Bits of Stitching!

Quilt Project Progress Block #6

2012-03-07T08:15:00.001-05:00

Finally finished embroidering this little guy!

Last month I was only able to stitch 2 out of the 3 blocks I was

supposed to have done, now I'm all caught up with

February's blocks and soon will be working on

piecing and stitching the last 3 blocks of

my Stitchy Quilt Project for March.

Hopefully I will be fast enough to start working on

sewing the blocks together and finishing the quilt.

I feel I'm running out of time!

So I'm in need of suggestions on how to put this blocks

together in a very simple and quick way in order to finish

this quilt on time,

remember this is my very 1st quilt ever!

The Nesting Place Progress Peek

2012-03-05T10:08:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to give you a peek!

Noticed that the branches are filled in and the oval border

is almost finished... just need to whip it with the same

thread I used for the chain stitches in order to be done

with lesson #2.

Since today I don't have to cook (thanks to lots of leftovers).

I already took care of some household chores (yes, I

get up really early). Even though my body is still achey, thankfully

my mind is fog free ;-). I don't have to go to work today ;-D so

I should be able to finish it and start on lesson #3, which

reminds me that I need to go and check in the classroom to receive

lesson #4 which was to be posted today!

Hope you are all having a good Monday!

Lilipopo Flower Picker Girl and #1 Dancing Princess SAL

2012-03-02T13:29:00.001-05:00

I'm very happy with how these two patterns turned out!

Had lots of fun choosing colors and stitches as I embroidered away.

Here is Flower Picker Girl!

Her hair was the part that took the longest.

I wanted her to look a bit like my dd.

It was hard to decide which colors to use for the flowers...

but I finally decided on this magenta... [I'm not great

with color names so feel free to correct me... ;-) .]

Love her red shoes!

Maybe I should keep her on my needlework station area so I can

smile every time I look at her ... unless dd claims it, we'll see.

Below I present you Dancing Princess #1 of Lilipopo's

stitch along. I wanted her to look like royalty ;-),

that's why I decided on this particular fabric for her dress.

Princesses needs lots of sparkle! Ask dd and she would totally agree ;-).

Sparkly veil, dress and shoes... she is definitely ready to dance

the night away! I hope she behaves!

Just for fun below is a picture of princess #1 in progress.

I'm looking forward to meet and stitch princess #2!

I wonder if she is going to be all fancy and blingy like

her sister here or, would she be more on the conservative side?

Hmmm... I guess I'll have to wait and see!

On another note... I almost caught up with my online class!!!

Will share that with you later.

However I'm behind on one Quilt Project block from the

month of February.

I will take it with me to stitch while waiting on the

carpool and see if I can get it done today.

Hand Embroidery is great therapy!!!

Cheering Oneself Up A Bit

2012-02-29T13:33:00.000-05:00

When you are not feeling so well and can't get around much,

do you try to cheer yourself up a bit?

This is one of the ways I cheer myself up a bit...

... purchasing cute embroidery patterns :-).

Let me show you my latest additions to my embroidery

pdf pattern stash/collection.

In no specific order:

1st picture above... La Patisserie embroidery pattern

by Big B. You can read about it on her blog

or in her shop. This is a deliciously cute pattern ;-)!

(ps= she also have some other deliciously cute ones...

like the Cupcake one -which I own, and the Cake one.)

2nd above... Little Owls bird mini embroidery pattern

by Wild Olive. You can read about it (scroll down a bit once there)

on her blog or in her shop.

Don't you think these are the cutest baby owls ever?

3rd above... Set of 4 Bird and Tree series 2 embroidery patterns

by littledeer. You could read about this set 2

on her blog or in her shop. There is series 1 but for some

reason I was drawn mainly to series 2.

Very cute and whimsy!

Today is rainy outside and I'm in a foggy state.

I have other things (wip's progress) to show you but no pictures yet.

Reading a sweet notecard- thanks ;-)!- from a friend cheered me up too!

Made some mild chicken soup... that's something else

that cheers me up a bit. Hopefully I will be able to make it

to an evening meeting with my family... that would cheer me up.

I'm curious... if you are one to cheer yourself up,

how/what do you do?

The Nesting Place Class Progress (Part Two)

2012-02-28T07:00:00.004-05:00

Yes! I'm done with Lesson #1!

