Tuesday, January 30, 2007

My Etsy: Honey Bee's Boutique

Here is another addition to My Etsy Shop. Gerard has been making tiny crazy quilt hearts and I put together some embellishments for a little kit. To me this one feels really elegant. It has a cameo button with the shank removed, gold metallic DMC floss, a bit of lace, pin back, and size 15 seed beads in black and white.

This one is more of a pretty floral feel. It has a butterfly motif and some silk buttonhole twist along with size 11 seed beads, lace, and a pin back.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Monogrammed 'G'

My Mother-In-Law, Gloria, absolutely loved her monogrammed pillowcase that I made her for Christmas and told me that she has 2 pillows so she needed another! LOL So I told her I would make her another! It's not the exact same monogram but I love this one as well and I thought it would make a nice complimentary pillowcase. It is the same pink flannel pillowcase though. The stitches I used are back stitch and satin stitch in 2 strands DMC floss and 4mm silk ribbon in lazy daisy and colonial knots.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Onesie's for Baby J

These are the last 2 onesie's in this size (3-6mo.) that I had prepared to embroider for Baby J, who is now Nathan Marc Johnson. (Still to be born)
I love the little cupcake! I added sprinkles to the design with french knots and straight stitches. On both designs I just used 1 strand DMC floss and worked the design in stem stitch.

In The Garden RR: Jackie's block

I'm almost finished, but I ran into a tiny bit of a problem...I ran out of the ribbon I was using! I was using Ribbonsmyth's 4mm Moss Green silk ribbon which comes in 5 yards...I used the whole 5 yards up! It's big motif because the block is a 12 incher! So the motif is about 9 1/2 inches high by 6 inches across!
I have to say that I'm getting quite good at the Melanie Rose now! LOL I'm getting pretty fast at making it now since I have made so many in this motif. It's really fun!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Tiny CQ Heart

Gerard made this tiny crazy quilt heart. Isn't it cute? He made it by sewing a scrap of red Dupioni silk onto muslin in the shape of a heart and then he added the other bits of fabric over the top. Since it is so small that was easier than making a tiny 5 sided center piece. Then he stitched the heart shape over the top again.

My Etsy: Honey Bee's Boutique

I added more to My Etsy Shop! You know how in Crazy Quilting we are always looking for more texture? Well I always find myself drooling over the specialty yarns but don't want to spend the money on a whole roll just to use a little bit of it. (And they can be expensive) So I got the idea to create fiber packs of it so this way I can have some and share some with you too, without us all breaking the bank!
HoneyBeesBliss.etsy.com

Valentine's Heart Swap: 2nd heart

I think it's pretty neat how people can use the same design and do it in all different ways. This Heart Pattern is meant for redwork but Gerard and I did it in totally different ways. Here is a link to Charlene's version of the heart done in silks! Here is a link to Leslie's done with Brazilian Embroidery.
The pink fuzzy is pink eyelash yarn couched down to the flower shape and also has a Mother-of-Pearl button with a glass heart bead in the middle. I also added glass bead flowers to the heart. I used different shades of floss with different stitches. All the stitches I used are: back stitch, chain stitch, lazy daisy, stem stitch, split stitch, couching, and french knots.

Monday, January 22, 2007

First Embroidery: Hubby's Heart

Here is Gerard's heart all finished! Isn't it wonderful?! I love the frayed edges. The embroidery stitches he used are french knots, back stitch, and lazy daisy. See he made lazy daisy leaves in 2mm silk ribbon! I think it's a really cool heart!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

In The Garden RR: Jackie's block

I worked on Jackie's block today starting a climbing rose motif. I used Ribbonsmyth's Buttonhole Silk Twist for the feather stitch. It was my first time using it and I loved it! It's also on sale right now as well as her silk ribbon. I used Ribbonsmyth's 4mm silk ribbon in Moss Green and Honey Gold for the lazy daisy leaves and the Melanie Rose. I used a fly stitch for the base of the rose.
***Updated photo added on 22 Jan. 2007

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Work In Progress: Jacket

I worked some more on my jacket adding 5 petaled ribbon stitch flowers. I also added some clear Swarovski crystal beads to the middle of the roses and amber seed beads to the middle of the light purple flowers.
Here is a link to my first steps on the Jacket.

