Cool Stitching

Do you ever feel like using cross-stitch to rebel against all conventions?  You know, like when a large crowd of knitters run up to a bus and cover it in a humongous shawl?  (Pic borrowed from this blog!)

I do, quite often.  Working as an engineer and following (what feels like) 10,000 rules per day, some corporate rules, other rules of science, I sometimes dream about doing the crazy, expressive and unexpected in stitching instead...

I am also a total web-addict and "picture hoarder", so I have been gathering up these links for a while.  I thought that you may would enjoy some "craft outside the box" as much as I do, so here we go.

I found one site that has a lot of various craft anarchy pinned; Urban Thread's blog Stitch Punk.  The name says it all, I think.  Here you can look through pages of really cool and rebellious craft - or rather, craft taken to (post)modern art.  Here are just a few examples:

 

 

So that is cool, but here is the stuff that I really love - cross-stitch!
Easter eggs by Forostyuk Inna, the folk master of Luhansk region in Ukraine. Materials used are goose eggs, and acrylic floss.

Or these discarded every-day metallic objects, cross stitched by Serverija Incirauskaite - isn't this just the coolest!?  Now I want to go down to the basement and borrow Alpha-Bunny's drill....

 
 Her art reminds me of this sweet bracelet by Corina Reitveld (if you live in Europe, you can buy these pre-drilled cuffs from Panduro Hobby - pretty sure that's a Swedish company btw...)

Here are some other neat XS items, iPhone covers from Connect Design.  If you click on the link, you will find a bunch of different covers and patterns that you can use for other stitching adventures as well.

And finally, more traditional but still pretty cool, are the pillows, tea cosies and place mats from the Danish blog Tulipan og Tomater.  Here are some really pretty ways to combine patch-work with smaller XS designs into something useful and really wonderful:

I am guessing that the blog owner buys up bunched of vintage cross-stitch pieces that none wants anymore and she turns them into unique items that she sells in her store or at fairs.  Now, that is a clever concept and right with the times too, reuse, reduce, recycle!  (I am pretty much 100% sure that the butterflies patterns can be found in one of Fremme's old XS calendars.)

Well, that's it for now.  Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway!
Take care and Happy Stitching,

Reporting In! (... after days worth of napping... )

I hope that your Monday was as all right as mine was!  I think that my Monday was so good partly because I have been doing a lot of well-needed resting lately.

In all honestly, to say that I have been taking it easy is an understatement; the weekend was filled with one nap after the other.  As most of you probably agree with, things tend to all bundle up and happen at once and last week was one of those crazy "perfect storm" times.  What was nice was that the vast majority of all the craziness was very good such.  The outcome could not have been better for any of the events either, so not only am I napped out and "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" as one of my friends always says, but very pleased with life in general as well.

On the other hand, there is not a whole lot of stitching to show off.  I did manage to finish the third part of the EMS 2012 SAL and I "cheated" and worked ahead a bit on the second blue-bell border.  It is turning out pretty, if I may say so myself.  I am a tad nervous about the next assignment, since there seems to be an awful lot of confetti stitching in the flower bunches...  I am really not a fan of confetti...

So, I finally managed to iron the sampler before taking a shot.  Next time I'll try to remember throwing a ruler or something in there, so that you can see how small it really is.  (The pics are clickable, if you'd like to see some close-ups.)

 

Here is a close-up of the last couple of motifs.  I love the little brown bird perching on the budding rose branch.

I did manage to pull this Scarlet Letter shepherd together too.  This one is stitched over-one and let me tell you, after stitching the green hill that he is resting on, I am done with both green and over-one for a while.  I assume that the critter dancing to the pipe is a dog...or a very small horse..?  LOL

I have started his shepherdess companion, but not gotten very far (as can be seen from the pic below).  I am excited about her, since she has a pretty brown skirt with pink dots on.  I think that she will be cute! 

