1D Day - One Direction Embroidery Project- Harry

In honor of 1DDay, & the fact that the gift has been given... It is time for another One Direction Embroidery Project!

After I posted pics & shared my blog posts about the One Direction Quilt Project for my daughter (nearly complete, thank you for asking), I got a custom order from a friend for her daughter.

My daughter chose the pic I used of Harry. After I created the embroidery pattern & transferred the design to fabric, I got to work. the most time-consuming part is embroidering Harry's locks. But I find embroidering hair much more enjoyable than embroidering letters. I added a hot pink embroidered signature to give it a punch of color. I chose a lime green zebra print to compliment the lime green floss.

& the best part? K. loves it!

Tea Dye For: Redwork

Back in 1998 when I picked up crewel & embroidery after a 15 year hiatus from needlework, I started using water & air soluble transfer pens to draw or copy patterns on to cotton. I stopped for a few reasons. 1.) They are not free & I have lots of pencils lying around. & 2.) Why would I use a pen or marker on my fabric when I know they aren't pH balanced? Then I found this & I have never gone back to using them again.

That being said, I do have some orphaned redwork blocks lying around waiting to be included in a project. Some of these blocks are from the time before I used pencil. &, yes, they were discolored, possibly due to the blue transfer pen. Oh, what to do...

The answer: tea dye them!

I used loose tea, but tea bags are just as effective

Brew the tea with hot water, but steep longer than you would for your cuppa

Discolored redwork blocks I decided to tea dye

Pour the brewed tea on the blocks using a clean baking dish

I placed block upon block in the dish and added more tea as needed

Tea dyeing in progress

Squeezing out the hot tea. Cold tea can be used for a less intense color.

Rinsing the blocks with cold water

After rinsing, the blocks head to the dryer for 30 mins.

Fresh from the dryer

Tea dyed blocks made into small pillows.

Tea dyeing is a pretty simple process. You can use other teas for different colors or browns, pinks & yellows.

I'm in a SHOP!

Fabulous news!

My mother & I have rented space in a shop in Greenwich, NY. The Grand Opening is tomorrow & I am very excited. Unfortunately, I will not be at the opening due to my "day job," but Mom will be there for a little while & so will the other women we are sharing the shop with.

Here are the dets:

DAY:
Saturday, October 12, 2013

LOCATION:
Ruby's Marketplace
81 Main St
Greenwich, NY 12834

TIME:
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Spinning demo 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)

THE GOODIES:
Hand embroidery & redwork (by me- Aprilsongstress)
Quilts, aprons, backpacks, tea cozies, fabric cornucopias, et al (by Mom- Just-A-Duck)
Vintage Clothes (by Ruby's Nimble Thimble)
Yarn & pottery (by Annette Arnold)
Jewelry (by Mina)
Stamped stationary & cards (by Beth)

Oh, & there is a classic car show in town, so bring the other half, or a friend.

Sneak peek at my display at Ruby's Marketplace 2013

The event is also listed on my Facebook page. Head over & 'like' it!

A Movie to stitch to: Part One: Marathon

I embroider as much as I can. I love it. It de-stresses me (except when the floss knots for no reason & I let fly a few choice words.) I embroider mostly when I am watching TV or a movie at home. (I would embroider in the movie theater but book lights are kind of frowned upon as distracting to other viewers. Humph!)

Enough with the parenthetical statements... I am starting a series of blog posts based on the movies I stitch to & the projects I am working on at the time. Sometimes they may correlate, sometimes not. You can also check my twitter feed (@aprilsongstress), as I often tweet using #MovieToStitchTo. Feel free to start using it too...

Yesterday, having been deserted by both my parents, & my daughter, I decided to have a "Movie To Stitch To" Marathon. I watched 4 movies & finished one project. (Yes, embroidery is time-consuming, but well worth it!)

Oh... these posts may contain *Spoilers*!

Marathon #embroidery event coming up today. Project & pumpkin coffee set. What should I start with? #MoviesToStitchTo pic.twitter.com/F5XUUJeRpD
— Tisha Dolton (@aprilsongstress) October 5, 2013

 I started off with Before Sunset, which I am ashamed to say, I had never seen before. Not only is it a smart, witty, thoughtful film, it is also a near perfect "Movie To Stitch To" & I will tell you why. It is very dialog heavy. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) & Celine (Julie Delpy) talk through the whole movie. This allows you to embroider without loosing much when you glance down at what you are doing. & when the few silences do occur, you know you need to pay attention & look at the screen. This is definitely a movie I need to own & will stitch to it again & again!

