Bibs, Bibs, Bibs (Warning: gratuitous baby pic spam)

If there's one thing my little man has mastered, it's drooling. The kid is like a leaking faucet, and has been since he was about three months old. Luckily, I was ready, with a stack of bibs that I'd stitched up before he was born. Unluckily, it wasn't nearly enough, and I've had to buy and stitch more bibs since. More stitching. Oh darn.

So, in honor of Vinnie's 8 month anniversary, here's some of my favorite bibs (or, um, the ones I actually took pictures of before they got horribly slimed):

At one month old, he was a little young to be thinking of eating with utensils. Despite that, this has been one of my favorites. Pattern by Urban Threads.

Still one month old, Vinnie got in touch with his Latino heritage (yes, my blond-haired, blue-eyed boy is a quarter Mexican) with this sweet lucha libre design from Sublime Stitching.

At three months, Vinnie's 100th percentile head was already too big for his fun Easter hat. Good thing the paranoid bunny bib doesn't have a size restriction. Also from Urban Threads.

Feeling international at five months, the little man sports his French toast bib from UT.

My seven-month-old little monster sporting a little monster from UT.

For a while, these were the only crafty projects I could muster the energy and time for. Now that my little guy is older, I've been able to find a bit more time for more complex embroidery (and blogging, even if I'm typing this with one hand while holding him with the other). I still have a stack of bibs (colored, this time) waiting to be stitched on, or perhaps I'll try applique. I always say that, don't I? Someday, I'll actually do it.

Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted

I'm a big fan of the Assassin's Creed video game series. I used to find running along the digital rooftops of Italy as calming as stitching (y'know, back when I had time to play involved video games and work on big embroideries), so it was natural to combine the two into one geeky, crafty project.

I started this project back in early 2011. To give you an idea of the size of the emblem, it's hung in an 8" hoop. My original idea was to satin stitch the whole thing in white for a sleek, textured effect. After an inch or two of stitches, though, I realized the logo was too big, and there would be saggy bits. No good.

So, I scrapped that idea, but not the whole project. I'd been dabbling in acrylic paint around the time, so I got the idea to paint the logo onto the fabric, then embroider on top of it. I was inspired by Ezio's (the protagonist of the second series of AC games) color palette, and opted for burgundy paint and silver thread.

I couldn't just stop at outlining the emblem. Oh, no. I wanted this to be something truly special. So, for the first time, I experimented with freestyle embroidering.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny, meticulous stitches went into this. It was both wonderfully meditative, letting the stitches take my fingers where they wanted to go, and pretty annoying, as metallic thread is damn finicky. It got so bad I put the project down with only about three inches on one leg to go, and didn't pick it up again for over a year.

I resuscitated the project in the ninth month of my pregnancy, as I was tying up loose ends on my crafting projects. It only took me a couple of evenings to complete, including mounting it in a silver-painted hoop.

After all that work, there was only one thing I could do with it: give it away. I gave it as a Christmas gift to my brother, the one person I knew would truly appreciate it, both as an Assassin's Creed fan and as an artist. The look on his face was priceless.

When I have time, I'm planning on experimenting again with freestyle-stitched, mixed-medium embroidery. I could probably do with a little meditative crafting these days!

Skeleton Key Sweater, or Adventures in Stabilizer

Finally, FINALLY it feels like Autumn has come to the Bay Area. Usually the temperature starts dropping around mid-October, but this year the heat lingered until early November. Which really sucks when you're eight months pregnant and stuck in a sweltering apartment. 

Besides the discomfort, I love Fall. I love the colors, I love the cuisine (lots of soups, stews, squashes, and root veggies), I love the layered clothes. So, I've been excited that I can finally wear the Skeleton Key sweater I finished embroidering last month. 

Changing room lights make for great clothing photos!

I'm really, super-proud of how this came out! The sweater itself was a find, a $3 score on Target's clearance rack that had no defects. I figured it was a good place to start experimenting with embroidering on my own clothing, which I'd been avoiding since I prefer knit fabrics.