Finally, here is a framing (gasp! - You know that very rarely happens here.).  This is the Goode Huswife bunny framed in a cheap standard Michaels frame/mat kit.  I added the bunting scrap-booking stickers to the matting to give the arrangement a happier and more spring-time celebratory feel.   He is standing together with all the Easter carrots on my mantel now.... after all that Easter stitching, Easter is not over in our household for a while yet!  :-)

I did take a number of photos of spring flowers in the garden this morning, but I feel another nap coming on, so I'll have to show you those some other time...  ;-)

Take care, Happy Stitching and don't forget to sign up for the giveaway if you haven't already done so!  Oh, and speaking of; thanks so much to the 18 followers who have left comments so far.  Your lists of three things that make you happy are so uplifting!  I have a feeling that I will go back to re-read your "happy" comments many times in the future!

Giveaway Time!

Wow, over 100 followers, I am speechless!  I never even dreamed that could happen back when I started blogging on New Years Day 2011.

Thanks a thousands of times to all of you for following this "just-for-fun" blog!  I am so glad to have met you and I appreciate each and every comment you leave for me!  I get inspired by you every day - I try to keep up with all of your blogs and take a peak at what you are crafting, how you are doing and what is going on in your lives.  Even though I may not always leave a "hi and hello" for you, I am there and I know that the same is true for you!

I may have written about this before, but I am not a real super-duper-happy person in real life.  Don't get me wrong; I would not label myself as a pessimist as much as a realist (spoken like an engineer, I know...).  BUT, I have noticed that since I started blogging, I have gotten happier.  I may even have gotten up-graded from realist to "cautious optimist"... LOL.

Just as stitching has, blogging has pulled me through a couple of less than fabulous times, but even more importantly; it has also given me the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas, joys and wonderful events, content and general silliness (oh, and 15 parrots, 2 bunnies and 1 alpha bunny).  
By writing down and sharing, I have discovered that these positive and fun experiences get reinforced and thus their impact on my life gets even larger. 

The difference between stitching and blogging seems to me that the former is a "solo flight" while blogging is a gigantic cruise with thousands of huts,  each one with it's own party but you are welcome to all of them.  I think that is really cool! 
I believe that this entertaining and interesting TED talk by psychologist Shawn Anchor may explain why I have noticed some positive side-effects from blogging.  Blogging can help cover two out of the five suggested tools to a more positive outlook on life; give three thanks a day and keep a diary.  (Thanks to Hip*Hip*Happy for sharing the video with me!)  However, I do believe that one important tip was omitted; crafting!  I know that for the vast majority of us in the stitching community, stitching has played a major part of our well-being, or what do you think? 
(Oh also, I stopped watching the news years ago.  I may now be a lot more ignorant now than I was in the past, but I am more filled with bliss...)

While we are going down the life philosophy and development path, I have to tell you about a really interesting statement that was made to me a couple of years ago and which I have carried with me ever since. 
One of my colleagues has a girl-friend who works as a life coach.  (I have not really asked her a whole lot about her job, since every time we meet seems to be a formal event, but I am real interested to learn more some day.)  The thing she told me that really stuck a chord is that "we work on developing our strengths during the first half of our lives, while we work on improving our weaknesses during the second half."  I really do believe that this is true!   What do you think?

Well, 'nuf with the blah-blah-blah and let's get on with things - we have much more important items to cover today - giveaway time!!!!
Just yesterday, I stumbled across this really cool design to drool over.  This adorable little piece is called Sit and Stitch and was designed by Brenda Gervais from With Thy Needle and Thread (click for a larger view):

This is what Brenda writes on her blog: "SIT & STITCH is a cross stitch chart for a fun little sewing box chair that you construct from linen-covered cardboard.   The seat cushion lifts up,  revealing a little box  to keep all your sewing needfuls in!  This 9" chair  has a crisply box pleated ruffle and her little wooden legs are old wooden thread spools... how cute is that?   All letters of the alphabet are included so you may personalize your chair!  Also included in this pattern is a sweet coordinating pincushion, complete with cross stitched motifs, old mother of pearl buttons and antique ticking."

I have decided that this chart together with the thread pack from Anita's Little Stitches will be our first prize.  If you are intimidated by finishing work, I will be happy to do it for you (you will have to scrounge up and send over the finishing materials though)!  I have ordered one chart and one thread pack for myself too, so it may be a tandem finish...

The second prize is another With My Needle chart; April Word-Play - the bunny in the cart is just too cute to say no to.

Again, I ordered one for myself too. That bunny needs to live with me!

