Sewing Box and other Tuesday Necessities

We just returned from Tennessee
for a visit with our son and his family.
It was so nice to see them all!
Art Journal page, above, about
the road trip home. (click for a larger view)
Lots of fall color...

My son has worked for Southern Star Wood Display Cases, which
creates custom display boxes.  Above, is a gorgeous hardwood
 sewing box designed for stitchers to keep all their necessities.

The lid shown is glass, but can be ordered with wood
instead.  That lid would be the ideal place to mount one
of those cross stitch samplers that I love so much!
The lining fabric can be ordered in a number of colors.
The rectangle on the right is a pincushion with a 
hardwood base.  Again...I can see it covered with a
sampler that matches the lid!  

The tray holds spools or embroidery floss bobbins...
You can go to Southern Star Wood Display Cases on Facebook
 to find out more about ordering a custom
sewing box, or any other display box.  Many of their customers
use them to display firearms, knives,  relics, and other collectibles.

Of course, I keep visualizing the box filled with patterns,
 thread, scissors, needle keep and a pincushion!
♥
One of our area radio stations has begun their annual
playing of Christmas music-- I am not ready!
...but it IS a good time to start Christmas shopping...

Linking up with Bluebeard and Elizabeth
at Altered Book Lover for T Tuesday, with my virtual mug...
inspired by my snowman mug.  What journaling
should I add to the page?  
♥
Someone asked where I get my quotes.
I just type into my browser
"quotes about ________."
Fill in the blank with whatever topic you'd like,
and then choose your favorites...
♥
Be sure to visit Elizabeth, and also
Southern Star Wood Display Cases!
Happy Fall!

Halloween Stitching on T Tuesday

Joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T Tuesday

over at Altered Book Lover blog.  

 Thought I'd do an art journal page with

a Halloween travel mug...wouldn't this be

a stylish way to have my coffee or tea? 

Here is a sweet pattern that 

was created by Lori, the designer of

Notforgotten Farm.

She published this wonderful Halloween

freebie on her blog, and invited her readers

to get it stitched up by October 15th.

Readers were urged to come up with an original

finished project.  I decided to make a 

'little black bag' to hold fall foliage.

It's hanging from my ladder back chair.

It would also make a nice door decoration!

  It is stitched on Natural
 48 count linen, with black and orange floss.

 The finished design is appliqued onto
 the bag with blanket stitch in black thread.
Tan felt scallops decorate the bottom of the
bag, with black felt circles, and orange buttons
for a 'penny rug' feeling.  Loosely stuff the
bag with fiberfill, and place artificial fall
foliage in the top of the bag.

♥

Lori is taking

a vote on her blog starting on 
Oct. 16th, 2013, to determine the readers' 
favorite finished project  from this pattern.

Please go to  Notforgotten Farm
blog, and place your vote.  Click on
 the number of your favorite in the right side bar.
Voting ends on Halloween!
The winner receives a
gift certificate from Lori's etsy shop.

♥

To get the free pattern from Notforgotten Farm
go here.  No stitch colors are given on the chart --
do whatever you like!  It would be very striking
stitched in all black, or all in orange on black fabric!
The challenge is over but you can still
stitch a fun Halloween decoration!
Thanks for stopping by, and 
don't forget to vote!

♥

T is for Tuesday; Q is for Quilt

I've been working on a quilt since last summer...

A gift for the newlyweds, which they'll be lucky to receive

by their first anniversary!

When I'm working on the quilt, I am careful to keep my

coffee cup (or any beverage) far away from the quilt!

The pattern is called Merry-Go-Round,

which I've completely hand-pieced, and

am also hand-quilting.

It has bright happy colors, and includes many fabrics 

from the bride's past:  vintage fabrics from the bride's

great-grandmothers' stashes, fabrics from clothes 

that I sewed for her when she was little, and many

fabrics from the numerous baby quilts I've made.

I set the quilting frame up in my parents' home, as 

they have a bit more room, and it gives me an excuse

to go visit them and quilt! It's been in the frame for

about a month now, and I think I should be able to

get it done by the October anniversary...I hope.

My quilting stitches aren't exactly perfect,
or even tiny, but I tell myself that it's
 part of the 'charm of hand-made.'

I do attempt to keep them uniform in size.

In the block above, the red gingham was a dress that

I made for my daughter when she was in grade school.

A couple of the fabrics are from my maternal grandmother's

scraps, and one is even from a guitar case that I 

made in high school.  Yes, a quilted fabric guitar case.