Knits are notorious for being difficult to stitch on, and now I see why. Even with the assistance of some tear-away stabilizer, it was still a challenge to make sure that all the stitches came out even and didn't pucker the fabric. If you make a mistake and want to re-do a stitch, you have to do it sans stabilizer, as your needle's already torn through it! It made for a few little gaps in the design, but they're hard to tell if you're not looking for them.

I used a pattern set from Urban Threads, a skeleton key and a keyhole. After a bit of research (Sublime Stitching has a great tutorial), I decided the best way to transfer was to trace directly onto the stabilizer. It worked like a charm! I used a fine-tipped Sharpie pen, no fancy fabric pen needed, then ironed the stabilizer on where I wanted the designs. Next time, though, I'm going to iron them on one at a time. By the time I finished the first design, the second one was a bit wrinkly and tough to hoop.

With the baby belly.

I'm so excited to finally have a piece of clothing that showcases my stitching! All these years, and I've never tried it. Now I'm looking at my closet, wondering which piece is going to be next.

Embroidered Mexican Linens (Picture Heavy)

Pregnancy is a lot more tiring than I thought it would be. The first trimester (Spring) was mostly spent curled up in a ball on my couch, too nauseated and exhausted to do more than watch Ugly Betty and Arrested Development on Netflix. The second trimester (Summer) was a lot better. The nausea went away, as did most of the fatigue, but I still had trouble rallying to do much more than what I had to (chores and writing).

Sadly, this involved crafting. There were weeks at a time when I couldn't motivate myself to stitch, none the less put together a cool new pattern to work on. If it hadn't been for my stash of pre-stamped Mexican linens, I might have gone all season without embroidering.

I picked up a slew of these little beauties at my hometown swap meet a few years ago. They're mostly 13"x13" cloths, perfect for bread (or tortilla) baskets. I also snagged a few larger ones (17"x17") for some pretty table decorations.

This is one of the smaller ones. All the little petals were deceptively time-consuming to stitch, especially since I decided to get fancy and do the whole thing in split-stitch. I used variegated floss, which is most obvious on the stems and leaves.

When it was done, I backed it with some pretty Dia De Los Muertos fabric. Note the zig-zag stitching. It was my first attempt at using this stitch for, well, anything!

It's kind of a "companion piece" to the first linen I stitched up last year...which I realize I forgot to post about.

See? Perfect for tortillas!

I also stitched up one of the larger pieces. I fell in love with the fruit motif, and I thought it was an appropriate piece to celebrate the late summer harvest. I already miss the lack of good berries and stone fruits in the stores.

I tweeded the floss for the fruit to get a more "natural" tone, I backed this one with a more classic fruit n' flowers fabric.

This one I'm planning on using more as a mini-table cloth sort of thing. If I can bear to put anything that might stain on it!

I still have about ten more of these babies. It's nice to know that if the crafting blahs set in again, I have a pile of ready-made projects waiting for me.

Queen of Snake

I'm definitely in love with Sew Lovely Embroidery's patterns. For me, they're just the right balance of ease and challenge. The patterns are detailed enough to encourage playing with different stitches and colors, yet straightforward enough that even a simple backstitch can make them look amazing. Not to mention, they're the only other place besides Sublime Stitching that I've found to offer "alternative" iron-on patterns. Oh, how I adore the ease of iron-on!

This is the second piece I've done from the "Circus Palooza" pattern set (the first being Lydia, the Tattooed Lady). I'd just finished watching all of the short-lived TV series, Carnivale, and I was in the mood for some carny love. I'd really come to like the character of Ruthie, the snake charmer, and I thought this would be a fun homage (even if the hair color was a little different).

I tried to keep her in a similar color scheme to Lydia, as I entertain hopes of someday making either one big quilt, or several quilted pieces that would go together on a wall. 

A bit of trivia: the albino snake is a subtle nod to the resident python of one of my favorite shops in the world, The Bone Room. If you're ever in the Berkeley area, do yourself a favor and swing by. It's a curio shop meets natural history museum, with a friendly, knowledgeable staff. You definitely won't be bored!