I hope that all of you find these charts as adorable as I do!

Oh, and give-away rules:
1)  You have to be a follower
2)  You have to leave a comment on this post before the end of Sunday May 29th
3)  In your comment, you have to share 3 things that made you happy today - we wanna' share your joy!

Again, thanks bunches for visiting me today!  That is definitely one of my 3s...   :-)
Happy Stitches,

Happy Easter Stitches

I hope that you had as wonderful of an Easter as I did.  It was very relaxing and we did the usual things - cleaning bird cages and working in the yard in the fantastic spring weather.  

On Saturday, we had our annul garage clean out...  say no more..  Well, I lied - I will keep on talking about it!  I love DH and he is perfect in all ways, with the exception of one.  He can not, to save his life, put away things after he is done with them.  That includes trash!  Needless to say, the annual garage clean-up is not fun.  After it is done, I always say one of those things that many of us have promised ourselves never to say: "Can we keep it like this for a while now?".  Yep, I have turned into my mother and I don't even have kids.  (This year I was a bit crankier and threatened him that I will make him help me sort through my mess in the the stitch room!  He declined... LOL) 

Anyway, the cleanup reminded me about a funny story that a friend told me the other day.  She took her three young sons through the Wendy's drive-through to get them milkshakes.  She was driving her husbands car for the day and he pretty much uses his car as an rolling garbage-can.  For some reason, one of the lids popped off one of the milkshakes in the back-seat, so she pulled into the parking lot to clean up as much of the mess as possible.  As she opens the back door, empty soda-cans and a large assortment of additional trash falls out, whereupon her 5-year old pipes up: "This car is a hoarder!".  Hilarious and what a great excuse!  I asked DH if his garage and my stitch-room are hoarders.  He seems to believe that our mail box is a hoarder, since we keep getting a bunch of packages...  Hmmm

I have no good segue here, so without further ado, here is my finished Easter display.

It feels like I have been looking for a nice dowel-tree or other "non-Christmasy" display tree for ages now.  I would like not to pay $150 and up either, which seems to make the hunt even more interesting (= dragged out).  

The branches I ended up using can be seen as a homage to the traditional Swedish påskris, even though it is pretty much always made up from pussy-willow branches.  We often decorate the branches with painted eggs and dyed feathers.

 A close-up of a few of these neat little designs.  CEC is such a great company and I adore pretty much almost everything they publish.

Have I mentioned before that I love to assemble rounded ornaments?  The curves make finishing really quick and easy. 
If you have not tried it our before, here is how it is done:  Simply cut out front and back from acid-free mat-board (I get mine from Michael's). 
Used the cut-outs as templates to snip out light-weight iron-on interfacing in the same shape for both the stitched piece and your backing fabric.  The interfacing not only gives some additional stabilization to the fabric, but also helps center the design over the mat-board. 
After that, simply stitch a running stitch between your seem allowance and the interfacing (make sure that thread ends on front of fabric/linen).   Pull thread-ends so that fabric snugs up around the back of the mat-board and tie a knot.  Lace piece for an even snugger fit (or if the shape is more complex). 

Pieces are ready for final assembly!

I cheated by hot-gluing ribbon cuts to the back piece.  I found some cool ribbons and stuff at Hobby Lobby, so I had a lot of fun adding the hangers made from plain ribbon together with some extra cuts from ribbon with an interesting structure for the greenery on top of the carrots.

Even better - I found beaded trim!  I had wanted to use beads for my edging, but I wasn't thrilled about the prospect of beading ten ornaments.

Below you can see the result of the beaded trim whip-stitched to the ornament during the assembly step.  I made things easier by adding a glob of hot-glue in the very center between the front and back.  That way, I did not have to make sure that the pieces were properly aligned while concentrating on stitching and there was still give enough between the pieces that I could hide the ends of the trim.  Easy-peasy!

I treated myself to this fabulous wind-chime on Friday.  I am still going through a period in my life where relaxation has ended up being is one of my highest priorities when I have time.  What makes time slow down in a more relaxing way than a wind-chime?  I wish that you could all hear the deep and vibrant sounds generated by this mega chime.  It is gorgeous - like meditation on a hanger!