My Etsy: Honey Bee's Boutique

Here is a packet of yarns I put together and have up on Etsy. I always look for ways to vary my stash but I don't always want a whole ball of the yarn so I cut some 1 yard pieces of some yarns I've bought for my stash.
I love using the fuzzy ones for french knots they add such nice "wanna touch it" texture!
HoneyBeesBliss.etsy.com

Friday, January 19, 2007

My Etsy Shop

A few months ago I had gotten a really good deal on Dupioni Silk and I stocked up. I got much more than I'll ever use so I decided to open up a Etsy Shop and share it. I have no idea what would be the best way to bundle or what sizes would be the best for projects but I started out by creating 2 different bundles of six 10x10 inch squares of 3 fabrics. I just thought these colors were delicious!
Click Here to take a look. I think I created a nice and tempting deal!
If you have any suggestions let me know!
HoneyBeesBliss.etsy.com

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Hubby's Embroidered Heart

Here it is! My Hubby's first embroidery work in progress! So far he's done the french knot and the back stitch. You can click on the photo to see his stitches better. They are so neat and well done, I'm so proud! His idea was to couch the little fabric bits down with embroidery and let the raw edge be showing and frayed. I love it! He's going to put a cool looking button in the middle of the flower with seed beads in it's holes too.

Valentine's Day Heart Swap

These are going to be my hearts for the Valentine's Heart Swap. I got the pattern for the unfinished one Here, and the red one I made up my own design. What I did on the red one was cut out a heart shape in white lace and then couched it down with the colonial knot heart motif in 4mm white silk ribbon, then I added bead embroidery hearts to the middle of the colonial knot hearts with silver lined clear seed beads. I added a running stitch between the lace and the edge of the heart with 4mm white silk ribbon and then made a "bow" at the top by making a large loop and taking my needle up the middle of it and doing a french knot. I added a little silver bee with seed beads tassel to the bow.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

First Embroidery

Over at the Hand Embroidery Yahoo Group Gerard was voted in as an honorary member by proxy. So Gerard decided he better learn a little embroidery! LOL I told him I had to take a picture or no one would believe me! LOL He had an idea using this pattern and I love it! I'll show you what his idea is later. So he wanted to learn a knot that would do for the little dots and since he picked out a size 5 Perle cotton I showed him the one wrap french knot. These are his very first ones ever! Aren't they really, really good?! I also showed him the back stitch and I tell you his back stitching is so neat and even! I showed him how to do the Quilter's Knot for the end of his thread and how to end off when he's done with a section. I am so impressed! And wait till you see what his idea is! Can you guess from the look of the fabric?
Click Here for the heart design he used.

Valentine's Heart: Part 3

For the 'Love' I used a disappearing ink pen and wrote love on the fabric. I find it best to practice writing it out on a piece of paper first and then writing on the fabric. Also if you just don't like your handwriting you can use your computer! Just open up a program that you can type in and type the word you want and then play around with changing the font and size of the word. You can then print it and transfer it with your preferred method.

I stitched in the 'Love' in the medium colored pink DMC floss in 1 strand using the stem and outline stitches. I switch depending on which way the curve is going. I also find it easier for me to do the stem stitch without a hoop even with loose tension in a hoop. For me I need to move the fabric to get the best looking stem stitch and I just can't do that if it's in a hoop.

Next I pinned my leaf design in place and embroidered that in the same way I did on the larger rose motif. With the darker shade floss for the stems and the lighter shade floss for the rest of the leaf and veins.

Then I removed the tracing paper. This time I just used the blunt end of a needle to help get the little bits out instead of the tweezers.





I basted the heart shape with the pink floss so that it will be easily visible for finishing and can be pulled out without scarring the fabric after sewing over it.




After rinsing out the water erasable ink with cold water I let it dry and cut it down to a nice size to work with. I'm keeping it square and giving it enough room around it because it is easier to finish the heart that way.
All finished! Now I love it so much I don't know if I want to swap it! So much hard work and detail! I could applique it to some clothes because it is washable...humm. It's totally "Me" so it's really hard to decide if I should just keep it or swap it. Wouldn't it look totally cute on the bottom leg of some jeans?

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

A rose by any other name...

Well it has been a long time since I have done the Rose Challenge. I've been thinking that it needs to be monthly instead of weekly because of Take A Stitch Tuesday. It would just be too much to add learning how to stitch a new rose every week also. So my rose for January will be the Melanie Rose
(It's been so many years since this was published that you might have to Google search for instructions on how to make it.*Mar2023)

Here are my results! I think it is a more advanced SRE rose but don't let that stop you from trying it out. It uses basic stitches but the looseness and amount of twisting is something you need to play around with to get this rose just right. Don't be discouraged if you flop when you first try it out, keep going continue to practice learning from each one you try. As you do this you will be learning it and once you learn it, it will become easy to you and the rose will be mastered.

On #1 the stem stitching was twisted a little oddly and the first part was a little odd too. #2 I made the stem stitching too loose and it was overly loopy and looked a little disproportionate. #3 was better but I made the first section with the straight stitches and ribbon stitches too tight compared to the looseness of the stem stitches. #4 I love! I made the ribbon stitches looser and the stem stitching I tried to keep just right and keep re-twisting the ribbon as I went.

