a rainbow of stitches

As I've mentioned before, after a period of seriously practical knitting and sewing, I'm feeling pulled toward more whimsical projects. I would like to make some things that are art for art's sake, just fun and skill-enhancing without necessarily being strictly "useful."

I started with some lace shawls, which are kind of a hybrid of useful and beautiful (mainly because even though I'm not likely to actually wear one, the possibility exists so I can justify the time spent). I'm still working on the latest one - 3 charts to go - but I can only work on it when I am undistracted for a length of time.

In the meantime I've gone to some hand stitching. I used to do tons of embroidery and cross stitch. I even had a friend who liked it too, and we could be found in the embroidery supply aisle of Michael's at age 14, picking out samplers and DMC floss.

When I saw this book on a blog back in the spring, it knocked me right over:

I usually take craft books out from the library, but the choices for embroidery and cross stitch are...well, let's just say "dated" at best. We're talking Better Homes and Gardens compilations from 1992. Not exactly inspiring for the modern crafter. Unless you're into teddy bear bibs. Which frankly I am not.

But A Rainbow of Stitches is fresh and fun. I highly recommend it! I linked to amazon, but I actually found mine on ebay and bought it from a Goodwill seller. It still had the Barnes & Noble gift receipt stuck inside! Someone got it for Christmas 2009 and, it appears, never even opened it. Now it's mine!

I dug through my bin of hand-me-down embroidery supplies and found a pack of DMC short-cuts, which are 6X6 inch squares of aida cloth. Mine were 14-count in white and off-white. Perfect for stitching up a little nugget and getting back in practice. I chose a tomato-red skein of floss and I was off to the races:

Don't ask me what I'll do with it, but oh, was it satisfying! Cross stitch is just so orderly and well-behaved. Anyone can do it, it's inexpensive, and the results are pretty much guaranteed to be good if you follow the chart. I found this little apple to be so, so relaxing to stitch.

There are many, many designs in this book that are built around colors and themes, with about an equal split between cross stitch and embroidery. It is NOT a project book, which I guess really upset some people who reviewed it online, but it does not claim to be a book of directions. It's just motifs and charts with photos of project ideas.

We are attending a tropical destination wedding this winter, and I'm thinking of making Daughter a dress for the rehearsal. Look at these adorable water/beach/nautical designs:

embroidery:

cross stitch:

more embroidery:

And I know this one is hard to see, because it's printed in a light tan, but I'm thinking of a pale linen sundress with some of these shells embroidered around the hem:

So many things to make...so little time!

keepin it real

This is what my frustration looks like right now:

My dining room. Not so good for dining these days. Or for anything else. You know it's bad when I just give up and cover the sewing machine! Clockwise from the left we have a pile o' ironing that just keeps growing; dotted swiss pajamas for Daughter that are so close to completion...yet so far; notions and machine, gathering dust; shoebox with china tea set that AJ keeps breaking so it is hidden away; jeans hanging on chair that need patches sewn down; knitting projects in various stages of completion; paperwork from kitchen table, thrust aside so we can actually eat; markers and glitter glue, put here so my darling son will stop writing all over the house with them.

You can perhaps understand why I am not getting much done in this mess.

But I would really like to finish these:

And I'd like to do it ASAP because we're looking at temps in the high 80s this week, with nights in the high 60s/low 70s. Our house is situated north/south, and the wind usually blows east/west, so air circulation is a problem, especially at night. In the summer we've found the only solution is lots of fans and the lightest pjs we can find. This dotted swiss is like air, so light and lovely. If only I could find an hour to get the armhole and ruffles done.

So many ideas and projects to work on...

*sigh*

For now I will take my knitting outside and try to work a few stitches in the sticky heat, while the children do some of this:

I think I'll get out the kiddie pool, too. I can sit with my toes in the cool water and let the kiddos splash around. Last week we were wearing sweaters, today it will be almost 90. Weird!

But first, the ever-obtrusive therapy appointment to get through. Bleh.

for pretty's sake

For the past several years I've really been on a "make useful things" kick (probably stating the obvious, huh?). I used to be a big embroiderer, but I stopped when I started having kids. I couldn't see the point of using my time to stitch little motifs when I could make clothing and useful household items instead.

But lately I've been struggling to find things to do with my daughter that we would both enjoy. For about the last 3 or 4 months she's been peppering me with questions when I work, wanting to try everything I am doing (including cooking, baking, ironing, caring for AJ, etc) but she's been a bit too small and a bit too young for most of it.

Last night she kept me company at the kitchen table while I stitched up a quick, simple half-curtain for the bathroom window, keeping busy going through my threads and sewing supplies. She asked a million questions and wanted to know when she could PUH-LEEEEZE sew something. Today I decided we'd go for it while the baby took his nap.



I can't even believe how well she did. She will be 5 in April, and she has always had excellent fine motor skills, but I still didn't expect much. I loaded up a hoop for her, drew three lines for flower stems, and gave her some green embroidery floss and the biggest embroidery needle I had that would go through the fabric.



She stitched along the lines perfectly. Then she added flower buttons at the top of the stems. All I did was tie the knots in the floss and get her started. Then she was off and running with no further help from mama.



Three flowers and a ladybug. Wow. I am very, very proud of my little girl.



I worked on this little bug while Daughter stitched. It's about 4 inches across and I used variegated blue floss. Not sure what I will do with it, but I guess that doesn't matter. Sometimes it's nice to make things just because they're pretty.