Little Mix project- Jade, Leigh-Anne, Jesy

So I have completed the embroidery portion of the Little Mix project for my daughter. I think they came out just as good, if not better than the One Direction portraits. Now to make them into something. I was originally thinking 4 pillows, but now I am thinking 2 with 2 members on each, or 1 giant pillow. Hmmm...

Well, while I remain indecisive, check them out below!

Fiona chose for Jade Thirlwall to be embroidered in blue, because Jade is her fave, just like Louis is her fave in 1D (I embroidered Louis in blue too. Remember?) Blue is not her favorite color, she just wanted Jade & Louis to match.

Jade before embroidery

Jade after embroidery

Next up: Leigh-Anne Pinnock is embroidered in the same green as Niall of 1D. Leigh-Anne didn't take as long to embroider because of her straight ponytail in the image below.

Leigh-Anne before embroidery

Leigh-Anne after embroidery

The 3rd & oldest member of Little Mix: Jesy Nelson is embroidered in orange just like Harry. The pillow(s) will match the One Direction quilt, using the same fabrics & colors.

Jesy before embroidery

Gathering supplies. Let embroidery commence.

The underside of embroidery

Jesy after embroidery

The 4th member of Little Mix I blogged about a couple of weeks ago: Perrie Edwards. Let me know what you think of my embroidered portraits. Check out my flickr. "Like" me on Facebook. Follow me on twitter: @aprilsongstress

Now on to my next project!

Current project- Town of Greenwich, NY

The annual Whipple City Days festival is occurring next weekend & mom & I signed up to do the craft fair. Well, mom signed up & is taking some of my stuff because, as duly appointed public historian for the beautiful Town of Greenwich, I will have a booth of my own.

I decided to work on some different kind of projects in the hopes of making a sale (it's been a while).

Town of Greenwich design traced out on tea towel

This particular pattern I created myself for a quilt project by a professional organization I belong to, Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS). I blogged about it before in my Greenwich History blog. Check out that post here. I just "googled it" & found an image of the quilt with my 2 blocks included!

Embroidering Susan B. Anthony in Redwork

 Since the tea towel has red stripes, I chose to do Redwork, which is my embroidery of choice. Susan B. Anthony (displayed in progress above) & her family lived in Battenville & Center Falls. Susan even taught school in the area. As a Quaker, she was active in the Temperance Movement before devoting her life to the passage of a national suffrage amendment.

The image of Chester Alan Arthur (21st president) came from the book Presidential Redwork: A Stitch in Time by Michael Buckingham. Arthur lived in Greenwich while his father William was pastor of the local Baptist church.

Finished tea towel in Redwork

Below is the finished tea towel. I think I will do this pattern again in green & place it in a hoop for wall art.

If you are out-&-about in Upstate NY next weekend (6/14 & 6/15) my mom (Just-A-Duck) & I will be there on Saturday, 6/15 from 9:00-6:00 p.m. For more on Whipple City Days click here.

Little Mix project- Perrie

My daughter's other favorite band is Little Mix. I am in the process of embroidering the 4 young women in the same manner as the 5 young men from One Direction.

I began embroidering Perrie Edwards at JFK Airport waiting for our flight to London last week. Between the 2 flights & 2 nights watching British TV, I was able to finish.

Perrie with dip-dyed hair and pic through Sketch Guru

Pattern of Perrie created

Traced on fabric

Perrie is being embroidered using DMC floss # 321 just like her boyfriend Zayn.

Redwork begun while waiting at the airport

I started out using a dental floss container to cut my floss. (What a pain.) I quickly switched when my clever mother suggested I try the nail clippers. So much easier to use! (Though I kept dropping it & mom suggested she tie it around my neck.) I just wish I could take scissors.

Finished redwork of Perrie

I haven't started on the other 3. I think I will work on Jade next.

One Direction quilt project- Harry

Finally... the last one. He happens to be the youngest member of One Direction, Harry Styles.

Harry singing into his mic

To add visual interest I chose this image of Harry. It is very different from the images of the other members. It feels more intimate.

Embroidery in process

After creating the pattern from the Sketch Guru image, & transferring  the image to the fabric, I began embroidering Harry using DMC floss #922. Below shows the finished block. The mic came out a bit wonky, but I love how his face & hair came out.

Finished block of Harry

Harry's name just above Liam's

Harry's lyrics in What Makes You Beautiful

Fiona chose this line because Harry flips his hair a lot & she thought it was ironic. (Love my kid!) I added the butterfly because Harry recently got a butterfly (more realistic, not this girly) tattoo on is abdomen.