By the time you read this, I probably will be getting ready

to start with Lesson #2.

Here are a few pictures of the process...

outlining of 2nd bird finished and starting to fill in.

Filling in the shape and shading.

2nd bird plumage finished!

I switched to blue wool for the wing accents instead of red wool.

Didn't stitch the legs on this second bird for this 1st lesson.

I think I did a bit better with the smoothness of the belly

area of this bird compared to the first one.

Still I feel I need more practice in shading and in not

overcrowding stitches.

I admit it is not perfect, there are a few mistakes.

However, I'm happy with it and my motto is to learn from

my mistakes and in the case of embroidery it helps me

to have those mistakes visible in order to be better

next time... plus I hate to rip stitches (unless it is truly necessary).

This is what works for me which I know it is not the case

for everyone.

Well, as I said... Lesson #1 is finished,

Lesson #2 and #3 should be a breeze compare to this one!

Hope y'all having fun on your crafty/stitchy projects!

Quilt Project Progress (Blocks 4 and 5)

2012-02-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

Here is my progress on my Quilt Project.

Only one more block to go for this month!

Below is a picture of what I accomplished while

waiting at carpool.

For me, the best pastimes while waiting at carpool

are: listening/reading to spiritually enriching material,

stitching and napping ;-).

A couple of close ups of cute girly puppy
(love her tiny bow) and...

of cute little duckling (he looks so happy and determine).
I hope to finish soon with my 3rd block for this month!

I also completed Lesson #1 of

The Nesting Place online class.

Working on final stitches of my Lilipopo's pattern and I'm

about to start with the 1st princess of Lilipopo's

free Stitch Along.

Will post about these wip's and/or finishes soon!

(PS= I'm feeling a little better... thanks sooo much for all your

sweet comments on the previous post!)

Eye Candy (Picture Heavy / Edited on 03/08/2012)

2012-02-24T18:04:00.001-05:00

I have some stitchy progress to show you but the lack of

sunlight prevented me from taking pictures.

In the meantime enjoy some eye candy!

Below are some of the ways I use to keep all my
hand embroidery threads and floss stash organized:

(PS= still not feeling too good, but eye candy always

cheers me up a bit. Hope you enjoyed it too!)

Lilipopo Pattern and Quilt Project Progress

2012-02-22T15:47:00.001-05:00

When it comes to my Lilipopo pattern,
below is my progress.

As soon as I finish this one I will be stitching the

1st princess of Lilipopo's free SAL,

which I want to finish before the end of the month, yes, before

the next princess pattern is release.

Now onto my Stitchy Quilt Project progress.

The 3 blocks for this month are already pieced and ready

to be stitched. These are good candidates to be stitched

while waiting for dd at carpool, in fact, one of them...

is almost done. These cuties stitch fast!

On these days I'm not feeling very well plus
my agility is a bit compromise however, considering

the circumstances, I'm very happy with what I've been

able to accomplish so far.

The Nesting Place Online Class Progress

2012-02-20T18:12:00.000-05:00

This weekend flew by!

I wasn't able to accomplish all that I wanted to do,

but I'm happy that I was still able to make some progress.

Above is my progress on Lesson #1 of the online class The Nesting Place.

I'm halfway through the lesson hopefully I would be

able to work a bit more on it this afternoon.

Here are some wip pictures of it:

From top left: ironing linen fabric after rinsing and semi-drying in

a towel / auditioning stretcher bars using pattern / pattern transferred

and basted / all set up and ready to go.

Above is the outlined shape before filling it in with

long & short stitches and finally here is

where I am now,

I better hurry since lesson #2 begins today!

I'm so glad I decided to take this class. Mary is a great

teacher/mentor. She has provided us with written instructions, videos,

one to one feedback and a private online forum.

The class participants are from all over the world.

I believe this particular class won't be offered again but

there are other online classes coming up soon.

On a different subject, I was also able to make progress on

my Quilt Project and on the Lilipopo pattern next time

I'll share with you progress on those.

These days my agility is a bit compromise, however considering

the circumstances, I'm very happy with what I was able

to accomplish over the weekend.

