Lemon Tree Tales

Holiday Cards

I'm making these scrap fabric holiday cards that were inspired by mmm crafts version here. With all the fabulous pre-cut cards and envelopes that are available at Hobby Lobby, I just got the plain white ones and then one of those small colored cardstock paper packs. These are little scraps of fabric that I cut into leaf shapes with my pinking shears. Aren't they fun?! I'm making more of these and will be dropping them off at the post office later today.

Adventures in Cross Stitch

Last year, on one of our scouting trips to Cheyenne to find out if we'd like to move here, I discovered a little shop called Ewe Count which specializes in cross-stitch. I've never tried that but figured that it would be a nice thing to do in the evenings. Of course I couldn't begin with a true beginner's project, no could I?! I wanted something interesting and would learn as I went.

This is the pattern that I opted to get, Golden Watercolor Butterfly by Rosewood Manor, designed by Karen Kluba. The only thing is that I wasn't fond of the original pattern colors so with the help of Penny, the shop owner, I selected flosses that were my favorite shades of blues and aquas.

 

I started out eagerly but was a bit disappointed that it was looking wrong. Turns out that I was skipping a hole so that each cross-stitch square was surrounded by a thin line of linen. Oops! Luckily it didn't take too long to rip out all those stitches.

Round two began fairly well but then I realized that I hadn't centered the linen fabric and wouldn't have enough room for the design if I continued that way. Rip, rip, rip, out went those stitches.

Round three was off to a really good start and then I discovered that I started one line too high. This time I only had to rip out that line. That's when my friends told me that I should photocopy the pattern so that I can take a highlighter and mark off the stitches as I went. Duh! That would make it easier to pick up where I left off instead of the intense study every time I picked it up.

So now, after a year (most of which did not see any time stitching) here's my progress:

I noticed that the linen is leaning a bit towards the left side. Hopefully that will become straight once it's blocked and framed. Of course at the rate that I'm stitching that won't happen anytime soon. Think of this as one of my SLOW projects. It is nice to work on something while sitting next to Steve in the evenings. What slow projects are you working on?

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a happy halloween. We had quite a few trick-or-treaters and even a few homemade costumes, yay! My favorite was the child who was a box of redvines. I have noticed that the little ones are polite and that their parents remind them to say thank you; however, the teenagers that come to the door aren't polite at all ... they grab the candy and take more than one without asking and don't say anything at all. Hopefully they are the exception and not the rule. At 8:30pm I closed up shop and turned off the porch light and closed the screen door. The dogs were very happy when that happened because they had to be shut in the kitchen during all the excitement.

My friend Calamity Kim sent me this lovely card to mark the occasion. I do believe that she carved the girl stamp herself, right Kim? Thank you so much ... she's hanging on the bulletin board now so that she can keep me company.

Those spider web picture corners are too cool!

 

Isn't the inside just as cute ... love the polka dot tape! Oh and I do wish that my handwriting was a beautiful as Kim's.

Top Hats Galore

I've finished top hat no.9 earlier this week, just in time for last night's Flying Phoebes cloth doll club October meeting. It was such a blast wearing it although I did have to watch my head when getting in and out of my car. We also had a top hat exchange so I made one out of a black glitter cardstock. I can't give out the pattern since it was created by another member of the club, but I did find a similar tutorial online here. The one that I made was only about 3 inches tall. The lace hat was made from Urban Thread's fantastic machine embroidery pattern here. Once again Fearghus had to suffer through a modeling session albeit an extremely short one. Hmm, I wonder at what other occasion I can wear the hat?

Fascinator Hat for the Pooch

I thought that Fearghus needed his own fascinator hat as well. See?

 

Just kidding! Fearghus was just close by and served modeling duty. That's the hot pink fascinator hat that I made for the silly Miss J. I figured that it would be easier for her to wear if it were attached to a headband instead of a hair comb. Of course first I had to wrap the headband with a matching ribbon.

 

I couldn't wait to give it to her so I dropped it off to her this afternoon. She loved it and promptly wore it. Yay! Thank goodness since it was a wee bit late for her birthday that was in .. gulp .. March. I'm happy. Now if only Fearghus would quit giving me the evil eye for putting anything girly on him.

Lace Fascinator Hats

A couple weekends ago I finally finished three of those lace machine embroidered fascinator hats that I was making for my doll friends. After I glued on ribbons and feathers I hot glued a hair comb to them and got my friends to model them for me. 

Here's Laurie with the bright orange one:

And Valerie with a darker rusty orange one: 

And Daisy with a purple/royal blue one: 

You can tell that these are definitely their favorite colors seeing as how both Valerie and Daisy were kind enough to wear matching shirts that day. Now I have just a few more to make: a plain black one for Wanda, a pretty hot pink one for Miss J, a teal or turquoise one for Miss L and a fuchsia/plum one for me. I'd say that I definitely got my money's worth for this embroidery pattern which you can find here at UrbanThreads.com.

Creative Aftermath

I've been remiss about not clearing up after each project and now my studio is in a shambles.

