Hello!

Hello!

One thousand apologies for my absence, but let's get on with it shall we? 2013 has been very creative for me so far, and I'd love to share a few of my latest projects.



This little fox is the result of a lot of sketching and thinking, more on him later! I'll have a separate post, soon.



This piece I made for the upcoming art auction at Ian's school. It was inspired by their class's country for this year, Haiti. (The school's theme is "We are the World" this year.) I did quite a bit of research on fiber arts in Haiti, and found a group called Haiti Peace Quilts. A common theme in many of the quilts was a Tree of Life symbol, and that was the inspiration for the students' pieces as well. (More on that later!)



I'm not quite done with this one, Ian asked to keep it at our house.





And, last but not least, I made a ton of these little fabric and felt catchalls for Christmas gifts. A piece of 100% wool felt, a nice print fabric in the same size, some embroidery floss and some buckwheat hulls! They turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. The embroidery in the center creates a small indentation for keys, jewelery, etc. I hope to have some of these in my Etsy shop soon!

All the felt is from Janet at Felt on the Fly! She's one of Stumbles and Stitches' sponsors, but I am also a loyal customer. Her felt is wonderful, her customer service is outstanding. Thanks again for picking out such beautiful colors for me, Janet!

More stitching, to settle the mind

So, when the kids both woke up at what I thought was 5:30 am on Sunday (bad enough) and then I realized it was really 4:30 am because of the time change, I muttered some choice cuss words under my breath and crawled out of bed. As you know, Lee's dad passed last week,  and Lee has been under so much stress he needs to sleep in every chance he can get. So I was glad to let him sleep, but very grumpy at the prospect of entertaining a 3 year old and a 7 year old in a quiet manner (small house, as you know) for how many ever hours.

TV, a relatively quiet and easy fall back, was not an option that early. We don't have cable, and PBS here does not start showing kid programming until 6 or 7 am. Our "AirPort" is also on the fritz, which means no purchased TV or rerouted stuff from the computer. Did I mention there's no DVD player hooked up, either? It's practically medieval in this house (ha ha).  I got everyone settled with some cereal and warm tea (extra strength coffee for me) and sat down at the table with my go-to project these days: the Winterwoods Sampler from Posie: Rosy Little Things . My hope was that I would be inspired (and settled) by stitching for a few minutes so I could engage the kids in a non-disruptive, creative way.

Have you seen this sweet sampler? It's cross-stitch, and manages to feel antique and modern all at once, thanks to the sophisticated materials that come with the kit and the fresh motifs. Gorgeous linen, hand dyed cotton thread and very clear, concise instructions are all included, and the fact that cross stitch is so incredibly easy to put down and pick up really appeals to me. 

I think I got about twenty stitches in before Silas started begging me to try it, and Ian started asking when he could learn how to sew. A month ago, or even a few weeks ago, I might have gotten really overwhelmed (and irritated, if I'm honest) at the thought of starting this process at 5 am. But instead, I took a deep breath and snuck back into the bedroom to find a small hoop and some open weave burlap fabric just perfect for a 3 year old.

This is what Silas ended up with! A few things I do to help along the process: use thick, sturdy yarn with a large eyed, blunt tipped metal needle (tapestry needles work great). I use a relatively open weave burlap type fabric with kids as small as Silas, and I put it into a wooden hoop very tightly so that there is no "give" to make it feel wobbly. Last, I tie the yarn to the needle at the very top to keep it from slipping off, and I make sure the yarn is no longer than about 18 inches to 24 inches. It means more yarn changes, but anything longer is super hard to pull through each time.

Ian was intrigued by the individual motifs of the sampler, and decided to draw his own "autumn" sampler on paper. He told me, "No guys with guns mom, or ninjas like normal. Just stuff like pumpkins and guys with hats." When I saw how cool his drawings were, I grabbed a bag of cross stitch fabric scraps and saw a long, slender strip. I taped it down to the kid table and had him sketch a few of the images big enough to fill the space.

We used fabric markers to trace over the pencil sketch, he needed a tiny bit of help tracing a few of the finer details but overall he did it by himself! I love these so much, he is constantly drawing and it is so great to see him branching out a bit in the subject matter. He is quite the artist these days!

I started working on a project with his drawings today, I hope to have it ready to show you next week! Just in time for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Stay tuned. I am looking forward to spending lots of time with my family (both immediate and extended) this holiday season, how about you?

Readers, thank you so much for your kind words from my last post. Lee's father passed away peacefully at home last week, he will be missed terribly by all of us.

A Heart in the Pocket

Happy Monday!

So, remember how I mentioned we had a rough start of Kindergarten? While school itself has been awesome and super fun, the before- and after-school hours (in other words, the "at home" and "with family" hours) became a bit emotional and difficult around the one week mark. At drop-off in the morning, Ben wouldn't let me leave, burst into tears when the bell rang, and even tried to follow me home while his classmates filed into the classroom one day.

