Ooooh! Niiiiice.

Just when you have begun to wonder if this is some sort of weird shrine to Sublime Stitching.....

I was out browsing around today.  Ya know, window shopping.  Oh no, not Out.  In.  Online window shopping.  It's the best kind, really.

I found some real gems on Urban Threads.  And the pdfs are only $1.00! 

I can not wait to try some of these out.  There are so many great ones.  You'll have to check them out for yourself.

While you are there, stop by the Tutorial Section for some lessons in Crayon Tinting.  So that's how you do that!

Oooooh La La!

Sunday evening I resumed the stitching lesson sampler.

I worked on some split stitching and the dreaded french knots.

Let me just say ~

I did it!  The french knot is easy fun with Jenny Hart's instructions and diagram in Sublime Stitching and Embroidered Effects.

Just go nice and easy.  Patience, my dear, patience.  Use two hands.

Magnifique, No?

Oui?!!

Merci très beaucoup!

Stitchin 101

After getting my transfer on and then tidying up the house of it's usual chores and weekly debris, I settled in with my sampler from Sublime Stitching.

First, I broke out the scrap threads tin from my mom's house.

Came up with a color scheme.

Aaaaand...started stitching.

Ahhh... I'm already a big fan of this twinkle stitch.

I'm in lurv with the split stitch.  So fancy looking.  So easy!

Satin stitch.  You are gorgeous.  And yet, I think we are not all the way there yet.  I stiched, and pulled it out, and restarted this three times already.  Unfortunately, I think maybe the cloth was too tight in the hoop?  I have a lot of extra thread here.  In fact, I think I could make a pocket out of you.

Hmmmmm.....

I'm not quite as friendly with the daisy stitch, but we are on speaking terms.  I think she'll grow on me.

The fern stitch scares the bee-jeez out of me.  And the chain stitch.   What is with you, anyway, Chain Stitch?  What is your point?  I can make your beautiful little loops with the split stitch.  And we are in love.  In fact, we are going to run away together.

The French knots.  I'm hiding from them....

Hello, my old friend cross stitch.

After a full day's stitchin' for a few hours here and there.

Prep

Saturday morning.  Ahhhh.

Fresh piping hot coffee from the Kuerig.  With vanilla creamer.

New books from Sublime Stitching.

Virginal white dish towels.

What to do, what to do?

I had my first projects all planned out.  But after receiving my order, I thought it would probably be a good idea to oh, i don't know, learn the stitches first.

There are so many great patterns I didn't know what I wanted to start with, which designs were worthy of my most awesome tea towel, at the same time wouldn't take so long that I'd become flustered and give up.

I decided to start out with the stitching samplers on flour sack dish towels.  I made one for myself and one for Tweeny.

First, Launder the towels.  Get out your supplies.

Ironing Board

Iron

scrap fabric

patterns

scissors

straight pins

fabric pen

This looks suspiciously like work.  Hmph.

Take a moment to relax.  Sip your coffee.  Day dream about your gorgeously bitchin tattooed towels.  The oohs and aaaahs from your friends.  The wonderfully coveted gifts that you will give your loved ones with tags that say Hand Made with Love for You by Me.....

Okay, now.

Fold the towel in the way that you will hang it for every day use.  I pinned the pattern on and hung it on the stove to be sure that I was happy with the placement.  Then I marked the corners with a water soluble pen for use on fabric.

Lay the scrap fabric down to protect your ironing board pad from overzealous transfer ink.

Remove the pattern and pins from your practice run.

Iron the towel to remove the wrinkles and prep the fabric.  Make sure the steam setting is off (steam does not play nicely with the transferable ink), double check and that the iron is hot.  After a couple of passes of the iron test the fabric with your hand to makes sure the cloth is very warm to the touch.  Quickly place the pattern face-down just so on the fabric using your aforementioned corner marks.

I found it best at this point to just sort of press, or stamp with the iron.  When I made a couple of passes over the pattern I found that either the pattern, the fabric or both tend to shift around just enough to blur the pattern.

