French Knot 'Fro

Hey there, stitchy peeps!

Well, I don't have Bathroom Stitching completed yet. Eeek! This stupid little thing called my job (ick) keeps getting in the way of my stitching time. Grrrr. However, I am happy to report that I got off work early tonight and have time to devote to stitching! I will be working on Top Secret Project #1. I am soooo excited about this! Amy from Early Bird Special and I are doing an embroidery swap, and I am beside myself with glee about it. :) For reals, people! Amy is the sweetest person in the world and I am honored that she wants to swap with me.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I do have a little somethin' to show ya:


The lighting in this pic is lousy, hence the colors look all wacky. The blues aren't as blue as they look, rather they are turquoise (the darker stuff, like the earrings) and aqua (the lighter stuff, like the trim on the collar), plus the hair is a teensy bit yellower. I still have a lot of filling in to do for the fro, but it goes by pretty quickly, especially when Dateline is on the TV. The french knots are a little thicker than what I am used to; I tend to do two strands wrapped twice around the needle, but this is three strands.

(I think I love it. ♥)

Well, that's about all I can say about that. Not much progress=not much to blog about. But since I love to post pictures, I will post one more stitchy pic. You know, just for the heck of it. Tee hee.

Here ye be:


I did this a few years ago. I don't know what year...sometime in the late 90's, I think. When was "Butterfly" by Crazy Town a hit? I remember that video was in heavy rotation on MTV when I was working on this. Anywho, it came from a kit I bought at Michael's. It's not really "me" anymore, but I still love it. That border took me forever to complete, by the way. Ick. It was sooooo monotonous. It's a good-sized piece, at about 9"x13", so there was a lot of time spent on that border. Sigh. ;)

Ok, according to Wikipedia, it was early 2001. Ok, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. 1997-2002 was pretty much a blur for me. But that's a whole 'nother story!

All righty, hubby is blaring Reverend Horton Heat in the living room, and it's putting me in a good mood! I am feeling inspired to stitch. Yay!!

PS Does anybody besides me think that the Bathroom Stitching's mouth should be redone? I ripped out the first one I stitched because it was clownish, and now this second one reminds me of Janice from The Muppet Show. What do you think?

It's a Gem Because I Say It's a Gem!

Whew! I've been a busy girl lately! Too busy to do much stitching. I did make a little progress on Bathroom Stitching last night, but I don't have a picture to show you. Sorry. There's not a whole lot to see, so don't be too disappointed. ;) The french knot 'fro is coming along quite nicely, though it's not quite what I was picturing in my mind when I set out to do it. Eh, oh well. It's still hella cool to be making a french knot 'fro.

I'm excited about the new projects I have on the horizon. Unfortunately I can't tell you about them 'cause they are top secret. Sorry, I know, I am such a tease! But I promise you that as soon as I can elaborate about my top secret projects, you will be the first to hear about them.

Well, since I don't have any cool new pics to share with you, I guess I will have to show you this little gem from a couple months ago:


Is it conceited to call my own stitching a 'gem'? Oh well, it's a gem 'cause I say it's a gem! Yeah! Tee hee. And you can make your own gem by visiting this blog. Andrea is an amazing, talented artist who kindly posts a free embroidery pattern every month. Talk about generous! And how freakin' awesome is her work? :-D

All righty people, I hope you're enjoying yourselves and getting lots of stitching done. I think I will probably have some free time tomorrow, and I plan to stitch...so hopefully I will be posting some pics of a completed Bathroom Stitching. Woo hoo! Wish me luck!

Lazy Day

Wellllll...

I could tell you that I've resumed work on Bathroom Stitching, but that would be a big fat lie. I spent the majority of the day doing...nothing. Nope, nada. Well, I did do the normal, everyday stuff...you know, take care of the kids, make the bed, go to work, blah blah blah. But in between all that? Nothing. Oh well. Maybe later this evening I will get some stitching done...

I did something recently that was very fun: I visited my LNS (local needlework shop) and treated myself to a little stash. (That's what birthday money is for, right?) Mmmmm, yummy stash...

Here, take a look:


This is "The Tea Room" by Country Cottage Needleworks. I also got some of DMC's glow-in-the-dark floss, along with some of their yummy new Color Variations, but those didn't make it into the photo. I'd like to re-organize my floss someday so maybe I'll get a picture then.

But isn't this pattern pretty? I became inspired to do it when I saw this gorgeous. I seriously love that blog. The pictures Nicole takes of her finished pieces and stash are yummy. I have total stash envy. ;)

All right, enough chit-chatting. Time to get down to business. I am going to sign off for now so I can get some stitching done!

Happy stitching, everybody! :)

Birthday Stitching, Part 2

Birthday Stitching is complete!

For your viewing pleasure, a picture:



I didn't get started on it until last night around 8pm, and spent just a couple hours on the stitching. It went quickly and easily, though I was reminded why I HATE stitching on t-shirts. Ick. Stupid stretchy fabric...Anywho, I attached the interfacing this morning before I went to work and voila! Birthday Stitching was done. The birthday boy got to wear his new shirt to preschool today and show it off to all his little friends...though I don't think he showed it off much, as the shirt wasn't really the focus of his attention this morning. (In my imagination, he goes to school & says, "Hey everyone, look what my mommy, my wonderful mommy, made for me! Especially for me, with lots and lots of love!" Then all his little friends gather 'round and ooh and ahh and say things like, "Ooooh, I want a shirt like that, too!" and "Wow, that is such a great shirt! Your mommy is so awesome!" Am I the only one with these fantasies?)

Um, ok, now that you think I am a complete and total weirdo...

Adding interfacing to the inside of t-shirts is such a breeze. All you need is an iron, scissors, a damp press cloth, and, of course, a package of interfacing. I love that it keeps the stitching from snagging on the backside, while protecting the wearer's skin from "itchies" and whatnot.



