Perch, Magnets and Embroidery

This Week In Needlework

"Kitty Love" of the Whiskerkins Collection

Two new art hoops using recycled fabric and vintage repuruposed buttons. 

Available in my Etsy Shop, fuzzystitches.

And finally, 1" handmade batik buttons. Also available in my fuzzystitches shop. 

These are positively addicting to make!

Now, off to work on the next cross stitch design, "Up North"

Was This Your Yarn?

Newest in the Whiskerkins Collection.

And a new experiment with scrap bits of fabric and plastic sew in rings, fabric buttons!

weekend thrifting

It's been awhile since I've found anything on the thrift shop circuit. Lately, a lot of the things that I want have been over-priced or dirty, which isn't always a bad thing, as there is character to be found in some marks left behind on cloth, but there hasn't been anything that has made me wander the shop and come back full circle because I just had to pick the piece up again. 

This weekend though, I did find a few bits.

This generous bit of tatted lace. It appeared to have been a collar at one point, cut away from whatever it was decorating and laying in a crumpled pile in the "craft" section. 

And a handful of buttons. Old, marvelous, buttons. Wooden and bakelite, worn metal and the big one in the center? It is heavy. Glass. This one I think needs to become something for me. It just really fascinates me and I don't know why just yet.  I don't think it is vintage, maybe? No special markings. I just picked it up and held it and then tucked it into my basket when it said 'take me home, please?'

The blocks for the Irish Quilting Magazine piece were finished last night, a couple of appliques to do on the traditional block and I hope to be finishing that up this week.  

This morning I've set the needle aside (fingertips are shouting 'thank you!') and I'm charting new designs. 

It looks to be a productive week!

a busy week

It's been a busy week.  A lot of business stuff to finish up which ate up a good chunk of the early week, but I did find time to putz with a few things as I try and get myself ready for a few craft shows. I've scaled back on the number of shows I am participating in this year, as I still haven't found the extra few hours a day I needed!

I have finished a good chunk of Henry Heartfelt, with more stitches to come this afternoon...

And I got out the hook again, feeling the need to whip up a few hats, this one embellished with one of my cross stitch buttons.  Still playing with the design of this hat. And its an acrylic and wool blend, not my favorite to work with, (as I prefer natural fibers) but for shows around here more economically priced yarns are better received.

I need to get the sketchbook out too, as I've some new designs tumbling around in my head, inspired by some color palettes I came across and Indian art.  I'm also feeling a really big pull toward samplers since I've been doing some embroidery, so there might be some of that coming as well.

Now off for coffee, vampire and lycan movies, and a bit of stitching. 

new space to create

With my son moving off to college, I found myself with an extra room. I promised him I would leave his bed alone so he had something familiar and comfortable to come to, but the rest of the space? It's now become my little haven to create, and I have reclaimed my dining room table and my bedroom!

Here are a few before shots as I moved in...

And after some sorting and organizing today...

Yay! A permanent place for my sewing machine!

Sheep guarding the Apple Notebook

Ronon Kiwi

Dex & Shep 

Who's Got The Button

Finally, I can see what books I have

Felted Alpaca from Dreamhouse Ventures

I can't wait to start creating!!

Sunday Musing

A recent trip to the thrift shop left me with a pocket full of buttons.  I especially liked the itty bitty gingham covered ones, which numbered five.  I also found a black viscose scarf with tassels  and a few scraps of dirty and grungy fabric to add to my 'stitching stories' pile.

I found a lot of yellow buttons to add to my depleted sunny jar.

And I resorted some buttons I already had, as I have become quite lazy where tossing them back into the jar they came from is concerned!

Buttons already in my collection

Despite an off and on again sinus-headache-watery-eye thing this weekend, I got a fair amount of stitching done. Walking Zack  is almost complete. Backstitching should commence tomorrow.  I also ripped apart four pairs of jeans that my son wore beyond repair (where jeans are concerned anyhow!) and a few tshirts met with slicing and dicing scissors, some pieces going to the rag bin (no more paper towels in this house!) and some of the better bits of cotton were set aside for some other project, yet to be determined.  

Tonight? Falling Skies, then a bit of story writing, and maybe a strong cuppa. 

kind of a slow day

After getting a fair amount of work done yesterday, today I found myself without a whole lot of creative spark. I did finish a trio of crochet focal beads/pendants and got them up on Etsy. I have a few other ideas tumbling around in my head for future bead creations, so I might spend some time sketching tonight, although I'm not sure as I'm feeling zonked and just not-so-much-like-myself.  Early tuck in and some book-time might be in order.

Crocheted with cotton yarn over wooden toy wagon wheels. Each measures about 2 inches across and one inch thick. Embellished with amethyst beads, found buttons and other bits I have collected. 

The weekend has escaped me again, leaving me with a really busy upcoming week!

bits of this n that

A few things tinkered with this morning...some stitching, some crochet, slow cloth and flip-phone-photoshop exercises.  The colors for the cardinal are working out, although I did change them one more time last night before I started on the piece!  Dabbled a little bit with the slow cloth this morning...

...and when at Michaels the other day, I found some of their Lily Sugar & Cream cotton yarn marked $1 a ball and in the primitive colors I wanted for crochet button and bead making, so I picked up three balls. While standing in the checkout line, I glanced to the "discount bin" and found a package of wooden wagon wheels. Well, my own *wheels* started spinning, and I grabbed them for 50 cents and they worked perfectly for these huge delightful earthy boho feel beads....they are really pretty big and would be perfect for a focal bead. I'm going to work with some wire wrapping, or figure out some sort of interesting bail for them. Or, I might crochet or knot together a necklace length. More on that later!

I am really in the mood to sketch today. And its probably a good thing as I've depleted my design ideas and its time to get some new things in order!  Maybe this afternoon while monitoring the after school computer lab. Instead of picking up a magazine, I think I'll grab pencil and scrap paper.

Oh, and finally, I only have two flip-phone-photoshop pieces from yesterday. We were inside during lunch hour, and I really struggled to find anything to snap.  The high school does not have windows, other than those at the front doors. So that was the focus of my snapshots yesterday. meh. Not entirely thrilled with the results.

crochet buttons

Finished another set of buttons today... these were crocheted with left over needlepoint wool and embroidered with cotton floss.  They range in size from 1 to just under 2 inches and were all created with flat back buttons I harvested from old clothing.

Tonight I think I will work on the slow cloth awhile longer while finishing up a print order for Hoffman Distributing. I'm so far behind!  I need to make another trip to Michaels tomorrow as I realized after going today that I am out of a seed bead mix I need for the Glittery Garland  embellishment packs.  

I am also on the look-out for the new shades of DMC's Color Variations 6 strand floss...

Don't they just look YUMMY??

I have really liked using the Color Variations in my designing before and really look forward to working with some of these new colors both in cross stitch and my crochet.