Stitches

In case I need to provide proof that this is still a craft blog, here are some things I stitched up a couple of weeks ago...

The patterns are from Sublime Stitching, which has many fun designs...I love, love, love embroidery patterns...Buying them is, perhaps, a problem I have. Embroidery is a great winter and beginner craft. It is easily done while snuggled up on the couch under a blanket. These two designs are from the Sexy Librarian and Forest Friends patterns. I always have the hardest time deciding what to stitch on, but I stocked up on white pillow cases recently and am planning to stitch up a mess of pillowcases around here. I especially love the sexy librarians on pillow cases. Wholly Craft also carries Sublime patterns, so if you are local, go there and save on shipping! Another one of my favorite sources for embroidery patterns is Wee Wonderfuls. I highly recommend checking out her shop...I love so many of her designs. I bought the Winter Stichettes and the Quilting Bee Stitchettes ages ago, but still cannot decide what to make them on...Let me know if you have any ideas!

Things do not always go as planned...

I come to you tonight fully rested. I had big plans this weekend, but I ended up doing a lot of sleeping instead. I suppose it is the California time change catching up with me, but still...I fell asleep at 6pm last night! And I slept til 7:15 this morning. I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad about myself though. I did manage to clean and do our taxes! And I finished up my mobile finally. Here it is:

It's a clothes line! I love seeing clothes on the line and I hope to someday have a backyard I actually can hang clothes out to dry in. I had big plans originally to make more 3D clothing, but then reality and deadlines kicked in and I simply embroidered it. Most of the clothing is made out of craft felt. I did make most clothing two sided and used thermoweb to fuse them together. That stuff rocks! Perfect if you are trying to create speedily like I was! All of the other mobiles in the flickr pool are so gorgeous, I hope this one measures up!

Look up (there's a new banner)!

I've been playing around, trying to make myself a new banner. I posted this picture on my flickr a couple days ago so you might have already seen a preview of this. I've been working on this fabric treehouse over the last couple weeks and I think it will end up a mini-quilt. I actually created it with the thought in my head that it might look nice at the top of my blog. And I think it does. My only worry is that my embroidery could be better. But it feels good to actually have a treehouse on my blog :)

What do you think?

Just doing it

Sometimes I struggle with feeling like I "have to craft." I've never been comfortable with 'doing nothing.' But sometimes I have lazy nights and I just relax...and then feel guilty afterwards (when really, shouldn't I savor it? But that is not in my nature). It isn't that I do not want to make things, but this week I was just feeling uninspired and some things just seemed too huge to get started on at 8pm. It was weird though...I felt as if I was procrastinating doing my homework or something. So Thursday night I made myself craft! And wouldn't ya know, I finished 2 projects! Take a look:

1. A hat, modeled awkwardly by me (coincidentally called the Lazy Daze EZ hat) from the book Mr Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful. I really should buy this book, but I just keep checking it out from the library again...and again. Guess it helps our circulation anyway :) Oh, and in case you are wondering it really was super easy. I could make a bazillion of these watching Netflix or in between Guitar Hero battles (our lazy activities).

2. Penny Squares. I signed up for a Penny Square swap and now I seem to going through a redwork phase. I am loving all things red and white. The embroidery designs are from Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching.

So the lesson learned for me was: sometimes you should just do it and the inspiration comes eventually!