On the 4th try I got the best results.

I pinned the fabric and scrap to the iron board cover so that both were securely in place.

I pressed down with the iron, leaving it in place for several seconds and then lifting it up, repositioning the iron  and stamping it down again. Rinse and Repeat.  Paying special attention to the corners and outlying edges, which tend to be the faintest lines because anything in the middle had been overlapped several times.

Try not to peak.  I mean, you kind of have to at first.  'Cuz if you don't you may not get it dark enough.  But once you peak, by very carefully lifting the corner of the transfer, pressing your face down next to the board, meticulously replace it, it's already been shifted just a hair.  It's maddening.

Once you have done a practice transfer on a scrap cloth, you'll have an idea of how long it will take to get the lines darkened to your liking.  You want them just dark enough to see, but not so dark that they are very thick or you'll be wasting the ink.  Remember, these transfers are reusable, so don't over do it.  You will most likely want to use them again and again.

Try it several times before you mark on your 'perfect' canvas with the 'one perfect' pattern.

This would be a great use for those patterns included in the book that you don't want or think you've got no use for.  There was a lot of comments in the reviews about not wanting or having any use for the baby patterns.  But there are so many good ones.  I can hardly see how anyone could get to using them all.  Anyway, my point is if there are a couple of patterns that fall into this category for you, use them by practicing your transferring skills.  This is an important step along your path.

Can you see all of the overzealous transfer marks?  That could be on your ironing board.  Fair warning.

The samplers are a little tricky just because they are bigger patterns to begin with, so keep that in mind. Don't get too frustrated.  Patience is a virtue, my friends.  It won't be perfect the very first time.  So just go with it.  Remember that this is a hobby, and supposed to be fun, so don't stress.

Once you free yourself from the idea that it should be just-so, it's really quite satisfying to see your trasfer appear where just minutes ago, there was nothing.  Viola!

Getting in the Groove

After ripping open my packages from UPS, and leafing through the patterns and pages of my books I had some decisions to make.  What did I want to do first?  Which pattern was worthy of my Most Awesome Tea Towel?  Would I even be able do the stitching?  How should the patterns be arranged to get the optimal design?

It was almost paralyzing.  I couldn't decide where to start.

Hmmmmm...

How about the stationary?  I could start on that while the towel was being laundered.  Get used to the feel of the needle in my hand, get the creative juices flowing.

 Ladies and Gentleman, start your engines.

Beautiful.

Hey, what do you think I'm supposed to do with this?

It's the back of the card. 

But if I stitch it, both flaps will look like this on the inside.

 

Where would I write?  Do I paste note cards over the backside of the stitching to write on?

Please advise....

Special Delivery!

When I cam home from work Friday night there were boxes, boxes everywhere.  It turns out that  all of my books from Barnes and Nobel and my stuff from Sublime arrived on the same night that all of hub's mark-down specials motorcycle gear came in.  So it looked a little bit like Christmas at our place.

Either that or the back of the UPS truck had come unlatched.  I'm not sure which.

Here's my new stash.

"Tonight's gonna be a good night....Tonight's gonna be a real good night."

Still Waiting.....

I'm still waiting for my stuff.  See Me.  See Me waiting very patiently?

I did track my book order from Barnes & Noble.  I believe I should be getting those today.

I have no idea when my order from Sublime Stitching will be here.  I ordered it last Wed and it has now been ~foreva~ since then.  But they did send it out that Friday, the 15th, so it's been 7 days en route via snail mail.

Note to Self:  Order stuff from Sublime waaaaaay in advance.  Just because you fall in love with something on Monday, and order on Wednesday, does not mean that you will be able to stitch on Saturday.  Who would have thunk?

I think I've been spoiled by Fed Ex and UPS big-box-1-to-3-day-shipping.  My next order from Sublime will be for transfer paper and a stylus.  Because they do have their patterns available in pdf format.  And that rocks.  Because I will be able to arrange my designs using Adobe Photoshop, and then trace right on to the textile at hand, and that will be awesome.  And - no waiting!  But, alas, they are sold out right now.  Which is fine, really, 'cuz how much stuff do I really think I need to get started?!