Project complete- Autumn Leaves napkins

Next up: Good Deeds. I have never watched a Tyler Perry movie before, partly because the Madea franchise is of no interest to me what-so-ever & he has to put his brand all over everything. Thandie Newton is amazing, as always. I am thankful to have a supportive family that has enabled me to to care for my daughter & this movie reminded me that things could have been so much different. Though not a bad movie, the contrived, unrealistic ending kind of killed it. (How many 6-year-olds have a passport? You can't just hop on a plane to Africa with less than 24 hours notice.) Anyway, it is a good Movie To Stitch To because of the amount of dialog & you don't have to stay glued to the screen, though you will catch yourself wanting to watch Thandie Newton!



The 3rd movie I chose was another I've never seen. (I should mention I borrowed all of these from the library. FREE!) Win a Date With Tad Hamilton is a typical romantic comedy featuring a bunch of actors I enjoy watching, so I thought I would give it a try. I would have liked more Topher Grace, Ginnifer Goodwin & Kathryn Hahn. Again, the ending forces the movie into forgettable-land. Good Movie To Stitch To, because you don't need to pay strict attention to it, but not something I would need to watch again.

Placemats are finished- waiting to be ironed

The final movie of the day was my old stand-by. The Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice (though not the most faithful adaptation) is lovely. I love Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy. As I own this one, I have seen the movie so many times that I know my favorite, not-to-be-missed parts. Another near-perfect Movie To Stitch To.

I hope to make this a sort-of-regular thing. Let me know what movies you like to stitch to!

Free pattern: Peace

Sitting here, almost late for work, I figured I would finish up a blog post. (Too honest, I'm sure.)

With all of the crazy happening in the world, I thought I would offer a free pattern of PEACE. So here it is. Spread it around the world, either by sharing the pattern, or stitching it up & sharing the handcrafted goodness.

My stitched version using variegated floss

For "peace" in other languages try here.

If you would like a PDF of the above pattern click here & get stitching!

Ribbons at the fair

I am very excited to report that my embroidery won 4 ribbons at the Washington County Fair this year! Since this is the 1st time I have ever entered anything in the fair, I am very pleased.

Embroidery display in Handmade and Homegrown Bldg

Embroidered portrait one 3rd place

 I wish the redwork, embroidered portrait of my wonderful daughter would have placed higher, but 3rd is great. It is a lovely piece that I am really proud of. I think competition in that particular category was pretty stiff. Plus, redwork only requires a few stitches, so it's not the best for showing off what the stitcher can do. The comment I received from the judges was that the picture appeared too large for the frame & I should have used something to keep the fabric flat in the frame. Fair points on both counts.

Holiday reindeer pillow took home 2nd place

 This reindeer pillow is the same pillow that took 1st place in the NY State DAR competition this spring. I am happy it received recognition from 2 different organizations!

My "We Can Do It!" pillow took home a blue ribbon

 I am proud of both of my 1st place entries. The "We Can Do It!" poster from 1943 has become an iconic image. I even have a lunchbox that features the image. I adapted the poster to create this embroidery pattern & have stitched it a few times.

The redwork quilt below is another original design. The patterns are based on 5 portraits, one of my daughter & the others of her 4 cousins from their 1st birthdays. It is a wall hanging that, I think, my mother loves as much as I do.

Redwork quilt of my mom's grandchildren came in 1st place

Procrastination Station: Doctor Who, Part Deux

I can't really say I have a favorite Doctor. I watched Doctor Who sporadically when I was about 6 or 8 at my grandmother's house. We couldn't get cable (living outside of a village), so Doctor Who was probably on WMHT, channel 17, our local PBS station. For some reason PBS & WXXA, channel 23 (now the local Fox station) didn't come in well at our house, so my little sistar & I would walk the 100 yards or so to Nanny's & watch the original Star Trek, the Twilight Zone, Doctor Who, or any old movies Nanny was watching. (I particularly love musicals, especially Astaire & Rogers.) Usually we would get some Jell-O cake, Nanny's amazing oatmeal cake (YUM), or some of the almond windmill cookies Gramp got in his metal lunchbox everyday.

The First Doctor designed by Aalia Zaman

The Second Doctor designed by Jennifer Ofenstein

The Third Doctor designed by Aalia Zaman

This is a very long-winded way of saying that Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, is really the only Doctor I have really known. (Feel free to groan...) Tom Baker is who came to mind when my intelligent & somewhat geeky friends started going on-and-on about the show around the time of the Ninth Doctor. Then David Tennant appeared as the Tenth Doctor & I was still thinking of the guy with the scarf & the fuzzy afro...

The Fourth Doctor designed by Kim Kuehn

I still have not watched any of the new episodes. My daughter does not seem interested. But... embroidering these Doctor Who designs has been a ton of fun. I'm sure one of my fan-girl (or fan-boy) friends will enjoy whatever kind of gift comes out of this stitch-a-long.

I haven't started the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith). & they just announced the Twelfth Doctor, but we will have to wait for Christmas for that...

Thank you Fandom In Stitches for the DWSAL. I will be back!