turkey feathers

It's All About the Details

While half-watching a freaky old b&w movie last night, Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), I personalized this pair of pillowcases I picked up for a song at TJ Maxx.  Love that place, it's like a retail garage sale, never know what treasure or bargain you're going to find.  I was delighted to find these ultra-lux king cases last week.  Think I only paid about ten dollars for the pair.  Can't beat that.  The color was perfect for our bedroom too, and I brought them home knowing I'd have to cut them down to fit our queen-size pillows.  (Why is it that when you buy queen-size sheets you still get standard-size cases?)  Well, I measured these and they were a whopping 40" long--so cut off about four inches from the ends, and sewed them up again using a sturdy over-lock stitch.  The monograms I used (available on my website) are from an older pattern that had designs on each side, I wanted to keep these simple though, so trimmed that part of the design away before stamping them.  Here are a few tips ::  To place monograms, find the center of the pillowcase by folding it in half lengthwise and press lightly with an iron to make a crease.  Open it up to find the center line.  Then fold your transfer design in half lengthwise matching the edges of the lines as close as possible.  Unfold, and match it up with the crease lines on the pillowcase.  I placed my motifs about an inch above that bottom seam.  Pin if necessary, and then stamp your design with a hot iron.  Work the stitches in a diagonal fashion, using a satin stitch, taking note of the natural flow of written letters and how they overlap.  It didn't make any difference for the G, but was necessary for the V.  Note my stitches aren't perfect, yours probably won't be either, but it's OK.  It's just a pillowcase ya know. After a few washings the stitches seem to find their place and settle in and you won't notice slight imperfections anyway.  AND hopefully any wrong color choices.  Because in the dim light last night, and with the afore-mentioned movie drama distraction, (a seriously weird twist with the broken doll), I thought I'd chosen a taupe color of floss from my thread basket; just noticed this morning that it's actually a lichen shade of green.  Good grief.  DMC #524 to be exact.  I really like it though.  It works beautifully with this shade of blue.  Mistakes can be good sometimes.

Bonnet & Blankie

Every time I look out my window lately I see the cutest little baby cottontails bouncing around my backyard.  And naturally, with Easter nearly upon us, bunnies of the *chocolate variety* are on my mind too.  Both were the inspiration for this sweet little set I just finished for grand baby #2 due in a few more weeks.  (The designs are part of my new free-with-purchase embroidery transfers for March/April 2008.)   Miss Thumbelina is my make-shift baby model again, I've got her posing in a picnic basket this time.   I really like the size of this blankie.  I'm calling it that, because it's not really a crib blanket.  It's only about 22" square, the perfect size for a variety of uses, but mostly for keeping baby company and cozy on outings.  Like a security blanket.  Could also be used as a changing-pad in a pinch.  It's cool here in the spring, so I used scrumptious heavy-weight cotton flannel, lined with crisp cotton for both the bonnet and  the blankie.  If you can't tell from the picture, there's a brown bunny in each corner with pink posies in between.  I added one set of flowers to the bonnet to match.  Still using this same pattern for the bonnet, but added eyelot lace to the brim this time.  Some of you already know my penchant for polka dots and I thought they were perfect for this.  The binding :: another use for those wonderful jelly-roll strips :: cut in half lengthwise, with different patterns seamed together.  Love that effect.   

Fairy Dust

I spent a good part of last week downloading lots of great dance music thanks to your suggestions.  So much good stuff!  It's been fun discovering new artists and getting reacquainted with older songs that I'd forgotten about.  Dancing does seem to help lift the February funk that looms large this time of year, so I'm turning up the volume and cutting loose.  Or "cutting the rug" as Mom used to say.  (She did a fierce foxtrot in her day!)  We went to a dessert party on Saturday for a fellow homeschooler who turned 18.  No rock-and-roll, but there was a little folk music, performed by a couple of the guests who played guitar and sang.  All very lovely and sweet while we sampled an assortment of cakes, cookies, pies, and ice-cream that everyone made and brought.  An all-out sugar fest.  It hasn't been all fun and games here though.  There was some serious housekeeping that needed to get done.  Nothing like a little sunshine to illuminate all the cobwebs and dust bunnies.  So while managing that, and a lot more, my blog's been gathering a little cyberdust.  It's a balancing act sometimes, I tell ya.  No happy medium. I  could use a little fairy with a magic wand to wave around whenever I need a little order in my life.  (Fairies can be found here, if you need one too.) 