Hand Embroidered Vintage Tablecloth

2012-02-14T17:09:00.001-05:00

I found this hand embroidered tablecloth set (yes it came with the napkins!) at a

community yard sale at one of the local library's parking lot in May 2009.

Since then I haven't gotten such a deal in vintage linens.

I posted about this great find on my "old" blog ...

anyone remember how much I payed for it???

One of the pictures in this collage has the tag... are you able to read it?

Ok.. I will tell you ....

I found this treasure for the amazing prize of $4.00!!!!!!

Can you believe it!!!????!!!!

I still can't ... :-). I didn't even bargain for it, wouldn't dare to.

These pictures in the collage were the ones I took that very day

when I found it... couldn't wait to iron it to take pictures :-).

These two pictures are from the back of some of the embroidered

motives... that's what I call tidy stitching!

The embroiderer put sooo much care on this piece... she/he

even used different embroidery techniques.

For example the bow below is embroidered in shadow work.

He/She also used simple pulled thread work as the
picture below shows.

I've used it once. I don't want it to get permanently soiled since

I found it in excellent condition.

Which great finds have you stumble upon?

PS (This upcoming weekend I plan to be busy stitching away on

my WIP's. I'll "see" you with some progress pictures next week!

Enjoy the rest of the week and have a great weekend!)

Stitchy Distractions ;-)

2012-02-12T06:35:00.000-05:00

Yes... I'm distracted!

Perhaps I must say... very distracted ;-) from my Quilt project.

First with an embroidery pattern that was featured on

an e-magazine that I was subscribed to.

The May issue of Bustle & Sew e-magazine has a

super cute pattern by designer

Lilipopo.

I'm so glad I was reminded of this pattern when

today browsing a little bit (while dinner was cooking)

found Lilipopo's blog and saw that she is having

a Stitch Along! She also has a shop.

My second distraction is the Daisychain ABC's Sampler

by designer Alicia Paulson... another super cute project!

This particular sampler I plan to work on it slowly.

Would you care to join? It could be fun!

I won't be starting until March.

I resized it smaller, traced it and I still need to hoop it up.

For this project I may be using DMC floss instead of wool.

I'm also starting an online embroidery class with Mary Corbet from

Needle-n-Thread.

(picture below from Needle-n-Thread)

The Nesting Place online class.

I received my kit for the class over a week ago...

I'm very excited and looking forward to it!

I do have in my schedule to work on my Stitchy Quilt Along

next weekend... so all is good!

I wonder... when you work on your projects,

are you able to focus and work just on one project

until you are done or are you more like me

having a few things going on at the same time?

Missing Snow

2012-02-10T07:45:00.000-05:00

For some reason I thought that this year we were going to

get snow... but it hasn't happen and it doesn't look like

it will happen anytime soon.

We had so much fun last year! I stitched Mrs. Snowgirl and

we did get a nice amount of snow.

I do not enjoy very cold weather so having a mild winter

is good for me... however being able to look out the window

and see snow covering everything... oh how pretty!

Maybe some of you are having/or had a bit too much of

it and are probably tire of it.

(Let's sing along)... ❡Mrs. Snow, Snow ❡.... Mrs.. Snowy Snow ❡,

❡please fall down on me! ❡(LOL).

I will just enjoy last year memories!

How do you feel about snow?

Wherever You Are... Embroider!

2012-02-09T09:50:00.000-05:00

My current handi-crafting is on stale mode :-/.

I'm looking at my previous projects to gain some motivation.

I started this project while on a vacation to the Caribbean.

Even though I brought along a few embroidery necessities,

obviously it seems like they were not enough.

So a trip to a local handicrafts shop took place.

When back with my bounty I didn't waste time to start.

Found the perfect Aunt Martha's pattern and a few skeins of DMC

...among other things ;-).

In I went to our hotel's room bathroom to use the iron and ironing board

and was able to take it with me...

in one of our daily outings to start working on it.

Didn't get much done while at the beach, however on our way

back home it was a different story.

I find plane trips sooo boring and most of the time I don't

care for watching the in-flight movie(s).

Once home I put in the last few stitches.

There! A happy little piggy having fun floating at the beach!

I really enjoy hand embroidering wherever I am!

What about you?

PS (thanks to all your lovely comments on previous posts... will

try to catch up with them in a few days)

Stash Additions: Embroidery Books

2012-02-07T19:36:00.000-05:00

Few days ago, on this post, I mentioned that recently

there were a couple of books added to my stash.

