One Stitch Two Stitch

Wonders of Embroidery

The first hand craft I picked up was embroidery. My mom bought me an embroidery kit which I begged her for and over the following week, I clumsily stitched two swans with flowery wreaths around their necks that my mom later sewed onto a pillow. Mind you, the backing was a mess, I had made odd knots in a couple of areas, and the fabric was puckered but when you're eleven years old, you're blind to those details. I was just so happy to have done something with my own two hands. 

Embroidery to me is in a realm of its own these days. It isn't just stitching added to a baby's blanket or tea towel anymore, but at the hands of creatively-mindful people has evolved into stunning works of art and I LOVE it!

The work of Takashi Iwasaki is incredibly intricate and uses vibrantly colored threads. Just stunning!

The first time I saw Daniel Kornrumpf's work I thought they were paintings. His stitching technique looks more like short, lined brushstrokes in which the colors overlap. How he does this using thread is absolutely amazing.

Laura McKellar ,a graphic designer, combines photography and embroidery to create beautiful mixed-media pieces. 

Izzyana Suhaimi (a favorite of mine) overlays her sketches with colorful embroidery. Check out her site to view more gorgeous work.

I haven't done some serious embroidery in a while. The last time was when I stitched my Edgar Allan Poe piece, but seeing these artists makes me want to start a new project. Hope you enjoyed this post! Sue

Yummy Cuppies!

All freshly stitched! I'm working on a baker's dozen. Been pacing myself, so I'm embroidering them 4 at a time. I've realized that if I break down my project into parts, it's easier to complete. And I don't feel so overwhelmed. My motto for this year is think big by creating acheivable goals. If you like these cuppies, just click on the pic to visit my shop! Talk soon, Sue

Embroidery 101: The Blanket Stitch

I really like to use the blanket stitch when I work with felt. It's a great stitch to join felt pieces together and looks very clean and pretty. For embroidery projects, it's very commonly used on edgings. The best thing about this is stitch is that it's very easy to learn!

Step 1 - Bring your thread out at A. Take your needle from B to C, keeping your thread under the needle.

Step 2 - Pull your thread until it looks like the pic above.

Step 3 - Take your needle from D to E while ensuring your thread remains under the needle like in Step 1. Pull thread through.

Step 4 - Continue Step 3 until needed and then finish by taking needle to the back of fabric after your last loop.

"Kitschy" Placemats? Check!

Yay, my placemats are done and as promised here's a looksy!

Things I learned after making my placemats: have fun with eye-popping patterns; accept the slip-ups and imperfections of your sewing (nothing is perfect); and short cuts are okay (I bought pre-made bias tape instead of making my own). Talk soon, Sue

Home Sewn - Kitschy Placemats

My dining room table has been quite depressed for a long time, and I had always wanted to make some cute placemats to cheer it up but I hadn't found the right fabric until a week ago! Here's what I've done so far:

I'm in love with the saucers and cups fabric and the eating utensils design is so yummy (pun intended!)

 "Eat, drink, laugh." That's what getting together around a dinner table is about!

 Once I'm finished with the embroidery, I plan to make a handmade border and bring it all together. I'll post pics once they're all sewn up. Sue

Finished Projects

Yay! I'm so happy that I completely these two projects: one was personal and the other a gift.

I made 4 burp cloths, 2 blankies, and a swaddling blanket for my friend's baby shower.

 My favorite out the baby shower gifts are the burp cloths. I really like how they came out.

My Poe embroidery using a simple back stitch. JIC, the quote reads "deep into that darkness peering" from his poem The Raven.

I decided to make the neck tie the focal point and used bright-colored thread to make it pop; the rest was outlined using black embroidery thread.

Poe Embroidery Sneak Peek

This week was quite crazy! My air-conditioning unit broke down on Saturday. Now this wouldn't have been a big deal if it had happened back in March but in the middle of July with 90 plus degree weather, it was suffocating! Thankfully the air was back on Tuesday evening, along with my sanity(it was too hot to concentrate on anything!)

