Embroidery

I finished a few embroidery pieces before I really had to dive into Christmas gifts. The first 2 items are Sublime Stitching designs from the Sublime Stitching the book.









This last onesie is embroidered with a free design from Needlecrafter.





We're running out of Christmas days! Happy 11th day of Christmas!

Embroidery

A few baby onesies, and even a few gifts for some grown-up friends. I really enjoy grown-up gifts, as I'm usually stitching on woven fabric rather than knitted t-shirt material...fun, fun.

Embroidery

So, I've finished a few tops, and am feverishly working on finishing a gift for an adult friend (shock!).

I've got one other shirt done, but no pics uploaded yet. One inked-up shirt for my darling Si-Pi (he loves me so much, and the feeling is mutual), and two (two!!) other gifts for adult friends all ready to go (that is, all ready to be embroidered).

There actually has been a slight lull in baby-births...although I am not caught up...I've been considering being a bit more selective with who I do this for. Simply put, some people really value it, and it seems--to my great surprise--some don't. I don't want to labor and spend a ton of time lovingly creating something when it won't be appreciated. So...that might help free up my embroidery-time a bit. I can easily hand-make simpler gifts in those cases.

Additionally, I have some gingham lying around and I really, really, really want to try chicken scratch. I'm sure I have lots of time to do that! :)

I'm really looking forward to starting some embroidery lessons with a friend (or two) of mine this Fall. It will be so much fun to teach these gals this very simple, easy home-craft, not to mention to have regularly scheduled visits to chat and catch up. All the while creating beautiful things for our homes or for others. Yay!

Without further ado, here are the latest baby shirts!

Front:


Back:


I really enjoyed this one--I don't often work on colored shirts, and I've never done (probably because I usually work on white) a mono-chromatic (one color, different shades) one like this. I really like the effect.

The baby this was for is so feminine and lovely. And I think the color would also look darling on her, but I haven't seen it on. She's dainty enough, too, that I didn't have to worry about the shirt size. It was a 6-9 month, but it didn't seem as big as the white 6-9 month shirts I usually work on.

Next one...
Front:


Back:


Isn't Aria an awesome name?!

I was really excited to work on gray, but now I think I ought to have chosen a design with less colors...maybe just pink and white or black...I do love this design and the colors...but they don't *pop* quite like I want them to.

Hopefully this shirt still fit when the gift was delivered. :)

smiles, embroidery, and happenings

Here's the latest baby top. Unfortunately, the baby moved away, and I don't have a mailing address yet, and am not getting emails back from baby's mama...so this may simply be practice. Not sure I love the faces... did them myself as an addition to a sublime stitching pattern, and then was commited because I drew it on the shirt with ball point pen--which never seems to come out when I accidentally draw on my own clothes! So...anyway.



and the rear





I do so love cherries. I want to put that little french knot pair on just about everything I own. So cheery.

Eve decided to make us all super heros the other day. She has a great eye for matching colors. I was wearing pink and got a red cape, since there was no pink tissue paper. But no one was around to photograph me.





And finally, we had a mama otter and two of her children visit our dock the other day. They stayed for more than 20 minutes. She ate an entire, rather large Trout (or possibly Bass, I really couldn't tell) from tail to head, every bit of her, and didn't share with the babies. It was fun to watch them play, and search for scraps around their mom. Then one went potty on our dock, and that really got Eve giggling. Tom wasn't so happy. :) The photos are less than spectacular because the otters are skittish, so we have to be stealthy and definitely stay inside, so these are through windows and railings and taken at quite a distance. But, for documentations sake, here you are:

craftiness

Hello out there.

I've missed blogging, but sometimes, living life is more important and more fun. But now I have something fun to share, so here we go.

I've had a recent spurt! I finished a onesie I'd been dragging my feet on because I'm pretty sure the baby it's for is wearing the size the onesie is. I'm so bad. *And* sharing my fabric stash and tote-making instructions with a couple friends inspired me to sew again, so I finished the back pack! I also hemmed a pair of my own pants into those trendy long shorts which are really quite flattering. I did the same with a pair of pants for Tom to make shorts for him too. But this makes like pair number 4 for that, so nothing really exciting there.

