Alien Chick Flash Embroidery WIP

This is my latest embroidery piece. I absolutely love the design. I saw it as a tattoo on someone and went searching for it online. I found the sketch on a free tattoo flash site. This is what she started as.....

I need to adjust a few things though. The print was just too overwhelming for her dress to show up well. So I think I will paint her nightie in. Not too dense, just a light, sheer overlay....like a nightie should be.

And her legs. I tried embroidering the fishnets...didn't work. I may try one more time with a single strand. Or just finely drawn paint lines. Any other suggestions?

The backside. I have been forgetting to photo these. Not that they are pretty, but sometimes they look interesting. In this case, you can see the design much better than the front side :P

WIPadeedoodah

WIPadeeaaa...my oh my what a very full day...s

Okay, I was close. But dayS it is, plural. I got myself a big 'ol batch of embroidery hooplas ready to stitch up & go.

I should finish this one off tonight. It's another fab piece from Urban Threads. I tried to make the chain links just wonky enough to look banged up. I also plan to print up a list of the top 100 banned books to go with it :) Hubby & I decided to get a copy of them for a shelf here...although we may already have quite a few :P

And this is what's to come. I know you can't exactly see just what it is that will be stitched...except for that front piece. I took the image from a statue. I of course now want the statue, but after I saw some of Harley & Ivy...well, I only have so much space for such things. I may just draw or stitch them for my own walls someday. Much more room on the walls than horizontal surfaces :P

Anyway... I think you can get an idea of the volume. There are some smaller hoops hiding in there as well.

Wish me luck :) I hope to complete one every other day. It may be a bit too ambitious with the new job and all. What? New job you say? Why yes, new job :)

WIP Time

My house has been one of ill repute lately...emphasis on the ill. And since I am Mom, I have done nothing beyond caring for everyone else. So this poor bag has been sitting in the sewing area with all it's parts exposed for all to see. Hopefully I will be able to fix her up soon and make her whole.

Until then - have a great weekend. Hope to be back by the end of it.

And maybe with some embroidery completed too. Too bad the sewing machine is right next to the boys' rooms, otherwise I could sew after they go to bed.

Yesterday's Teaser

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday was a teaser of my newest hand embroidery piece. It is from another comic, this time Poison Ivy. What I am showing off now took 3 nights at 3-4 hours each to complete. But I am not quite done.

I still have to add the leaves. I decided to give the piece some texture by using organza bits for the leaves. You can see from the original artwork that there are lots and lots of leaves. I am not sure just how many I will be adding. We'll see...

Hobo Bag WIPs

I cut out a 5 pack of bags last week and have slowly been making progress on them. I realized I have only shown off the creations I have made in the evenings...the embroidery. So I thought I would share with you a sneak peek of the cut bags. Of course it just looks like a mashed up pile of fabric...

Oh - and this is the bag they will be. I suppose it is not exactly a hobo, but I have yet to name it.

First Use for the Circle Cut Outs

I was going to be making a new batch of fabric baskets...different sizes and shapes. So I decided to decorate some with the circles from the pillows. I love when flowers are done with simple shapes.

Add some stitching to the edges so they don't fray away to nothing and viola! Floral theme. And I love me a little raw edge fray :)

These are pretty small. Perfect for desk tops and vanities. I tossed in a few things to give an idea of size.

Now I have the rest of the bunch to do. 2 larger, 2 medium, 2 rectangular and 1 an in between rectangular size. Oh, and coasters from some cut outs from the basket. More cut outs :P

...again, the colors were too washed out or too, um, off...the last pic shows it best.

Ginger Dot WIPs

I started back up with some more pillows. Actually, I started back up to finish off the remaining pillows I had cut a while back. Either way - I am sewing again :)

These are not yet complete, but I should be able to get to them this weekend.


The lining is a nice spring yellow. And looking outside right now, it looks like Spring...wet and dreary :P

And did you notice the closure? I decided to go with a zipper this time. Why? Just because.


And now for one of the reasons why it is still a WIP (work in progress)...it started out having stacked circles appliqued (kind of) to the front. But it just did not look right.


So now I have these stacked circles. The question is, what will they become? I am leaning towards hair stuff (headbands most likely), accents for a table runner edge or a cute decoration for the front of a burlap fabric basket.

Any other ideas or opinions on what the could morph into?