But for now, I'm just waiting for my kit to arrive so that I can practice some stitches....

And for some books to drool pour over.  Hopefully I'll be able to pass an entire Saturday morning sipping coffee and daydreaming up some projects.  Even better would be if both orders arrive and I can get started with my stitchin'.

Inspire Me!

If you are in need of inspiration you must check out this flickr pool for sublime stitching.  No really.  The projects on here are incredible!  I only hope I can live up to the inspiration.  But, I need to get my stuff first.  Still no stuff!  It's making me crazy!  And we are in the middle of ice storms.

Which means:


*  Slower Snail Mail

* It's a great time to stay home and start on a new project!  Ugh!

Patience is a virtue, my friends.  One that I do not posess.

Numero Uno

For my first trick I will be making a tattooed towel.  I love this idea, and I think it's the perfect project to jump into and use as a so-called scratch pad.

Inspirations:

Tattoo Your Towels Patterns by Sublime Stitching

Mary's Doodle cloth

Imacutie's Tote

I have no idea how it will turn out or if it's too big of a chunk to bite off, but I love the random coverage of these pieces.  Also, I would love to make a tote like this for me and for Tweeny (12 year old daughter).

While looking for these images again I found this awesome baby onsie that I must make for the wee ones in my life.  So I'm adding this for inspiration, as well.  Perhaps Projects 2 and 3? idk. mybffjill.

Onsie Last Name

Bitchin' Books

So for days I have been pinning over these incredible books by Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching. 

To get started in any new hobby you need some sort of start-up cash.  I'm a little tight on the budget.  Actually, I'm just a little tight all together.  Spending money is not my idea of a good time.

But I am so in love with these books.  And I just know if I had them I could be well on my way to making great things.  There are so many patterns to choose from at Sublime Stitching and I love them all.  I can't very well buy them all right off the bat.  (What if....gasp!  I'm no good at this?)

Anyway, I can't stitch them all at the same time anyhow.

But I want those books, dammit.  And they are chock-full of awesome design transferable patterns!

And that's when it hit me.  I have two unused gift cards to Barnes & Noble!

I love to read.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love to read.  But I don't buy a lot of books.

1. I'm tight like that.

2. I never ever read the same book twice, so I use the library and friends' copies if I'm goin to read anything.

3. I'm a saver.  I save even my gift cards for a rainy day.  How sick is that?

Except!  Now is a rainy day!  I want those books and I'm going to Barnes & Nobles online to buy them right now!

......Just as soon as I grab my umbrellas.

Sublime Stitching Order

Last week I ordered the Ultimate Stitching Kit, Tattoo your Towels and the Tattoo alphabet patterns from Sublime Stitching.

I'm anxiously awaiting the goods to come in.

I've been browsing on flickr.  Wow!  Some really exciting things out there.  I'm chompin' at the bit to get started.

My first project will, of course, be a tattoed towel.  An Awesome Tea Towel at that.

I've got all kinds of glorious projects bouncing around in my head.  Tattoed Tea towels.  Something special for my grand baby.  (Yes, my Grandbaby.  My eldest stepson's first born.  No, I'm not old enough to be a Grandma.  And "this is not your Gramma's embroidery!"  I am not your typical Granny. )

Some bloomers for my baby niece.

A tattooed baby doll.  Check out this Gallery from the Tattoo Baby Doll Project!

A tattooed tote for my daughter, now 12.  Perhaps one for me.

A seat belt cozy perhaps?

How about a rockin' denim jacket for the lil guy?

Or a precious blankie for the sweet lil princess?

Maybe some pillow cases for my older niece and nephew.

Some tea towels for my female family members and friends.

Perhaps some card stock book marks for my fellow divas in Literary Diversions Book & Wine Club.

So many possibilities!  Endless options.