On to pictures!

Soren's elephant



with a little bird...



and another on the behind, with a peanut. On later reflection, I should have decreased the size of the peanut or increased the size of the bird, as it is, it looks suspiciously like something else one might find near an elephant, especially since it's on the rear. Oh well.



Andrew was a fisherman...





satin stitch on a t-shirt is hard and not fun



I put three little bubbles on the butt, but I was tired of satin stitch, and they were too big for just knots, so I just outlined in backstitch. Not my best-ever behind design. If you are really desperate to see it, visit my flickr photoset, you'll find it somewhere in there.

The exciting thing about both these onesies is that I designed them myself. I actually sketched an elephant (20 some times) and doodled the underwater scene. What did I spend the most time on? figuring out how to draw birds! I'm pretty darn proud of myself. This isn't the first time I've done my own design work, but I look at the elephant and just swell with pride that I could draw that. Yay!

On to more self-designed stuff.

Here's a backpack I made for Eve. My friend Kim made a backpack out of some great Amy Butler fabric (I think) for another friend's oldest girl back in November. I was totally inspired and began to make a Christmas present for Eve. I knocked out all but the straps and hanging loop right away, and then became intimidated by the attachment of the straps and left it literally under the needle of my machine until a few weeks ago when Tom decided he needed new shorts. I've told you all that, though. So, anyway, here it is.



Note the flat bottom. Making flat-bottomed bags makes me really happy. I think it's the geometry involved.

I asked Kim for a basic rundown on what she did. If I were to do it again, I would make it bigger and put a pocket on the outside front (and ribbon details, which I meant to do, but forgot until everything was all sewn together, oh well!) which are both things Kim did, and I just was too lazy to pay careful attention to such details. I also think the flap should be longer, but I cut the flap before I made the bag have a flat bottom, so that's my excuse for how short it is.



I love the fabric. I found it all in a quilting fat quarter stack at joann's. It's not going to hold up to a ton of abuse, but Eve's already getting too big for the thing, so I think it will be just fine. Is it some kind of strange Christmas motif? It was the right timing for it, and it's got angels...but not the usual angels, and certainly not Christmas colors. It's really vibrant and summery looking, really.

another thing that Kim told me to do, but which sailed right in one ear and out the other, was to sew the top of the straps into the flap seam, along with the hanger hook, but, you know, Kim sews way more than I do and is clever that way. I'm just pleased the straps are on. But if I make another back pack, I'm totally doing that.

One thing Kim didn't do, but which I did, was put elastic on the straps. I wanted it to be "adjustable" in the sense that the straps could fit Eve for longer than a month, but I didn't want to do the usual strap adjusters (because I am afraid of those!) The bonus of this method is that it allows Eve to easily put the back pack on by herself, but it still fits snugly against her back so she doesn't have her backpack dragging down by her bottom. I can only imagine the back strain the other method would have caused, since I'm not certain a book would fit, and she's always lugging around really heavy beanie babies and whatnot.



fully lined, featuring pockets and a velcro closure for the flap (because every other kind of closure scares me--I need to branch out)



Eve is quite pleased (there's those straps in action!!), and Israel can't believe how talented his beloved mom is. He loves me even more now, and expects to have a robot-angel backpack of his own when he's three. This is not the sort of thing that makes a suitable hand-me-down.

No pictures of the shorts (they're not that flattering.

Crafty gifts

While I didn't get pictures of everything I made, I think there's enough here for you to enjoy, if you enjoy such things. If you check out my flickr account with any frequency, these are not new to you, so you can go back to your other activities and save yourself the time, if you wish.

This will concluded my Christmas crafting posts...and though the 12 days of Christmas have long past, it still isn't a month since Christmas, so, I'm calling that good enough. Unless I come across pictures of Christmas that are particularly exciting, I probably won't post any more about Christmas at all. Moving on, baby, moving on.