Pink Hair Pieces

I did not get much sewing done this past week. Most of my time was spent reworking listing wordage and taking some more pics of home items. I did manage to finish off a couple hair pieces from some pillow leftovers though.

This first one is a headband attachment. I just wanted something simple and not too large.

The underside has a piece of velvet ribbon that the band can slide through. This way you can position the decoration anywhere you want. Plus, the velvet ribbon helps hold it in place.

This barrette is just about done. I was not sure if I wanted to add something more, but I think I will stick with the simpler is better theme. Since I still have to sew the front and back together, I do have time to change my mind. One thing I will most likely do is stuff it a bit to make it puffy.

Pillow WIPs...Circle Cut Outs This Time

I have started on another batch of pillows. I loved the olive circle applique one so much that I decided to make more with the round cut out.I also varied the sizes, some as large as 20 inches. I love big pillows, so cozy.

There will be blues...

Pinks...

And olives...

I decided to use the cut outs on some of the pillows as well. In the end there will be solid pillows with print peek throughs and print pillows with solid color circles appliqued to the front. I hope. In my head it looks great...we'll see.

I'll be making the hair WIPs alongside the pillows since the machine will already be threaded with the right colors. Yes, lazy can determine the order of getting things done. But I prefer to call it efficient.

Hair WIPs

I have not sewn more since the last batch of pillows. But I have been prepping. And cleaning the house. Lots of that. Don't worry, I won't be showing pics of the messy house :) Instead you get to see the mess of fabric that has been slated to become hair pieces. And yes, they match all the pillows I made earlier.

Olive Circle WIPs

Remember my olive green circle reverse applique pillow? Well, I made some matchy stuff. Okay, to be honest, they are not yet "made", I am in the midst of these projects.

First off, there is a headband. Headband attachment might be more appropriate. I love all the headbands out there with all the fun foofy stuff attached. The only problem is where they are the band. So few tend to fall on the right spot for my head. So I came up with these...

The band slips through the underside of the piece so you can slide it to where you want it to lay. The velvet ribbon is nice because it "sticks" to the hair pretty well. I used them on some elastic hairbands in the past & they stayed in place nicely.

A table runner was in my head since I first cut the pillow. There happened to be a perfect strip left after that initial cut :) I am not quite sure what I am going to put on the underside though. Maybe red and have it wrap around the edges to peek over onto the top.

And lastly, a potholder. All I need to do to finish this off is the trim.

I can't decide what color to go with. I am thinking it would be best to wait until I decide on the runner's trim and match it. I would use the green, but there is not enough left for strips. All I have are a bunch of circles from the applique cut outs. Hmmm...what to do with them?

Pillow WIPs

I made a couple diamond reverse applique pillows the other week and decided to make some more. The pink, blue, green & orange will be for a 14" square pillow form while the purple is for a smaller rectangle. Remember that oops of a pillow size I made last time? Well, the purple will be using the first mis-sized pillow form :)


I had some strips leftover from the window coverings I made and decided to make a couple pillows with them. The blue pillow base flows better in person than it does in the pic. Crossing my fingers that once the strips are sewn on that it gives the effect I am picturing in my head.


And lastly, I plan to use this red print for a reverse applique on the olive...but in circles. I think have enough to make matching coasters & a table runner too. Those will come later.

Frog Tooth Fairy Pillow

The idea to make some tooth fairy pillows started with my youngest's soccer team. Specifically one of the kids' mom. I made a few in my own themes first to show her so she could get an idea of what they looked like. And for me to get an idea of how to make them.

The other week she contacted me with a theme idea. Frogs. I was not able to start it right off because of all the kitchen redoing. It is done now.

It started with these pieces:


I think they translated well to the actual pillow. All the small pieces were a tad difficult to handle, but it all worked out in the end.


And the backside is a lily pad and flower. Not a floral pizza missing a slice like my hubby first guessed. And yes, it is a similar shape, but I modeled it after an actual lily pad. Not the rounded cartoon version that is often in kids books.

I really like the way the flower turned out. And the opening in the pad is larger enough for a folded dollar bill. Possibly even a gift card. I'll have to try that to see if it would work.

