Stitched Blessings, Squares 1 and 2

The beginnings of my blessings…

Me and my hubby, John, are the best of buddies…and we love to snorkel. Living here in Hawaii , we are blessed with (just about) 365 days a year in which we CAN and are ABLE to snorkel. Go warm weather and sunshine!

Can you see the resemblance?

The bottom edging is a Stem Stitch-Portuguese Knot, the sides are Feather Stitch, the top is a Running Stitch with an interspersed Double Cross Stitch. I think of it as corals below, greens and seaweeds for the sides and sunning skies above.  All the edges are stitched with a multi-color dyed Caron Watercolor thread.

What’s snorkeling without some water and waves.  Here is some embroidery with a ‘twist’ for the wave action! Stitched with Blanket Stitch-Detached Twisted Bar and some good ‘ole DMC thread.

Did I mention that these are 1 inch squares?

Very tiny faces. Very tiny squares.

This has been a great start! I’ve already had some fun!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii

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The Scarlet Letter, Golden “A” embroidery

The embroidery is done on the Scarlet Letter project!

I embroidered krienik gold braid on the red velvet using stem stitch to outline and define the letter “A”.

The complete “A” here, in contrast, to the black side of the mat.

The red side of the mat is red velvet, the reverse is a black velvet-type fabric. The pieces are sewn together, then turned. I hand closed the last seam and topstitched the edges.

A custom piece in it’s final presentation…

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii
See my Store! http://Curiosities808.artfire.com

The Scarlet Letter

Well…it is Scarlet…and it is a Letter…lol.

Here’s an embroidery project. And although the thread is not going to make the “A” scarlet, it is going on a scarlet velvet fabric.

First, here is the outside and flipside fabric. Outter bound, red…Inner bound black-ish.

I would like to embroider a Gold thread “A” in the lower corner of the Scarlet fabric. My plan: to get a hot iron transfer design onto the red fabric, then embroider with gold thread.

To get a good sample of my signature “A”, I blocked off a workable size by folding some printing paper and creating some size boundaries. Then, I just wrote in several “A”s and picked one of the samples as my final “A”.

After picking out  the “A” that I want, I got out my trusty Sulky Hot Iron Transfer Pen and some scissors.

To make the iron on transfer, trace the BACKSIDE/WRONGSIDE of the design with the Sulky Iron On Transfer Pen. Be sure to make the line dark so that it will transfer well. I used a brown pen here.

Now, cut apart the design area you need. Be sure that the sulky pen side, the reverse design is FACING the fabric. Here you see the reverse “A”.

Flip it over so that you see the RIGHTside of your design and place it where you want it. Here I have placed the “A” where I want it to be on the Scarlet fabric.

Heat the iron to cotton…apply heat to transfer…

and after a bit of heating and moving the iron to all the places in the design…

voila!

My Scarlet Letter is ready for embroidery! Now, let me get the gold thread ready!!!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun! –
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii
See my Store! http://Curiosities808.artfire.com

Embroidery Project with Cross Stitch- Papillon 2009 SAL, Castles in the Air, Part 1

Delicate, Light, and rather Elegant!

I’ve never been one for samplers, but lately, the email groups that I’m part of have chatted about Papillon Creations’ 2009 Stitch Along Mystery Sampler, Castles in the Air.  You are supposed to use the 10 charted colors and choose 11 colors on your own to finish off the color chart. I took to the challenge and sought out  fabric, thread and beads that I had on hand and decided to join in.

This is my Mystery Sampler after completing Part 1. I purchased both the cross stitch version and the specialty version of the SAL. I decided to stitch the specialty version simply because I LOVE EMBROIDERY! Surface embroidery is still my all time favorite needle and thread creation, and this SAL has been surprisingly enjoyable.

The photos don’t show all the ‘bling’  and glitter that really is on this canvas. I used a ‘Vintage Gold’ metallic thread as my one specialty thread. It’s a black with a gold twist wound around it. All in all it gives this part, the Formal Garden, a look of wrought iron. I just love it!

I love this pinkish color. I think these flowers look like hibiscus.

I didn’t keep the original 10 colors assigned. Yes, I know… I cheated. I changed the blues to match the other colors that were free choice. My new ‘peacock blues’ match the hues of my other choices now.

This is the photo that I sent in to be uploaded on Papillon Creations website. Hopefully, my Part 1 will show up here soon.

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!
smiles,
alicia in Hawaii
http://www.curiosities808.wordpress.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandgirla_woodworks/sets/
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Cross Stitch Project – Mill Hill “Kitchen Collection” Cupcake and Mixer

Shiny, shimmering, glorious beads!

I love my local needlework shop, Fiddlesticks Hawaii. They brought these kits in for me…just to tantalize my addiction to stitching. 😉

Each of these were lots of fun to stitch up. The colors are just…well…”fun”. There is something about them, that when viewed in person, make them almost mesmerizing. Here is the Mixer. Kit is Mill Hill, “Kitchen Collection”, Mix It Up. Design by Debbie Mumm.

Here is the Cupcake. Kit is Mill Hill, “Kitchen Collection”, Lil’ Cupcake. Design by Debbie Mumm.

The one area that is not that much ‘fun’ to tackle on these projects is that little strip of red or green below the main picture. That can get rather tedious and it is very easy to make mistakes there since the greens and reds are scattered so. I started each of the projects there…at that boring band. I saved the fun stuff for last!

I also stitched and beaded at the same time. Some folks like to complete all the stitching first then return to do all the beading. These projects are so small… I didn’t think it would hurt to bead while stitching along.

I have the other kits in the Mill Hill Kitchen Collection and as soon as I finish up the Elephant I am stitching up, then I’ll continue with the rest.

…maybe I’ll make the Toasty Toaster

…no…maybe the Bowls…yikes! So many to choose from!

Your life needs fun. Go ahead, have some fun!

smiles,

alicia in Hawaii