On Sunday, after a successful cage cleaning session, I finished a sweet little quickie.  This is The Easter Rabbit Sampler by Goode Huswife.  Isn't he cute!?  I think that he deserves framing, so I will have to go searching for that when get a chance.

 

The inspiration for the design comes form the adorable painting below.  This is one of the earliest American portrayals of the Easter rabbit.  It is a reward of merit completed by Johann Conrad Gilbert (Southeastern Pennsylvania active 1775-1810). With a low estimate of $800-1,200 it sold almost twenty-fold to Winterthur Muesum for $23,700.  You can read a bit more about this sweet delivery bunny  here.

Speaking of bunnies, our Easter beasts are pooped!  Here they are hanging out behind the couch after a hard day filled of naps interrupted only by and munching breaks.  Oh, to be a bunny! 

Take care and Happy Stitching til' next time!

Check out all these cool blogs!

Happy Monday (I have 2 hrs left here...) too all blog-peeps out there!  I hope that you had a great weekend and that you had to clean a lesser amount of bird-cages that I did.  DH is out on business travels again, so I spent a long Sunday cleaning the house.  It was actually quite enjoyable and all the critters have had fun scrapping everything down while I was away at work today.  The state of our house strives towards entropy much faster than it does in the rest of the universe, I have noticed.  Well, enough with the cleaning monologue and the nerdy science jokes...

I almost fell off the couch today when I saw that I have 99 followers.  I am so glad and so humbled that 99 people have signed up to follow this adventure.  I truly appreciate it more than I can express.  

So.... I really should sit down and think about a fun give-away.  I will see what I can come up with.

I did also get my first ever blog award - I am thrilled!  Heather, from It's Geek To Me, e-mailed to let me know that she has given me the Liebster Blog Award!  Thanks so much Heather, this will be fun!

So now I have to do the following (shamelessly copying the fine-print directly from Heather's blog here):

"Liebster is a German word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting.

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.

4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

So, here are 5 of my Fave-Under-200 blogs (Hmm, should I have checked that they will accept the award first maybe?  Dunno, I am new to this.  Well, I'll take the chance!)

Here they are, in no specific order:
-  Stitching with Kittens!  The blog title says it all!  LOL  She has stitched plenty of fabulous pieces - I can only dream to get pieces on this level of advancement accomplished one day.
-  Diane at Nan's Needlework Notions.  Diane is so talented - her finishes are absolutely perfect, not to mention that she has a knack for picking out the cutest designs.  Right now, she is showing off some Easter decorations that are to die for!  Nan is also the host of The All Year Long Christmas Stitch-A-Long.
-  Ruth of The Musing Badger.  Stitching and reading - can't get much better!  She is participating in the Pratchett Reading Challenge 2012 and check out her gorgeous Beatrix Potter - love those colors!
-  Marsha of Everybody Loved Clark.  She just came back from a trip to Arizona that looks fantastic AND she got to visit the Attic - lucky girl!  Absolutely beautiful stitching is not the only craft Marsha does, but she makes soaps too.  And she loves bees, which is why I usually refer to her as Bzz*Bzz*Bee...
-  Blue Star Stitcher shares photos of the neighbor wildlife (including love-birds!) and she has a huge heart that she opens for needlework that need an adoptive home.  Do you ever think about what will happen with your stash and finishes in the future?  We can only hope that there are more people like Blue Star out there.

Well, the next one is trickier.  5 random facts coming up:
1)  I love hot-dogs with mustard!  I don't really eat them especially often, but I love'em!
2)  I "almost" became a LNS owner a few years back.  My friend Pink tried to talk me into buying a store that was closing down with her.  Luckily, we decided not to and then the economy tanked, but it was a fun dream.
3)  I love opera - I wish I could sing like that.  When I was in high-school, I used to sing the aria of the Queen of the Night in the stair-wells while running between classes.  I was not half-bad... htne I became an engineer (read between the lines here).
4)  My dream house is a southern Victorian wood house with painted details, wood-work like an ice-cream cake, and a wrap-around porch.
5)   I miss the ocean pretty much daily!