The 1st one, on the picture above, is

Colour Confidence in Embroidery by Trish Burr.

I have 3 other books and a DVD from her and I really admire

her work and really like her method of teaching.

To me this particular one (above) is a seminar/workshop on color

in a book. Trish's has website here.

Mary from Needle N Thread wrote a

very nice review on it on her website in case you like to

know more.

The 2nd book is the one below,

Ma Vraie Nature by Sylvie Blondeau.

Very cute and simple embroidery, it is in French however

you don't really need to know French in order to trace and stitch

the patterns in it ;-).

I happen to have in my stash one of her other books,

very cute as well but is mostly on applique for children.

Sylvie has a few blogs but I don't think they have

been updated recently.

Have you added any items to your stash recently?

Do tell! ;-)

PS: (no progress on any of my stitchy projects yet)

Little Girl Purse

2012-02-06T05:00:00.001-05:00

Here is the other project I wanted to share with you.

A little girl's purse.

I cut a long piece of natural canvas fabric for the outside, a cute

japanese fabric for the lining and a decorative strip from the same

lining fabric for the front of the purse.

I didn't take a picture of me sewing the decorative strip of fabric

to the front of the purse so please picture it in your mind ;-).

After sewing the strip of fabric in place, then I folded the bag

right sides together and sew both sides of the bag.

Notice that I didn't boxed up the corners of the purse for

this particular bag.

Getting the lining ready was next. I sewed a felt pocket to one side of

the lining.

Sewed both sides of the lining right sides together and...

since the lining fabric was a lighter weight than the canvas I used

for the purse itself I decided to "box" the corners of the lining,

it just made me feel that it made it a bit stronger this way.

Then it was time to add the lining to the bag.

Folded over that raw seam and ...

sew around once more to give it a finished look.

Then from the same canvas fabric I cut a strip, with right sides facing

folded longer sides together, sewed along the longer side and then

sewed to purse.... another step I know you are picturing in your mind

right now ;-) since I don't have an actual photo of it.

Dd loved it and used it until she got tall enough for a bigger purse.

(I made this little purse in 2008. However the very 1st purse I made

her was in 2007... simpler and with crooked seams...lol ... see below.)

Drawstring Pencil Bag

2012-02-04T17:13:00.002-05:00

Lately I have not been able to work on any of my current wips so

I'm going to share with you some of my old projects on this post

and on the upcoming one.

I up-cycle/recycle one of the legs of a pair of dd's jeans that

didn't fit any longer.

After sewing the opening where I cut them from the

pair of jeans I unpicked a few stitches from the factory made

seam, as it shows in the picture above and

threaded a piece of string with a safety pin through it.

Added a few felt embellishments to the ends of the string and

tied knots to secure them plus I also added a mini mushroom

pocket that I sewed in place by hand.

Filled the bag up with most of dd's pencils and craft scissors ...

and there you go a very quick, easy, economical, durable, practical and

cute project to make in 25 minutes or less.

As far as embellishing goes the sky is the limit!

Love that cute little pocket!

(This pouch was made in 2008.)

Creative Space (Part 2) ;-)

2012-02-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

Time for the 2nd part of my creative space!

(Part 1 here, Needlework Station.)

It is inside a walking closet!

This picture above gives you an overall idea of the 2nd part of my creative space,

the space where I do the sewing and 90% of the "shopping" for

things I need since it's where I keep my stash of

fabric, materials, supplies, books, etc. Love shopping in here! ;-)

Here is a closer view of most of the top section.

And here a closer look at the bottom section.

This is the view of the sewing area when seated.

Before moving the sewing space to this area dd would
wake up easily at night (my sewing machine is not noisy but
not completely a quiet one).
She could here me using it but after moving it here that
was no longer a problem, since I could comfortably close
the closet door while I sew.
I will like to have a dedicated room for a creative studio but
that will not be happening anytime soon, however,
I'm quite happy and comfortable with my space!
What space do you use as your creative space?
If you happen to have pictures of it in your blog/etc.
feel free to leave a link to it!

Finger Kitchen Mitten

2012-01-31T19:56:00.000-05:00

This finger kitchen mitten is one of my previous projects

made in November 2008.

