Anniversary Giveaway

May 12th will be my second ETSYversary!  To celebrate, I'm having a giveaway on my Facebook page.  You can enter to win your choice of 3 patterns from my shop. Contest ends on 5/12!

Click here to enter: Enter Giveaway!

Lots of new things in the shop too!  Here are a couple of sneak peeks...

good day sunshine

sweet dreams in sweet shop colors

There's also some new finished hoop art - perfect for kids rooms!

Hello Sweetie!

One Fish

 I'm currently working on some new tea towel designs with a Scandinavian flair, and am on day 61 of my Sew Many Words 365 Project. I cannot believe that many days have passed already.  Only 305 to go!

Happy mother's day to all the mom's out there.. and if you're in need of a last minute gift, my mother's day pattern is available in the shop - it stitches quickly and finishes lovely in a hoop! See?

best mom ever!

xo

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Sashiko

The other day I came across this post by Grumperina.   I had never heard of Sashiko and was intrigued by the style, colors, and design.

As it turns out, her blog post was about a post from the Purl Bee, which was about making a Sashiko pillow. The pillow is so lovely and vibrant and of course I want one. Or two. Or more.

Sashiko is a Japanese term for "little stabs" and it refers to a running stitch technique used on a geometric pattern. Traditionally Sashiko is done with white thread on a blue background. I found the colorful version done by the Purl Bee much prettier.

I knew I had to try this method as soon as I saw it and wanted to practice the running stitch before I invested in a sampler from the Purl Bee.    So I whipped up my own version.  Being that I created my own sampler, I wasn't quite exact with the spacing of the stitches and hence my design is a little off.  There are dozens of mistakes, but overall I love the look of it.

Here is a close up:

Colorful running stitches

For this to be a true Sashiko I think the stitches need to be uniform. That is key as far as I'm concerned and as far as I was able to see on both Grumperina's and the Purl Bee's pages.  My running stitch technique leaves much to be desired.

I used a very long (maybe nearly 2 1/2 inches) milliners needle. There are needles specifically for Sashiko, which you can also get at the Purl Bee.  Being that I like to have the proper tools for every project if I can, I will probably invest in them when I buy the sampler.  

I used DMC floss for this  - all six strands.  I'm not sure this was the best idea I've ever had as there are places where the thread split and wouldn't lie flat.  As luck would have it, you can buy thread specifically for Sashiko. Didn't see that one coming, did you. ;)

I should also note that this is worked off the hoop, which was very alien to me. I like a nice tight working surface and I am betting that if I had put this on a hoop and did my typical 'up and down' stitching they would have been closer to flawless.  As the needle was so long I was putting 7 or 8 stitches per needle and pulling the thread through the fabric. There are definitely places that puckered, which means I pulled too tightly and knotted it off before making sure the fabric was laying flat.

Here's a photo of my stitching all finished - the foreground is ironed so you can see the difference in the look of the stitches.  I think the wrinkly end looks cool too.

Quilters knots add an interesting element to the edges.

Overall I enjoyed the process and I think I could translate quite a few patterns into the Sashiko style.

Have you done Sashiko? I would love to see it!  

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Etsy NEAT Team Challenge -March

I've been anxiously awaiting the day that I could post all my photos of this month's Etsy team challenge. It's finally here!! As the winner of the last challenge I was able to pick the theme. I picked  "The Garden", which I thought would be perfect for spring.

Here's my entry for the challenge and my newest pattern for the shop:

 Garden Sign

 Here are a few close-ups:

Carrots are good for your eyes

An apple a day keeps the doctor away..

Sugar snap peas are my fav!

Leafy letters

Birds are always welcome in my garden!

I stitched the letters using Sublime Stitching's new floss. This particular color is called 'Eyeliner' and is available in the 'Portrait' floss pack. It's my new favorite color!  It isn't quite black, or grey. It isn't quite purple, but it has a charcoaly-purple cast to it.  At the moment they don't sell the colors individually, but I'm hoping they will soon.

I framed the finished piece to hang on the wall by our back door.  Here's a pic of what it looks like framed, which was much harder to capture than I imagined.

Weird angle for the photo to keep out the glare,  but I do like it framed!

The pattern will be available in the shop early next week. I hope you like it!

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365 Project - Sew Many Words

Last week I mentioned on my Facebook page that I came across a completely awesome 365 project by Emma Hughes, in which she stitches a new word every day.  Not only am I an avid stitcher, which you all know by now, I'm also a huge fan of word games. This project had an instant appeal to me so I've started my own.

For those of you who aren't familiar, a 365 project is a year long activity where you chronicle your daily life one photo at a time.  For me, that will mean that every day I stitch a new word that I find using a random word generator.  After I finish stitching it, I'll take a photo of it. 

I've set up a special Tumblr blog as well as a page on the 365.org site which will house the photos.  Feel free to follow along!

Here is the groovy graphic  I made for the project:

I've already uploaded my first word:

Origin: 1475–85; < French: a small boat

Emma's idea of sending out pre-stamped envelopes for those wishing to donate a scrap of fabric was a stroke of genius.. so please do contact me if you're in the U.S. and interested in donating.. it can be a scrap as small as 4" x 4" (so I can get it into a hoop) up to any size you like. If you donate I'd be happy to mention you in the posting to thank you for your generosity.

I hope you'll follow along and I hope to inspire you to start your own 365 project. Wish me luck!
xo

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Needle Painting

Have you heard of needle painting? It's an art form developed by Trish Burr, which features the long and short embroidery stitch.  Trish does spectacular work.  I was inspired when I checked her book, Colour Confidence in Embroidery, out of the library.

I've not been particularly good at the long and short stitch, but looking through the book I am amazed at just how much like painting her embroidery is.

I decided today to practice just a bit with a couple of flower petals, using her book as a guide. The book has comprehensive color palettes as well as sample projects.

Here is my very first attempt at needle painting.

Not bad I thought, before I took the photo

After taking the photo and getting a proper look at my stitches, here's what I actually saw:

Oh yes, I might need better lighting!

The work above is in a 3 inch hoop, so it's really quite tiny.  Other mistakes I see is that I didn't follow the shape itself during each color or color change.  There are a total of 6 colors and each color is stitched with 1 thread.  

Trish goes into detail about how to lay out the threads so that your thread is always laying the same direction (each thread having it's own warp and weft) which I think makes a huge difference. I didn't do it and i wonder if that has something to do with how messy it all looks.

It's fun to stretch out and learn new skills so this will be something that I intend on practicing.  Have you done needle painting?  What was your experience?  Are you super fab at the long-short stitch? I would love to know!

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Etsy Neat Team Challenge Sneak Peek

This month's Etsy Needle Arts Team (Etsy NEAT) challenge is "In the Garden".  I won last month with my winter sports entry!  So I chose the garden as this month's theme.

Here's a sneak peek of my design.

In The Garden

I hate to think I can't publish this as a pattern until the end of the month when the entries are due, so if I'm inspired to do another garden themed pattern in the next week or so I'll get this one posted as a pattern sooner and let you know.

I plan on finishing this in a black distressed 8 x 10 frame and hanging it next to the door that leads out to our porch, where my husband plans on having an amazing container garden this summer.

In my next post I want to gab about floss and my new favorite color. Stay tuned! 

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