As promised...

Here are the things I made for Valentine's Day.

I made these two for Allen:

I made these for my friend Liz and her girlfriend Deanna.  These are patterns I created- the wood one, I just sort of doodled up and I created the pillow pattern from clip art of a pumpkin and a cupcake.  She said that's what they call each other and I said "Barf but yeah, I'll do it!" How do I have friends?

 

  

And here is what Allen made for me:  

I am very lucky to have such a thoughtful boyfriend.  He is the best thing in the world to me.  He makes me feel very, very special every day, not just on Valentine's Day.  Oh, and he took me out for a fantastic Tex-Mex dinner!  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Feeling quite inspired...

I'm feeling very, very inspired of late.  I've started doing little things to spruce up our apartment, and it's looking much better.  I made a few pillows, put some of my pretty ribbon, pompom trim,  and bias tape (I have a ton of vintage bias tape, too) in a big jar, organized my craft area, put some more contact paper stickers up, drew a bunch of stuff I'm gonna embroider, painted some wooden placards I got at Hobby Lobby and put hooks in for my cute measuring cups and spoons, organized my fabric and felt and put it in one of those closet organizer hangers (I have some really cute stuff I need to use!!),  I'm getting better at embroidery and am making a really cute hat, and I'm going to be working on more pillows for around the house, and a few embroideries for the kitchen.  Whew!  PLUS I made a few super cute things for Valentine's Day, some for a friend to give and some for me to give to Allen.  I don't really buy into all of that V-Day junk, but I do like any excuse to make him something cute that expresses how I feel.  I'll be posting pictures of all of it after V-Day. 

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day, those of you who care to celebrate! 

While I should have been working...

I made a lot of stuff!!

Here are some hair bows.  I've made more that I'll post a photo of later. 

I made my second pillow cover.

And a hat for my little wind up toy!

New Bib Design

Here is a bib I sort of finished.  I'm gonna add a panel of fabric to the back so that the stitches won't show and so it won't be so flimsy.  I think it came out okay.  

I drew the design and got the words from a song called "100,000 Fireflies" by Magnetic Fields.  It's a really good song.   Here's a close up.  The words are my handwriting.  It gives it a really personal touch.  I think the stitches for the words may  need to be a bit lighter, like maybe only use two strands of floss. 

Lastly, I have two really ugly pillows in the living room.  So, I went to World Market and got a couple of cloth napkins, and then found some cute fat quarters at Michael's, and I whipped up this cute cover from the fat quarters.  Awww, my kitty loves it.

I haven't done the one with the napkin, but will do it soon. 

Today...

I made this owl. I think I will use felt for the eyes on the next one. I just loved the color of this fabric too much not to try it out!

 

Amps did not make friends with this owl.  Bathing was much too important.

I also made this amazing pizza.  I know it's not really crafty, but it was really good.  It's on a piece of whole wheat pita bread.  I sauted some mushrooms and garlic in olive oil,  and brushed a little olive oil on the pita bread.  I then sprinkled it with oregano, and basil.  I put some organic pizza sauce on it, then some low fat mozzarella cheese.  I topped that off with black olives and the sauteed mushrooms.  It was amazing.  YUM.  

That's all for today!

Space... The Final Frontier

I want to get this tattooed on me. For now, I'll have to settle for just having an embroidery of it. I drew it myself!

Quilling continued

Here are some things I've made the past couple of days!

Here is a boat scene I made.  I will make changes on the next one, like make the sails a little bigger, but I think it turned out great for something I just came up with!

Here is a chicken and some cherries.

Here's a hermit crab.

Flowers and flowers in pots

Whale, bug, and butterfly

And here's my favorite!  The picture doesn't do it justice.  It's a sheep!

And man, I tell you whhhut, you can do a lot of things with these! I will definitely be delving into these more.

Quilling

I was editing my entire blog, and just realized something- I never posted any photos of my adventures in quilling!  Welllll.  Here ya go!!  And I'm gonna make a second post to show you my newer stuff! 

I don't like babies but I like making baby things!

New onesie! I am on a robot kick as of late. I want to draw them, I want to get them tattooed, I want to paint them and I want to stitch them! One outta four ain't bad.