A very quick, easy and fun crafty project to squeeze in a busy schedule!

The pattern for the mitten is a free pattern from

the Needlecrafter website.

The pattern I used for the stitcheries of the rooster

and momma hen and her chicks is from ...

... an embroidery pattern set from Patternbee.

As I already mentioned is very quick to put together,

the only step requiring time is the embroidery and that is

if you want it to be embroidered.

Mine turned out a bit big, if I ever decide to make another

one I will definitely reduced the size of the pattern a little

before printing it.

Just for fun.... below is a before picture with most

of the things needed to make the finger kitchen mitten.

Maybe you remember when I posted this on a previous

old blog but if this is your first time seeing it

I hope you like it and perhaps make one (or some)!

Sneaking In Some Stitching :-)

2012-01-30T13:57:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist... ;-)!

Very soon I will be working on my 3 stitchy quilt blocks for

the month of February in the meantime I started

stitching one of the designs on the Garden Pincushion pattern I just

recently blogged about.

Sneaking a small project to work on here and there while

I still keep my focus on my Stitchy Baby Animal Quilt.

Stash Additions

2012-01-29T05:00:00.009-05:00

It's been awhile since I've added goodies to my stash.

However, not long ago, some things got my attention, a couple of

books and a pincushion pattern that I saw in 2 blogs,

here and here.

Because of the pincushion pattern, well, the materials/supplies

to make them were part of the bounty.

A Garden Pincushion pattern by Lynette Anderson,

Seasons (Cosmo) variegated embroidery floss and a

few fat quarters of Secret Garden fabric by Lynette Anderson.

I expect to work on a few pincushions

here and there as time permits.

I will not be using the buttons that came with the pattern

but some wood ones that I already had on my stash.

These skeins of variegated thread have such pretty colors in

them, however I was playing with the darker 8042 one and

it takes a while to change from one color to another when

hand embroidering, perhaps is a different story when cross stitching so

because of that I won't be using that one for the pincushions but

the 8050 and 8065 ones.

Look at this particular one... lots of vibrant colors in one skein.

I forgot to find out if they are colorfast, which is very important

for me (will do that now).

To my surprise I received all these items very quickly,

great customer service indeed!

I didn't spend much on all this because I recycle the $

from some books I sold recently on my shop :-).

I will show you the books I mentioned at the beginning on a future post!

Have you added any recent goodies to your stash?

Quilt Progress (Blocks 1-3)

2012-01-27T08:09:00.000-05:00

These are the first 3 blocks for the month of January all finished!

There is a Stitchy Quilt Along going on at this moment

on New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns group on flickr

in which I'm also posting my progress report under this

discussion topic.

Below is a just for fun picture of my bunny block in the making

while waiting at a doctor's office.

I need to piece a couple of blocks to start stitching

blocks 4-6 blocks for the month of February.

I'm trying to keep my focus (which at times is really hard)

so I can finish this quilt on time... by April.

Are you working on any crafty long term projects?

I will love to see ;-)!

An Evening of Doodling

2012-01-26T08:10:00.000-05:00

Few days ago Dd and I spent the evening (before her bedtime)

drawing and doodling away.

She loves to draw and able to focus on it for a long time.

Since it's been awhile since my last stitchery freebie I decided

to doodle another free hand embroidery pattern to add to the previous ones:

Around the Fence and Around the Fountain which

you could download here if you like.

I'm not an artist or a designer by any means but maybe some of you

may find these freebies cute and useful ;-).

I hope to be able to upload this new freebie soon!

PS (An update on my January blocks for my quilt project soon.)

Creative Space ;-) (Part 1)

2012-01-23T15:20:00.000-05:00

These days have been so cold/cloudy/rainy around here.

I already stitched my 3 blocks for this month (yes!!!)

I won't take pictures until the sun comes out.

So here I am blogging about my Needlework Station area

(previously blogged about it on my "old" blog).

Picture above is how it looks now, which I'm pleased with.

Below was how it looked when I first set it up, which still

I think it was nice... however....

when I started to acquire more things then it looked

like the picture below... overcrowded/messy indeed!

I still think I can do something better with the see-thru

plastic drawers... any ideas?

I think the see-thru drawers take away from

the tidiness of the desk area... what do you think?

