I'm back!

Boy, it's been a while!

Life has kept me busy as ever, but I have been working on a few little projects to get me back in the swing of things.....

Ooh, la la! Sexy garlic!


Slightly mischievous tomato.


Happy dancing carrot...hot cha cha!

Of course, this is a work in progress (what do we suppose it could be?). Here's hoping this is the first of many more updates and projects to come in the new year.

Love,
Niki

Catching My Breath

Okay, so after stitching my brains out in the insane rush up to Christmas, I was kind of off the stitching for a while. I just needed a breather. Whew! I feel better now, and I'm itchin' to move onto my next project.

In the meantime, however, here are a few more items I stitched for the holidays....

These napkins were made for a dear friend at work, who loves leaves. Her favorite time of the year is Fall (hey, mine too!) and her crafty (in a manly way) husband even stamped a leaf pattern right into the mud on their walls. She also has the most beautiful red hair, which reminds me of the vibrant Fall colors, and these leaves made me think of her right away.

But you know what I love more than the Fall? Tea! There is nothing like a good cuppa tea in a pretty tea cup. And while we're at it, how about some cake?

The sprinkles on the cupcake were actually my husbands idea. He's far too manly to "craft", but he can still embellish pastries vicariously through me. Marriage...it's all about compromise.




I'm not super in love with how this cake turned out. I think I could have done better with the cherries. But it's not too bad for my first attempt at a design like this. I'm told that bundt cakes can be rather challenging to bake; seems that's also true for stitching them.






I matched this kitchen towel with a pretty blue spatula and a new wooden spoon...essentials for any kitchen...all tied together with a clean, white ribbon. Then I gave it to my mom.







I had a lot of fun hand making all these gifts for the holidays and I'm excitedly looking forward to doing the same this year, with one small adjustment: START MUCH EARLIER! Like, maybe tomorrow?

On a different note, I posted previously about how Tide-To-Go seriously saved my ass two days before Christmas. Well, someone from Tide got wind of my little adventure and left me comment. I just thought that was so fun. Made me smile anyway, to know that from time to time my little blog is getting noticed.

Cat...It's a Kitty Cat!

Hello friends. Did you have a nice holiday? Me too. Time to share more projects!

Remember this little sneak peek?


This eye belongs to Princess McKittersons here, who I stitched on a shirt for my sister-in-law for Christmas. She loves animals, especially kitties.


The pattern was fun, but I'll think twice before stitching on a stretch cotton fabric ever again. It was a bit of a nightmare to keep the fabric taught (despite the use of a stabilizer) which made it difficult to pull the needle through and keep my stitches smooth.

You can see where one of her bottom whiskers got snagged. I tried everything except unpicking an entire section of stitching, which I didn't do because I was down to the last of that particular shade of thread. And it was Christmas Eve. So we'll just pretend that's a charming imperfection that gives this piece personality. A "happy accident" as Bob Ross would say.

Still, I think this turned out rather nicely, don't you?

Cuppa Love Napkins

I embroidered these napkins for my boss for Christmas.
She loves coffee!

I have a pretty unique situation where my boss also happens to be my friend; we've been working together for nearly
twelve years now.

I had initially considered stitching steam coming from the cups, but decided on hearts because she really loves coffee. And also she is a really loving individual. Hearts just seemed appropriate.

When filling in the first heart I used a horizontal stitch, but decided I didn't like it (see left heart above). I used a vertical stitch to do the next heart and it seemed to just "flow" a lot better with the shape. I used a vertical stitch for the rest of the hearts.

So I had this one napkin with the one heart stitched differently from all the others. I bet no one else would ever have noticed had I not pointed it out, but I notice. And it bugs me. Not enough to unpick the whole heart and re-stitch...I was in a real time crunch with these napkins. So don't tell my boss, mmkay?

These are very simple, and yet I find them so happy to look at! And my boss really liked them! She was completely impressed that I did these by hand and not with a machine. Truth be told, this was one of the easier designs I stitched this season and I got them done in a snap. But that's another one of our little secrets, k?

It's Over!

Another Christmas come and gone. With all the stitching projects I had planned out, it was a busy and hectic season indeed. I manged to get it all done, but just barely. I started my final gift at 11pm Christmas Eve and we were hastily wrapping presents just this morning. Whew!

Nevertheless, I completed the projects I set out to do this year. Well, all except for one. But they'll never know, so don't tell them okay?

And since my gifts have all been given, I can finally start sharing! First up, a dish towel I stitched for my mother-in-law who is just mad about Dachshunds.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have this pattern just for her. I'd been wracking my brains for weeks to think of a design and what to stitch it on. I finally settled on a dish towel because who can't use another dish towel and it's something that is easily displayed.
















I adored the girly Dachshund, with her precious little bow, and decided she needed a boyfriend.


"Arf arf, I love you!" Precious.


As a last touch, I paired this dish towel with a Fiestaware pie dish*. My mother-in-law also being mad about Fiestaware, it was perfect.