Mama's Day Flowers

Taking a strong variation on a similar theme, I decided to make my Mama an embroidered brooch for Mother's Day. Where my friend gravitated more towards darkness and tentacles, my Mama is definitely in the sunshine and flowers camp.

This, I'm proud to say, is a wholly original design of mine. In English, my mother's name translates to "Daisy," and she has two children. I thought it appropriate to have the two little daisies symbolizing my brother and I. Which flower symbolizes whom is up to debate: I'm older, but he's definitely taller now!

I sketched out some variations on the design on some scrap paper, then transferred the final design using carbon paper (I like the clean lines, transfer pens and pencils tend to bleed). I then stitched the petals and stem using satin stitch, and the centers with tiny French knots.

Again, not a tiny embroidery, but definitely small enough to keep my on my toes, especially with those pesky French knots!

My Mama adored it! She wore it proudly to her Mama's Day outing to The Avengers. 'cuz that's how she rolls.

I've been having a lot of fun with these little pieces of jewelry. Next up, I think I may actually stitch a little something for myself to wear. It'll probably be a combination of darkness and sunshine...just to change things up. Maybe if I'm quick I'll be able to have it done in time for the panel I'm speaking on this weekend (/shameless plug).

The Call of Cthulhu

My embroidery has taken a new and interesting turn lately. After finishing a long and labor-intensive project (pictures soon) I decided I wanted to do something a little more...well, little.

I've known about needlework jewelry for a while. I even have a vintage cross-stitch pendant I inherited from my husband's late Nana. I never really thought of making my own, though, until I came across MotherEagle's work.

It was love at first sight. Not only her themes -- bones, brains, anatomical hearts, etc. -- but her gorgeous, elegant stitching. I seriously can't wait until she launches her new jewelry collection next week (that heart is mine!).

More importantly, it also inspired me to experiment with my own embroidery. The perfect occasion presented itself: a crafty friend of mine was celebrating her birthday soon. More precisely, she was celebrating Cthulhu-style (well, with more cupcakes and gaming and less madness and terror).

I found a lovely Cthulhu Celtic-knot inspired pattern (funny enough, it was a pumpkin carving design originally), and shrunk it way down to fit the pin setting I'd found on Etsy. I had to make a few little improvisations with the head, since it was too large for satin-stitching, but the color gradient gave it a nice feel.

The finished piece is about 2 inches diameter, so it's not really a true miniature. It is the smallest complete embroidery I've made, though, and I'm pretty proud of how it came out. My friend adored it, and wore it with pride through the evening.

I bought some other brooch and pendant settings, and this time, I'm planning to experiment with my own design ideas. I haven't really done anything that hasn't been part of a pattern pack for a while, so it'll be good to get the creative juices flowing again. 

I have a theory...it could be bunnies.

It only took me three years, but I've finally stitched, framed and hung my series of Black Apple Bunnies!

Made with Sublime Stitching's Black Apple pattern set and some of those paint-it-yourself frames from the craft store.

I'm really pleased how the set came out, and that I actually finished it in time for Easter. This year's Easter is just a little extra-special (being in a brand-spankin' new apartment and all), so I figured it deserved some extra-cute decor!

Reform School Girl

Thrill-Crazy! Speed-Crazy! Mad-At-The-World Crazy!

Another fun and feisty embroidery, from Sublime Stitching's Mitch O'Connell pack.

A Reminder to the Writer

A little reminder I stitched up to put by my writing desk. Made with Sublime Stitching's Sexy Librarians pattern set (and non-bleeding floss).

I did the majority of the stitching during my downtime in Bangkok this summer. I'm really glad I took it with me. It may sound hokey, but crafting does provide a common bond across language and culture barriers. My host's Thai mother-in-law perked up when she saw me pull out my hoop and thread, and scurried to show me the crochet she was working on. Suddenly, we had something we could "talk" about, even with just smiles and appreciative sounds.

A little tip to crafters traveling internationally: be sure to check the carry-on regulations for all the airports you're connecting to. Though my pretty little gold scissors were okay at SFO, they were confiscated at our connecting flight in Taipei. Oh well.

Tara McPherson Embroidery

I'm doing a little catch-up with the embroidery posts. Though I haven't been sharing, I've still been stitching.