Could I dressed them up some kind of way?

I don't want to have to replace them but just up-cycle them

or something like that.

I'm willing to consider any ideas ;-)!

Well, any ideas that don't involved moving them

to a different place because I don't have any

other place for them.

Please do share!

The More "Serious" Hand Embroidery

2012-01-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

Sigh! I really need to find time to continue

working on my Training Kits.

(Above: collage that compiles embroidery in TK 1-3)

On my "old" blog I used to post occasionally about

them and how things were going. Well,

honestly I haven't touch my Training Kit 3 wip

in a long time.

I sure want to! It is just that even though it is

more satisfying for me to work on this more

"serious" kind of embroidery it does take

a considerable amount of time.

Maybe working a few minutes here and there?

I don't like doing that because it doesn't work for me.

(This below is my 3rd Training Kit Practice Piece)

It is not like in simple outline embroidery, in just a few minutes

with just a few common simple stitches outlining the shape of

your design you can make good progress and

even stitch almost everywhere while out and about.

With this type of "serious" embroidery

I want to sit surrounded by

threads, needles, stork embroidery scissors ;-),

lots of sunlight, a refreshing drink, no distractions

and at least 2 to 3 hours every other day

of spare time that I can immerse myself into

some "serious" embroidery!

(Below is my current 3rd Training Kit wip)

It takes me about 10-15 minutes to set everything up and get

the atmosphere just right to start working on this type

of more complicated designs, then every element in the

design requires focus, precision and time.

This above is the last Training Kit I started, #3.

There is a total of 6.

(Below is my 1st Training Kit finished and Practice Piece)

(Below is my 2nd Training Kit finished and Practice Piece

left to right: uncut turkey stitch, cut turkey stitch, practice piece)

I think my only resource could be...

a weekend of binge (lol) embroidering once a month.

Hmmm... I normally do have one weekend

a month without much in my schedule.

That may work!

It has to... because I really can't and I'm not willing to sacrifice

precious time with family and with my personal dedication to my Maker.

I wonder... what is needed, in your case, to

be able to work and enjoy what you love doing?

I will love to hear it!

Quilt Project Wip (Block #1)

2012-01-19T04:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm done hand embroidering Block #1!

(picture below shows just before beginning to stitch)

I received the Sulky cotton thread 12wt a couple of days ago

and I'm so glad I got it. In the picture below you can appreciate

that the Finca perle cotton #8 was a bit to thick (at least to my liking)

for the tiny delicate lines of the small patterns I will be embroidering.

I was not able to finish it before sunset -you know how it

goes when you run a house and have progeny ;-)- but was glad

that at least it got done today.

I trimmed a bit of the excess Fabri-Solvy and was going to

rinse it off but since I didn't pre-wash the pre-cut strips of fabric

I thought that perhaps I will just rinse them all

together after assembling the quilt top.

What a cute teddy!

Bunny will be next... hopefully tomorrow will have it done.

I was going to stitch everything in dark brown but decided to

stitch the flowers in coordinating colors.

The hand embroidery stitches I used on this teddy are:

straight stitch, lazy daisy (aka: detach chain stitch),

back stitch, fly stitch and satin stitch.

Besides the Sulky 12wt brown thread I also used

other threads from my stash:

DMC Danish green flower thread (a non divisible fine matte cotton thread),

Cotton Floché in yellow and 1 strand of good old DMC in blue.

If you missed the beginning of this quilt project, perhaps

you may want to take a look here.

Detail information on floché, flower thread and perle cotton

by Mary C. at Needle-n-Thread here.

@--}------

PS=(Dd loves her embellished turtle neck shirt. She right

away tried it on and ran to her mirror. What a nice feeling!

I forgot to take a picture of it finished before she put it in her

room and she is sleeping now so photo for later ;-). She is

wearing it tomorrow for school.)

Something For Dd

2012-01-18T14:03:00.000-05:00

I've been dealing with a cold for a few days already and yesterday it started to get worst.

At this moment I'm very limited on my options for meds so

I needed to take my mind away from the fact that

I'm only able to breath through my mouth :-/.

Thankfully working on a little something for Dd has helped!

Few weeks ago I got her a plain red turtle neck shirt for school and

she asked if it could be embellished with her favorite characters

to which I agreed but put it off until now.

