je te plumerai la tête

I shall pluck your head

(Je te plumerai la tête)

(I shall pluck your head)

Et la tête

And your head

(Et la tête)

(And your head)

Alouette

Skylark

(Alouette)

(Skylark)

O-o-o-oh

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Alouette, je te plumerai

Je te plumerai le bec

I shall pluck your beak

(Je te plumerai le bec)

Et le bec

(Et le bec)

Et la tête

(Et la tête)

Alouette

(Alouette)

O-o-o-oh

The song continues in this fashion, with the italicized phrase (a part of the bird) in each verse being substituted with a new one, with the previous items being recited at the end:

• Et le cou

And your neck

• Et le dos

And your back

• Et les ailes

And your wings

• Et les pattes

And your legs

• Et la queue

And your tail

• Et la coeur

And your heart

• Et les poumons

And your lungs

• Et la cerveau

And your brain

La Conclusion

The Ending

O-o-o-o-oh

Alouette, gentille Alouette

Skylark, nice skylark

Alouette,

Skylark,

• 'Tu est un torse saignant

You are a bloody torso

Oh. My. God. I don't even plan these posts. Seriously, I just start typing and weird things come out. I'm like, "Oh, I think I'll go Google this sweet song about a bird with a pretty name."

OK, so let's pretend that alouettes are happy and pretty and have all their feathers. And that they are brown and red and blue. Here's one now!




I embroidered a vintage dresser scarf for my Grandma's birthday. I am new to embroidery, so I'm really proud of this bird. I tried to make it look like feathers. I added a few flowers to the sides and some curlicues.

Sometimes you've just gotta know when to quit

I have come to the conclusion that it's time to give up on a few projects. I could just secretly throw them out and let you think that I'm a good sewer, but I am open to exposing my flaws publicly.

Simplicity 2927


This version was supposed to be a mock-up, using fabric I got for 50 cents. I started to think that maybe it would actually turn out to be a cute top. I actually dragged this out for weeks. I hated working on it. I started to think that I would not even try to make this pattern out of the "real" fabric I had bought for it, even if the gray top did come out nice.



It didn't.

Problem #1: cheap fabric.
Problem #2: really bad thread. Not proper sewing machine thread. I got it in a big grab bag at the thrift store. I could tell that this spool should be tossed because the quality was just awful, but I needed gray thread that day, so I used it anyway. It was coarse and broke a lot. It caught in the machine and wouldn't feed well.



Problem #3: I cut two right-hand pockets and then had no more fabric to fix it with, so I couldn't use them.



Problem #4: I struggled to make the rounded front collar. It came out uneven and wonky.

But I'm still on board here, you know?

Problem #5: Horrible, horrible job putting in the lapped zipper. I have never been good at zippers, and especially lapped zippers. Here you can see the stitching is uneven, and then of course I ended up with a large pucker at the bottom.



At this point I decided to forget the whole thing. I'm just not willing to take out the zipper and do it over. I want to put this project behind me.

Serger cover

I was going to make a serger cover with some stash fabric and McCalls 2723. I hate this pattern, too. It's a pattern I've had for ages and once made my sewing machine cover from. I realized after this one took a turn for the worse that I had modified the sewing machine cover, for good reason.

This project requires you to sew the lining, batting and outer fabric together, with wrong sides together. Of course, this leaves a big, ugly seam that you then have to wrap with bias tape and sew. Only it's thick and awful and I couldn't sew it straight to save my life. It's also, like, 2 feet tall, enough for two sergers stacked on top of each other. I don't get it.

I left it sitting around for a while trying to decide if I was willing to unstitch the whole thing and then resew it, but with with right sides together around the bottom and turn through a hole in the lining. I decided that I'd rather toss it.

My craftmanship is so embarrassing that I will not allow you to see it. I have photographed it from many feet away, to spare you the horror.



That's it, on the floor over there. Squint hard.

I can do some good things

I'm embroidering some cutesy-poo things that I won't photograph quite yet. It will give you something exciting to look forward to in your life.

Lots of things started, nothing finished

Outta here

I'm getting ready for vacation. Today's my last day of work until Aug. 9! We're just going on a quick jaunt for our 4th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow. Then I have lots of time off just hanging around the house, which I LOVE.

Favorite Things

One of the patterns I've been drooling over is the Uptown Coat pattern by Favorite Things. I finally bought it, then anguished over the fabric. I saw this Porcelina fabric in an e-mail newsletter from Fat Quarter Shop, and despite looking around, I kept coming back to it. The fabric on the left is the main jacket fabric, and the other two form the chest area. It's like the turquoise coat on the pattern below.