I do most of my stitching while my husband reads to me, and now that the semester's well under way there's lots of evenings spent curled up reading and stitching. Especially since we're currently in book two of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. So lots of good books = lots of fun stitching.

This is one I finished back in July. Tara McPherson is one of my favorite visual artists (so much so that I hunted down all 10 issues of the Vertigo comic The Witching, and I have to say, sadly, that her covers were the best part). So, I was over the moon when Sublime Stitching brought her on as a guest artist to make a pattern pack.

I carefully selected my colors, deciding on a rich, jewel-toned palette for this piece. It was a simple enough design, so the colors would really make it pop. It does. I loved how it came out...until I went to wash the finished piece.

You can't tell in very well from the photo, but the colors actually ran. I'd used a batch of no-name floss and the pink and purple bled permanently into the snowy white fabric.

At first, I was crushed. This was my first encounter with floss-color-bleed ruining a piece, and of course it had to be on the Tara McPherson pattern I'd waited so long to stitch.

However, the more I look at it, the more I like the look. It seems appropriate for this figure to have a hazy purple halo and a heart who's color bleeds gently across her chest. Thematically, it works.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to hoop her and add her to the growing wall of stitch, but at least I've come to peace with her.

Moral of this story: check to see if you floss will bleed when you try a new brand. Especially a no-name brand.

Isabela's Fortune

I’ve had poor Isabela here hanging on my wall for nearly two months, staring at me accusingly. With everything that has been going on, though, I just haven’t had time to photograph the poor girl before now.

Why name her Isabela? Well, it’s almost embarrassing to admit, but the pattern bore a striking resemblance to one busty pirate captain from a certain favorite video game. Yup. She’s named after Dragon Age 2’s Isabela.


I modeled the color scheme after the character’s, and even went so far as to add the little labret piercing under her lip. Yes, I'm a geek. What's new?

She was made using Sew Lovely Embroidery’s Mad Ink pattern set, which I think may be my favorite pattern pack ever.

It was a pretty straight-forward piece, all done with back stitch, with a little satin stitch and a few French knots to make it interesting. The most experimental I got was to tweed the floss (mixing navy blue and turquoise) to give her kerchief the illusion of pattern.


I painted her hoop a nice turquoise to match, which looks really neat hanging next to the purple one for my glow-in-the-dark Calavera (also from the same Sew Lovely pack). I’m envisioning a whole wall filled with colorful-hooped embroideries and cross stitching. It’s pretty well on its way!

Embroidered Dice Bag

I managed to squeeze in a bit of crafting before I got taken out by the double-whammy of Con and cold. The Professor’s birthday was at the end of March, and he had been dropping hints that he needed a new bag to hold his gaming dice. I was more than happy to oblige!

This was the perfect excuse to break out the brand-spankin’ new sewing machine my Mama gave me as an early birthday present. I don’t know why I hadn’t given it a run sooner! It’s truly a thing of beauty:




It’s a computerized machine, which is a light year leap from the antique Featherweight I’d been struggling with for months. Though I still love the old girl dearly, there’s really nothing like a sewing machine that is wholly and completely yours to bond with.

It only took me a couple hours to fully put together the bag, which is made from up-cycled denim from a pair of torn jeans. The embroidered emblem is the symbol of the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, from the old Ultima computer games. It’s a game that the Professor loved as a child, and I thought it’d be appropriate for a dice bag.




He truly loved it. It was nice to finally be able to craft something just for him that he’d actually enjoy and use, as opposed to the knit scarves I keep trying to hoist off on him!

I'm really looking forward to tackling some other sewing projects, and learning some new skills. Is it too ambitious to think I can sew a sundress by summertime?

Stitch & Craft Show, March 17-20

Okay, I know I've kept you all in mad suspense. You ask yourself, "what the heck is this news that she promised to tell us, then disappeared for three weeks?" Finally dear readers, I can share.

Two of my stitched pieces are showing at the Stitch & Craft Show in London this weekend!

Han Solo and Nibbler are a proud part of Mr. X Stitch's entourage at the show, and will appear on a wall o' awesome needlework.