Merry Christmas, Deb! I hope these bring you years of dry dishes and pie. :)

*I should mention that it was my husband who picked out the pie dish. Good eye, honey!

How Tide-To-Go Saved Christmas

Okay, so maybe Tide-To-Go didn't save Christmas per say, but it did save me a whole lot of hassle, stress and about $17.99.

With Nick's recent surgery and the subsequent events that followed, my holiday stitching projects got pushed to the last minute and now time is of the essence to get these done by Christmas. Several days ago I began work on a piece for someone-who-shall-not-be-named, using an assortment of iron-on patterns for the design.

Long story short, I had the entire piece almost done and then decided that some of the smaller embellishment designs just weren't turning out as I'd hoped and I didn't want them on this piece after all.

Oh. But I already ironed them on! Experience has shown me that these iron-on transfers do not wash off.

Crap.

At this point I was thinking I may have to scrap the project, go buy a new piece to stitch on and start all over. What a waste of time and supplies. Not to mention at this point Christmas was only three days away. Panic!

Out of sheer desperation, and figuring it could hardly make things any worse, I decided to try the Tide-To-Go stick on the designs I wanted removed. I rubbed the crap out of them, tossed the piece in the wash and prayed to the craft gods to have mercy. Much to my surprise, my piece came out of the wash and voila...they were gone! The Tide completely erased the ironed on designs! I love you Tide-To-Go!

So that's the story of how Tide saved Christmas. Sort of. Saved me a big headache anyway. Doesn't this sound like one of those customer testimonials? I should submit this to their customer stories page. Apparently I could win big!

Sneak Peek

The suspense is killing me, people!

I'm itching to post photos of all my latest projects, but to do so would ruin the surprise for those who are receiving them as Christmas gifts. I hate keeping secrets!! But I just need to sit on them for a little while longer. It's only a few more days,
I can make it!

But while we're waiting, here's a sneak peek at a work-in-progress:


Oooh, I wonder who this eye could belong to!

Pretty Flower Napkins

I'm a big admirer of cloth napkins. Not only are they very earth-friendly, but I feel they add a bit of embellishment to a family table.

I embroidered these for a Christmas gift (I'm not telling for who! Could it be you? Who knows!).

I just used some basic cotton dinner napkins, which I found to be very easy to stitch on. They were substantial enough that I did not need to use any stabilizer and they were able to accommodate the full strand of embroidery thread (I really hate splitting embroidery thread).

I found this pattern, once again from the fabulous Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching, to be really fun to stitch. I'm delighted with how these turned out and I can't wait to give them this Christmas!

Sweet Cherries!

I stitched this flour sack towel in the hospital while Nick was having surgery. It was a wonderful distraction and turned out surprisingly decent considering my anxiety level.

Flour sack towels are about as thin and flimsy as baby onesies, so a stabilizer was once again essential. It gives the fabric some strength and helps keep it firm, which ensures nice, clean stitching.

This was also my first attempt at satin stitching. Satin stitching is simply a way to fill in an area with solid lines. Though you could use any stitch to fill in an area, satin stitching is typically the quickest and easiest way.

I am finding there are several schools of thought on satin stitching. Outlining or no outlining, padding, etc. But I think it really boils down to personal preference. I felt like outlining here, but the urge may strike me to stitch sans-outlining some day. I'm incredibly unpredictable.

I couldn't tell you why, but I took enormous pleasure in stitching this word. Maybe it's the whimsical font or the gratifying girliness of the hot pink thread. It just looks like candy!

I am a simple creature.

Baby Onesies

My sister became a new mom a few days ago! In anticipation for the new bundle, I decided to try my hand at embroidering some onesies.

For a first attempt, these really turned out better than I ever expected.

I chose all my patterns from the Sublime Stitching book, mixing and matching to get my final designs.

Onesie fabric is very thin and flimsy; a good stabilizer applied to the back of the fabric before stitching is essential. I used an iron on/tear away stabilizer by Sulky.

I also applied a fusible interfacing to the back of the garment once finished to provide a soft surface against baby's skin. The interfacing I chose was pre-shrunk, but the garment was not and it came right off when I put it in the wash. Lesson learned: wash and pre-shrink fabrics before applying the interfacing!

I think this alien guy has to be my favorite, though the puppy is a close second. I can't wait to see these modeled on my little nephew!

Hello!

Welcome to my new blog!

This place will be dedicated to my love of stitching and all things hand made. I hope to share ideas and inspiration and encourage all of you out there to make something!

How I got started:


This was my very first stitching project (design courtesy of Subersive Crossstitch). Come on, how awesome is this? I'd never really thought about cross stitching before, but this great pattern inspired me! I had a lot of fun stitching it and I got so many compliments on the design I just had to do more.


From cross stitching, I moved on to embroidery. I *love* embroidery; it's like coloring with thread! I'm completely smitten with Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching, who's unicorn pattern I used for my first embroidery project and who's patterns really inspired me to try embroidery in the first place.

Stitching has sure come a long way since I used to watch my grandmother embroider pillowcases!

So stay tuned for more stitching!

Love,
Niki