I had to adjust the roof so it didn't cover the tree, so it's a bit smaller than the original pattern, but I am really liking my stitched apple tree on the side. I might have to go back to the craft store and get some more of that tree ribbon too.
Showing posts with label crafts- embroidery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts- embroidery. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
House Ornament
A little house ornament, made with this tutorial: Little House Ornaments.
I had to adjust the roof so it didn't cover the tree, so it's a bit smaller than the original pattern, but I am really liking my stitched apple tree on the side. I might have to go back to the craft store and get some more of that tree ribbon too.
I had to adjust the roof so it didn't cover the tree, so it's a bit smaller than the original pattern, but I am really liking my stitched apple tree on the side. I might have to go back to the craft store and get some more of that tree ribbon too.
Friday, November 13, 2009
November Embroideries
Here are some of the things I've been working on.
Small cloth napkins to tuck into Jr's lunchbox. Bunny in a ghost costume by Craftblog.com.au. Teapot and the barrel of monkeys from Sublime Stitching. Racecar and driver by Blackbird Jr.
Bear pattern from Badbird
Elephant pattern from So September
Another Badbird pattern
Works in progress: a Polo shirt and more cloth napkins. The napkin with red marker on it is how I get Jr to draw a picture and then I embroider over it and the marker washes right out. That picture is of a pirate ship and an island with a treasure box and palm tree.
Small cloth napkins to tuck into Jr's lunchbox. Bunny in a ghost costume by Craftblog.com.au. Teapot and the barrel of monkeys from Sublime Stitching. Racecar and driver by Blackbird Jr.
Bear pattern from Badbird
Elephant pattern from So September
Another Badbird pattern
Works in progress: a Polo shirt and more cloth napkins. The napkin with red marker on it is how I get Jr to draw a picture and then I embroider over it and the marker washes right out. That picture is of a pirate ship and an island with a treasure box and palm tree.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Embroideries and Salad Faces
A row house for a swap
2 versions of a free pattern from Andrea Zuill. The blue one is a gift for a friend, the pink one is for me and I am going to do some quilting around it to make it into a wall hanging.
I use a lot of cloth totebags, but I hate advertising on them, so I've been covering up the ads with pieces of fabric.
What I did with some of the bot camp fabric
For lunch this week we made salad faces with cream cheese on corn thins and assorted toppings. Inspired by Mollie Katzen's Salad People.
this one is a salad alien, by Blackbird Jr
A little surprise Jr and I made for Mr Blackbird
2 versions of a free pattern from Andrea Zuill. The blue one is a gift for a friend, the pink one is for me and I am going to do some quilting around it to make it into a wall hanging.
I use a lot of cloth totebags, but I hate advertising on them, so I've been covering up the ads with pieces of fabric.
What I did with some of the bot camp fabric
For lunch this week we made salad faces with cream cheese on corn thins and assorted toppings. Inspired by Mollie Katzen's Salad People.
this one is a salad alien, by Blackbird Jr
A little surprise Jr and I made for Mr Blackbird
Friday, May 22, 2009
Best Books I've Recently Read
I haven't been posting what I've been reading, as all of my reading can now be viewed over at Good Reads, but I've recently read a few novels that deserve further attention and recommendation. Here are the best books I've recently read- all are highly recommended.
Flight by Sherman Alexie
From Sherman Alexie's site:
Sherman Alexie’s first novel in ten years is the hilarious and tragic portrait of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a violent search for his true identity.
Sherman Alexie is one of our most gifted and accomplished storytellers and a treasured writer of huge national stature. His first novel since Indian Killer is a powerful, fast, and timely story of a troubled foster teenager—a boy who is not a “legal” Indian because he was never claimed by his father—who learns the true meaning of terror.
The journey for this young hero begins as he’s about to commit a massive act of violence. At the moment of decision, he finds himself shot back through time and resurfaced in the body of an FBI agent during the civil rights era. Here he will be forced to see just why “Hell is Red River, Idaho, in the 1970s.” Red River is only the first stop in a shocking sojourn through moments of violence in American history. He will continue traveling back to inhabit the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Bighorn and then ride with an Indian tracker in the nineteenth century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. During these frantic trips through time, his refrain grows: “Who’s to judge?” and “I don’t understand humans.” When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own contemporary body, he is mightily transformed by all he’s seen.
This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant—making us laugh while he’s breaking our hearts. Time Out has said that “Alexie, like his characters, is on a modern-day vision quest,” and this has never been clearer than in Flight, where he seeks nothing less than an understanding of why human beings hate. Simultaneously wrenching and deeply humorous, wholly contemporary yet steeped in American history, Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and groundbreaking Alexie.