The desktop area to the left of the monitor and keyboard:

 

And the cutting table and sewing table ... you can see the aftermath of the DQS10 quilt, the machine embroidered hats and their embellishments and the crown that I made at the Fying Phoebes and the supplies. Yikes! What a mess!

 

Fortunately it doesn't look like that too much because I've been attacking the mess. It's not quite all their yet so I can't start on any projects until I do.

In the meantime I'll show you a closeup of the crown that I made in Donna's class. It's not 100% done but I had a lot of fun putting it together. Can't you see birthday crowns for the special princesses that we all know and love?

 

Ah, enough time indoors, it's a gorgeous Spring day and it's time to go back outside. A certain Cairn Terrier puppy would agree. Although I guess we can't offically call Fearghus a puppy anymore, he turned a year old a couple Sundays back.

Ooh look - goodies!

Once a month (and sometimes more often) my friends Laurie, Valerie and Daisy get together for an all-day gathering. The purpose is to make dolls but of course we also end up gossiping, trading critiques on our projects and snacking. Last post I showed you the Windows quiltlets that I made for them, now I'll show you the fabulous goodies they gifted me.

First Daisy surprised us all with little batik mice that she made for each of us. Laurie's was sitting on a stool sculpting a little doll head from Fimo. Valerie's mouse was sitting on a sofa knitting while reading magazines on doll-making and cross-stitch. And here's mine!

 

Next was an amazing container from Valerie. She had special ordered them for each of us and then she cross-stitched our monograms with lovely flowers and vines. I'm still trying to think of what I should put inside - it should be for a special purpose. Such a beautiful piece!

 

Finally Laurie surprised us with a goodie bag of supplies and trims - always a special treat, not to mention that she usually is the one who feeds us and is a fantastic hostess! She also made sure that each of us had trims in our favorite colors. I've been beading a lot and the triangle beading trays will come in handy. Plus we're having an exciting class with Fimo artist Anne Klocko in January so the clay sculpting tools are perfect. And I can't wait to figure out where to use those gorgeous aqua flowers!

 

I hope that everyone had a happy holiday and a great new year!

Kumihimo Braids

I know that I should be finishing up projects (dolls and quilts mostly) but I've also been working on a new obsession in between sewing sessions. A couple months ago I saw a display on some gorgeous necklaces and bracelets at a sewing show. Turns out that the necklaces were made using a very old Japanese braiding technique called Kumihimo. It looked easy and portable so it would be a fantastic thing to bring on RV trips or when I wanted to do something while watching TV.

The basics are simple - wrap your cut cords onto plastic bobbins and then move the cords among the slots on the foam Kumihimo disk. The braid will form in the hole in the center. This is the beginners way to achieve braids. The experts use a large wood hoop on a stand called a marudai that doesn't have slots and is stationary. I'm pretty satisfied with my first braids on the foam disk and don't want to lose the portability.

First I made an 8-strand braid in a black satin rat-tail cord. I used it to hold a crystal heart pendant that Steve gave me many, many years ago. I used to have it on a black velvet tube but didn't like the look too much. This was just the ticket! 

Detail of the braid plus a piece of the magnetic closure.

 

Next I made another braid using a hand-dyed multi red/pink satin rat-tail. I'm pretty excited by this one but haven't decided what decoration it needs to complete the necklace. Reds haven't been my color in more than a decade but I'm starting to be attracted by the rich reds again.

A closeup of the variety of pinks and reds in the cord.

 

This is the foam Kumihimo disk with my third braid. The how-to book mentioned a tip about stopping half-way through a complete "stitch" so that you'd know where to pick up. In this case I'd first rotate the disk until the 4/5/6 were facing me. Then I'd take the #6 strand up and put it in the #20 slot and then rotate the disk for the start of the next "stitch". Once you get the rhythm it's fairly mindless and therefore perfect for movie-watching or when you just want to relax a bit.

A closeup of the braid that's forming in the disk's center hole.

 

Once I finish the above cord I'd really like to try the technique that really got me hooked - braiding with seed beads! I'll start small with a braided bracelet. I probably won't start for a few weeks but I'm looking forward to it.

Gorgeous journal from Calamity Kim

Boy was I surprised when I got the mail yesterday. There was a lovely package .. most unexpected .. a sweet gift from Calamity Kim. Ohhhhh does she know how to wrap a gift. Look at how charming this was. I almost didn't want to open it.

Look, do you see what's peeking out from the ribbon? Here's a closer look:

Finally the suspense was killing me, I had to rip it open. As the paper tore off I began to grin because this is what I uncovered:

Yes, it's one of her collaged journal beauties. This one has some of her Alice in Wonderland Spoonflower fabric! Ohhh and just take a look at all those bookmarks.

Here's the back with some of Jane Sassaman's bright caterpillar fabric:

And to top it off, Calamity Kim even glued in this fabulous marbled paper in the inside cover. I love the colors ... it reminds me of water, and did you see the bee fabric?

I snuck a peek underneath and saw that the composition notebook's original cover has been decorated as well. Thank you soooo much Calamity Kim!!! It's perfect in every way.

Oh alright, I know you want to see the chicken again. Here she is: