Crayon Tinting

I read a great tutorial about crayon tinting at Urban Threads.  I decided to try it out for The Fairy, my current work in progress.  I believe she is in the Craft Pad by Jenny Hart.

It's easy.  Go on!  Try it out for yourself.  All you need is your fabric with a pattern, crayons, a couple sheets of paper, and an iron.

The stitching is in progress at the moment.  I've found that I like more contrast in the colors of the tinting and stitching.  So for instance, the dark green shoes are lined with dark purple, instead of forest green.  It just gives it that something extra special.

In the mean time, I've got a couple of birthdays, a visit from my baby niece, and Easter coming up around the corner.  I've got lots of things cooking, so check back.

Works in Progress

Okay, long time no post.  I have some works in progress, though I haven't posted anything new in a while.

I finished the first sampler, and felt an inexplicable pride.  I was very happy with my color choices, and that I was able to learn the stitches and finish it in about one week.  It is not perfect, of course, but that's not what this is supposed to be about anyway.

It's about creating.  A creative outlet for me that I can do at home or carry anywhere else with me.  It's about adding that little something extra to our white kitchen towels.  It's about giving hand made gifts.

After that, I started on the second sampler, which I am very happy with.  I've learned a couple of new techniques.  Splitting the floss.  What a huge difference this can make in your stitches!  Blending floss.  Oh, how I love this effect.

Apparently, it is Very Important to get dark, uniform lines when transferring.  I thought at the time that it would be okay, even though they were slightly lighter, I thought I could make it work.  Except!  That now I can't see those little x-x-x's for the cross stitches, which I would just eyeball, but a) I'm not much for eyeballing things, and b) with the left side mirroring those same x-x-x's it will be obvious and ruin all my hard work and my beautiful sampler.  So, I've decided to put that aside until I can figure out a way to transfer the pattern directly over top of where the old transfer.  A light box would come in handy.  Hubs tried to help me transfer using or shoji lamp, but the fabric lampshade did not lend itself well.  We've derided to try it on a sunny day over a window with sunlight exposure.

Which left me with nothing to stitch.

*Sigh*

So, I got out some new towels.  And set out to make some new transfers.  I love each and every one of them.

The Eyes.

The Fan Dancer.

The Fairy.

Tweeny's bird cage and curious kitty.  She did not much care for her sampler.  But, I thought she may have more interest in her own design.  She did like the idea of stitching, but didn't get very far.

We also got some more floss colors specifically for our new towel transfers.  I hope I finish one of these WIPs at some point.  Otherwise, I'm just doomed to a life of *oh look!  something new and shiny to stich!*  Which will just not be the same.....

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