Kindred by Octavia E Butler
summary from enotes:
On her twenty-sixth birthday, Dana, the protagonist of Kindred, is overcome by nausea and finds herself on the bank of a river. When she sees a young boy drowning in the river, she jumps in and saves him. She is shocked when the boy's father points a gun at her head; it is clear that he is suspicious of Dana, a young black woman. Suddenly, she finds herself back in her living room. Although she was by the river for minutes, she has been away from home for only a few seconds.
Traumatized by the event, she calms down and begins to recover her wits. Suddenly she finds herself next to the same boy, named Rufus, in a burning bedroom. As she saves him again, Dana realizes that Rufus is calling her when his life is in danger. She discovers that the year is 1815, and although he is a white, Southern slave-owner, he is the future father of the first woman listed in her family records—Hagar Weylin. The woman listed as Hagar's mother, Alice Greenwood, is a free black child and Rufus' friend. Dana realizes that she has just saved the life of her ancestor.
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
from an amazon review:
At the beginning of the novel Meena is in London, an old woman who has lived a tumultuous life. At the urging of her abolitionist sponsors, she is asked to pen her story which would be used as evidence depicting the cruelty and inhumanity of the slave trade. Meena, an intelligent, educated woman, authors her autobiography via vivid flashbacks through time. She writes, "Let me begin with a caveat to any and all who find these pages. Do not trust large bodies of water, and do not cross them. If you, dear reader, have an African hue and find yourself led toward water with vanishing shores, seize your freedom by any means necessary." She continues and details her life as a young child in an African village, her capture and Middle Passage crossing, enslavement while in America, relocation to Nova Scotia, return to Africa (Freetown, Sierra Leone), and partnering with abolitionists in England.
You can read the first 50 pages of The Book of Negroes below:
Best Children's Books
Oh, how we love Melanie Watt! Her Scaredy Squirrel series is clever and humourous, with wonderful illustrations. Scaredy worries about everything and makes several escape/emergency plans and never forgets that if all else fails, he can play dead. In each book Scaredy ends up having more fun than he ever imagined and even relaxing a little.
Jr loved them so much he requested a Scaredy picture for his latest t-shirt and searched through all of his Scaredy books until he selected just what image he wanted- Scaredy being frightened by a "killer" (albeit very friendly looking) bee.
The other book by Melanie Watt we have read was Augustine. Sweet Augustine is moving from the South Pole to the North Pole and is scared. She finds refuge in and makes friends through her artwork. Augustine's artwork also introduces children to a number of famous artworks. Her story is much quieter than Scaredy but Jr also became very attached to this little penguin.
Scaredy and Augustine spreads from kids can press.
Flight by Sherman Alexie
From Sherman Alexie's site:
Sherman Alexie’s first novel in ten years is the hilarious and tragic portrait of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a violent search for his true identity.
Sherman Alexie is one of our most gifted and accomplished storytellers and a treasured writer of huge national stature. His first novel since Indian Killer is a powerful, fast, and timely story of a troubled foster teenager—a boy who is not a “legal” Indian because he was never claimed by his father—who learns the true meaning of terror.
The journey for this young hero begins as he’s about to commit a massive act of violence. At the moment of decision, he finds himself shot back through time and resurfaced in the body of an FBI agent during the civil rights era. Here he will be forced to see just why “Hell is Red River, Idaho, in the 1970s.” Red River is only the first stop in a shocking sojourn through moments of violence in American history. He will continue traveling back to inhabit the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Bighorn and then ride with an Indian tracker in the nineteenth century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. During these frantic trips through time, his refrain grows: “Who’s to judge?” and “I don’t understand humans.” When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own contemporary body, he is mightily transformed by all he’s seen.
This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant—making us laugh while he’s breaking our hearts. Time Out has said that “Alexie, like his characters, is on a modern-day vision quest,” and this has never been clearer than in Flight, where he seeks nothing less than an understanding of why human beings hate. Simultaneously wrenching and deeply humorous, wholly contemporary yet steeped in American history, Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and groundbreaking Alexie.
Kindred by Octavia E Butler
summary from enotes:
On her twenty-sixth birthday, Dana, the protagonist of Kindred, is overcome by nausea and finds herself on the bank of a river. When she sees a young boy drowning in the river, she jumps in and saves him. She is shocked when the boy's father points a gun at her head; it is clear that he is suspicious of Dana, a young black woman. Suddenly, she finds herself back in her living room. Although she was by the river for minutes, she has been away from home for only a few seconds.