Embroidered ornaments (Less than stellar pictures. Tom took them. He's a great photographer, but he has to care about the subject. ;))



A bib for my sister's new baby, "Meelia Jane"





A satin clutch for Tanna, containing candy and some unphotographed matching hair pins.



Three clutches like the one below, all with different ribbons and buttons, and my photo shoot was a bust. The Christmas tree was in my bright corner windows...it totally messed me up.



The year-long Wee Wonderfuls girl Elf Stitchette stocking for Ellen.







A headband for Bridget.



The Heather Bailey headband was a first for me. I think I need to make Bridget another, that fits her better and in a slightly less stiff fabric, and because one can never have too many, you know?

And last but not least, another year-long embroidery project. I was thinking ahead though, and bought this skirt for Eve a size up. And still she's nearly out of this size. Also, I'm pretty slow with this posting stuff, as this was finished before Peanut arrived.







Cute scooter courtesy of Sublime Stitching!

Phew! All caught up. And despite my very ambitious to-do crafting list (which also seems to be ever expanding) the only craft I've finished in 2008 is a smallish monogram (single letter) of a throw blanket for my wonderful big sis. No pictures. In fact, I've crafted gifts for all my older siblings, and don't have a picture of a single one. One day soon I hope to complete the backpack and scarf I have in the works for Eve, and I'm working on improving my own drawing skills so the next few onesies I do will be all me. Stay tuned folks.

Old onesies...

or, "Didn't I already post these?"

Looking through my archives, I'd have to say no.

Well, as per tradition, I once again failed to get a photo of an embroidered onesie I gifted to the last of the late Summer/early Autumn baby batch at church. But, if you can imagine, it was an electric guitar from the Sublime Stitching Stitch it Kit, done in blues, mainly, with a teeny, tiny pair of 16th notes on the bum. The head of the notes were french knots, of which I made judicious use throughout the piece.

And here's the one I made for Peanut! It's a Peanut, and it says Peanut on the bum! Isn't that ironic?





Of this I am quite proud, the peanut image is of my own design. Yay me!

Here is, I must say, the piece d'resistance. The long-sleeved onesie I made for Gillian







Let me just see if I can not go on too long about this one. First, the bird/banner design is courtesy of one of Jenny Hart's books. Can't recall which at the moment. I think, again, it was the stitch it kit. The little wonky heart on the bum is me. Who can't draw a symetrical heart, I ask you? Me, that's who. The text on the arms are an exact replica (as much as can be) of the tatoos Gillian's daddy has on the underside of his forearms.

If you want more details on this shirt, check out my craftster post on it, here.

Here's the one I made for Killian, born a little after Gillian...isn't it cute that they rhyme? Wouldn't that be cool if they married eachother one day? Stranger things could happen.



and the bum detail



Both designs were public use images from the web, printed, and slightly altered when I traced with the iron on transfer pen.

I'm actually a bit sad about this one. The name is in chain stitch in a modern Celtic font, and the trinity knot (I think there's a more official name for it, but I'm not certain what it is) is in heavy chain or double chain. It's a way cool stitch, but I think it might have overwhelmed the light knit t-shirt material. It will probably require ironing whenever it is washed. Plus, the design looks really simple, so the recipient's parents and other viewers may feel it was a simple thing to create, with less thought and work put into it than the Gillian top, which is not at all the case. I also wonder if it's too serious for little Killian, and maybe he would have been better suited to a monkey or a dancing veggie instead. This was much more personal, chosen and made just for him...oh well. It was a blast to make, so I'm trying not to be sad about it.

And last but not least, my new baby niece's shirt. It's long sleeved and pink, but otherwise just a normal onesie.





The bird is from the Sublime Stitching book, and the little sunshine is something I drew myself.

I think it's pretty darn cute. I didn't iron it for the pictures, so that's probably just what it will look like when baby 'melia jane (that's what Eve calls her) wears it.

So there you go, the latest batch of onesies. I have plenty more crafty goodness to share, so stay tuned. And there are two new babies at church, and at least one other gal due this month, so I'll have another bundle to share soon enough.