So, I finally decided to start on a new "official" project and pulled the Shepherd and Shepherdess miniatures out of the stash.  I started with the tricky shepherd and his chubby dog - pony... ? .. you tell me!  The stitching is a bit slow, since it is over-one on a fairly larger count linen, but is does look sweet.  Not looking forward to the large, green hill though.  The chart is a bit tricky to read.  It is hand-drawn and the green and red in the honeysuckle border are a "V" and an up-side-down "V" respectively.  I am not a fan of ripping over-one... LOL I got a bit stitched, but then it got put away in a corner, so that I could spend some time on the EMS sampler before the April part would be published.

I did manage to get part 3 done; the left-hand side of the basket and the blue flower sprig were the assignments for last month.  Since this pic, I have down-loaded part 4 and the fun continues!

 

The is ending up much smaller than I had envisioned.  (I would recommend actually stitching this on a larger count, if you decide to work on this piece.)  It is petite, not a whole lot longer than 12 inches, but I love it!  Check out the crazy amount of colors that go into this beauty.  Piles and piles of DMC.  Luckily, I am stitching with one strand, so it is not too bad.  Yesterday I managed to finish the pretty little brown bird in the upper right corner and the upper flower border is finally done.  That little bird is too pretty!

Next part will be the one with the mushroom.  I am trying to come up with something else to stitch instead.  I mean, I like mushrooms and all, but maybe not in this sampler.  I think that I did find a nice butterfly that can come and live here instead.  any other suggestions would be of great interest too!

Since I am hopelessly behind in my photography, I can only show you this pic of the "half-baked" CRC carrot ornies.  I can report that all 12 motifs from the three booklets have been successfully stitched up and they are eagerly awaiting the finishing party.  There really are no excuses..  I have all the mat-board parts needed, I picked out my backing fabric..  I am still contemplating whether I should finish the edges with cording or with beads.  And am I efficient enough (read "lazy") to use the glue-gun instead of sewing each ornie together?  Plus, I do need to pick out a suitable ribbon somewhere.... decisions, decisions.  I am excited about adding all the beads and bling, though!  I guess that will be my carrot!  (Bad pun alert - heheheh.)

 

(Note how cheap I am with my linen - each precut from Silverneedle was meant for one ornament.  In other words, I have enough pieces to stitch each ornament at least one more time.  Maybe next year.. :-))

Here is an example of adventures waiting to happen when you live with a bunch of shredders.  This poor blue bird doesn't even know what hit it, while peacefully sitting on its nest.  The card-board, linen, floss, and the glass-beads (!) have all been eaten up by one or two of my little angles.  My reactions are surprising even to myself sometimes - I could tell that DH was so sorry when he fished it up from behind the couch and showed it to me, but I just shrugged and started thinking about possible way to salvage the piece.  Luckily, I generally enjoy the process of stitching and making more than decorating and displaying, if that makes sense.  Anyway, I am thinking about making one of those pretty little pin-pillows that are so in right now - you know the ones that have a piece of cotton sewn onto the linen on the front (yep, I know that my description totally blows, so check out these examples on Karen's Handiwork blog instead.)

 

I am very pleased to report that no angel has showed any sign of tummy aches after the disappearance of the glass-beads.

The spring bulbs are almost bloomed out in my garden now.  This pretty pink double-petaled tulip enjoys the mild spring, together with some neighboring fuchsia single-petals.

I managed to get all the pansies and the violets in the ground too.  the ones in the pots look fine, but the plants that I sat in the ground don't look pleased at all.  Life if tough, little violets!

Spring is in full swing indoors too.  The birds are getting anxious about building nests and they have started to court each other.  They strut about, fluff their neck feathers and bob back and forth - all to impress each other; scaring away the competition while impressing the potential partner across the room.  I know that they aim to look super cool and majestic, but mummy just laughs and thinks that they are the cutest little down-balls ever.  Mothers!  So they are absolutely adorable, but a great deal less easy to handle.  They get very territorial and aggressive during this time, so I have grown a good collection of bite-marks on my right index finger during the past couple of weeks.

Here they are - guarding their club house with talons and beaks... and dirty looks.

Well, it is bed-time yet again.  I will try to round up Bubba so that we all can go to bed.  (That sounds easier than it is - it generally takes flipping over both couches in the living room upside down while trying to herd her towards her room.  Well, I'd better stop talking about it and actually start doing it.)
Have a great week and Happy Stitching,