Here are some tips that helped me:
  1. Keep practicing learning from each one as you go. Think up your own tips for yourself as you go.
  2. You may need to re-twist the ribbon during stem stitching (counter-clockwise)
***Update 20 Feb. 2007***
Here is a finished motif using the Melanie Rose! I put a foundation of feather stitches and then added lazy daisy leaves and Melanie roses.
Click on the photo to see it larger.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Embroidered Chihuahua T-Shirt

Here is another project I'm starting. My hubby and I saw these Chihuahua patterns here and just knew that his Mom would love them! So we bought a set and got a large blank T-shirt at JoAnn's. Since the shirt is black I couldn't iron-on the iron-on patterns so I'm trying out the Golden Threads Quilting Paper instead of tracing paper. Hopefully it will tear away easier. I basted the paper with the traced pattern on it and picked out the floss colors I'm going to use.
I'm thinking of doing the "Chihuahua" in green the swirls in white and the hearts and yip yip in red and the dogs in tan and brown with the girl having white pearls (filled in with french knots) and the boy having a green and red shirt.
What do you think about the color scheme? I'm mostly concerned about the top area and I was thinking of red, green, and white because they are "Mexican" colors. I'm worried that it will be too solid and chunky though, or not interesting enough.

Onesie's for Baby J

Here are a couple of onesie's I embroidered for my nephew Baby J. I've been working on them for a few weeks off and on. I used some iron on transfers from Sublime Stitching and arranged them to my likes. I used an iron on alphabet in the book to create words too. I also embellished the designs further by adding things like seed stitching, french knots, straight stitches, and a twinkle star on the moon. I have some more onesie's to stitch up as well! I hope they are well loved and get all stained up and used to death! I made these to be used. I even added some iron on interfacing on the back over the stitching to make sure they won't be scratchy next to his skin. I don't have much "baby" experience so I have no idea what would be too scratchy so I figured I'd better be safe than sorry.
If you'd like to meet Baby J Click Here to go see his blog. He is my very first nephew! So I am now a first time Auntie! Yeay! He is due to be born anytime now and my guess is for 28 Jan. 2007!

Friday, January 12, 2007

Ribbon Stitch: The perfect leaf!

I put together this little tutorial for anyone who would like to know how I make my ribbon stitch leaves. When I first learned this stitch I had a million questions, with no one to answer them! I kept on stitching and eventually through trial and error figured out how to make some nice lush looking leaves.
Click on any of the photos to see closer.
First take your ribbon to the top of the fabric. Be sure to pull the ribbon up in the direction of where the tip of the stitch will be, this helps control the ribbon to curl under and be puffy. Click here to see more on how to pull your ribbon to get the results you want.
If needed you can take your needle and on the underside slide it up and down to get your ribbon to behave how you'd like. Sometimes it just twists and this is an easy way to try and fix it.
Next lay your ribbon flat in the direction of where the tip will be. Let it puff up and not be completely flat against the fabric. Hold the ribbon in place with your thumb. Take the needle and pierce at the desired length of your stitch.
Here is a side view of the stitch so you can see the puffiness. The puffiness is what creates the lush leaf look.
While holding the ribbon in place with your thumb, draw the needle and ribbon to the back of your fabric. Be sure to straighten any twists that may occur.
As you can see the ribbon is being pulled back and there are no twists in the loop as it is being brought to the back. My thumb is "helping" it along, making sure it is straight.
Almost finished! Be gentle as you pull the last little bit to complete the stitch.
Completed Ribbon Stitch Leaf!
Side view of finished Ribbon Stitch.
If you happen to pull it too far or it gets a little twisted just take your needle and run it under the "belly" of the stitch to try and straighten it out or wiggle it back into place.
Remember not every stitch will be perfect! Not every leaf in nature is perfect either! So think of any less than perfect leaves as creating interest and texture. If a stitch is really bad or pulled too much that you can't fix it don't worry! Just make another ribbon stitch right over the top! No one will know and it will look just as pretty. In fact you might like the look of a "padded" ribbon stitch and do it on purpose!

I also use this same method for creating flowers just work ribbon stitches in the shape of a flower and add a knot or bead to the middle.

Take A Stitch Tuesday

Buttonhole/Blanket Stitch
for TAST by Sharon B.

The first I angled the arms of the stitch and added 2mm silk ribbon in ribbon stitch. Then I tried lazy daisy leaves in 2mm silk ribbon on plain straight arms. After that I tried alternating the arms at angles and sides and adding ribbon stitches in 2mm silk ribbon. Right next to that is the same, I wanted to continue it a bit more to see what it's like. Then I tried the buttonhole with the 2mm silk ribbon. Then I drew out a scallop and tried stitching that with 1 strand silk floss and then again with 3 strands (pink) DMC floss. I had trouble with that with getting the stitches close enough to look smooth...doing those scallops is harder than it seems! It's funny because when you try something like that and find it more difficult than you thought it makes you appreciate the work others have done even more. Still I will try again to do the scalloped edge and cutting it out, but I'll wait until I'm feeling patient! LOL
Here is some idea's for flowers using the buttonhole stitch that I really like and would like to try.