I’m finally finding the time to get back to a couple of embroidery pieces (Christmas gifts) that I had to put on hold for more pressing projects. This one requires a good soaking before it will be ready for lacing onto its backing board.

In the meantime, I’m whipping up what I hope will be a quick machine-sewn birthday gift. I’ll be able to show you that next week.

If you just can’t get enough, there’s lots more at Kirsty’s, where the Creative Space party happens every week!

A good friend of mine is a portrait photographer, and this summer she took some new family photos for us. As partial payment, I made a couple of items at her request, the first of which was a kids’ play mailbox. It’s customized for their family, and yes, that’s a pug, the type of dog they have—and possibly my favorite part of this project.

It’s constructed of felt, plastic canvas, and embroidery thread and designed to be durable and squashable so that neither mailbox nor child gets hurt in the event of a tumble. (Some of you who’ve been stopping by here for a long time may recall I made similar items for my daughter. I can report that it’s held up to quite a beating from both kids.)

And, of course, there is also felt mail to go with the mailbox, drawn onto stiff felt with markers. I made three postcards, a letter, a birthday card, two envelopes, and a variety of stamps and labels customized for their family.

(As always, more photos on my flickr page.)

I really enjoyed the applique bit of this project, especially the challenge of cutting shapes that, put together, actually resembled a whole picture. I’m thinking I might need to start incorporating that into my embroidery designs some more….

I started with inspiration from several different tutorials I came across that used elastic thread to create a shirring effect. (I can’t find the original tutorial I looked at, but if you search Google for “ruffle scarf tutorial” or “ruffle scarf elastic thread,” you’ll find more than enough options with similar results.)

Behold, the ruffly scarf:

It worked beautifully, but after making a few I started rethinking the style of the scarves. I’d like a couple for myself, and one person on my gift list will definitely rock the ruffles, but it just doesn’t suit the majority of the others.

So I narrowed the strips and used a close zigzag stitch with regular thread on each of the sides to create a softer wave. Then I did some very basic, very (intentionally) wonky Sashiko stitching with embroidery thread to add a bit of interest.

(Geez, why didn’t the Huz tell me my hair looked so … um … ?)

(Hmmm, that’s a nice, awkward pose.)

I think these will do much better. Despite the long, long rows of stitching that killed my hands, they made up pretty quickly, and I really like the effect.

What I like most about all of these is, being made from thin jersey knit, they’re light enough to wear to dress up a shirt in the summer, but they’ll look just fine with a sweater or a coat in the winter as well.

I made enough for all the gift-giving I plan to do plus a couple for myself, and then I amused the neighbors by posing outside in them for photos.

Sigh.

As always, there’s a party going on at Kirsty’s place. Surf on over if you fancy some more creativity.

To begin with, I don’t know that many people who like Super Mario Brothers enough to be excited about a Mario-themed gift. And beyond that, I’m not a big fan of cross stitch. (I think people do some amazing work with cross stitch; I just don’t enjoy doing it myself.)

But I have a friend who got married over the weekend, and when I saw this project on Craftster, I knew I had to do something like it for her. I could’ve embroidered something similar, but I felt the cross stitch lent itself better to the pixelated style of the video game image.

I used the “Bitter Luigi” pattern from Sprite Stitch and simply omitted the Luigi portion of the pattern (not quite appropriate, eh?).

The original pattern is quite small, so I enlarged it 400% by x’ing 4 squares for every 1 in the pattern. I wasn’t sure how it would translate to such a larger size, but I’m pleased with the result.

To finish off the piece I used an arcade font tool to create my friend’s wedding date in the Mario type. I really think this was the final perfect touch to the whole video game look and was well worth all the searching I did to find it.

I’m glad all that cross stitch is behind me, won’t be doing that again any time soon, but I’m very satisfied with it. And I’m certain she’s going to love it, which makes it well worth it. And they lived happily ever after!

You’ve maybe noticed that for some time now I’ve really changed my creative focus. I had been accumulating lists of projects I’d like to make for myself or the kids for ages, but I never got beyond that, and I eventually began to feel like I needed to either start making some things or throw out the list.

So I started making some things. And then I made some more.

There’s nothing wrong with variety, and the point of this website is to document my creative journey, wherever that may take me. But between the things on my “I’d like to make that some day” list and the regular gift-making I do, I’ve begun to feel like I’ve lost focus of the free, expressive creative self that’s in there somewhere too.

That was the self that was fed by the “making for the sake of making” projects, and I haven’t done any of those lately. I’ve had a lot of fun adding some variety into my creative routine, but I do miss my “usuals” and long to do some new things too.

So while all of these recent projects have been enjoyable and satisfying, I’m sensing a need for more balance between the “functional” things (gifts, things for my family) and the “artistic” things. I’m hoping that now I’ve scratched that “for us” itch, I can do a better job of making room for both types of creativity.

I’m going to start by picking up some embroidery, totally freehand pieces with no thought or planning. They’ll ultimately end up in the shop, but I’m not worried about that right now. I’m making them, as my daughter says, “just because.”

Here’s a super-quick learn-to-stitch project you can make with a preschooler:

Take a favorite coloring book page and attach it to some thin cardboard (a piece of a cereal box would work fine). Cut around the shape if you wish. Laminate it for durability (we used clear contact paper), and then punch little holes (we used a 1/16″ punch) all around the outline.

Thread a (dull) yarn needle and cut a length of yarn, and you’re ready to get stitchy!

Happy weekend!

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Oops! It appears a couple of the listings in my Mid-May Hooray sale expired without my knowledge this week. I’ve relisted them, and there’s still some time left if you want to take another look. Type “MIDMAY” in the “message to seller” box at checkout to receive a 15% refund on each item’s price.

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!

Tonight I’m going to be making some more decorative sewing pins for a commission order, and then I’ve got a little something red that has been begging to be finished for months.

After that, who knows?

More creative spaces as always at kootoyoo.