Happy Stitched Valentine's Day

I bet you think the St means Saint..... but it means Stitched! Happy Stitched Valentine's Day!

I've been making some stuffed hearts.

Filled with fiberfill and lavender.

I like making them using old linens.

What do you call those..... table scarves?

They're embroidered. 

I have quite a few of my mother's. 

They have rust spots and cigarette burns.

 I think this is a great way 

to use them up.

Did you make any valentines?

What We Were Stitching on the Trip!

I wanted to take something to stitch while traveling in Europe last month.  I wanted it to be simple.

So I went to Pinterest to get some inspiration.  It never fails me!!!  I found this wonderful woman!

You may know about her already.  I do not know how I've missed her for so long.
 I couldn't tell

exactly what her base was, etc........
so I emailed her and she wrote me a very nice email explaining!

You MUST go see her work.
 Her name is Penny Berens and her blog is Tanglewood Threads.
You can scroll down her blog and see some of what she calls her "daily scratching".
This post in 2012 really shows a great deal.

....

Sooooooooo, I cut some linen and I basted some cotton fabric to the back of it.
I gathered some floss and needles and a small cutter and took them with me.

I started stitching on the flight to Rome.
Below are pictures of Margaret stitching on it for me!!!
We were on a train in the Zurich area somewhere!!!

 

I love that she stitched on it.....  

She did a row of simple flowers.... 

just the straight stitches with French Knots.

 I guess I should've ironed this before I took a picture! ha!!!

But, it's a work in progress and it's very primitive.....

I'm continuing to stitch on it...
I just stitch whatever I want...
mostly just shapes, rows of certain stitches...

Then yesterday Margaret sent me a link that made me want to turn 

it into a lampshade cover!!!

Have you seen Marna Lunt's work?

Oh my goodness!!!

Prayer Flags

I joined the Prayer Flag swap on
ChristianPaper Artists Yahoo Group...

had to make 9 flags.....
didn't think I could get that done...

I started out stitching.

The bird above is a piece I made years ago and never did anything with.

So I cut it and made it a prayer flag.

Then Patty did a post about gel printing...

Well.... that opened up a whole new world of joy!

And I finished my flags using fabric I had "gel printed"!

Thank you, Patty.... you inspired a bunch of us!

(I did my gel printing on fabric that had a light script on it.)

And for my "grace" I either stitched it or used muslin I ran through my printer.

You should really try this...

it's so fun!

Here is another flag that is simple...

I do like making these....

I'm in another swap making them for the end of the year as well.

They can be any size really....

I made mine by putting the top piece

(that had an unattractive back due to paint or stitching)

onto a base muslin piece!

Stitches

 Had lunch with BFF Virginia this week.... I told her that I needed something for my blog.

Moving to the new house has taken it's toll on my creative time.

She had a picture on her phone of the piece she put together this year...

it's filled with pieces that she and I made and swapped a few years ago..

(if you search for stitching and embroidery on this blog you'll see them)...

and also stitching from some other swaps we did....

Click on the picture to see it large.

(finally got cable and internet today...

so I am BACK!)

HVD

I didn't make any valentines this year.... no hearts stitched... nada.

But I did make this last year!

Have a sweet day.... I hope you feel loved.

The QB5 Sampler Revealed!

They arrived!

I was in a stitching round robin with the "so-called" Queen Bee Five (QB5)...

The rotation on mine was...

I mailed to Margaret and she worked on it.

Then it went to Carole.

Then it went to Patty

and then to Nathalie to finish it up.

On Wednesday we had a timetable set for opening!

We all opened at the very same time!!

For Patty that was 2 p.m.

For Nathalie and I it was 1 p.m.

For Margaret it was 8 p.m.

And for dear Carole it was THURSDAY at 7 a.m.

Here are some close-ups....

above was done by Carole!

Don't you love the the little music notes!!! Just stitched!

The bird is fabric cut in the shape and applied...

And she dyed the doilies green to be the leaves in the tree she added!

Below you can see the initials in the tree trunk!

(me and my sweetie)

The bee was added by Patty on the rose...

The words were done by Nathalie.... she does great stitched words...

and a little crown!!

