Adventures in Miniature Tablecloths

For awhile now I’ve been thinking of adding tablecloths to my Etsy miniature shop. I’ve tried a few embroidery designs to determine which will look most realistic in a miniature setting. And I’ve tried patterns on different media (tulle, organza and water soluble stabilizer) to see which is best. This is a lacy design on organza – I used water soluble stabilizer while embroidering. Then I trimmed the fabric close to the stitching, overcast the edges and washed out the stabilizer. It’s .... okay ……. . but not exactly what I was hoping for. And of course the size and shape of the design will have to be altered for it to be a tablecloth.

A while back I bought the smallest crochet hook I’ve ever seen and I set it aside to try out during some downtime. We-e-e-ll, over the weekend I must have wrenched my back just a leeettle bit (DOH!) because it was making itself known this morning. So I decided this was the perfect time to give my new crochet hook a try. I pulled out the hook, a spool of cotton thread and a pattern I've been saving.

The hardest part of crocheting with a hook this small is to get the pattern started. “Chain 10 stitches and join with a slip stitch.”

Right! What the heck do I hold onto?

Thankfully I have fingernails right now (you never know when I'm gonna break them during one of my projects) because I wouldn’t be able to grasp this work without them.

After I got started, it wasn’t as difficult to hold onto. By the time I was nearing the end of row 4, I was thinking, “Okay! This is going pretty well! I'll just finish this row and then get another cup of coffee.”

About that time the phone rang and I jumped up to get it, holding the teeny crochet project in my hand. But I got my foot caught on the hanging thread and as I moved to the phone I could feel something going BDDDDTT. I looked down and realized what I had done.

DURN!! Now I’m back at the beginning of row 4!

In spite of the hiccup in production, I’m pretty pleased with how it’s going.

And look how small the hook is! You can hardly see the little bump-out that comprises the hook.

Gotta get back to it. I think this is may take awhile.

May update

General update: Although I've been staying very, very busy, I haven't taken many pictures lately of my sewing and crafts. However, I have a couple of things to share.

This is a tissue cozy I made for my son Andy's girlfriend. (Sorry for the poor picture -- I took this while we were at the bus station and so the quality stinks.) I love the turquoise pique with white embroidery. I think it looks fresh. I forgot to take a picture of the back, but I used some of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine to decorate it. Andy helped me select the stitches. I thought it was really nice and it's a shame I can't truly share it.

On a different note, I've started taking these little (3 ½ x 4 ¼) notebooks I buy from the dollar store (4 for $1.00):

And (with a little scrapbooking magic) turning them into these:

I use them as a little surprise freebie with any order from my etsy shops. It's nothing very special or expensive, but I feel any unexpected freebie is a fun freebie. LUV me some freebies!

Family update: I know I've neglected my other blog for a long, long. long time -- I found it difficult to write on the personal level for awhile, but now I'll be posting family pictures, etc on http://daisyj222.blogspot.com/ again. And I've added the shortcut to my blog list for your convenience. Sister's Weekend (WOOHOOOOO) pictures will be on that blog sometime this weekend.

Seven Sisters

Today has been a really wonderful day. The sky is so blue, the grass is so green, the air is so clean, and my Seven Sisters roses are blooming. Don't they look lovely?

And look at the cluster of buds just waiting to burst out into the world.

Days like today make me think of my grandfather (we called him BaaBaa ... don't know how to spell it ... maybe BawBaw?). Handsome, wasn't he?

When I was about thirteen I spent a week in the summer alone with him . Alone. The word alone is important because being alone was rare -- duh we had 11 kids in our family (7 girls, 4 boys, hence the Seven Sisters roses). All that togetherness was usually a blessing, but sometimes being alone was a good thing, too.

Anywhoo.

When I stayed with BaaBaa that year it was the week of July 4th. I have some special memories - waking on the fourth to firecrackers exploding a few houses away, BaaBaa cooking "hobo" breakfast in one pan (potatoes, onions and eggs all scrambled together - yum), and, later in the week, baling hay. I didn't do any baling, I just rode along on the tractor while a few men (including BaaBaa) walked alongside and, using pitchforks, tossed the hay into the baler. The smell of the hay, the blue sky, the freshness of the air and the wonder of watching my grandfather in an activity sooo foreign to a city girl. It's an experience I cherish and will never forget.