With all of the embroidery complete, my mom started helping me on the construction of the quilt.

Cutting the All-Star sneaker fabric

To flank the larger top & bottom group blocks, Mom pieced strips of the various fabrics to create the blocks in all 4 corners.

Ironing the strip pieced blocks

Below is the quilt top laid out on my daughter's bed. Notice all the One Direction posters. (Mom did the colorful strip paint job on the walls last year.)

Pieced quilt top

We will use the rest of the fabric to go around the top, bottom, & sides making a full size quilt. Now we need to find some backing fabric, then take it over to our friends at KC Framing & Fabrics in Saratoga Springs, NY. Maybe we will find some great fabric on our trip to the UK this week. It is my daughter's first trip abroad & she is so excited!

I'll post about the One Direction Quilt Project again when it is finished!

One Direction quilt project- Zayn

If I were allowed to have a favorite member of British-Irish boy band One Direction, it would be Zayn Malik. He's very nice to look at, shy, & (as I stated before) has the best voice. You may ask why I am not allowed to have a fave? That would be my daughter, Fiona. In her opinion, I am too old to like One Direction! (But I do. There, I admit it.)

I digress... This post is about the embroidered pieces I created about Zayn. If you have been reading this blog you must be familiar with my process by now...

1.) Pick awesome image of your subject & save it. (check)

Zayn singing, showing off his swallowtail tattoo

 2.) Create pattern by tracing over a printed copy of said image, or use an app like SketchGuru. (check)

Pattern created and traced out on the fabric

 3.) Trace pattern onto the fabric you will be embroidering on. (check)

Embroidery in progress

4.) Begin embroidering with your floss of choice (in this case DMC #321). (check)

Finished embroidered block of Zayn Malik

 5.) Finish embroidering & iron. (check)

That's it. It is so simple!

Zayn and Niall's names written by me

 Again, I like to use my own handwriting when I letter. I like using cursive more because it feels more like a design, like art. Printing feels like work.

Lyrics Zayn sings in the song Moments

Fiona wanted me to embroider nearly all of the bridge that Zayn sings in "Moments", but that was too many words for Mommy's sanity. I shortened it.

Only one more "boy" left in the boy band. Stay tuned for... Harry!

One Direction quilt project- Niall

Niall is the only member of One Direction who is not British. He is from Mullingar, Ireland. Because of that, I decided to add an Irish flag & the Union Jack to one of the blocks. I also added the 1D logo and one of Zayn's tattoos. For more on this block, check out one of my previous posts.

Cartoon 1D with signatures for the quilt

Fiona chose Niall & his blocks to be embroidered in DMC floss #904. It definitely reminds me of Ireland, even though it has been 15 years since I was there.

I've shared this block before as a work in progress. See it here. Below is the finished block.

Niall playing the guitar in embroidery

I think it came out great based on the image I created the pattern from. I didn't quite capture his quiff, but I like it just the same.

Niall playing guitar in Live While We're Young video

Kiss You lyrics sung by Niall

I think these are the funniest lyrics in the entire song. Again, I added a guitar for Niall, because I was not embroidering a chin. (Or drool, for that matter.)

Niall's name is complete- starting on Zayn

& for those of you who like to see the underside of embroidery...

Showing off my stitches

Next up is the member I, personally, think has the best voice... Zayn!

One Direction quilt project- Liam

Today I am featuring Liam Payne of One Direction.

The image below is to give you an idea of what the original image looks like & what the Sketch Guru image looks like. I usually use the "SimpleSketch2" option in the app. I find it gives me best mix of strong outlines & finer details.

Liam Payne and image used to create the pattern

From this sketch image, I create the embroidery pattern. Sometimes I draw it right on the fabric, as is the case with this project.

Traced out on the fabric

I didn't use my light box for this because the lines were so sharp. I just laid on my bed with some good overhead light & traced away.

Finished block of Liam all ironed

Using the trusty outline stitch, I embroidered Liam in purple- DMC floss #327. My favorite part of this is Liam's chevron tattoo peeking out from the arm of his sport coat.

Liam's name in my handwriting

Below is Liam's lyric block with the lines from "Over Again" that Fiona picked out. I traced Fiona's hand & embroidered the outline in light purple- DMC floss #209. Adding Fiona's hand made this quilt even more specific to her!

Liam's lyric block- Over Again

Up next... the boy from the Emerald Isle- Niall.