I had everything I needed in my stash:

Lite Steam-a-Seam, Eco-spun Felt, Perle Cotton

plus the tools of the trade :-).

As you see I'm almost done (on this very moment

stitching and posting this from bed). This is my first time

working on a project like this one so hopefully the end result

will be wearable and the recipient likes it.

I let you know!

There are lots of tutorials out there for embellishing

shirts with applique but the project was embedded in my mind

since I saw it on one of the blogs I follow:

El Rinconcito de Junebell.

Have You Seen...

2012-01-14T13:30:00.000-05:00

...the freebies on the Lecien website?

They have lots of free quilt patterns, some with

stitcheries ;-)

Look what I found there!

I particularly fell in love with this one, not only

because is a hand embroidery pattern but it is

from Robin designer of Bird Brain Designs

stitchery patterns... which I have quite a few of.

There are other patterns by well know designers.

What you need to do if you will like to download it

is go to their website and click it from there.

Here it is:

http://www.lecienusa.com/free-patterns/

What about this one here,

Cute, ha?

This one is under their

Lecien Zakka Recipe tab... you have to explore

clicking the 5 white buttons on the top right

to find it... ;-). Ok, I tell you is on the

3rd button from left to right.

Have fun exploring!

I saved them for later... trying to focus now on

the quilt project.

Hand Embroidered Quilt Project Progress

2012-01-12T17:38:00.000-05:00

I'm working slowly on a small simple quilt that I

will like to have finished by April 2012.

It will be a 9 block quilt.

I'm using a Hello Betty Retro jelly roll from my stash that

I intended to use for a 2011 BOM but didn't.

For the centers just a solid light cream fabric. Maybe is

bone-white(?). I also will be adding some raw edge center blocks

to some of the 9 blocks.

With only a simple doll quilt as previous experience,

this will be my very 1st quilt.

I'm taking my time choosing fabric for the borders

and perhaps you can get the feeling of how I go about it...lol.

I'm not doing all the cutting 1st but I cut as I go. Yes, it is slower

but I get a better feeling of how I want to combine fabric colors

and patterns this way. You more experience

quilters, please be kind, laugh but don't let me hear you! ;-)

These super cute baby animal patterns will be

the fun part of this on-the-making quilt, they will

be hand embroidered on each of the block centers.

I didn't feel like tracing all those tiny lines forming the

body of each of the animal patterns

(if you click on the picture you will see what I'm talking about)

so I printed the designs on sticky-fabri-solvy.

I'm only waiting for some cotton thread in 12wt to start

stitching away. I have 6 strand embroidery thread

and perle cotton #8 but I wanted a thiner thread

that I didn't have to divide.

Hopefully it will get here soon because if I want to finish the quilt

by April I have to complete 3 blocks (pieced and embroidered)

per month from January to March and use April to

put together the quilt and finish it.

Notes: (Hand embroidery patterns kindly shared by Flickr members:

shawnlorette and chez60. I edited them to my needs.)

Welcome To My New Spot! ( For New Post Scroll Down)

2012-01-02T13:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Bits of Stitching!

(this entry is postdated until 01/30/2012)

Hope you found your way ;-)!

My previous handicrafts blog was My 1st Bambina!

Now Bits of Stitching! is my new spot for sharing/posting

about any of my, new and old, crafty endevors.

Life surprises us when we least expected and to

embrace that I decided to start a blog from scratch.

My 1st Bambina! will still be there serving its

own purpose.

Why the name Bits of Stitching!?

Well.... if you knew me from my previous blog,

you may have noticed that even though I love

to handicraft and everything that comes with it...lol,

(supplies, pattern, books, etc.) the truth is that

I'm not able to complete much of what I start.

My time is very limited and I'm expecting it to stay

that way for years to come.

However I do like to squeeze some stitching

a bit here and a bit there so

Bits of Stitching!

seems to be a perfect description of how I move along

with my handicrafts. ;-)

For now, some of my posts will be familiar to some of you,

(need to include some good "old" stuff).

I'm also going to try to keep personal posts

to a minimum.

I've postdated this entry just to make others aware of my change.

Meanwhile I keep fixing up my new "home",

I hope you find me here!

See you around! ;-)