Margaret did the banner! I think she knows I really have a "thing" for banners!

Surely she knew that?

I love it!

I don't know who added the flower?

Who did that?

Below is some net and greenery from a lady's vintage hat!!!

Done by Patty..... of course!

And she did the row of felted hearts!

Love it!

Here is a close-up of part of my fence that I started my piece with... it's pretty primitive.

I stitched on an old napkin that belonged to my mother-in-law....

I sent another one of those napkins out on a different stitching round robin with 10 women....

I'll show you that one soon.... I need to add a tiny bit to it now that this companion piece is home.

Don't you love this new world we live in where we have friends around the world that share our common interests! I was a penpal growing up, but that took weeks or months to hear from people.

I love this time we are living in!

Make Time!

I have not been making time to update my blog!

Where has this week gone?

I did want to show you a sneak peek of something I've finished working on.

Remember the stitching sampler that I'm doing with the QB5 group?

(that is Nathalie, Margaret, Carole, Patty and I)

(not to be confused with the stitching sampler I did with the

Christian Paper Artists Yahoo Group....

(which I have but want to add

Anna's piece to it before I show you.)

So this is just a peek...

mailed it to Margaret on Tuesday.

Yes, I left a needle in the back .... I took it out before mailing tho!

You never know when you might want to add ONE MORE THING!

What have YOU been doing?

Fall Antique Week in Texas

I decided I should get some fall decorations out today.....

because by the weekend I will be in a

"fall state of mind".

"Why," you ask?

Because THURSDAY I'm going to Round Top/Warrenton for

Texas Antique Week!

I'm staying til Saturday! How exciting is that!

My daughter and a friend are going and so I'm taking a friend and going, too!!!

I know it sounds like it's a long way for me to go....

it's actually about an hour away....maybe an hour and a half.

Theresa has so much info on her blog.....

click her image below for her blog....

she hosts a Blog Party every year...

I am never there on the right day....

it's Sunday the 26th this year.

So if you are coming to Texas for this twice a year event.... you need to check her site out. BFF Virginia gave me a little stitched owl last week.....

isn't he cute!!!

So..........are you going?

Peggy and Debe?

Beeswax, birds and buttons...

Since Monday was a holiday here, I didn't get back into a routine til Tuesday.

Then that day was spent wrapping prizes to be mailed to the giveaway winners

from last week!

Congratulations, winners!

I mailed them on Tuesday between Tropical Storm Hermine downpours!

So I'm finally enjoying some time to regroup in the art room.

Last week I noticed the above piece that I started over a year ago and never finished.

Well, I'm still struggling with it.

I added some beeswax to it..

which doesn't show in the photograph.

This morning I glued that red button

on the front and some creme ones on top.

Still needs something...

So I tied some lace on the side...

Then I found some green trim that I forgot to put in my embroidery package to Margaret..

so I laid that on top....not sure....

Any thoughts?

So... then I decided to photograph my buttons that were sitting there all sweet and sorted.

Back in the 80's we made button bracelets that were sewn on crocheted metallic elastic!

My mother crocheted the bases and BFF Virginia and I sewed our buttons on!

We wore these!

(at least I did)

Now some of them adorn my button jars.

Below is one in black and white on my red button jar.

Here is my green and pink bracelet (a fave) on my creme colored button jar....

I often snip a button off to use! ...and I've been working on my little house stitchery that I ordered from Charlotte Lyons! BFFVirginia and I both ordered from her without telling the other one. We do that a lot. (Pam Garrison rubber stamps.... remember??!!!!) Which reminds me I was going to do a giveaway

of those stamps...

Okay...will do that soon!

Happy 500 Posts to Me! To Me!!!

So we will be celebrating all week here....

(above is just a picture of what I was working on over the weekend and I thought we needed to start putting more embroidery on this blog..... rofl... It's something a friend and I were working on for someone...)

Sooooooooooo......

You will need to leave a comment on the post that shows what you want to win to be eligible...

You will have all week to do this,

so tell your friends!

If you want to leave a comment on a particular post,

but you don't want to be entered in the contest

for that day

(for example, you might already have today's prize)

then in your comment say "please don't enter me in today's contest".