Angel, I took your advice and offered to make a little love token for Ben to keep in his pocket. This would be a symbol of how much I loved him and missed him while he was at school, and if he was ever sad, he could take it out and think of my giving him a hug and kisses. He LOVED the idea and we brainstormed what it should be together, settling on a felt heart filled with lavender.




This was such a simple project! I got it done in about 45 minutes, while watching TV one evening. I used a sheet of red wool felt from Felt On The Fly (one of our lovely sponsors!). It is so luxurious, perfect for this type of gift. I cut out 2 heart shapes and pinned them together. I embroidered a running stitch about 3/4 of the way around the edge, then filled the heart with a little polyfill.




I had some dry lavender in a pitcher in my kitchen. I cut a few buds, crumbled them between my fingers and stuffed a generous amount of lavender into the heart along with the polyfill. When the heart felt full (aw!), I finished the embroidery around the edge to close it. I then embroidered another outline in running stitch in a different color.

That evening when I went to bed, I left the heart on the couch next to the TV remote. Ben is often up before everyone else in the morning and is allowed to watch PBS cartoons until we're up. I knew he would find the heart first thing in the morning. When I woke up, I saw a beaming kiddo holding on tight to his little love token!






He proudly stuck the heart in his pocket before school that day, and we haven't had tears at drop-off ever since! (The meltdowns when he is exhausted after school, oh yes, those still happen.) I heard from the teacher that the heart was a big hit, with Ben proudly showing it off and some of his friends asking their own moms to make one.





Things have improved quite a bit over the last couple of weeks and now the heart resides in Ben's backpack. He no longer needs it in his pocket, but it is at school with him should he ever feel sad and need some comfort. If it works for him, it works for me!


How have you handled your kiddos' tough time with the return to school? Every child is different, so I'm sure different things work for each of them.

On a different note, how are you doing with organizing and getting the house and family schedule in shape? I will be back in a couple of days with some updates on my getting-my-act-together endeavors!

Tutorial: Felt Beehive Ornament

Greetings friends!

If you've been following along, you'll know that I've been working on this tutorial for quite awhile. If we lived in the same city, and I could sit down next to you and show you, you'd have learned how to make this ornament months ago! But I seem to be at odds with technology these last six months or so, and I feel like I have wrestled with every single step of this online tutorial.

BUT: it may have all been for a larger purpose, because tomorrow is NATIONAL HONEYBEE DAY! (Click the link to find out how you can participate!). Perfect timing, after all: my inspiration for the ornament I'm sharing is our family beehives! (I'll get a post up soon to show off our hives.)

Whip up a beehive ornament for your favorite bee lover, or for yourself! (Or, head over to my SHOP to buy one that's already been lovingly hand sewn!) More than a "holiday" ornament, it can be a year round reminder you can hang anywhere to remind you to LOVE THE BEES!!!!!!

So, without further ado, here it is.

 

Tutorial: Knotty Christmas Tree Ornaments

Hello there!

This is the second year we've hosted Christmas in July and it feels familiarly odd to be working on holiday decorations when it is sunny and warm out. We spend most days at the beach or the park, then in the evening I embroider little Christmas trees... weird! But I know I'll be so glad to have some fresh handmade goodness with which to decorate at Christmas time!

I finished some ornaments yesterday, with a design I had been mulling over for a while. And I thought I'd share a little tutorial so you can make some too! I hope you like them!




I call these "knotty" Christmas trees because they are embellished with bits of felt and French knots...

Things you'll need:

• 1 rectangle of fabric, 6 x 10 inches
• scraps of felt
• embroidery floss in coordinating colors
• embroidery needle
• a small embroidery hoop
• fabric marker
• point turner or chopstick
• handful of polyfill
• hole punch
• sewing machine, thread, scissors, pins

A Few Details:

• You'll want to start by printing out my template (PDF) for the tree. I recommend printing or tracing onto cardstock. Then cut out the tree shape.
• This tutorial is for your personal use and enjoyment only. Please do not sell or copy this pattern, or use it for profit. Thank you for respecting my copyright!
• If you make an ornament or a few with this tutorial, I'd love to see them! Please upload photos to our Flickr friends group!

Learning about friendship.....

 

Embroidery hoop by Jenny Bartoy Handmade Designs

I'm going to take this opportunity, while I know Jenny is on her way back from a camping trip with the family, to let you all in on a little secret: I am a lucky, lucky girl.

Last week I went out to the mailbox and found a package from Seattle. I thought it was something Ben had sent Ian, so imagine my surprise when I opened it and found something addressed to me! (Ian was bummed out, I should have read the label before I blurted out that it was for him. OOPS.)

Inside was this hoop, lovingly embroidered and finished, with a sweet card from Jenny that said she'd known I had been going through a rough patch, so even though she started making this for herself she'd decided to send it to me once it was done.

