Waste canvas: not just for sweatshirts and geese

I first learned to cross stitch in junior high school, but got really into it in the early 90s when I was in college. I guess it was a stress-buster during breaks from studying, juggling work, etc.

Remember back in the 80s-90s when many of the cross stitch designs were cute little geese and teddy bears and Christmas nutcrackers? I decided that it would be great to have some sweatshirts or t-shirts with these kinds of designs stitched into them and bought some waste canvas to make it happen.

Fortunately good sense or lack of time prevented it from happening. Meanwhile, I've had this waste canvas in my stash all this time, and I finally pulled it out for my crazy quilt project.

I think you're supposed to baste it onto your fabric, but it was such a little piece that I just used a couple of pins. The stitch count is very high - maybe 14 ct - so I had to search for a motif that was small enough to fit onto a little patch. I settled on some cutie birds from Blackbird Designs.

After stitching, I trimmed the waste canvas close to the stitching. Since the directions had gone missing long ago, I couldn't remember if you were suposed to wet the canvass to loosen the starch/glue that tacks the fibers together, but I didn't want to wet the border, which worked out to be fine. I pulled out the stitches with tweezers.

All done! Oops, except for a missing stitch on the first bird's tail. Well, good thing I was looking at the photos while I'm still in the middle of it all. :)

What I'm Working on Wednesday

For a long time, I've been wanting to make a crazy quilt wall hanging for my son. I have a photograph of him from when we went hiking and camping at Goose Island State Park that I love, so I thought I'd make it the centerpiece of the little quilt.

I printed the photo on fabric and pieced together the borders some time ago. Then I got distracted by holiday gift crafting.

Now I've been able to rejoin one of my stitching groups that meets once a month so the time is perfect to pull it back out.

Most of the work so far has taken place on the bottom border. Alexander liked the macrame lace. I stitched his monogram and added one of his Boy Scout patches. I have plans for some beading on many of the seams.

A while back I stumbled across a wonderful book at the Half Price Bookstore. I've since learned it's out of print and considered quite a treasure on the used book market. I don't think I paid more than $12 for it and it's going for $50-$1000 online. Wow!

The stitching in it is really wonderful. Alexander picked out a few motifs that he liked and I started with this fish. I like how it turned out for a first attempt.

Now I'm going to have to figure out the seams and border around the photo so it doesn't look like the fish is biting Alexander in the behind.

Wearin' o' the Green

A little late in showing this, but I did have this wool candle mat stitched in time to display at our annual St. Patrick's Day party.

"Goin' Green Candle Mat"

Annelle's Originals

The recycled wool I felted was a little thick, so I had to omit some smaller shamrocks in the middle, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

Letting go...

I hadn't worked on my cross stitch project forever because I had made a huge error. I tried to fix it without tearing the whole section out. I'd adjust the stitches on a side ... try to pick out stitches in the middle of a row... it just wasn't going anywhere.

Finally I stood back and looked at the big picture and thought, "Really? You think you can fix this without cutting it out?" Here, laugh along with me:

What *IS* that animal (?) on the left?

Anyway, I cut it out, which took all of about 15 minutes, and started that part over and now I am jamming along again.

Coverlet Birds, as The Scarlett House intended.

Happy Easter!

I love working with wool felt and made this table mat several years ago.

This is linked to the Easter Decorating Party!

Craft Camp

A month or so ago Ellen and I had the opportunity to attend a women's craft retreat in the Texas Hill Country. I can't rave enough about it. It was set at her summer camp, but we got to be in a more grown-up friendly area of the camp. All of our meals were provided and we had access to a big room set with tables, outlets, etc.

The women we met from all over the state were truly amazing, hilarious and full of life. There were about 20 women who did everything from scrapbooking to quilting to beading to painting.

Ellen beaded

 

 

 

 

 

And she made a Valentine's wreath

 

 

 

 

And a few wreath pieces were fashioned into a barette

 

 

I worked on a long-time UFO.... a Karen Stone pattern that I have fallen in love with all over again. It was really nice being able to spread everything out to see what I had done and so I could ensure a good variety in colors and block patterns.

 

 

 

 

They are hoping to make this an annual event and Ellen and I are definitely going to be first in line to make reservations next year.

Hello March!

I have been away from blogging for awhile because my family needed every bit of extra time for the last couple of months, but I'm hoping to get back on the horse and rejoin the blogosphere! The next few posts will take care of some catching up.

 A while back one of my favorite catalogs was running a sale on light weight cardigans that I thought would be perfect for embellishing. So far*, I've only finished my daughter's. She picked out the pattern and the colors. I used a water soluable stabalizer to stitch through, and I think it turned out pretty cute.

 

 

I also wanted to show off this bracelet that Ellen made. She's been tearing out photos of jewelry from some of our favorite catalogs as inspiration and recently came up with this using new beads, old beads, bits of broken jewelry and even an earring. I absolutely love it and have put in an order for one soon!

 

 

*Note to Nicole: It's not to late to return your un-embellished cardigan for some decorating! :)