I still have that list I made a while back of theme ideas. The next few weeks will be in a bit of upheaval while the walls get painted & the new floor gets put down. So hand sewing monsters and cutting out pillow themes will be the most "sewing" I will most likely get around to actually accomplishing. But it will be a good accomplishing :)

I Hate Sewing Silky

Okay, I started my clothes sewing with the material I dislike the most. Why? I don't really remember anymore. Maybe to get the ickiest out of the way first.

I have the gather gathered & many of the hems hemmed. But poorly, It is just so slippy. And ironing the hems just does not do much. Anyone work with this stuff that may have a pointer or two?

This is what it looks like currently....before I set it aside for some tooth fairy pillows.

Still looks like it did when I first cut out the pieces. Unless you look close, then you can see the poor excuse for hems.

I won't let it discourage me from continuing with the clothes. I hope to get rolling a bit more on them next week. Unless I wind up prepping for paint. At least for the kitchen since the countertops will be ready soon. I find out later today when the floors can get started on. I hope. *crosses fingers*

Monsters in Progress

As always, I have more than one thing I am working on. I talked about the clothes I am making for myself...most of which are now cut. Woo hoo for me :) But I also have the monster mayhem thing going on.

The monsters are great because they are hand sewn. So when the day is ending, the littlest is in bed and the others are off doing there own thing - I can veg to the tv and stitch on the couch.
This one eyed creature is a tad psychedelic. I just love the colors. I got a grab bag of goodies from Sol Sisters a while back & am finally making use of it. The majority of the bag will be used for a mixed media piece or art quilt, but this piece just said "monster".

And then there is Squidy...which actually does better resemble a jellyfish like my youngest said. All he needs is some fluff 'n stuff.

Monster Mayhem WIPs

I have my next batch of to-do's cut and ready to go. These are handsewn, so it is also a great time to take in the sewing machine for a tune up. A while back I posted my monsters and the sketches they grew from. Well, these are more. And in different sizes. I am making a small (keychain size) medium (hand size) and larger size. I may super size two or three of my faves. Not yet sure.
The white cat faced one in the upper right...that is going to be my son's vampy cat...which he has patiently (mostly) been waiting for. Vampy cat is a small teddy bear from the Buffy comics...so cute...not so sweet, but cute :)

It Took Like a Year!

Felt like it anyway. This embroidery piece seems to have been picked up and put down more times than I can count! It got to the point that I almost just gave up. I am not sure why exactly. Maybe I was just playing during the wrong times. Like soccer practice when it got too windy & I couldn't see past my hair blowing in my face. Or a craft show that actually picked up too much to be doing such work (which was a good thing). But whatever the reason...it's done!

Well...almost. As I looked at it again, I decided to make a small change, an addition really. For each girls hair I am going to sew on a piece of scrap fabric for their hair scrunchie thingies. Only the center one has anything now. Somehow I totally skipped over the other 2 :P

And then it will become a pillow. That is what the fabric framing it in the pic is. I hope to complete it next week. I have too much on my plate right now to start. I'll show you what later, but here's one of the WIPS...it's going to be a backpack...

Fabric Buckets

I have started another sewing round. This time they are fabric buckets. Baskets? I think bucket is best. The first one with the fire trucks went to my son. He loves filling it up with a batch of toys from his bedroom to bring out to the front room. I have about 7 more to make and then...photo shoot! woo hoo? At least the sun should be out more now.

Hair Stuff

I have finally finished a batch of headbands that have been on hold for quite some time. I wish I had a fake head to model them on. My son's teddy bear just didn't cut it :P You can get the idea though. I have been wearing one around the house & am happy with the fit. The undersides are a velvety ribbon which kind of "sticks" to the hair, causing less slippage. That is usually the biggest problem for me & headbands. High forehead, thin (but lots of) hair plus not a tiny head equals headband sliding to the back of my head not long after putting it on. These lasted all day!




Then there is my barrette. I had just finished making a backpack & had some strips of fabric sitting off to the side. So I sewed them together, cut out some circles & sewed it all down with a couple buttons. Not the most attractive, but cute...plus, it's just to try the process. I was giving it a second look & decided it looks like a face almost. SO I may try to alter it to look monster/alienish. Teeth maybe? Or a tongue? Not sure yet. Any ideas?



This is the other strip I randomly sewed together for a barrette. I tentatively pinned it into a shape I like. Still not quite sure if I want to add anything or not. Well see.