On Wednesday, I decided to test out my Poe Embroidery Pattern, here are some peeks of my progress:

First, I impatiently transferred my pattern to a square of fabric* (for some reason transferring patterns are bit tedious for me).  *I found an almost new Ikea flat sheet in chartreuse and used that for my embroidery fabric.

 I used the back stitch to outline Poe.

I'm using some pretty blue hues to outline and fill-in the neck tie.

If you like this pattern, you are more than welcome to use it, just click on the above link "Poe Embroidery Pattern". Tomorrow I'll share some pics of my baby shower gifts I finished up earlier this week despite the heat wave in my apartment! Talk soon, Sue

Friday's WIP Wrap-up

Today I woke up super early to tackle my 1st dressing-making project. After much prepping with the pattern, to my dismay, I didn't have enough fabric for all my pieces (ahhh!). After getting over my disappointment, I focused my energy on working on my friend's baby shower gifts.

Here's a peek at my burp cloths. I added some embroidery to jazz it up a bit.

And here's the update on my crocheted teddy bear. As you can see the body parts have been joined (except the legs - I ran out of yarn - yikes!). I'm still debating the bear's nose; not sure if I'll keep the felt nose or embroider it (any feedback??).

I thought it would be nice to monogram the A onto the teddy's shirt. Hopefully my friend will like it too. Well that's about it for now! I'll be back this Sunday with a new embroidery lesson! Talk soon, Sue

Summer Trip, Stop #1: Edgar Allan Poe's House

I had mentioned in my previous post that my recent absence was due to my summer trip. My bf and I flew up to Pennsylvania and drove to upstate New York for a total of 8 days, and it was so much fun! The first 2 days of our trip were spent in Philly and I got the chance to visit Edgar Allan Poe's house. To say that I'm a fan of Poe is an understatement and taking a tour of his home was like an outerbody experience (I was that excited!). Here are some peeks of the tour:

 This really cool mural is located right across the street from Poe's house.

 I took this picture outside the gates of the house. The facade of the house actually faces the roadway, but to enter visitors must go in through a side entrance.

 This raven sculpture is located right outside the home. It definitely adds a feeling of creepiness to the house.

The house in itself is quite large but the rooms are tiny. Poe's room and writing quarters were located on the 2nd floor of the house.

 This is the infamous cellar (eerie, right?). It's supposed to be the inspiration for his short story "The Black Cat." If you've read the story, the cellar where the main character's wife is entombed holds a hair-raising resemblance to Poe's own cellar.

This is the side-end of the house that leads to backyard and pretty flower garden.

 A view from the opposite end of Poe's home.

Even though Poe only lived 6 years here, it is said to be the most productively creative years of his life where he wrote his most celebrated short stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" (a personal favorite). It was also a time that was filled with great tragedy since his beloved wife Virginia perished of tuberculosis here.

If you love Poe and are in Philly, make time to visit his home! Oh, and as promised, here's my crafty homage to Poe: a free Poe Embroidery Pattern for you to enjoy (drawn by yours truly). I do ask not to distribute this pattern for sale since it's intended for personal use only. If you do whip up this pattern I'd love to see it, so don't forget to drop me a link! Talk soon, Sue

My Summer Projects - June

I know. Long time no post, right? Well, I was away on vacation up north for the last 8 days and it was amazing (more on that later!). My trip was definitely inspiring and I have a lot of ideas that I want to work on. Throughout the summer, I thought it would be fun to share my project to-do lists. I'm one of those people who would be lost without a list. Here's my end of the month list:

One thing I don't do after writing up my list is follow it in order. My lists help keep me organized but I never seem to prioritize (they all seem important to me!). Today, I worked on #3: Making my ice cream cone pillows.  

Unlike my cupcakes that have a 'Hhhmm, yummy' expression, I wanted to give these cones an "Oh no! I'm melting" look! I'll be back tomorrow to share part one of my favorite moments of my trip and a free embroidery pattern! Talk soon, Sue