Five-by-seven embroideries
I did part of #drawlloween in 2016. I had too many obligations to do all 31 days, but I got a few out of it! I've been trying to remember to make my embroideries at standard frame sizes (or to fit frames I already own). I know I should get ~*professional*~ with custom framing to fit the pieces but I'm just.. not ready for that kind of expenditure. So these all ended up a standard 5x7. A few from the series - the ones with cats - ended up larger. These were photographed before the trimming/backing/edge finish.
(Slightly) larger scale embroidery
Most of the embroidery work I've done in the last ten? years has been pretty small. My first pieces were all little sketches, cut out with ribbons attached for hanging. Over the past few years I started doing more elaborate compositions and adding color with paint. And now I'm scaling up, and trying to remember to make them the right sizes for frames. Do I always do the cats? No. Do I usually do the cats? Yes.
May 2016
Forbidden Yogurt, 8x10" (sold)
Cat Memorial, 8x12" (sold)
Commissioned by the person who bought Forbidden Yogurt to memorialize her own cats, based on one of my previous pieces.
October 2016
These three pieces were part of my #drawlloween contribution. I didn't finish the challenge because of some other obligations. Most of the embroideries I did were 5x7" (they'll be in an upcoming post).
Hugomet, 10x12"
Radioactive Kaiju Linus, 8x12" (sold)
Gnome Linus, 9x12"
Eek! Linus, 12x12"
December 2016
Portrait of Alice, 8x10" (gift)
I made this one as a birthday present for my grandmother. (I just want to say that my source photo was from our annual Christmas trip to Storybook Land in Cardiff, NJ. Alice was watching Santa Claus as he waved his magic wand to turn on the lights in the park at dusk. I loved how intent she was.)
Catching up: 2016’s clothes
February
Alabama Chanin fitted top from Alison Glass handcrafted jersey
Modified Alabama Chanin fit-and-flare tank from Alison Glass handcrafted jersey
March
Lemon Drop Tunic for Alice, from Dharma Trading jersey I dyed myself
Two Lemon Drop Tunics for me! First from Alison Glass handcrafted jersey, second from Heather Ross Briar Rose jersey.
April
Another Lemon Drop Tunic, more Alison Glass handcrafted jersey
May
Alabama Chanin A-line dress in two sided metallic knit from Jo-Ann
July
Modified Alabama Chanin fit-and-flare dress from Alison Glass handcrafted jersey (I ended up wearing this to three weddings and a special birthday party!)
November
At the November CJMQG retreat, I made two short dresses from the Alison Glass Knit Essentials pattern, and one Blueprints for Sewing Saltbox Tee. The knit essentials is in some lightweight organic cotton jersey from fabric.com and a cotton spandex jersey from the Jo-Ann clearance section. The saltbox is in double gauzes from Sommer by Sarah Jane and Hit Parade by Lizzy House.
Better look at the Saltbox.
Ten for me, one for kid. Not too shabby!
Guild Secret Quilter swap
The CJMQG held a Secret Quilter swap. Participants signed up and filled out a questionnaire. My recipient seemed to really love her dog, so I yoinked one of her pictures of him from her Pinterest page. I made a little digital painting of him with Photoshop and turned it into a print on Spoonflower.
I got a yard of fabric and made a simple tote bag.
Then I made a couple little ornaments, just to round it out.
Christmas: our house
When I was making snowflake ornaments, I thought a bit about the spiderweb ornament tradition. We have two small ones, and I thought Alice might like a bigger one because she likes Shelob from Lord of the Rings.
Alice likes a lot of the bad guys in Lord of the Rings, for whatever reason, and I had joked to her that we could have an Eye of Sauron tree topper. And then I made one out of paper as a surprise when she was out with Bill.
And not LotR related: Alice was upset that the cats' stocking didn't have their names on it when the other three stockings for her, me, and Bill had our names on them. So I made a new stocking for the cats. (Then she got mad that I put their faces on it, not just their names, because she's three.)
Christmas gifts: little stuff
A glasses case.. I added little paper glasses to make its use a little more apparent to the recipient.
An embellished case for a mix CD.
My generic gift this year was snowflake ornaments. They're free motion machine embroidered over polyester tulle using various metallic and nonmetallic threads.
Christmas gifts: clothes!
A short sleeve Alabama Chanin cardigan for my mom, in the Peony color from Alison Glass Knits. Patch from CatCoven on etsy.
A long sleeve Alabama Chanin cardigan for my sister-in-law, in the Indigo color from Alison Glass Knits. Patch cut from a piece of Cotton + Steel fabric.
Maxi-length Alabama Chanin wrap skirt for my cousin's oldest daughter. The fabric is a slightly sparkly solid from the Doodles line at Jo-Ann.
It's so good that I enjoy all this hand sewing. These pushed my garment count for the year up to nineteen.
Christmas gifts: Nine pillowcases!
It seemed like a good idea at the time! Fast and easy.
My dad collects antique and vintage toys, so he got the Dick & Jane pedal car print and the Cotton + Steel viewmaster reels.
Four Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and two Star Wars for some kids.
Potholders
The November meeting of the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild featured a holiday or seasonal potholder swap. I thought, "I ain't make a potholder." And then I inherited some fabric from a family friend, and I was like, "This is perfect for a fall-themed potholder," and then I found a tutorial on Craftsy, and suddenly I had two potholders.
After I posted them on the internet, two other people loved them so much that I made two more pairs and sent them off before Thanksgiving.
So "I won't make a potholder" turned into making six potholders. Whoops.
A nice flowy shirt and some overdyed storebought clothes
There was a customized garment posted on the AC Journal, an A-Line dress with sleeves added ("just trace the armhole"). But I'm lazy, and the tshirt is cut on the fold instead of having a seam down the front, so I started with that pattern and used the A-Line tunic as a guide to add length and width.
Fabric is the ghost print from Lizzy House Hit Parade Knits by Andover.
This was my sixteenth garment in 2015, and the last one I made for myself before the holiday makefest.
This was a bathrobe I found on the clearance rack in Marshalls. It was a marled white color, and the belt was missing. But it looked like it could be a perfect length cardigan with pockets, so I had to get it. I removed the belt loops and dyed it, and now I wear it like it's not a bathrobe.
There are a few kinds of clothes I can't get enough of. One is semi-structured jackets made from knit fabrics. This one was on the clearance rack at Anthropologie over the summer. It was originally white with wide horizontal pale blue stripes. I dyed it once then in a forest green dye, but it wasn't really the green I wanted. I dyed it again in a very strong grass green bath and got it closer to what I was looking for.