Easter portraits

When I posted my portrait of Winnie I mentioned that I hoped to do some additional portraits soon. The opportunity came this month, and I was able to finish two portraits as an Easter thank you for my sister-in-law and her daughter-in-law.

February was a tough month for our extended family, so I wanted to do something life-affirming with my embroidery. Since we were unexpectedly in Michigan, I was reminded again of how darling my sister-in-law's first great grand daughter is. She is a spunky little Disney princess and once we left, I was really looking forward to embroidering her.

This time, I played a lot with the photos and for the first time wasn't afraid to rip out stitches and re-stitch lines. I still have a long way to go to become a portrait artist, but I think that there is a noticeable improvement over my last attempt.

 

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Tea time

I made one final Christmas gift--a tea cozy for my neighbor who is starting a tea catering business out of her home. She's moving slowly with it, researching all the state food service regulations and practicing her menus. In the meantime, my husband and I are recipients of her experiments. It is great to have a neighbor who bakes!

The original name of her proposed business was Come Have Tea With Me, hence the saying on the cozy. She has already sent me some Pinterest ideas for more cosies. I am looking forward to working on them later this year!

 

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JOY

The hand-made Christmas presents weren't numerous this year, but I did make Christmas banners for over the fireplace--four in all. I made one for each step son, one for my parents, and one for my husband and me. I sent my husband a photo of the two I made for his sons and when he said he wanted one as well, I told him that there was no possible way I could make any more before I came home. Then I proceeded to do just that!

I had seen similar banners in a craft book that I borrowed from the library, but when I went back to look for the book, I couldn't find it, so I had the fun job of designing them myself. I printed the letters out on my computer along with a triangle template and was soon off and running.

Since the letters are machine appliquéd and really have to look nice, I was terrified, but I didn't have to redo any of them. They aren't perfect, but I am satisfied with how they turned out.

 

Four sets turned out to be the perfect number for the fabric I had bought too. I had no waste!

A banner hanging over my parent's hearth.

 

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Winnie

I promised to show you all some of the Chistmas presents that I made this year. Now that they are all distributed, it is safe to post them. One of my favorites was Winnie, my daughter-in-law's French Bulldog. I wanted to repeat the outline technique that I first tried last year. The difficult part of this technique is deciding what details to keep in and what to leave out. I wish I were a natural artist, but I see improvement each time I trace a new photo, and I think it worked very well this time. At least my daughter-in-law recognized Winnie right away! I have a few more of these projects that I want to try, so you may see more soon.

 

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Stitch-a-long progress

Wow! It is amazing to me, but Janet Brant has reported that at least one person has finished her stitch-a-long! I knew that given my schedule I would lag behind others, but that is amazing. My progress is much more modest, but it is still progress. And, because I am stitching slower, I am taking some inspiration from others to incorporate into my work. Fun! Anyway, here is my progress so far. Slow, but steady.

Stitching progress after 2 weeks.

 

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Stitching along with Janet Brandt

It has been a long time since I posted anything, and in fact, I'm surprised I posted as much as I did in 2015. It was a very dry year for creativity. Toward the end of the year things picked up and I will show what I finished for Christmas gifts eventually. I really needed a kick start to get my creative juices flowing, and Janet Brandt provided it by posting a free-for-all stitch along. There are no real rules, just a pattern for which she is posting her own stitching progress. It is fanciful and fun and there is no pressure. Just what I need right now! So, I downloaded the pattern, drew it on my fabric and bought my floss. My progress will be much slower than hers, but I am looking forward to stitching for the fun of it. If you want to stitch along too, you can find Janet's pattern and posts on her blog.

As you can see, my pattern isn't perfectly copied (it was hard to see the pattern through the dark fabric), but that is ok. I'm not worrying. I'm just stitching! I'll show my progress next week.

 

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Dracen's new pillow

It has been a long time since I picked up a needle, but I am back in Denver for three weeks and realized that if I want any home sewn Christmas gifts, I will need to make them before I return to New England. My first project was a new pillow for our two and a half year old grandson.

Last month he stayed over night at our house, but his usual soft pillow was in the laundry. We gave him a small pillow, but it was quite firm. As a result, he didn't sleep well. The next morning I vowed to make him a new pillow to leave at our house.

I decided to try to make this pillow using only my stash. I didn't quite make it. I was out of fusible webbing, and while I was at the fabric store I decided that rickrack would be a good addition. Other than that, I had everything on hand. The fabric for the pillow actually comes from an old pair of fleece pajamas that never fit right, but is nice and cozy.

The little dragon appliqué is inspired by Dracen's name. It is an English name that means dragon. I looked online for pictures of sleeping dragons and free-handed a cartoon dragon that appealed to me. My version is simpler than the online dragon, but perfect for machine embroidery.

I am not a great machine embroider, but this actually worked pretty well without a lot of heartache. I'm pleased at how it turned out. A few hand embroidered details and, in about an hour, I had the first home made Christmas gift of the year!

 

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