Weird, I know. But I liked it much better than the

black 'cardboard' ones that you buy.  (I used

pre-quilted fabric on part of that guitar case, wasn't up to

hand-quilting in high school! and no, I don't

 really play guitar any more)

The cable quilting designs are marked in pencil and

then stitched.  The triangle and rectangle shapes are

just 'eyeballed.'  So they aren't always perfect...

It's challenging to get your shoulders, arms and hands

to 'turn' in the right direction to follow the quilting design.

I find I have to pace myself so as not to get sore muscles.

Many quilters have their quilt tops machine-quilted these

days, but I really enjoy hand quilting.  I don't exactly know

how many hours I have in this quilt. At least 500 hours, 

at a guess.  If I kept an accurate track of how long it takes,

I might never make another!

Here's how I have my morning 'mocha' coffee...

to your coffee cup add 1 heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder,

a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla, sweetener to taste,

(I use any Stevia sweetener)

and a splash of fat-free milk.  Yum!

Visit Bluebeard and Elizabeth at

Altered Book Lover

to see what others are doing on Tuesday!

Perhaps they are having Tea on Tuesday,

instead of coffee, like me...

Handicrafts ~ ICAD 2013

The Index-Card-A-Day 2013 Challenge

continues with 15-21.

This week I ended up with the theme

of 'handicrafts.'  My Webster's dictionary

defines it as "an occupation requiring skill

with the hands."  A broad definition.

Above, a sketch of a cookie form

made from cast iron.  Somehow my

bird ended up looking angry...

Above, a motif inspired by chintz fabric.

I love big old-fashioned cabbage rose images.

I decided to draw some of the many pin cushions

that I've made in the last year.  Above, the heart-shaped

pin cushion that I made in February, using traditional

cross-stitch sampler motifs.

This cross-stitch pincushion is a design by

Homespun Elegance, c. 2010.

They call it a 'Pin Poke.'

I really liked the gathered circular shape.

When I got the pattern home, I discovered

that the gathered fabric base was a pre-made

item, and there were no directions included for it.

So...a little trial and error, and I made my own.

As I've mentioned before, I have 

a hard time throwing away any small

scraps of even weave fabric, so here is

a drawing with watercolor of a book mark

that I made using sampler motifs

on 11 count Aida. I whip-stitched the

edge to prevent more raveling.  It's 

considered poor form to cut things 

this close, but the rebel artist in me

doesn't really care about that.

Hope your day is filled with

flowers and bird song.

Stop by Daisy Yellow to see more

ICADs!

Mini Sampler Bag

Here is the bag I made from the mini sampler.

I am pleased with the way it turned out.

The cross stitch is 'framed' with tan fabric, as 

well as the back of the bag and the lining.

I made the handle from two separate pieces
that are tied together in a bow, and trimmed with
a few buttons and a bow from twine.

The bag will probably hang from the ladder back chair

in the living room, though it could be used for a small purse,

or a place to keep sewing supplies.  I am enjoying

the springy colors on the sampler,

especially since we are having snow and

wind and cloudy skies again today in Ohio!

Cross Stitch Mini Sampler

This is what I did this week

while I was fighting a terrible cold...a

mini cross-stitch sampler on 11 count Aida cloth.

It ended up just under 4" x 6".

I sat on the couch with my box of tissues,

decaf herbal tea--of which it felt like I drank buckets--

and stitched away while watching 

Monarch of the Glen on Netflix.  Now 

fighting a cough, but on the mend, and 

happy with the results of the stitching.

Cross stitch motifs combined from

Antique Sampler from Jeremiah Junction Designs

by Linda Coleman (light switch cover designs),

Complete book of Cross Stitch by E. Van Zandt,

and 

The Sampler Motif Book by Brenda Keyes.

Not sure how I will finish this...

I am leaning toward making a little

drawstring bag...stay tuned.

Wedding Decor: Pillows, part 2

Continuing the burlap

and lace 

theme...

burlap pillow with antique lace

(purchased at a flea market)

and large vintage buttons

from one of my grandmother's

button jars.

Counted cross stitch pillow with 'love birds'

design in dark plum thread.

I crocheted the lace for the pillow trim.

Now the fun will be to pack everything

up and get it to the reception venue.

Lots of flowers, glassware, doilies,

pillows, candy dishes and crates.

Hopefully, it will all come together...

The important thing is that the couple

lives happily ever after!

Cross Stitch Bookmarks

Cross stitch bookmarks make

a nice little gift slipped into a

card sent in the mail.  The

bird and urn, above, was a (free)

pattern from Prairie Schooler.

(Click on the image for a closer look.)

I often adapt the colors to what I

have on hand, rather than strictly 

adhering to the 'pattern requirements.'

