Papertrey March 2016 Blog Hop Challenge

Hello! I was able to find some time during the last couple weeks to come up with a project for the Papertrey Blog Hop. Nicole challenged us with some artwork by Izziyana Suhaimi. You can read all about the challenge on Nicole's blog. Here is an example of his artwork.

 My interpretation of this artwork is a bookmark cut from some gray felt in my stash using the Basic Bookmark 2 die. I would love to see this color felt by Papertrey (Soft Stone maybe?). Anyway, to mimic the outlined flower on her dress, I stamped the flower from the Friends 'Til The End stamp set (an oldie, but a goody!), using Versafine Onyx black ink. I gave that a little time to dry before I stitched the flowers onto the front. I used Mini and Maxi Blooms to cut out the flowers. They are mainly stitched on using french knots and straight stitches. I then stitched some stems using a stem stitch.

What a fun and unusual challenge! I enjoyed making this bookmark! I slipped a narrowed down bookmark diecut from cardstock in between the two layers of gray felt to stabilize the bookmark. I then did a buttonhole stitch around the edges to finish it off.  I made a gray tassel using some gray floss in my stash. Hope you enjoy hopping around! Thanks for stopping by!

Stitching a Primitive Heart

Hello! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I have been stitching on a little heart sachet today and wanted to share it here with you.

 I used the Papertrey Primitive Stitched Hearts dies and cut two of the large hearts and one of the smaller hearts out of Papertrey Sweet Blush felt (LOVE!). I also cut out some small flowers and leaves with the Mini Blooms dies from Vintage Cream and Limeade Ice felt. I stitched the little flowers on the front of the small pink heart using just a french knot, and then stitched the leaves on with a single stitch. I made stems using a back stitch with green floss and then a bow in pink. I stitched the smaller heart onto one of the larger hearts using pink floss that is slightly darker than the Sweet Blush felt. 

I used a running stitch to sew them together. I then sewed the second larger heart onto the back of the first stitched large heart using the same pink floss and a blanket stitch. I wanted to use a more substantial stitch for the edge since I wanted to stuff the heart with a little fiberfill. I stuffed the heart once I was about 2/3 through stitching them together, and then stuffed a little more once I only had about an inch left to stitch. I then stitched a 1/8" ribbon through the center top to hang the heart.

I love how it turned out and plan to do several more in different PTI felt colors! I will probably spray these with perfume to scent them. Wouldn't they look pretty hanging from a peg? Hope you enjoyed them!

Embroidering stamped images

Hello! I had an ah-ha moment the other day while browsing Pinterest. I was looking at all kinds of beautiful embroidery designed by an Australian lady - Leanne Beasley. You can find her on her blog here. She has designed many beautiful embroidery patterns and also produces a magazine Vignette, which is all about stitching. Unfortunately, the cost of shipping one or several of her patterns is pretty cost prohibitive here in the U.S. So I got to thinking, what do I have that I can use for patterns for hand embroidery? I'm not an artist, so I can't just sit down and draw them. So the first thing that came into my head was my Papertrey stamps of course. I started going through my stamps and it occurred to me that the Hills series would translate well into stitcheries. So I stamped out the Spring Hills scene and scanned it into my computer to enlarge it. The size I settled on was having the outer rectangle 5 1/4" x 2 1/2". So I printed the enlarged scene out and traced it onto my linen fabric with a disappearing blue pen that washes out with cold water. I used DMC floss - mostly 2 strands - for most of the stitchery. The majority of the scene is done in a backstitch, with the leaves on trees done with one strand in a lazy daisy stitch. The sheep's wool is done in French knots. I am pleased with how it turned out and plan to do all the Hills series and them put them in a pretty quilt.

 

 

I think the next series I would like to do is the Papertrey Year of Flowers. I would like to embroider each flower and stitch them into a quilted wallhanging. I only have 4 of the YOF sets though, so I may have to depend on the generosity of stamping friends to send me stamped images of the rest. The sets I own are: Violets, Sweet Peas, Roses and Marigolds. If you have some of the remaining sets,  would you be able to mail me a stamped image on white cardstock? If you could stamp it in black, that would be great so it will be easy to trace. Thanks so much for your help! I'll post pictures when I'm done.

Little Houses Block of the Month Quilt finished!

Hello! Thanks for stopping by my blog. It's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been busy making things for our quilt guild Christmas luncheon, using some of my papercrafts, and spending time with the grandchildren. I wanted to share a quilt with you that I recently completed. I purchased a set of Block of the Month patterns from Bareroots about two years ago. This is a set of little houses, one for each month, showing the house through each season. There are twelve patterns (for the 12 months of the year). The patterns are stitched, mostly using a back stitch, and then put together into this quilt. I like to be working on something in the evening while I am sitting in front of the TV with my husband. That way, I feel like the time is at least productive in some way. :)

I set my mind to make these blocks this year, starting in January. Between all the time watching the Olympics and the debates this year, I was able to finish these up early. I used a jelly roll (2 1/2" wide strips cut the length of the fabric, using a particular fabric line) from Moda as the setting for the blocks and the border around the outside.

 Here is the finished quilt.

Here are close-ups of the individual blocks. Notice the way the tree, the yard, and the house change for each month. And the stitched border around each block reflects the month theme also!

January

 February

 March

 April

 May

June

July

August

September

October

November

And my favorite (although it was alot of work!) December











Thanks for sticking with me through all these pictures. You just can't do it justice from afar.

Mac-A-Doodles stitcheries

One of the things I like to do while watching totally worthless TV, is to work on stitcheries. I have done a ton of these over the years. I'm going to share a few of them with you today from patterns from a company name Mac-A-Doodles. If you have the time, go to her site and read about how her company got the name Mac-A-Doodles - it is both heartbreaking and heart warming at the same time. These are three of the stitcheries of her's that I have done - there are several more I've done, but they are seasonal, and packed away with my Christmas and Fall decorations.

I just love her style, and love stitching out Scripture. She also sells wooden frames to frame the stitcheries, but I usually just add borders and quilt it and hang it with a couple stick pins.  I am proud to support someone who turned tragedy into triumph. Thanks for your faith Deb!