Saturday Sampler: Bunnies and Babies Edition

 

Spring is springing around here, but before I get to that I want to thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments on my last post. To reassure everyone, I'm NOT thinking of quitting. I just wanted to put some words of encouragement out into the universe for anyone who might be thinking they should quit, even though they enjoy it. Thank YOU for encouraging ME.

It's busy at my house. I'm cleaning, cleaning out, puttering outside and getting dirty, re-doing and streamlining my spring decor, planning my 250th stitching, shopping for Market goodies (good stuff this year!), working on Christmas Open House (!), and of course, taking care of Mr. Wonderful and the baby werewolves. They are busy as well, watching the birds and the squirrels, including the finches nesting on the front porch (more on that later). Lots of spring busyness happening here. 

I've got a few more non-stitchy posts coming up, but bear with me... I will get back to sharing stitching stuff! Hope you're all well and seeing signs of spring!

Happy Stitching!

Tumbleweeds

 

I have to get something off my chest. Apart from my epic cold medicine rant, I try to avoid fussing about things here. I want this to be a calm, cozy, drama-free spot for everyone who needs a little escape. That's what it is for me.

But I do need to write a little about something that I see every now and then, which just bugs me.

I want to be clear: I understand the reasons people stop blogging. From something as simple as a changing interest in hobbies to something as complex as grief, and everything in between, sometimes writing a blog just stops fitting in to someone's life. It's nobody's business why anyone "abandons" their blog, although people do grow to care about the writers they read and are naturally concerned when they disappear with no explanation. 

None of that is what bugs me. What bugs me is loving writing a blog but stopping because "blogging is out" and "nobody reads blogs anymore." 

People blog for a lot of different reasons, and a lot of people blog mainly for the feedback. If they don't get feedback, they stop. That's okay. They're not getting what they want out of it.

I don't blog for feedback. I'm a writer at heart. I have been writing since I was a little girl. I wrote competitively in high school. I've been writing this blog for 13 years. The feedback is a very special bonus, but I would still be writing even if nobody was reading. 

There's a 1969 novel written by Louis L'Amour called Conagher in which a widow living in the American West writes poems and attaches them to tumbleweeds, to blow across the desert, perhaps to be read. Perhaps not. I won't spoil the story.

I think of that image often when sending my words and photographs and creations out into the world. I never know how many people will read and see them, where in the world they will be, what they will think about them. I just tie them to something I can't even see and let them blow away.

I rarely ever look at my blog stats, but Google can tell me everything I could possibly want to know about how my blog "performs." I can see exactly how many people read each post, and which countries most of my readers are in on any given day. (Waving at Hong Kong and Singapore today!) Sometimes it's surprising, sometimes puzzling. And it always makes the world seem small to know there are people in Brazil, or India, or Iraq (!) who are reading my writing and looking at my stitching and my cats.

I'm not concerned with "performance." I'm not bothered if "blogging is out" or "nobody reads blogs anymore" (they clearly do). I just like to write. And take pictures. And stitch. And share with whoever is out there, be they one or one million.

So if you are among the "I love blogging but blogs are out" folks, I encourage you to do what you love to do and pay no mind to people telling you it's out of fashion. If you enjoy it, do it anyway. Ignore "stats" and "followers" and "likes" and all the ways the modern cyberculture tries to shape your behavior. Just ignore all of it. Make things, take pictures, write words. And then tie them to tumbleweeds and let them go.

Perhaps to be read. Perhaps not.

Public Service Announcement: New Valdani!

 

Y'all! Check out this new Valdani thread "Americana" (M13) released just in time for all this year's 250th birthday stitching! Search "Americana" on their website to see the available weights. I chose #8 perle cotton, as that is my favorite weight for stitching. I really love this thread because it's a true red, ecru, and a nice bold blue. Other red/white/blue variegated threads I've seen use white, and they have a lot of pink and baby blue where the colors fade into the white. They always look a little washed out to me. Americana is really pretty and bright, and the ecru gives it a vintage look.

Just had to drop in and share! Happy Stitching!

Saturday Sampler: Mid-Winter Edition

 

Playing with Beads

I mentioned in my last post that I've been making some new things with beads, and here they are: bag charms!

A while back I was nosing around on Etsy, as one does, and found the cutest little bag charm for a few bucks. I didn't have any, and as I am wildly fond of bags--mainly organizing bags and especially for my stitching--I decided to get one as a little treat. I was more delighted with it than I expected to be, and that got me thinking: I can make these. So I did!

