june at noon

My creative space last night and today has been a-bustle with shop update preparations—finishing, packaging, photo shoots, photo sorting and editing, writing….

I’ve got four sets of pretty sewing pins and a new redwork embroidery to list, along with some 5×7″ prints of my sewing pin photos. How’s that for productive? (For me, at least!) I’ll be headed over to Etsy to start making listings as soon as I click “publish” on this post.

For more creative spaces, visit Kirsty at kootoyoo.

(Oh, and for those of you who asked, I will be selling sets of postcards with the pin photos as well. Just have to wait for them to be printed and sent to me!)

Click!

This weekend found me boiling my embroidery. Yes, that’s right. Boiling it.

Upon rinsing out the marking pen from a finished embroidery piece, I discovered that some of the red floss had bled onto the fabric. Horrors! (I’ve used this floss before and never had this sort of trouble.)

After doing some research on the Internets, I decided to try the following:

Fill a pot (large enough to hold your embroidery) with water and bring it to a boil. Throw in a couple of teaspoons of cream of tartar and let it dissolve. Turn off the heat and place your embroidery into the water, stirring it around gently a couple of times. Let it soak for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the water. And …

… it worked!

I don’t remember where I found this suggestion or I’d link to it. It was originally suggested for red floss that had bled onto linen, but it worked wonders for my muslin as well. The stain lifted almost immediately, and the piece was saved. Oh, thank you, Internets!

As you can see, it’s a smaller version of my embroidered doll’s house, intended for the shop. Now it’s on to finishing and writing a listing and pricing it…. Oh, and enjoying this nice little patch of sunlight on this wonderfully warm day.

Meanwhile, I’m still in pin mode—making some pins for the shop, testing prints of the pin photos. To those of you who requested them (and even those who did not, if you feel so inclined), which prints are your favorites? Do you think you’d prefer postcards, greeting cards, or larger prints, such as a 5×7″ or 6×8″? Ah, the decisions!

Isn’t it amazing how the online creative community can introduce us to so many different people who inspire us in so many ways? Some time ago an architect from Uruguay left a comment on this site, and we struck up a cordial conversation. I liked her right away, and not just because she also enjoys recreational sewing!

Alejandra, or Ale as I came to know her, sent me links to her websites, and I just fell in love with her photography. I can appreciate some beautiful architecture, and I love good photography, so I knew all of you creative types would appreciate Ale’s work as much as I do.

Here’s a taste:

(All photos by Alejandra Symonds, used with permission.)

You can find Ale here and here. (Most of the text is in Spanish, so if you need a translation, you can plug it into Google Translator if you like.)

Thanks, Ale. I hope you’ll continue to share your amazing view of the world with us!