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Archive for the ‘Embroidery’ Category

I’m back to work on my Island Trails quilt this week.  Yesterday, I was able to do quite a bit {thanks to my “sick” monster who kept us home all day}.  First, I attached the border.  I know that was really jumping ahead, but I was so over working on the small details.  I decided to do a patchwork border incorporating the solid green colors of the appliqued island and some fun Hawaiian prints.  {I know, what’s up with me and patchwork lately?}  Two of the Hawaiian prints are full of “I spy” sort of stuff.  There’s octopus {or maybe it’s a jelly fish}, crab, turtle, bento plate, bonsai tree, fish, surf board, ice shave, hula dancers, etc.  My hope is that it’s a fun border to search for things that open up story time full of daddy’s memories.  Yes, I’m a sentimental sap!  I was instructed that the overall color be green, so hopefully I’ve added a bit more.  The vast ocean is VERY a tad overwhelming.  I was so nervous about the turquoise color, so I reeled in dad to help out!  {NOT MOM, THIS IS A SURPRISE}.  He said, “It looks like an ocean to me”!  Gosh, I love the way guys think.  Okay moving on…

Patchwork Boarder: 3 1/2" Finished Squares

After I finished stitching together the border, I was inspired to get back to the small details.  I started by hand stitching craters on the mountain tops.  THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED AND WILL BE TAKEN OUT!  It looked so cool on the map, but not so much on fabric.  My hubby got home and wondered why I put spiders on the mountains, not good!  After I was done, I had to laugh at myself.  It’s sort of a bummer because I was just certain that would make the mountains more mountain looking, but it doesn’t and now what?  My hubby thinks it looks better with nothing and that I should leave out literal images from the map.  He’s right.  Just cute stuff and not bung hole looking stuff, ick!  Can’t wait to rip that out!  I can’t believe I am showing you, but here it is…

{Insert Sheepish Grin of Embarrassment}

But not to worry, I shall fix it and not sweat the waisted 30 minutes of finger breaking work, kidding!  Next, I stitched up quite a few locations.  Here’s a few…

East Shore

Technically, Richardsons is slang.  If you talk to anyone around here, you’ll hear them reference Richardson Beach Park as Richardsons, so I decided to forgo the formalities and just keep it real.  I’m happy about that decision.

Lava Flow

Puʻu ʻŌʻō has been erupting continuously since January 3, 1983, making it the longest-lived rift-zone eruption of the last two centuries.  {Thank you Wiki}  Pretty cool right?  I need to add the ʻ and – to the letters.

South Point

All the hand stitched locations are in off-white embroidery thread.  I chose to use a color that can’t be seen from a distance so that the quilt will look simple.  Once you get up close you can discover a map full of fun places to imagine.  Plus after years and years of wear the lettering won’t look as good and won’t be as noticeably worn in off-white.

So that’s it folks.  It’s a special project for a dad that wants to share the wonder of his childhood with his first-born child.  I think that’s pretty darn special & am really stoked for the challenge.

♥ R

Ps. Proof these places are FULL of memories…for my family too!:

4 Mile & Richardsons

What’s so interesting is that these two beaches are neighbors and have different colors of sand.  4 Mile has white sand and Richardsons has black sand?  I guess it’s just one of those mysteries!

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This weekend my family and I attended a lovely wedding reception for our sweet young friends.  They are also expecting their first bumpkin, which made me think more along the lines of giving a baby gift because well, they are much more fun to shop for!  While perusing online for no apparent reason, I noticed two pillows I really loved.  I found them by snooping at Stitched in Colors’s Bloggers Pillow Party, which is held monthly {I think}.  Maybe I should enter a pillow…hmmm!  Anyway, here are the two pillows which got me thinkin.  Click the pictures to be swept away to Jenna & Tracy’s blogs.

Jenna's Personalized Pillow

Tracy's Personalized Pillow

Why is Tracy’s “Family” upside down?  I dunno.  So without fabric paint or freezer paper, I thought I would do this for the newlyweds.  But, how?  With fabric of course!  When trying to figure out what to put on the pillow, I thought I would include “Family” just because there’s nothing like a baby to make it feel that much more complete.  So now I have a gift that is for everyone…yay!  I found a good font through publisher and printed out “Duldulao”, “Family”, and “Est 2011″.  My plan was to pin the letters to appliqued fabric and cut them out.  I thought I better get something to cut out the letters precisely.  My sweet hubby headed to Home Depot to get me a x-acto knife {BTW, I have young children at home and that thing makes me nervous!  HIDE IT!}.  I thought that would cut through fabric easier than my scissors, but I was W.R.O.N.G.!  I was so wrong.  So I used my mini Fiskar scissors and that was a happy marriage.  I hand stitched the letters into place after I appliqued them onto the fabric.  Then I sandwiched the pillow top and free motion quilted.  There’s nothing like an invisible zipper to make the job quick and painless.  Gosh, I love invisible zippers!  So I forgot to take a picture of the back.  I know, I hate when that happens.  My bad!  I was really hating this pillow at midnight while realizing how long it was taking me to stem stitch the letters.  And of course I waited until the day before the wedding to start…oh my.  However, I did it.  Finished just as the reception started.  A quick shower and my family headed out.  A little late, yes.  But it was worth it!

My Personalized Pillow

Happy Wedding Warren & Lehani!  May you continue to bless each other & grow closer each and every year…

♥ R

PS. So, I decided to enter just for a little fun!  Everyone’s pillows are so amazing.  I would never pick my own to win, but here goes.

Blogger's Pillow Party

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The Stem Stitch

As you know, I’m working on another crazy patch baby quilt order.  The mama has chosen a dove applique in white.  She also wanted the baby’s name to be quilted on the quilt.  So I decided to stem stitch (yes by hand) her name, Hope – Anuhea, onto the dove.  I am considering adding some flowers too, but I need to think about it first.  The stem stitch is an excellent and simple way to embroidery names.  It can curve turns better than a viper in a high-speed chase.  Okay, maybe not, but you get the point.  I found this video online and it’s quite good at explaining how to stem stitch, so I won’t reinvent the wheel.  I’m here for help if you need it.  You won’t…it’s really easy!

Step 1.  You’ll need your choice of fabric, embroidery needle, and embroidery thread.  The thread will (normally) come as 6 strands of thread combined together.  Depending on the thickness you prefer or the look you’re trying to achieve, you’ll need to decide how many of the 6 stands you’ll need and separate them.  I will typically use 2 strands for names.  Note: I’ve had many friends get frustrated with embroidery because they didn’t realize not to use all 6 strands…pretty funny!  Get a disappearing ink pen, it’s marvelous!  Jot out your course.

2 Strands of Thread

Step 1

Step 2.  Set your marked fabric in an embroidery hoop.  You can get them at any arts and crafts shop.  They are handy & cheap!  I’ve recently seen some great wall art using embroidery & quilting hoops.   Refer to the video above and get stitching.

Step 2

Step 3. Patience.  Then badda-bing badda-bang…it’s finished.  Kidding, this was actually really quick coming in under 20 minutes.  However, depending on the size of your project and life in general, patience is a great thing to own.  You never know when you might need some.

 

Finito!

 

Have fun!

R

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