Stitchy Tuesday

At least once a week I would like to do a post about Embroidery, hand embroidery, to be more specific. I really enjoy making things this way. I normally do things on pillowcases and tea towels for my Etsy site B.S. Crafts or for friends. I don't normally hang on to a lot of the things that I embroider but I do have some that friends have made for me.
This week I would like to share a project that I've been working on for a while. Mostly because I was slacking so they took me a lot longer than they should have. But I did finish them this weekend and I will be going to the post office with them later today.
My brother got married on December 31, 2012. So aside from the "Presentation" that we gave them I thought it would be nice to give them something embroidered. Now if you know my brother communication isn't his strongest skill. So I didn't have a lot of information about the wedding. Then he asked me to do a speech with my sister *K*. (WE KILLED IT!). So I tried to get more information about the wedding and the only thing that he would tell me was that there was a website with the information and that the wedding colors were "Peacock!"
So here's what I came up with

The feather picture was my reference point and the next picture was me getting started while I was on the airplane flying home after the wedding. 

 Side by side, you can see that the feathers are colored a little bit differently. But I actually really like how the heart turned out. I wasn't sure when I first started. I also have to thank my sister *B* and my niece for helping pick out the colors.

 Finished, washed, ironed and waiting to be packed up and shipped away!

Close up of one of the pillowcases. I hope they're loved in their new home!

My Unfinished Workload...

My sister Mrs. Purple Quiltapotamus has challenged me to list all my unfinished work. So here goes nothing. She did it! She says "It does a crafting soul good to see what needs  to be done!!!"

This is a blanket my sister knitted based on our idea from "Once Upon A Time" and I hand embroidered the name and hand sewed the triangle name piece on. Our hopes are that we will have these up for custom order on our Etsy Page very soon. All I have to do for this one is take it to the post office and send it to my friend's baby in Calgary. That should be easy enough.

 These supplies are for two more of the same type of blanket. The pink ribbon needs to be sewn together because it wasn't long enough but its perfect for the little lady who is going to be getting a white blanket like the one above. I just have to make her name Triangle. Hopefully I'll get it done this weekend. I have a date with her mother next week. The blue ribbon goes with that cute name triangle which needs to be sewn on to a blanket. The knitting is done! My sister (B) is a beast when it comes time to knit or crochet! She whips things up like nobodies business.

This one is almost like the first one, except it needs a little bit of ribbon help. It needs nicer bows and some trimming. But then I can take this with me to work and give it to the babies mommy to take  home with her. I might just wait till the little blue ribbon blanket above is complete so I can give it to both people at the same time.

My baby gift that's not needed until January when we have the baby shower. Its coming along well. Mr. Eric Gagne is there to guard my pieces. I have a few more blocks to sew. They're in the plastic bags there. And then I get to put it all together. Although I think one of my middle blocks is way smaller than the others so I might have to redo that one. I'm waiting until they're all done to judge! I have a feeling this is gonna be one awesome gift. Now that my sewing machine is repaired I can easily get back to work on it.

This project I really need to get going on! These are squares from my nephew's baby shower. Everyone there wrote him a message and now I am hand embroidering their words on to pieces of fabric that his mom is going to quilt for him. If I don't get myself going its going to end up being his wedding gift! UGH! I was doing really well not that long ago. Then I put it in my sewing bag and got caught up with something else. I only have a few squares to go. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I can bang them out and get them in the mail!

This also makes me a bit sad. I started this skeleton couple a while ago and then I had a custom order so they lost their hoop. My friend from work drew them for me! (I LOVE HIS ART WORK) I should finish them and get them up on my Etsy site super soon.

My wild hexies! I'm actually kind of amazed at how many I have done! I know that its not that many considering how many I will need to make my quilt. But I'm still majorly excited about them! (This is what my sister meant when she said it was good for the crafting soul!) Now I just need to either get a bunch of these sewn together so I can take their templates back or get on making more templates! (Its just so much work!!) When I started this I jumped the gun a bit and didn't use a printed template so now I have to keep making templates that seem like they'll be right. And I have to make sure that they are right otherwise I end up with ones that are way way smaller like the grey one I recently blogged. But after seeing them all out I think I can finish this project. Maybe not by the time I'm 30 though...

These are coming along as well. These will be needle books soon enough! I can't wait! There is also one not shown in the picture because its a gift. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of work done this upcoming weekend. And I'll try to keep you all posted on my progress!

The only other major outstanding project is updating all the finished for sale items on to my etsy page. I did get four new things listed yesterday so hopefully this up coming week I can get more up there. Maybe I'll get a couple of these items off my list and ready to be listed!

Weekend Work

See Larry the P-I-N-K unicorn. He sits on my desk! And he was ABUSED this weekend. I need to get a new smaller embroidery hoop! It's tough to sew without one!

Happy News: My presser foot lever should be in on Thursday!!! Yay!!! Ill be able to sew again!!!

A Wasted Day

I had grand plans when my eyes first opened this morning! I was going to finish my rainbow pillowcase and do some work and then get more pieces cut for my quilt. I did finish my rainbow pillow case. I quit! I didn't like the red line which was all French knots and I'm not spending all day seam ripping and tweezing out knots! Instead I'll make a new one tomorrow. And the plans of today will become the goals of tomorrow. Today I read a book instead and spent a lot of time with my favorite spotted boy. I think we both needed it!

One Flower Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday!

My flower is pretty plain today. It's just grey. I would like to put the grey as a border around all the color that's happening. However this one ended up
being a lot smaller than the other flowers in my case. I guess it's one of the problems with cutting my own hexagon and not cutting enough in the beginning. I didn't really like stitching this fabric either. So it's not decided yet but I think I may try a different grey fabric.

I swear a little

I don't swear a lot. In fact there are many people who most likely haven't heard me say a four letter go getter EVER! However I do find that items with swears can be fun and stress relieving. So when a friend asked me to make her tea towels that matched her Christmas balls from last year I couldn't say no! I'll try to find a picture of the balls from last year! But for now tea towels!

Date for One Flower Wednesday

Today I am sentenced to ice and rest because I can officially start running again tomorrow! Yay!!! My sister is away visiting our family and LB is at work. It's okay because Yoshi is filling in and he is going to keep me company while I sit on my couch and stitch. I have finished my one flower so far an now to basting and thinking about the new black I need to get.

One completed Pillow Case

FINISHED!! Take that Jake! I finally sat down and got back to work and finished the Jake and The Neverland Pirates pillow case! It turned out awesome!! My coworker loved it and threatened to keep it. I think daddy's little girl will win when she asks for it.
I've got the pictures of the characters I'll post now and then I'll post a pic of the whole thing later tonight.

********************************************update*******************************

Progress

My plans for Friday fell a bit short. However I did get some house cleaning done and I've been working on my Jake and The Neverland Pirates the last couple days. I only have one character to go. Izzy and then I'll be adding a name. Then it will be good to go to its new home. Then on to the house warming gift for a friend and hopefully the last two baby gifts will be done on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I'll be off and running with my list for the craft sale.

Mondays

I'm pretty lucky in that 1/2 the Mondays aren't the typical Monday for me. I work only every other Monday. That means that today is my day off. If you can call Monday a day off. I had a super list of things that needed to be done and I did them all. Now I'm taking my zero gravity chair and water bottle outside to do some serious stitching. I think its a good reason to take my ipod out and leave my iphone in the house. Perfect me time!
ps. I wish I owned some Tokidoki Headphones!