Today's giveaway

is this wonderful book by

Tracie Lyn Huskamp titled Nature Inspired, published in 2009.

There are 112 pages of great stuff....

I apologize for the quality of these photographs...

I went outside to take them and since the humidity is BACK... my lens kept fogging up....

So leave a comment..... and if you are a "follower" of mine, leave a second comment and just write "follower" in it for a second entry.

If you blog about my giveaway, leave another comment with that note inside!

...and be sure I can contact you...

Clear as mud?

Speaking about clear as mud...

I cleaned up my desktop....

(oh...I probably won't DO the drawings until Sunday the 5th..

so you can comment on Friday night...

and Saturday ...

well, you know what happens Saturday in the U.S.A....

College Football!

So I'll be gone on Saturday to Kyle Field!)

Thanks for playing!

Fly Away Home!

Finally did my August fragment for Virginia.

I could no longer resist doing the free-motion stitching.

Found my darning plate... as I can't drop my feeddogs on my old Kenmore.

And I even used a piece of my silver painted stick from the backyard!

Yeah me!

And every so often I run muslin through my printer (ironed to a piece of freezer paper)

and I print words and images on it to have on hand.

That's where the word "home" came from.

See that rusty clip it's hanging from?

You can get those from Nathalie!

They are sooo great to hang our "stuff" from.

About as Steampunk as I've gotten!

They're rusty suspender clips.

I'll be adding them to Christmas ornaments soon!

(some junk ornaments we are calling them...

or a variation of that word I'll share with ya soon)

Here is a direct link to Nathalie's Etsy Shop

known as Ruby Floy... ya better hurry.

Guess what next week is?

Well it will be a Big Giveaway...

right here on my blog!

Come back and see!!!!!

I think I'm going to do several giveaways...

need to go take some pictures....

Button Flower

I keep forgetting to show you this!

A few months ago, Virginia stumbled upon a button with a flower embroidered in it on a flickr site.

After much searching, she found the blogger here!

I couldn't share until she sent a bunch out as RAKs!

But I found my stash of them that I had promptly sat down and made and thought I'd show you!

Virginia made the one on the blue and white fabric as my "starter button".

I think you can figure it out... you need a button with 4 holes!

Show me what you make!

July Fragment

You know BFF Virginia and I exchange embroidery fragments each month.

I finally got mine to her this week.

I made the tree.... saw it somewhere online and this is my effort...

Then just stitched some lace and tatting down!

My daughter gets married this weekend.

I will see you in a few days!

A teaser...

The sole purpose of this post is to tantalize Nathalie.

She wants to see how her sampler is coming along,

so I told her I'd take some pictures of it.

So I hope you don't mind looking at her sampler.

I hope I didn't spoil the surprise?

I will try and mail it to Switzerland tomorrow...

three others still to work on it!

Obsessed Friends

You know from the title of my blog that I have obsessions.

So I see that as a good word!

I mean..... WHO doesn't?

Do you have any friends that have obsessions you can benefit from?

If not... you should find some.

I have a friend that is currently (note these things change) obsessed with embroidery and related stitching.

If you are new to my blog,

I will tell you that during 2010

we have been exchanging what we call "fragments" of stitching.

Whatever that means!

If you go up in the top left corner you can search Embroidery on my blog and see a bunch!

So BFF Virginia (often referred to as BFFV) gave me her piece for July a couple of weeks ago.

So now I have to make my July fragment.

But this is what she gave me for July to satisfy her need to do a white on white piece.

And since my daughter gets married the end of this month...

it is the "bridal fragment"!!!!

Isn't it lovely!!!

And she also gave me a little blank book to sketch in.

We both are always drawing things we want to stitch.

BFFV is all about being able to grab it and take it with her

or keep it in her purse if caught off guard.

We both have several accessories to carry our embroidery stuff around in.

About a week ago I went to pick my car up from a small repair

and ended up having to wait almost 2 hours because I found

something else wrong with it.

OMG!!!

If only I had had my emergency purse sized stitching kit!

I am now in the process of assembling that!

You never know when you might need it.

Doncha love the machine embroidered muslin strip?

Do you have an obsessed friend you can benefit from?

Do your friends benefit from any of your obsessions?

Just asking.......