Sweet Cakes

Grace made cupcakes yesterday for Valentine's Day, but this one's for Calamity Kim. She's having a *virtual party* to celebrate her birthday today and she's invited everyone to post sweeties here to help make it special.  I was drooling looking at all those treats!  I'm sending her another sweet surprise too.   (no peeking Kim!)

Conversation Hearts

Usually what we love to do is where our talents lie. ~Zen and the Art of Needlecraft~ Sanda Detrixhe

  I'm busy stitching up a storm right now---more Redwork and other news soon.  I made these sachet hearts last year and forgot to share them!

Ain't She Sweet

For a few months now I've been incrementally working on updating my website and I'm so happy it's all finally done.   The changes are subtle ones, but it was a monumental task for me nonetheless.  I was still fiddling with it this morning, fixing links and finding pages that got missed.  That's what I get for playing Scrabulous at the same time.  Among other things.  So if you see anything weird happening on the site, or if you are having trouble with pages or links or buttons please let me know and I'll fix it.  In between all that, I finished another bonnet.  Think I'll save this one for baby granddaughter #2, due this spring.  I want to make more though.  I've had requests for the bonnets and the pattern so I'm thinking on that.  This double-sided cotton flannel is so soft and heavier than the usual stuff.  I adore working with it.  The embroidery design is actually a pillowcase pattern from the 1900's.  I was quite happy to discover that it fit perfectly.  Any linear design will work it seems.  Lining fabric is Flower Sugar by Lecien, purchased from an online fabric shop too long ago for me to remember where, and may not be available anymore.  Thanks for the slipper-love btw, they seem to represent my life in the slow lane now---living in my slippers as I do.  Maybe I should hang them from my car mirror or something. 

Finding Inspiration

Some of you may remember this article in the MS Kids Holiday 2003 issue, about getting outside to enjoy a winter's day.  I remembered it particularly because of the clever title all laid out on a snowy background, with twigs and bits of nature spelling out "A Winter Walk".  So beautifully done.  I went back to this again recently to study it more closely.  I really love embroidering letters.  Maybe this comes from working as a graphic artist for a few years, but whatever the reason, I wanted to see if I could do something with needle and thread to convey the same natural qualities.   I went outside, and chose colors from our own winter landscape, came back in, and stitched this up rather quickly.  Then later, I made a sleeve out of it to cover an old pillow I already had.  (I love pillow sleeves--so simple to make and they can be easily removed and stored flat when the season ends.)  Looks so nice and snug here in my reading corner; I think I'll take my magazine and cuddle here awhile.

Hanging on by a Thread

I don't know what all I've been doing this week, but I do know it's been a busy one.  Feels like I've been bouncing from one thing to the next without much forethought, and then this morning, I realized that I'd completely lost Tuesday.  I'm still trying to figure out how I mislaid that day.  It threw off my whole week, I kept thinking it was a different day than it actually was.  These short, dark days just seem to heap all the events together in my mind.  I think I need more sunlight and sleep.  But I'm on it now.  Yep.  It's Friday, right?  And I'm looking forward to the weekend so I can get back to a few sewing projects I started.  I must say, it was so nice to pick up a needle and thread again, and sit quietly for a little while yesterday listening to the rain as I stitched.  It always calms me down.  As you can see, I'm putting the twig alphabet to the test.  I decided it was more "woody" than "twiggy", and have been working on creating another set that's a little more like sticks.  I'm liking this though, and have a little Valentine's project in mind for it, which I HOPE to share sometime...soon.

