Hatching some eggs

I made up a second sheet of fabric in bright whites.  The piece with the flowers embroidered on it was sent to me in a fabric swap organized by the first group I took a class with.

If Lexxie visits my site... which I don't think she does ...she may remember this piece... look Lexxie!  I'm using it.  It is shiny and she loves shiny ... well, actually ...who doesn't? ..hahhaha... I think Magpie is the middle name of most women.

I did the same thing I did when I was making the pin cushions.  Seeing as I just can't visualize things finished without a frame to view it in....I viewed it with my newly made egg template.  Perfect.  Now, I can work away on it ...inside stitched lines...but, always with my viewer nearby.  Grab. Place. View.

Love it....

I decided to make several ...    in the same style as my cushions.

 Here is the first one so far.

Best laid plans....

"I don't think we are supposed to be playing with it"...
                                                                                 











"Don't worry....  I won't get my wet nose on it or nuthin' "......

"Okay, ..well, maybe I could touch the lacy bit just once too"...

"Oooooh... yeh...feels nice".....

"Uh, oh..............busted" .........

Hi, my name is Vee, and I have an addiction...

But, ... it's a simple, harmless, pleasurable little addiction... that's what it is!!  This is my fourth little pincushion.  And .... I put the blame squarely where it belongs.  On Karen!

I love them all and I love making them.  There.  I've admitted it.  That was lovely and cathartic.  Whew.

Take some pretty bits of fabric. Stitch them together.  FME seams.  Embroider and add tiny bits of favourite trim or snippets of vintage hankies or whatever you like.. et voilà !!  A "pretty".

Little hearts of cross stitch with some pink knots inside the top part of it... makes them look like cute little strawberries to me ..

Some cross stitch on a snippet of a vintage hanky that Mom gave to me eons ago.... when I was just a kid....

I love making these little Forget-Me-Not type flours... just 5 French Knots around and one for a centre...

Buttonhole lace edging on the bit of lace covering one corner.. and still need to do that all around the outside of the whole pincushion.


Uh, ohhh......
already looking at another area of the 'master sheet'..... deciding on bits and bobs....hahahhahahahha
like I said in the beginning..... ...addictive....

Beginnings...

... of my next pincushion... my fourth now... wow!.... not that I'm speeding along or anything.
A few little French knot flowers.  Look like Forget-Me-Nots..

It's so much easier and pretty quick too when I already have the 'master sheet' of fabric ready to go whenever the spirit moves me.  Remember the master sheet of pretty fabrics?  So much easier than putting each one together separately.                                                                     















Pick a nice area, figure out exactly the size and shape the cushion will be and begin embroidering..

Decide on some trims... embroider a bit more and soon, it begins to take shape... I love putting them together.  They are so tiny and dainty and I love working with tiny things.

And, now....a third...

... almost completed.  Having the "master sheet" already made up and just being able to cut each piece out and embroider and trim makes it go a lot faster than beginning a new one each time.  Not that it's a race.

There is now just the last row of buttonhole lace stitching around the outside to do.

Wow... that is one of the things that takes me quite a long time and is very tricky.  The thickness of the edges makes it hard to get a needle through it ....and I end up using my haemostats to pull the needle through on many stitches.... it took me an hour's stitching last night just to do about 3/4 of the edge... not that I'm complaining...just sayin' ... and, so ... that means about another hour and a half to finish.  The second row will be simpler, of course, and not difficult to pull through.  It is more just stringing the thread through each stitch now... to finish off the outside neatly and prettily... it makes all the difference in the world to the overall appearance.

See the little soft cotton piece of my vintage hanky with the tatted edge?  Right there along the lower corner?  I still have more left...and I love how it works so well with the embroidery on the pillows... I will continue to use it all ... I may even have enough to do all 6 pillows that will come from the master sheet.

My idea to use a couple small bits of my lacy fabric that I won in Karen's giveway didn't go as easily as I was thinking it would.  I cut some some, placed them and promptly went blank... they didn't look like much and I had no clue what to do ... but, as the days passed...I had a few thoughts...and did a few stitches in other areas while I tried to puzzle it out.

