Off to school

A friend of mine is headed off to grad school next week. So, I'm sending her off with this pencil bag to remember me by. Even though she's only going to school down the road, I have a feeling we will see a little less of her for the next 2 years. Good luck Jillian!!

I used a tutorial, by Anna at twelve22, to make my bag. I sketched the pencil on the bag using a fabric marker before embroidering it. I cut the fabric before embroidered the pencil, and though it worked this time I will probably embroider then cut next time.

Hey there cupcake!

Making this card was a lot of fun, and creating it reminded me of a fuzzy memory from my childhood of cards that had images on them and pre-punched holes that we could "sew". 

Project notes: When I make cards like this in the future, I will construct them a little differently the inside paper was too thin to glue of the back of an embroidery piece. 

It was a busy Christmas

The "Mustard Scarf" by Jane Richmond was a gift for James mother. It was a fun project and quick to knit up and I used Malabrigo kettle dyed wool. The hats are the "Really warm hat" by Melissa LaBarre. These were also a simple project that were fun to knit up.

For some of our friends we made a mulled wine mix based on a recipe by Ina Garten and, tied it to a bottle of wine. These were easy and created the need to buy a Clover pom pom maker. I now have one in almost every size. Pom Pom makers are easy enough to create at home with some cardboard, but I felt for the quantities I was making the store bought version were worth the extra cost to save a little time.

When we watched the Family Guy rendition of Star Wars with my sister she found Cleveland's character R2-D2 particularly entertaining. So for Christmas I embroidered her this picture and stretched it over a canvas to make a wall hanging. My favorite part was creating his 'fro out of french knots. I used a screen shot from the movie, traced it and transferred it on to the fabric using a heat transfer pencil then retraced it with a fabric marker.

Embroidery: first attempt

This is my first attempt at embroidery. It was a lot of fun, easy, but harder than I expected. It's on a tea towel, and the design is my own. I used a heat transfer pencil to trace my design then ironed it on to the towel.