This not only marks my needlework's first international showing, but its first live showing in general. I feel quite honored, and only wish I could travel to London to see the exhibit with my own eyes. Jamie (a.k.a. Mr. X Stitch) has promised pictures of the event, so as soon as I have 'em I'll share.

I'm so excited! If any of my U.K. readers are planning to go, please take a picture for me!

Oh, Lydia the Queen of Tattoo

Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Lydia, the Tattooed Lady.

She has eyes that folks adore so,

And a torso even more so.

She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.

Okay, maybe you can't see the ships on her hips. But you get the gist of it!
This is probably the most colorful piece I've every stitched. She's made from the Circus Palooza pattern from Sew Lovely Embroidery, which is chock-full of other beautifully creepy designs.
Most of the design was done with a simple backstitch, though I did improvise some stitching on the more delicate work. The beads I added for a touch of texture and sparkle, reminiscent of retro showgirl costumes.
The color palette for her outfit was loosely based on Laffing Sal's, who, though not sporting any visible tattoos, is the symbol for all things weird, wacky, and side-show for this Bay Area girl. (Next time you're in San Francisco, visit the Musee Mecanique. It's free, fun, and educational.)
Next up on my project plate? I'm going back to my cross stitchin' roots, and testing out a new crafting skill thanks to my mom-in-law: crochet!
[Lyrics used above are from Lydia the Tattooed Lady, sung by Groucho Marx. Quite fitting, no?]

The Mystery of the Glowing Calavera

Okay, so maybe it's not much of a mystery. I took some nifty glow-in-the-dark floss, a scrap of fabric from a pair of torn trousers, and an awesome pattern from Sew Lovely.





The results? A spooky-yet-festive embroidery, perfect for scaring your spouse in the middle of the night.

Seriously. Wouldn't it freak you out to wake up to this?



Boo!

Tee hee. I'm mean.

NaNoWriMo madness and Halloween recap

It's been a little quieter over here lately, I know. This time, I have a genuinely good reason, beyond the excitement of Halloween and Dia de Los Muertos, the thrill of the Giants winning the World Series, and the turmoil of the election season.

I have finally plunged off the deep end and straight into the vast, blue waters of National Novel Writing Month. It's something I've always wanted to do, but have always had some reason or other that I couldn't. Mostly work-related. Well, this year, little unemployed ol' me has run out of excuses.

I'm knee-deep in my first real novel, and I have to admit I'm loving it. I'm also having days of hating it, to be fair, but all in all, it's been amazingly freeing to sit down and just write every day.

All I can tell you now is that it's officially a high fantasy story of sorts (and here I thought I'd be writing a nice, marketable romance), which is as daunting as it is exciting. I never thought I'd be one of those people who wrote a book with a map in it (seriously, this was the reason I never read fantasy books when I was younger. I hated the idea of having to use a map).

But before I set out on this mad writing crusade, I did manage to squeeze in some holiday-related baking and crafting!

Usually for Halloween I go all out with the decorating and cooking, but this year I decided to mellow out a little. I'd put a lot of energy into some different holidays this year, and I felt like I deserved a bit of a respite.

So rather than baking a passel of cookies, I focused on one new recipe: quince turnovers.




This marks my first successful attempt at making pie crust, as well as with cooking with quince. An interesting fruit, that. Looks like a big, green apple, but once cooked becomes a lovely pink color.


I also finally, FINALLY finished stitching up the Halloween Ghosties I was working on last year from a free Annie Oakleaves pattern.



Here's a close-up of the brand-new one:



Last, but not least, were the touches I put together for the spouse's and my Halloween costumes.

I decided to be Maryann Forrester from True Blood, the wicked -- yet classy -- Maenad who plays the big bad in season 2. Considering my costume was mostly just a long black dress and hippie jewelry, I thought a little human heart would get the point across that Maryann is not to be trifled with:



I whipped it up in an evening out of felt and embroidery floss. I figured it'd be much more fun to have around than an ugly rubber heart.

There's one more project I have to share, but I feel like it deserves a post all its own. Not to mention, I should get writing! That book isn't going to write itself.