Did I mention she managed to get it in the mail while planning and packing for her trip? 

Somehow that "rough patch" doesn't seem so rough anymore, knowing I have a friend like this.......

Turkish Embroidery

Hi Angel!

I loved your beautiful garden photos yesterday. So many gorgeous flowers! You inspired me and I took my camera with me on the way to preschool pick-up today. More on that later this week...

Today I wanted to show you the book I scored at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago: Turkish Embroidery by Gulseren Ramazanoglu.

His + Hers Bulletin Boards

Hi Angel!

I'm so excited, I have already knocked a couple of things off my Feather Your Nest to-do list! To be fair, they were some of the smaller, simpler projects. But still! I thought I would show you the first project I completed. I'll save the other one for a bit later this week, since I'm hoping to turn it into a tutorial... Stay tuned!

This is something I've wanted to do for ages: His and Hers Bulletin Boards!




Our apartment is small, we only have one desk and it is usually consumed by paperwork, craft books, schedules, to-do lists, kid drawings, toys, board books, coffee mugs, sippy cups, AAAAAAH! You know how it is.

WIP: Embroidery Floss Tangle

Embroidery On My Mind -- And Some Link Love

Hi Angel! How are you? I bet you are just ready to move back into your house. 3 weeks left with the remodeling, right? Hang in there!

I credit you with rekindling my interest in embroidery last year with the Doodle Stitch Spring Sampler and other projects. I know you're a big fan of hand stitching. I go back and forth, since I do love the speed and neatness of machine stitches. However, for certain things and specific details, you just need a needle in your hand. And once I poke the fabric and pull the needle through, I never fail to find that special and comforting zen that comes with hand work.

Yesterday, Ben skipped his nap, a common occurrence nowadays (and I know, I should consider myself lucky that he napped consistently until past 4 years old!), and he sat with me at the dining room table while I worked. And we both stitched! I set him up with burlap in a hoop, a tapestry needle and floss of his choice and he went to town stitching his name (which I wrote in marker, like I had for Emma). He was so focused, and so engaged -- I loved it! He did comment on how he was better than me at stitching now -- gotta love the competitiveness of boys this age. Sigh.


While he was embroidering his name with a rainbow of colors, I was working on re-doing this sheep artwork I completed a couple of months ago. Get this: it was never delivered by the post office, despite delivery confirmation!!! Truly heartbreaking and frustrating -- and infuriating since I forgot to insure it!!! Arrrrgh, lesson learned the hard way. Anyway, I am nearly done, just finishing all the embroidery on it.


Meanwhile, this little guy is running around and getting into all the trouble he can:


Anyway, all this talk of stitches made me seek out some inspiring embroidery in my Etsy favorites. If you're looking for fabulous out-of-the-box embroidery inspiration, check these out.

September House



Mary's Granddaughter



Fric de Mentol



Sometimes I Swirl



The Merriweather Council



kaftan sarafan



Tell me you don't want to go find a hoop and a needle right this second?! I'm in awe at the creativity that's out there. Truly inspiring.

What catches your eye in the artwork I just posted? Do you have a favorite embroidery artist I didn't show here? If not embroidery, what's your favorite hand work to zone out with? Please share in the comments!

Spring Sampler Stitch-Along: Progress!

Hello and happy Wednesday! For those of you who are stitching along with me, I wanted to give you on an update on my Spring Sampler. (And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read up on this informal stitch-along here.)

After Angel made a beautiful version of that sampler, I decided to try my hand at it too. The Spring Sampler design is by Aimee Ray for Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection, and you can find a free download of it on the Lark Crafts website.


So here's my progress so far. I know it looks a little strange, but let me explain a little about it. I picked natural linen and a range of blue, aqua and green for my embroidery. When trying to transfer the design onto my linen, nothing worked. Transfer paper wasn't dark enough. Fabric markers and pencils did not show up on the textured fabric. I ended up selecting the last option that Aimee Ray mentions in the book (sent to me by Lark Crafts, thank you!): using tissue paper.




It was see-through enough to easily trace the design with a ballpoint pen. I then taped it onto my flattened fabric with masking tape and carefully put those 2 layers into the hoop.

Vacation Photos and a Stitch-Along!

Hello friends!

How is summer treating you so far? We've been slowly getting used to the new routines and schedules of summertime, and also fighting off the blues since the end of our combined vacation.

Angel and her family visited Jenny and her family in Washington at the beginning of June and it was such fun! We thought we'd reminisce and share a few photos with you... (And keep reading for some stitch-y fun...)

The highlight of the visit was the 3 days we spent at a house on Hood Canal on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. We lucked out with awesome weather and had such a great time!!


Mamas and kids in Port Townsend, WA on a VERY bright day


Ian and Ben in one of many silly pictures


The beach just down from the house where we stayed