Traumatized by the event, she calms down and begins to recover her wits. Suddenly she finds herself next to the same boy, named Rufus, in a burning bedroom. As she saves him again, Dana realizes that Rufus is calling her when his life is in danger. She discovers that the year is 1815, and although he is a white, Southern slave-owner, he is the future father of the first woman listed in her family records—Hagar Weylin. The woman listed as Hagar's mother, Alice Greenwood, is a free black child and Rufus' friend. Dana realizes that she has just saved the life of her ancestor.
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
from an amazon review:
At the beginning of the novel Meena is in London, an old woman who has lived a tumultuous life. At the urging of her abolitionist sponsors, she is asked to pen her story which would be used as evidence depicting the cruelty and inhumanity of the slave trade. Meena, an intelligent, educated woman, authors her autobiography via vivid flashbacks through time. She writes, "Let me begin with a caveat to any and all who find these pages. Do not trust large bodies of water, and do not cross them. If you, dear reader, have an African hue and find yourself led toward water with vanishing shores, seize your freedom by any means necessary." She continues and details her life as a young child in an African village, her capture and Middle Passage crossing, enslavement while in America, relocation to Nova Scotia, return to Africa (Freetown, Sierra Leone), and partnering with abolitionists in England.
You can read the first 50 pages of The Book of Negroes below:
 |   Browse Inside this bookGet this for your site |  |
Best Children's Books
Oh, how we love Melanie Watt! Her Scaredy Squirrel series is clever and humourous, with wonderful illustrations. Scaredy worries about everything and makes several escape/emergency plans and never forgets that if all else fails, he can play dead. In each book Scaredy ends up having more fun than he ever imagined and even relaxing a little.
Jr loved them so much he requested a Scaredy picture for his latest t-shirt and searched through all of his Scaredy books until he selected just what image he wanted- Scaredy being frightened by a "killer" (albeit very friendly looking) bee.
The other book by Melanie Watt we have read was Augustine. Sweet Augustine is moving from the South Pole to the North Pole and is scared. She finds refuge in and makes friends through her artwork. Augustine's artwork also introduces children to a number of famous artworks. Her story is much quieter than Scaredy but Jr also became very attached to this little penguin.
Scaredy and Augustine spreads from kids can press.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Swaps
I got a great package of goodies in the mail yesterday from my lovely friend T in Ontario.
She not only sent me a craft (the very pretty blue and red wristcuff) but materials to make more crafts. She knows me well! I am going to use the pink fabrics for a placemat for me, maybe with some chicken scratch on the pink gingham. The pendant is made for me to put my own cross stitch design on, which I am nerdily excited about.
I wanted to mention Swap Bot in this post. I was the organizer of this Spring Craft Swap and I found swap bot really useful. I'm signed up for 2 more swaps at present, one with friends and the other an open swap I found through the site. Most of the swaps are crafty, but not all as people swap books, music, food and other items. The international swap I am signed up for is to send packets of hot chocolate so we can try different kinds of cocoa from around the world. So far I have purchased some gourmet cocoa from a regular grocery store, Second Cup brand cocoa and I want to try and get some individual sachets of Cocoa Camino hot cocoa too, especially if I can find their chili spice kind. Yum! With swap bot people get feedback once their packages arrive, which cuts down on people flaking out and not sending, which is nice. If you like goodies in the mail, check it out.
She not only sent me a craft (the very pretty blue and red wristcuff) but materials to make more crafts. She knows me well! I am going to use the pink fabrics for a placemat for me, maybe with some chicken scratch on the pink gingham. The pendant is made for me to put my own cross stitch design on, which I am nerdily excited about.
I wanted to mention Swap Bot in this post. I was the organizer of this Spring Craft Swap and I found swap bot really useful. I'm signed up for 2 more swaps at present, one with friends and the other an open swap I found through the site. Most of the swaps are crafty, but not all as people swap books, music, food and other items. The international swap I am signed up for is to send packets of hot chocolate so we can try different kinds of cocoa from around the world. So far I have purchased some gourmet cocoa from a regular grocery store, Second Cup brand cocoa and I want to try and get some individual sachets of Cocoa Camino hot cocoa too, especially if I can find their chili spice kind. Yum! With swap bot people get feedback once their packages arrive, which cuts down on people flaking out and not sending, which is nice. If you like goodies in the mail, check it out.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Needlework Wall Display
I realized earlier this Winter that I rarely keep things I craft. I tend to make gifts, things for Blackbird Jr and the occasional craft request from someone else. I also realized I have very little art in my home and I wanted more. I bought a couple of little things (like my Red Riding Hood paper doll) and started doing some needlework to hang in my living room. This is what I have so far and I am viewing it as work in progress that I will be adding to occasionally.
A spiderweb, a trio of owls and a star stitched by Blackbird Jr.
The web. I stitched it with a multi-colour thread for the spider and branches and I blended white and grey with filament for the web.