And on beautiful days like today the memory is especially fresh and sweet..

What memory does this wonderful spring day bring to your mind?

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt

One more project I've been working on is a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt. I've been making the quilt top completely by hand, so it's taking much longer than most quilts.

Please don't think I'm a purist who refuses to make quilts by machine. That's not the case at all. But I've chosen to make this project by hand because I find it soothes my spirit. If things go wrong in my little world, I can sit down and stitch on my quilt for awhile and then I'm fine. Calm. As Alice once said, "Go to your happy place." Stitching on this quilt is my happy place.

I don't know how most people make a Grandmother's garden quilt, but I start with fabric strips 3 inches wide; I cut them into squares, and then I cut the corners off a bit. What I'm left with is a piece of fabric that is loosely a hexagon shape. I saturate the dickens out of the squares with starch and then I steam press each one around a cardboard template that's exactly the right size.

Sometimes I spend a little time just making hexagons to keep my sewing basket well stocked. Then later on I'll take one of this color, six of that color, and twelve of that color over there. I stack them and tack them straight down the center to keep them all together until I'm ready to make the "flowers". In the photo below, you can see a stack that's ready to go, a couple of single hexagons, a couple of the cardboard templates and my faithful spray starch.

When I want a little quiet time, I pick up a stack and stitch them together. Since I used the templates to make them the correct size and shape, the putting-it-together part is real easy. And since I've already chosen the colors (1, 6 and 12) when I made the stack, it's a complete no-brainer to make a flower like this.

When I get enough "flowers" I add them to the quilt top. Some of the colors in this particular quilt are pretty bright -- it reminds me of Mom and how she LUV'd bright, cheerful colors in her quilts.

Haven't a clue when I'll finish this project, but in this case, it's DEFINITELY the journey that's most important, not the destination.

Wedding Present

Another project I was working on recently was a wedding present for a friend. He and his bride work for an non-profit organization called Freedom House of Denton. As many of you know, the Freedom House saved my son's life by getting him off drugs and on a good path. I am ever-grateful for the blessing.

I decided to give the newlyweds linens -- napkins for the dining room and dish towels for the kitchen. I purchased the napkins (on closeout .... WOOHOO!) and towels from target and then started embroidering. This is the result.

I was so pleased with the result that I ran out and purchased a BUNCH of the close-out napkins in multiple colors. I think they'll be great for gifts or to put in my etsy shop.

Baby Boy Quilt

I know it's been AGES since I posted. What have I been doing? I'll show you a little bit today and will show you the rest very soon.

One of my projects was a baby quilt for a soon-to-arrive little baby boy. I studied quilt designs and searched the internet and studied some more. Finally I decided to make my own design (those who know me well know this is where I would end up).

I started with a length of muslin, marked squares with disappearing ink and covered the marks (before they disappeared) with a decorative stitch from my sewing machine. Then I embroidered (using my Pfaff embroidery machine) an appropriate "redwork" design in the center of each square. Using a stem stitch, I hand embroidered four lines (one on each side of the quilt) from a poem about little boys. I added batting and a Debbie Mumm fabric for the back and then quilted the whole thing by hand. Sounds easy? It took me about 2 weeks to make it ... from from design creation to the final stitches. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Sooooooo, THAT's what I've been doing with part of my time. I'll post some of my other projects later this week.

Wrap and ribbon center

I don't have a wrapping center, but I'd love to have one. Centsational Girl made a new gift wrap / ribbon center for herself and I love it - I'm in deeeeep envy.

But I don't think it will work for me and here's why. I have way-doggies more paper and ribbons. I mean WAY-DOGGIES more.

I usually store my wrapping paper in these boxes ... all standing at attention like long skinny soldiers, jammed together like sardines. It's not elegant, but it works.

During the holidays, this was how I stored the holiday paper. It kept the paper handy and it's not as ugly as a Craftsman weed-whacker box!

This is how I've been storing my ribbons.

So many ribbons.

A veritable mountain of ribbons.

Okay, maybe it's a leetle teensy obsession.

SIGH. I luv me some ribbons.

Sooooo - I think maybe something between Martha (picture below) and CG would work for me - basically - big honking frame with rods for the ribbons.

And I think maybe something like this under-the-bed arrangement I found on Apartment Therapy would work for the paper. Looks neat. And it's not a weed-whacker box.

Whatcha think?