The unusual color combination of the 

bird's plumage intrigued me however, so

I tried to make it similar to the pattern

 guidelines. I also whip stitch several

squares beyond the embroidery, then

ravel several rows for the fringed border.

This flower pattern was done

on a scrap of Aida that really

was not wide enough. You can see

that there were only a couple of 

squares outside the pattern after it was

worked. This is considered bad form when

stitching, but I simply couldn't throw out this

perfectly good scrap! So I blanket stitched

around the finished embroidery to keep it

from raveling, and put a felt backing on

which is also blanket stitched. Turned 

out rather well, I think, for a 'scrap.'

This bookmark is actually embroidered

on paper. The lettering may seem a bit

'uneven,' but that is common in the lettering

of traditional cross-stitch samplers. The

cord at the bottom was created by twisting

six strands of floss until it is so tightly twisted

that it doubles back on itself and creates a 'cord.'

Finally, a bookmark cross-stitched

from a sampler border pattern.

The flowers are in 3 shades of pink:

dark, medium and light pink. Sampler

borders are ideal for the long slender

shape of a bookmark, and usually

work up quickly because of the 

repeating pattern.

Quick little sewing projects make a
nice change when mixed media art
is not 'calling' to me... what other
crafts do you do?

The Art of Sewing

An upcoming wedding is scheduled for October,

and the rush of preparation has begun.

There will be two flower girls for 

strewing petals from these little bags.

I made two lined bags from burlap and white muslin.

They are adorned with a white muslin rose

and vintage pearl beads. (click on the
image to see enlargement) The pearl beads

came from my grandmother's stash from
 Lee Wards, so they certainly should qualify as

'something old!'  I also added a cross-stitch

label inside with the girls' names, so they 

know which bag is theirs. (which for some reason

is important to 3-6 year old girls)

I found the idea for this bag on Pinterest.

But beware. It is extremely addicting!

So many entrancing images...so it can

really be a swallower of large chunks of time.

Whatever your art is, make sure you make the

time for it. Mine will be sewing, decorating, and

arranging flowers in the weeks to come...

Stitching Roses

Christmas gifts stitched for someone

whose Christmas tree is decorated in

white crocheted ornaments, with

accents of mauve and light pink.

Cross-stitch on cream Aida

with organza ribbon and white cord trim.

Rose patterns from a book by Leisure Arts

titled "Sweeter Than The Rose," copyright 1993.

I used portions of larger patterns to 

create the ornaments.

Rust and White Pages

"Farewell to Age"

8.5" x 11"  collage on watercolor paper

for Elizabeth's themed book "Rust."

Images from a vintage book.

The woman is an Elizabeth Arden

advertisement.  Lace and 

metal embellishment above,

acrylic and watercolor background.

Fabric, buttons, and vintage metal key;

collage on watercolor paper.  Acrylic paint

and watercolor background.  

Embroidery, felt, and paper combined

to create the round embellishment.

Click on the image for enlargement.

Assorted papers, fabric, and rusted metal

on painted watercolor paper.  Thanks to Halle

for the Citrisolve papers! They were a nice

rusty brown color perfect for this page. 

The unbleached muslin fabric was quilted

before stitching rusted metal piece onto

the surface. All rusted metal was coated with

gloss acrylic medium to stabilize.

Fabric pockets with unbleached muslin strip
gathered with a running stitch,

 and a tattered stitched rose.

Lace and embroidery accents.

Tags for the pockets, with my swap

information on the back.  A bit

of brown paper bag on the tag at right

is from the paper covering my work table.

Lots of paint from other projects,

and a spattering of gold spray.

It's always a fun challenge to work

with colors that I don't often choose.

Now back to Christmas stitching...

have a creative day!

Color Inspires Me

A quilted art journal cover

made similar to Teesha Moore's technique~

making little 'pillows' and then sewing

them together in an

unplanned composition. 

You can see video of Teesha's

 Fabric Journal Workshop here.

As a traditional quilter, it was hard to

avoid carefully planning it all out,

especially the crazy haphazard non-matchy

stitching to connect the pillows together.

But I do like the colors and the beads

and the texture of the quilting...

Click on any image to see more detail.

The back of the cover is one piece, and I 

just started quilting with the contrasting

colors of floss in circular patterns, 

without marking the pattern ahead of time.

I will put watercolor pages inside, probably

one or two signatures with a pamphlet stitch binding.

Above, a collage in my 9" x 12" art journal.

I am trying to use up scraps I've saved. 

I generally don't use magazine images,

but the intricate scroll work in this gate

was just too good to pass up.

Acrylic on cardstock, collage & magazine images,

white gel pen on black cardstock.

Have a colorful day!