Vintage sheets quilt

Also, I've finally gotten moving on my Clothesline Quilt, AKA the Nine Pillowcase Quilt. It's the vintage sheets quilt that I was so excited for, and when the pattern finally was posted, I realized that the cutting was sort of hard. I did use a lot of pillowcases, but I also used a few sheets, and boy were they a pain to cut with a rotary blade.



Oh, Fransson's version can be found here. She's the one who had the tutorial.

My main issue is that I want this to be a quilt for a queen size bed, so that means I need to add extra blocks. But that's going to ruin the 9-9-9 symmetry of the quilt. There are 9 tiny squares in the small blocks, then 9 small blocks in a big block, then 9 big blocks make up the quilt. If I add blocks, it messes that up, but I guess I'll live with it, because I want it to fit a bed and I've already cut the strips. I guess I could have made them bigger in the first place, but they would have been been a lot bigger.

Embroidery

I've been having fun embroidering. One of my projects will likely be one of the gifts for my five recipients from this post. So I won't show it until they get it, so it will be a surprise.

But I have so many ideas going. One thing I want to do is take this image and embroider it on a piece of tan fabric and make a handbag for myself.




Now I just need to buckle down and finish some things. Forget about the socks I've been working on for months. I'm making no progress at all. And hell if I'm going to take my knitting on the plane this time.

I think I have actually run out of time

I officially do not have enough time for all of my hobbies. I used to have it all figured out:

work out before work (I work a swing shift)
read on my dinner break
knit after work while watching TV with Markles
sew on my days off

Note: this does not seem to leave time for cleaning. The one thing that seems to motivate me to clean is the threat that someone may come over. That turns me into an instant cleaning madwoman. If they don't come over, that's OK. My house is clean. So invite yourself over. Or at least threaten to.

But now I have a new hobby: embroidery. And I've been thrifting. And antiquing. And quilting. And I still want to work on my pattern drafting skills. Dear, God! I haven't the time for it all. The house work will definitely have to be dropped, company or not.

Here are my first embroidery projects. The transfers are from "The Kitchen Linens Book" by EllynAnne Geisel. See this post.



The back of the book includes a bunch of vintage iron-on transfers, reproductions from a McCalls 1945 line.



These are done on flour sack cloths purchased at Hobby Lobby in the needlework section.




They're so happy, those fruits, candies and ... uh ... whatever that thing on the right is.

I also went to thrift stores and bought a bunch of blank linens. I selected only ones that appeared to be cotton or linen. I got some napkins (which I use just on a day to day basis, so I don't need full, matching sets) and a dresser scarf and a table square. All blank canvases that I can embroider, and all 99 cents to $1.99. Can't beat that! I'm thinking of embroidering the dresser scarf for my grandma's birthday on Aug. 8.

I love the flowers on this dainty little napkin. This was so fast to do, too.



Furthermore, I discovered a Web site so wonderful, I could burst. Or spend all of my money there. Or both. It's called Sublime Stitching. And it proves that old-fashioned women's work is perfectly cool and trendy. And not old-fashioned at all. Go check out the transfer patterns. (But then come back. I'm not done.)

((tick-tock, tick-tock))

Did you go look? Aren't they the cutest things ever? I bought her book, "Sublime Stitching" by Jenny Hart, too. It's also filled with transfer patterns, albeit more generic ones than the patterns you can buy online. I ordered this one and this one off the site.

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I would also like to mention another thrift store find in the fabric section (or "material," they call it. I find that only people who don't sew call it "material" instead of fabric. And considering that they priced a small piece of muslin at $6 AT A THRIFT STORE, I am fairly certain that they don't sew).

What I found was a two-yard piece of pinstriped wool. Real wool! Like what you cannot find at chain stores like JoAnn's. Or at least, I never do. Real wool! Like the kind that costs $14 a yard.

How do I know it's real wool? Well, I did a burn test. Did you know you can get at least a rough idea of a fabric's fiber content by burning it? I learned this in Fabric Science class. Pull off a few strands from the fraying end and hold them with tweezers. This is important. DO NOT use your fingers. Next, bring a flame toward it. First, note if the fibers shrink back from the flame. Wool should do this. Then it should ignite, and it should burn a little and then self-extinguish. It should smell like burning hair (no surprise). Finally, the burned residue should be slightly hard, but easily crushable between your fingers.

All fibers have different reactions. For instance, polyester sort of melts, so the bead if forms after it burns is hard, like plastic. And the smell is awful.

So, now I know it is really wool. And I know you are impressed that I got two yards of it for $5.99. Because my husband doesn't appreciate my find. He says it looks like "poor-people clothes." And like it belongs on people in an orphanage.

Bah. Maybe he should go take a closer look at his suits.