Little barn owls
Jr's star. One of his first stitching projects, he's working on a truck now (his choice of pattern).
What they look like in my living room.
I don't have anything special planned at the moment so I've resumed, again, Jr's christmas stocking. I've been working on it off and on since 2007. It's incredibly time consuming. See that lion butt to the right of the teddy bear in gold? That's 6 episodes of Buffy- around 5.5 hours of stitching. Hopefully the stocking will be done before he moves out as I usually get bored of it after a bit and do something else.
I've been having a discussion with my friend B on whisper whisper about how much we both want a Yudu. Today I was folding tea towels and I noticed mine are wearing out. My thought process quickly went from how I need new tea towels to how I could screen print them with a yudu.
A spiderweb, a trio of owls and a star stitched by Blackbird Jr.
The web. I stitched it with a multi-colour thread for the spider and branches and I blended white and grey with filament for the web.
Little barn owls
Jr's star. One of his first stitching projects, he's working on a truck now (his choice of pattern).
What they look like in my living room.
I don't have anything special planned at the moment so I've resumed, again, Jr's christmas stocking. I've been working on it off and on since 2007. It's incredibly time consuming. See that lion butt to the right of the teddy bear in gold? That's 6 episodes of Buffy- around 5.5 hours of stitching. Hopefully the stocking will be done before he moves out as I usually get bored of it after a bit and do something else.
I've been having a discussion with my friend B on whisper whisper about how much we both want a Yudu. Today I was folding tea towels and I noticed mine are wearing out. My thought process quickly went from how I need new tea towels to how I could screen print them with a yudu.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Twilight Cross Stitch and a Deer
I designed this Twilight cross stitch on MacStitch 2008 after many hours of struggling with grid paper and a pencil! I adapted the border from a purchased design and the fonts are from a pattern book and the MacStitch default font. The hearts were made from a free pattern which can be found here.
I've been wanting to do a cross stitch inspired by traditional samplers and fairy tales and decided to make this as a gift for my sister who loves the Twilight Saga.
and I finally managed to take a picture of the little embroidered deer hangings I made for a few holiday presents this winter.
I made the deer with a free embroidery pattern from Andrea Zuill.
I've been wanting to do a cross stitch inspired by traditional samplers and fairy tales and decided to make this as a gift for my sister who loves the Twilight Saga.
and I finally managed to take a picture of the little embroidered deer hangings I made for a few holiday presents this winter.
I made the deer with a free embroidery pattern from Andrea Zuill.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Adventures of Polo
Blackbird Jr's new favourite books are The Adventures of Polo and Polo: The Runaway Book by Regis Faller. They are written comic book style with few words (if any) and with plenty of action. Here are a few panels:
There is also a Polo website, which is lots of fun and full of surprises. There are little aliens hiding and you can also find Polo doing different things around the site. As well, there is a printable boat craft (which we've assembled), colouring pages to print and games if you click on the right things. Jr's favourite is to find the aliens that play music when you click them.
I picked up a couple of blank shirts and Blackbird Jr requested a Polo one so this is what I made, using one of the colouring sheets as a pattern:
There is also a Polo website, which is lots of fun and full of surprises. There are little aliens hiding and you can also find Polo doing different things around the site. As well, there is a printable boat craft (which we've assembled), colouring pages to print and games if you click on the right things. Jr's favourite is to find the aliens that play music when you click them.
I picked up a couple of blank shirts and Blackbird Jr requested a Polo one so this is what I made, using one of the colouring sheets as a pattern:
Monday, December 15, 2008
Quilted Wall Hanging
A holiday gift I remembered to take photos of, unlike most everything I've sent out.
and a gift from a friend through an Ornament Swap- a cozy cup of hot cocoa! Blackbird Jr thinks it is the height of hilarity to pretend to offer it to people as he believes we do not realize it is fake until we attempt to drink some.
and a gift from a friend through an Ornament Swap- a cozy cup of hot cocoa! Blackbird Jr thinks it is the height of hilarity to pretend to offer it to people as he believes we do not realize it is fake until we attempt to drink some.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Crafting Catch-Up
A new doll, made in a swap for some knitted dishcloths.
A shirt for Blackbird Jr where I embroidered some pictures he drew. He drew him in a racecar for the front and the 2 of us in a rocketship for the back.
Kitchen teatowel, made with sublime stitching patterns from my lovely friend, A.
And more shrinky dinks! We've been having lots of fun with them.
A shirt for Blackbird Jr where I embroidered some pictures he drew. He drew him in a racecar for the front and the 2 of us in a rocketship for the back.
Kitchen teatowel, made with sublime stitching patterns from my lovely friend, A.
And more shrinky dinks! We've been having lots of fun with them.
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