*Twinkles*

These last few days have sure been busy ones, I tell ya.  I'm enjoying a little respite here on this calm and quiet morning before we start preparing our Christmas Eve dinner later today.  We drove up to Portland yesterday (a wild ride up and back as we weathered the first of several storms to hit here this week), for an afternoon of  fun and frolic with our families there.  We had dinner and did a gift exchange afterwards.  The kids really look forward to seeing their cousins and little niece.  Even Jack  (rabbit) was excited to see everyone again.  This fuzzy little fellow is totally house-broken, even uses a litter box, and is very people friendly.  A real heart-breaker. 

Grace and I made candy Truffles to bring, using both dark chocolate and white chocolate, rolled in a variety of things to spice up the party.   In case you aren't familiar with these, Truffles are bite-sized chocolate confections usually made from ganache, a mixture of chocolate and cream.  They can also be dipped in chocolate for a more polished presentation.  There are literally hundreds of recipes or variations for making them, many available on the net.  Here are a few that I like, though I haven't made all of these.  Yet.  (tee hee) I especially like this mocha one though I don't use a microwave. 

Oh, and here's proof that there was more than gnoshing happening around here.  I finished my pillows!  Actually, they were done awhile ago, I just kept forgetting to take a picture.  They are the perfect addition to the hall bench.  I've added a few more pictures here if you want a closer look. 

Well, that's it for now.  Time to run along.  I just wanted to wish everyone Best Wishes for a Peaceful and Merry Holiday Season wherever you are! 

xo xo xo

Redwork Round-Up

"The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future."

Archives Building, Washington

Hello!  I'm still here!  I've been reading my email fairly regularly, but haven't had a moment to reply to comments and questions because things are always crazy-busy this time of year.  I'm throwing out hugs and kisses to you guys though, for all the giggles and happy thoughts you keep sending us in support of all we do here, and just for stopping in to visit us during your day.  I plan to go knocking on a few new blog doors myself,  just as soon as things let up around here.  The preparations for Thanksgiving are underway and the house is bustling with activity; we'll be baking our pies later today too.   But before I slip on my apron and start throwing flour around,  I wanted to pop in and tell you about something I'm pretty excited about.  Something I've been working on for quite awhile actually, and now that it's done I can't wait to share it.   In fact, I want to share it in a BIG way to kick off the holiday season. 

Introducing . . .

~Redwork Christmas~ 

I'm really so happy with this!  It's a new set of embroidery designs of all the things I love most :: nature, animals, children.  Mostly inspired from the Ingall's catalogs (that a stitching friend shared with me) that dates back to the late 1800's.   I've never seen any of the transfer sheets, doubtful whether many still exsist as each design was sold individually.  Anyway, I worked from the thumbnail sketches in the catalogs.  I've also sprinkled in a few of my own motifs making a total of 10 iron-on transfer sheets in all.  I'm telling ya, I just couldn't stop once I got started---I had so much fun with this.  Usually, traditional Redwork has a lot of detail, but I've pared these down with simpler lines for a fresher look, without losing the nostalgia.  I want to stitch every one of these myself and chose them with that in mind.  My grand plan is, to make a few things to share on the blog.  I always love to see what others do with them too, so if you make something don't forget to let me know if you want me to link to it.  Hope you love these as much as I do!  They'll be available on my website after Thanksgiving weekend, but in the meantime I'm offering *free patterns* here on the blog.  I know not everyone reading this is into embroidery, so I'm going to be doing several "give-aways" in the coming weeks, but for those who are...you know the drill; leave a comment on this post and I'll choose 5 lucky stitching peeps.  Comments will be closed around noon on Sunday, so I can get everyone's names into our super sonic spinnning bonnet aka the Super Shuffler.  Check back here Monday to find out who the winners are.   (Better run now.)  Good Luck everyone!

Until we meet again, have a great Thanksgiving and . . .