7th Finish

I'm almost ashamed to post about this finish. Mostly for how very long it has taken me to get it done. I won this lovely giveaway almost two years ago. Two.....years.....ago. Well almost. Anywho. SO as I was going through my disaster of an art area I found the box with this darling felt cake inside. I knew my girls would love to play with this, but I wasn't willing to pick up felt cake pieces from morning until night. I wanted to sew the little felt embellishments on. So I sat down & did it. It only took me a few hours of hand sewing over two nights. 

I love how it turned out! 

The girls love it too.

Even though I didn't actually make the cake I'm still counting the hand sewing as a finish. It's a project that has haunted me for far too long. 

::7 Down, 45 to go::

6th Finish

Happy Anniversary

I Woke up this morning to a TON of snow. I made an executive decision to keep Sloan home from school. Her poor joints are all swollen & it seems like her flair ups are getting closer & closer together. Bless her little heart. She is my sweet little pumpkin, however when her flare ups hit she makes life miserable for everyone. Well she tries. I've been working with her on making better choices even if you aren't feeling well. It's tough. I know how hard it is for me to be happy when I'm feeling lousy. 

Most of the afternoon was spent with a super nice repair man from Charter. Our Internet has been acting up since Christmas. At first it was a little & now it's all the time. It's gotten to the point that we are unable to watch steaming video of any sort. I took our Mac to the Apple store & they said it wasn't the computer. We will be buying an external hard drive next week so we can back up this puppy & then take it in for a better look, just in case. Charter seems to think it's something to do with the old cables. They mentioned a whole lot of computer/tech terms that I didn't understand. It all boils down to one point, it is something on their end & they plan on fixing it. They are coming to change out the old wiring tomorrow or Tuesday. Hopefully that will remedy the situation. Seriously, I'm really missing all my Hulu shows.

Due to all the computer shenanigans I am a little late in posting the finished card. This is my 6th finish of the year. Woohoo! However I need to play a little catchup if I'm going to fit in all 52 projects that I hope to finish. I love seeing all the projects that you guys are finishing. So much talent! Well I'm getting ready to watch a movie while I cut out some patterns. It's too late to start my next illustration that I've sketched out. So I'll work on some sewing until tomorrow. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

::6 down 46 to go::

Stitched Card Tutorial

I thought it would be fun to share a little tutorial on how I make my stitched illustrations. I shared a tutorial a couple years back & I tried to find it but I couldn't. So here goes. First I select the papers to use & I map out the illustration.

Of course every illustration starts out as a sketch. 

The tools you will need for this project are a hammer,scissors, double sided tape, pencil, cutting mat, nail, needle, & embroidery thread.

Next I sketch out the saying. In this case it's "Happy Anniversary". Sometimes this step takes me a little while to get the lettering just right. I don't use templates & always freehand but you could print out some lovely fonts from online & trace them using tracing paper.

For the next step I add a tiny amount of double back tape to the piece of paper. Then I lay the lettering down in the correct spot. When everything is in place I take my nail and tap my hammer to create holes along the letters. Take your time with this step. Allow similar spacing of holes for a more cohesive look when it comes to the stitching part of your illustration.

I had already started to stitch this one but I thought I'd show you what the back will look like. Sometimes I get lost when stitching my letters. When this happens I look at my sketch & can always figure out where I am. 

The front will look like this. I'll share the finished card with you tomorrow. Update:: Just added the finished picture so you can see the whole process. I really wanted to finish this up last night but Aris woke up from her nap with a high fever. No biggie until she threw up. Ugh. Poor little thing wanted to be held all.......night.......long.........

until the Tylenol set in and then she was running around on a medicine high. Thankfully she only threw up once & so far everyone else seems to be staying healthy. She's still running a fever but no barf today. Should I knock on wood here?

Check back here tomorrow for the finished illustration. You can download my past love card illustrations for free

::here::

and give one to your sweetie.

On My Work Table

I've been working on this little illustration for the last two nights. It's almost finished & I hope to share it with you tomorrow. It's the last card for Simply Sweet Marriage. I really wanted this card to look like something you would find in your grandmothers trunk amongst old papers and photos. It will say "Happy Anniversary" when finished. I like how it's turning out.

A month or two ago I found this vintage Star Wars sheet. I almost passed it up but knew if I did I'd kick myself for not buying it. So I forked out the $1.75, steep, I know ;) & brought it home. I figured I'd find something to do with it eventually.

Boy did I ever! I can't even tell you how excited I am to finally have an excuse to buy Star Wars things now that I have a little boy. I decided to make him his very own Star Wars quilt. Shouldn't every little boy have one? I purchased the gold fabric at Joanns, the funky retro pattern from an online store that was going out of business, & the very last print from an amazing local quilting store. I also purchased a grey solid fabric that I will be using also but it's not pictured. The fabric will be used on the front of the quilt & the sheet will become the backing for the quilt. 

This is what I have in mind for the front. I've never tried a quilt like this before. I want it to have that chevron pattern look. I think it will fit very well with the vintage look of the sheet. I am pretty much learning to quilt as I go. I kinda guess at how things work when it comes to quilting. I look at the pattern of a quilt as I do art. Then I dissect what I see & try to figure out how it works. What I have guessed is that I should probably sew the strips in a row & then cut them at the angle I need. I could be wrong but I really am hoping that this is actually how it's all done. It could prove to be a very disastrous quilting mess. We shall see.

Speaking of disastrous messes........Someone needs to clean their art area. In my defense, once that pile of fabric finds a home it won't look quite so horrible, right? Right? (insert nervous giggle here)

Thimble Summer Quilt Top

I had never even heard of a tumbler quilt until a couple months ago. I loved how simple and charming they all looked. Like little cups stacked in neat rows. I had purchased Moda's Punctuation charm pack so that I could add it to the American Jane charm pack I had bought a couple years back. Sadly I still haven't found my box of unfinished sewing projects. In that box is the fabric I've been trying to find to no avail. I decided to go ahead and start the quilt anyway. 

I have always had such a love and curiosity for "old things". I love all things retro and my home is filled with many vintage things from days gone by. There is something magical in owning things from the past. They have a story to tell. A history to share of simpler times. Even though this is a new quilt I love it's vintage feel. I have been reading a lot of quilting books lately & I love how each quilt has a story behind it. So I starting thinking, what is this quilts story?

Last year I read this book with my oldest daughter & fell in love with the sweet story about the adventures of a little girl named Garnet. She is spunky and has a great imagination. Although the story is a work of fiction I am guessing it pulled from real life in the 1930's. At one point in the book it tells about Garnet's adventure to the city all by herself. She kind of ran off without anyone noticing. On her way home she hitchhiked with all sorts of colorful characters. Something a child would hopefully never do in this day & age. Back then it was not a scary thing to do at all.

Although it's been a little over a year since I've read Thimble Summer I thought of it constantly while I worked on this quilt top.

So I present to you my "Thimble Summer" quilt. Sorry it's not the greatest picture. The wind was blowing like crazy today. I was in a panic the whole time it hung in those branches. It might be hard to see but there was a whole patch of mud right below. I kept waiting for it to fall into that mushy pile of mud. I have big plans for this quilt. I'm going to reread the story this week & then sketch out the back of the quilt. I'm thinking a fun little silhouette of Garnet & some of the key parts of her sweet story would be a perfect way to finish off the quilt. 

This is my first official quilt top too. I'd love to hear some constructive criticism or words of advice. I'm all ears. I have so much to learn when it comes to quilting but I'm loving every minute of it.