I probably could've gotten away with using a wee bit smaller piece:


I think it turned out pretty well, and I know a four-year-old who feels the same...



How 'bout you? Do you have any kids that you stitch for? Or how about tips for stitching on t-shirts?

Birthday Stitching

Ok, so first there was Bathroom Stitching, and now there's Birthday Stitching. My son's 4th birthday is quickly approaching, and I thought I would embroider a cute little owl on a t-shirt for him as one of his gifts. I stitched a goat on one of his undershirts a few months ago, and he absolutely loves it.

Here's my progress so far:


As you can see, I haven't done anything but transfer the pattern, but that's always the hardest part, so I am glad to have it out of the way. (Though I have to admit, I do enjoy that process quite immensely.)

Unfortunately, part of the design didn't transfer so well:


I decided it wasn't worth risking messing up the whole thing by trying to re-align the pattern and re-pressing it. After I'd made that decision, I actually said, out loud, "I guess I'll just have to wing it!" Get it, wing it? Ha ha...

(Hey people, I never claimed to be cool! lol)

So anyway...


That pic is interesting because it shows you how I think I am artistic. I tried to doodle some stuff that I thought would be good to embroider, but that didn't really pan out. ;) I did, however, write down some notes concerning colors, so that counts for something.

Speaking of colors, I still have to choose what I want to use for this project. (Yea! Floss toss!) I guess I should go do that now so I can start stitching...

Time's a Wastin'

Once again, another day has passed and I have nothing to show for it. Well, nothing stitchy, anyway. Eh, oh well. I am looking forward to getting back on track with my bathroom stitching. Actually, I should be stitching RIGHT NOW, but am I? Nooooo, I've been messing with my blog for the better part of this evening. But I'm having fun! So that counts for something, right? :-D

I can't bear to post without a picture, though.

How about something from Vogart, something I stitched recently:


(Pattern provided by floresita.)

Do you ever find yourself looking for stitchy inspiration online, only to get so caught up in pictures of everyone else's beautiful projects that you don't work on your own? I have to admit, I spend waaaaaaay too much time on flickr! I can't get enough of people's fantastic stitching. I always start out saying, "Ok, I'll just look for 10 minutes to get inspired," but I end up looking for much longer...far too long to admit out loud...and then before I know it's time for bed and I haven't stitched one tiny bit. Oooops!

How 'bout you? What keeps you from stitching?

Ashamed Of My Backside

I haven't had much time for stitching lately. I've been busy, busy, busy! Plus, it's been super-hot (triple digits!), which doesn't help get me in a stitchy mood. I know, excuses, excuses. :P

So......since I don't have any new, fun, exciting things to show you, I have decided to share with you a dark secret I have been carrying around with me for nearly twelve years now. Yikes, here goes:

This is my first EVER cross stitch project:


"What's the big deal?" you may be asking yourself. Most first-timers don't do anything extraordinary, so there's nothing unusual about this innocent little bath time bear.

Well, that's not the dark secret.

Here is my shame:


Ohhhhhhhh, good lordy, that's bad. Oh-so-very BAD.

Here it is close-up:



Frightening, I know! I hope I didn't scare you!! Back when I started stitching, I didn't care about the backside whatsoever, which is very evident. Argh, oh well, you live & learn, right? Now I work hard to keep the backs of my projects almost as neat as the fronts.

If you look closely at the first pic (and frankly, I don't blame you if you don't want to!), you can see that the french knots are laughable, the threads are loose, and that there are areas on the bear that look just plain weird. I had a hard time following the pattern back then. ;) Thank goodness I have improved a bit over the years. :-D

Even though this little bear cross stitch no longer graces my bathroom wall, it is not something with which I am willing to part. It hangs on the inside of the linen closet door, where only I can see it. Every so often I like to take a good long look at it and think about how far I've come since I started stitching.

So, was your first project as bad as mine???

Bathroom Stitching

bathroom wip
Originally uploaded by kunderwood

That's a funny title for a post, right? Forgive me, darlings...It's late. :)

We are in the middle of renovating our stupid, old, icky, moldy, crumbling bathroom. It's a messy project and it's driving me crazy, but it has to be done. And it's gonna look great when it's completed! I finally get the aqua walls I've been dreaming about. :)

Of course, re-doing the bathroom means getting to pick out new accessories. And now I need something to go with the new towels and shower curtain. So.....I decided to stitch up this freebie from Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching.

I am going to make her blonde like me. (Tee hee!) In fact, I think I'd like to make her hair entirely of french knots. I ♥ french knots, though I may KNOT (ha ha) be so fond of them when I've done 40 ka-jillion of them.

This is the only thing I've been working on lately. I usually have 2 or 3 projects in rotation, but between the bathroom, the kids, and work, I barely have time for stitching. Oh well! If I had too much time on my hands, I'd be complaining about being bored! :-D

This is Only a Test!

vitamin parade
Originally uploaded by kunderwood

Ok, this post is just to test out some stuff. Eeek, this blogging thing is a little more complicated than I had anticipated. ;)

This is a recent finish titled Vitamin Parade. Cute, right? The pattern is courtesy of Beetastic's Vintage Finds.

Here I Go!

Well!

I'm doing what I said I'd never do: publishing a blog. Oh well. I can't help myself!

I am going to keep my first post very short. I am still pretty new to all this Internet stuff. I've recently discovered the wonderful-ness known as Flickr, and it has inspired me to do this blog thing. Tee hee.

This blog will mainly be about my biggest passion: needlework. Yay needlework! I plan to post pics of my projects and keep all you other stitchy folks updated on my latest WIPS.

Eeeek! I can't believe I am doing this. :)