Here's how it looked the first day....

Then, I wondered about just using one and some other stitching.... but, no.....

So, I continued to puzzle and stitch.... and here's how they look now...

They've come a long way baby!  French knots to hold them in place as well as bulk out the edges; bullion knots to surround them and make them stand out; more French knots as tiny daisy flowers ...

Another little bit of folded lace ( my new stuff I got in the village of Armstrong, B.C. for $1.50 for 5  metres) ... . ... and hey... a second little not so dangly thing-me-bob. I attached it a bit too close to a corner....live and learn.  It then sort of flipped up and looked more like a tab or handle.. so I had to stitch it down after the fact... not an easy feat..  nor is doing a few French knots when you can't get to the back of the fabric...but, I did it...hiding the beginning and end of the threads beneath the lace... tricky that.

The next one?  I make darn sure I remember a few lessons I already learned on my first three pillows.... the fourth should be a little less hassle..... but, ...maybe not.  You know how it goes... try something a bit different yet again and hey...more tricks to learn...  good thing old dogs can so learn new things.

What the?..

How did I forget to show you my second completed pin pillow?

You know me...all up in your face when I have little successes.... I can't believe I didn't blow my own horn the second I finished it.  Hmmm... must be getting old or forgetful or... something...

I know I showed portions of it...but, here it is now...all finished.

I gave it to my sister when I went to see her last week.  Her reaction was similar to mine when I held Karen's pin pillow in my own hand.    She said ... "I can't believe how tiny all the work and stitches are!" "It looks so much larger in photos" which is exactly what I said.  Even when we say the size..it just makes no impact 'til you see it up close and personal.  This little guy is 3 x 4...

Here are a few more views... this tiny edge on the lower corner (which I think may be tatting) is a tiny piece of a special hanky my Mom gave me when I was a kid...

As Karen says, for all of the projects we are making... why leave our treasures hidden in drawers where nobody sees them ... ever.  Even though we are cutting them ..  we are recycling and repurposing some lovely things...and lots of folks will now be recipients of the new items and be able to perhaps display them or use them.  It's a way to give new life to what was hidden treasure.

I'm thinking Mom would have loved to see these little creations and wouldn't mind at all that I've used my hanky to make them look beautiful.

Cross stitching

Have been doing some, with waste canvas, as it is called.  Who knew? .. not me, that's for sure.

Karen showed us a little heart design... and I gave it a go, but obviously didn't get it quite right... well, like she says, there is not a right or a wrong really... as there are many different ways to make hearts of course.  But, I was trying for some cute little guys like hers... which appear to be chubbier than my first... which is at the bottom ... with the grid already removed.

Too skinny.. so I tried again... too big ... hmmm... this became almost like a Goldilocks senario.... too skinny, too BIG, too .. whatever.... til I finally got one I liked.  The top guy.
                                                           














Anyway, then I tried some on a piece of vintage linen napkin in one of the blocks I am working on ...
that's them in yellow on the left...

Then, on another section I tried some white ones...but, got confused yet again ...and got the second up from the bottom a different shape than the lower one...so instead of picking out my stitches...I decided to alternate my new found shape with the practise one... for a total of five ....

Several people in our group were asking about the row of roses in between...no I didn't do those.... it is a strip of pretty trim I stitched onto the fabric.  It is actually a bit iffy and almost falling apart in some spots... so took a very long time to stitch into position in order to make sure it doesn't unravel.

Then I tried some of the filled in hearts...so cute... but, I did them on practice cotton and cut it out too small ...silly me ...I will still try to use it in some way..just not the way in which I first thought I would.... think twice (or maybe even 4 times before you cut!)

Yeh, I knew that.

My Hoya bloomed a second time in the year!  Can't believe it.  So pretty and velvety...I tried to get it close enough that if you click and bigify it you should be able to tell.  So soft ... and the centres almost look like plastic.  Little birdie is very curious....

It has the most amazing scent for hours in the evening...and sometimes in the morning for a while too...