These are easy to make. I already had a small set of jewelry pliers (flat and needle nose) and a small collection of beads, so I picked up some head pins, jump rings, and lobster claw clasps and went to work. All of these findings are inexpensive and Hobby Lobby will have 50% off sales (along with beads). If you've never worked with jewelry findings, there are lots of tutorial videos on YouTube. It's easy.

Most of the beads were already in my stash, or are from Hobby Lobby, but since I know someone will ask, the iced tea glass is from this shop. I've had mine for quite some time, and when I looked them up for this post, I discovered they now have a black straw in them, which I don't care for, but I thought I would include the link anyway. Perhaps you can find some without, if you prefer.

Back to the sewing room!

Saturday Sampler: Pet Snowflake Edition

 

I've been digging through my Christmas finishing stash and decided I needed a little friend to sit on my craft table while I work, so I made a pet snowflake. No special purchases or instructions; I just used whatever I had on hand. He turned out pretty cute!

I also made a few more needle minders and maids-of-all-work. Info and links about how I make these and what the maids are for in this post.

I've also been playing with beads and trying my hand at making some new baubles for my stitching projects. More on that soon.

And I'm redoing my shelf-top stitching display to celebrate our 250th birthday! And have plans for a special decoration for our front door.

Busy, busy, busy! 

Stitchy Planning... January?!

 

Many of you know that during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I observe my very own holiday: Stitchy Planning Week. I play in my stash, clean out, organize, and plan projects for the new year. Circumstances have made it a bit hit or miss over the last few years, and the state of my stash reflects that. It needs a good tidy. And I need a good, long stretch of what I call "restful busyness", the kind of busyness that's enjoyable and calming, not stressful and tiring. I need Stitchy Planning... January!

Yes. I've decided that I need way more than one week to do all of the things that need doing in my sewing room. I need to be able to putter around in there without feeling like I have a deadline. I need to play in my stash. Organize. Clean out. Make stuff. Plan projects. Stitch. Finish. Frame. 

I need to just... be. In my little burrow. With all my goodies. Unhurriedly poking around in baskets and boxes. Keeping the things I still love. Passing on the things someone else would love more. Making time for creativity. And for projects I've put off for too long because there was always something "more important" that needed doing (like laundry). Planning. Maybe a little shopping. 

And snacks.

I think I'm just gonna have a retreat in my own sewing room. 

Y'all come on in. Let's see what we get up to.

Happy New Year!

 

Wishing y'all a year of health, happiness, and oodles of finishes!

Merry Christmas!

 

Twelve Days of Christmas Bonus Post: Tips & Tools

 

Let me start by saying if you're thinking of making this ornament set in paper, it can be as simple or as elaborate as you like, but if you want to make them elaborate, it will take some time. They cannot be whipped out in an hour. Each of these ornaments took hours. If you're a stitcher, you may be thinking, "No problem! It takes hours to stitch a Christmas ornament." It does, but stitching is pretty relaxing and rhythmic and you can do it anywhere. Making these and being fancy pants about it is pretty exacting work and you need a workspace. I wouldn't call it relaxing, but the finished product is rewarding. The patterns become increasingly detailed as you work your way from the partridge to the people, and most of these took me at least a couple of days, and in the case of the people, longer. Part of that was because once I got everything cut out, including all the tiny details, I placed them, and then I walked away from it for a day or so to make sure I liked it before I started gluing everything in place. I have no idea how many hours this set took me. 

I say all that, not to discourage you, but to help you decide how you want to make your set and how much time to budget. If you like paper crafting, you will love making these. It's challenging and absorbing and the results are so lovely and unique. Mr. Wonderful has claimed this ornament set to decorate his library (shown above on his bookcases). The point is, when I had this idea, I really didn't have a clue how long these would take me. It's definitely not something you can throw together at the last minute. I think it would be a great year-long project, making one per month. You could start in January! The whole set is available in a bundle (I think it goes on sale every November; that's when I got mine but that was years ago) but it is also available in smaller bundles of three ornaments each and you can even purchase individual ornaments if you'd just like to dip your toe in and make one and see how it goes.

Twelve Days of Christmas by mmmcrafts

With all that out of the way, let's talk about tips & tools. Everything I used is pretty basic, with the only special purchases being the paper punches. If you're a crafter, you probably already have most of these supplies.

PAPER

Your paper choice is really the most important decision you make for how you want your set to look. You can do details or no details, glitter or no glitter (gasp!), but it's your paper choice that makes the set. Obviously, using plain paper (card stock) gives you a much different look than using patterned paper, and I did make my first partridge using plain paper, but it just lacked the visual interest I wanted. If you prefer a quieter look, definitely go with plain paper. If you want to use patterned paper, my advice is to choose a pad of curated papers that you like. Why? Because all the color work is done for you. Everything already coordinates. All you have to do is choose some complimentary plain paper (and glitter!) and you're ready to go. This is especially helpful if you don't feel confident choosing colors. All of the plaids I used in my set were from one pad of Christmas plaids.  There are so many styles and patterns and colors to choose from. 

PAPER PUNCHES

Whether or not you decide to add a lot of details to your ornaments will determine whether or not you need to invest in some paper punches. I say "invest" because good paper punches aren't cheap but they're definitely worth the money. A less expensive punch that mangles card stock and doesn't even dint glitter paper is a waste of money. I actually didn't figure out the paper punch solution for detail work until I had already made my first couple of ornaments. I wasn't satisfied with the result and I needed a way to produce lots of tiny pieces for details without driving myself mad cutting them out. Paper punches, obviously! I already had some basic shapes but decided I wanted a leafy, nature-y look, so I went hunting for those and found Bira craft punches. I can recommend these. Lots and lots of choices and very good quality. They handled heavy glitter paper and produced nice, clean cuts. They do go on sale occasionally, so watch out for that. The big one in the second picture was my splurge, but it was worth it. I used it a lot. For the heads of my people, I used the 1" round punch in the middle. The hands are about a 10 mm circle.

Here's another thing to think about when choosing paper punches. There are "border" punches like the blue Fiskars punch in the second picture that produce a long design, but what you're interested in is the little bits of punched paper. I used that punch (which I've had for many years and is probably no longer available) for the long squiggle and the leaves, but also for mouths, eyebrows, and eyelashes (by trimming the leaves). When you look at border punches, don't look at the border as a whole, but at the little shapes. They can be used for all kinds of things.

You'll also need some regular hole punches in different sizes. The one on the right is a tiny 4 mm punch and it feels like I glued about a thousand of those. It's a useful size, just about right for eyes. 

CUTTING TOOLS

Good scissors are a must. You might also need an exacto knife. I have a bunch of different Fiskars paper edgers, but I think this is the only one I used, to do the Lady's hair. If you have some, they would be neat to use, but they're not necessary.

COLORED PENCILS, SHARPIES, GEL PENS

Adding some shading around the edges of plain paper shapes really gives them a nice dimension and a more finished look. It may not show up well in the pictures, but I think it's an important step. You might also need a black Sharpie, and I use a white gel pen to add a little bright spot to the birds' eyes. 

EYES

Speaking of birds' eyes, I used these little adhesive black facets. You can find them in the scrapbook supplies with the stickers. 

GLUE

Nothing fancy, just good, old fashioned Elmer's glue sticks. I like the purple ones because you can easily see where the glue is going. It dries clear.

TWEEZERS. TWEEZERS. TWEEZERS.

If you decide to make this set fancy schmancy with lots of embellishments, you will develop a deep relationship with your tweezers. Oh my stars. Make sure they are worthy of your love. I wouldn't recommend the ones with the slanted tips, but that's probably a personal preference. But do make sure they close properly. Every single teeny tiny piece of paper will have to be placed, and you don't want to constantly have to pick up dropped pieces over and over. You'll go crazy.

HOW TO MAKE THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL HATS

For the most part, the patterns for these three-dimensional felt ornaments translate easily into paper. The only thing I had to figure out was the hats, because obviously, the patterns are meant to fit a round wooden bead. The solution was pretty simple, once I put my brain cell to it. I pencil traced around the shape of the hat in the picture on the pattern (top picture). I then used my little light box (a bright window will do) to trace that shape onto a plain piece of paper, which I took a picture of (second picture). Then I "embiggened" that picture until it fit the 1" round head I had punched out, and traced that enlarged shape right from my phone screen. My enlarged hat pattern is in the top picture. I did this with the piper's hat, too. I skipped the milk maid's hat but it would be the same process. 

I think that covers it. If you plunge into this project, allow yourself to make mistakes, and change your mind. I made the pear--the simplest pattern in the whole set--three times. Your first try may not give you the result you want, but you'll get there. Even though you're using a pattern, it's very much a creative process. My paper ornament set is very different from the felt set, but I think it still has the same spirit. I think anyone who is familiar with the felt set would immediately recognize my paper interpretation, and I like that.

If you have questions, leave a comment and I'll do my best to help.