Happy Belated New Year!

I had to take a break from a very busy season of embroidery. So after decompressing for... oh maybe a week, I am back at it! I found these cool camera patterns and purchased them immediately because I like vintage cameras and Allen loves taking photos so they will be perfect for our little apartment!  They are from Kitschy Digital Goods.

Can't wait to get these framed up!

Xmas Craftin'

Here are some more things I've made.


Here are some more pillows I made! Making pillows is fun and I'm learning a lot in the process. The first is from the Black Apple/Sublime Stitching pattern. You can't really tell, but I weaved some glow in the dark thread on the ghost and on the first, middle, and last roof tops. I was proud of that. I wish I could get a picture of the glow but that never really shows up in pics.  At least not the little digital thing I have.

More Handmade Christmas

I like that I can embroider things for people because I think I am the worst gift-giver. I just don't know what to get people.  So I make stuff.  

Here is a pillow I made for a friend of mine. It's from the fan dancer pattern in the Sublime Stitching Embroidered Effects book. It's the first pillow I've ever made! I've got four more to make. I'm quite proud of that stitching...

Other Goodies

I made this for my friend Lynn from an Urban Threads pattern. www.urbanthreads.com

I made this apron using a Red Velvet Art font and some tarts I made out of felt that are also inspired by a Red Velvet Art tote. www.redvelvetart.com

That's all for now! I gotta get back to it!

Cards and Gifts

Why is everyone's fucking birthday in December?? My sister, my grandparents, my friend Liz... I guess I should make them cards.  Also here are a few Xmas gifts I have completed.  I sadly did not get a picture of my sister's card, somehow...

 
For Liz.  This is the first time that I have made a card with embroidery.  It's pretty easy.  The bird is from the Sublime Stitching Embroidered Effects book.

Stephanie Tillman

Have I posted about Stephanie Tillman yet? I think her illustrations are so funny with the little quotes. I've printed some of her illustrations out and made gifts for some people. This one is for my work friend Brooke. It sounds like something we would say to each other. And it's random and funny which are things we like.

I love it when I see pieces posted at work that I have given my friends. It's so fun to stitch these up for them!

Cate Anevski Facebroideries

My name is Joanne and I cannot draw a straight line to save my life. I trace my patterns onto the fabric and I try REALLY hard to get the lines straight but I just cannot seem to do it. Oh well. I guess I'll have to just stitch up a hundred of these facebroideries by Cate Anevski to get some practice! I don't know what it is about her illustrations that draw me in and really resonnate with me. They are weird and cute and on some level, a wee bit creepy. I am in love. I have several of these and lots of little fat quarters on which to stitch them! Hopefully I will get better. I want these faces all over my house, in random places!

Wedding Stitches

A friend from high school is getting married on November 7th, and I'm very happy for her.  It's strange... I haven't seen her in probably 15 years, maybe longer, but we are friends on social media, and she has invited a bunch of us from high school who were part of the weirdo crowd, and I think it will be a fun little mini-reunion, as well as a fun wedding in general.  I do love weddings.  

I made her this. It's from the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad. Sorry for the crooked picture. I am pretty happy with the way it came out. Just needs an iron and I'll pop it in a frame!

I also just bought the Sublime Stitching Country Cool and Word Balloon patterns, and three skeins of glow in the dark floss from a local shop here in Austin called Ginger's Needle Arts. They said they think she's discontinuing the Word Balloon pattern. I've learned that I'd better get my hands on her discontinued patterns or I'll never, ever have them. Boo! I think she discontinued the Handmade Nation one, and I'm sad that I didn't pick it up when I had the chance. :( Anyway, I have Christmas present ideas for those patterns and I can't wait to start them. That's all for now. Thanks for reading, Kristi, since you're mostly the only one who does ;) haha! And if anyone else happened upon this, thanks to you, too :)

Oh, they're weird and they're wonderful!

When I saw these Tara McPherson patterns that Sublime Stitching collaborated on, I had to get them. This is the only one I've done so far. I'm gonna give it to Rebecca because when I mentioned the patterns, she exclaimed how much she loves Tara McPherson's illustrations.

Wild Olive's Teeny Tinies- Image Heavy!!

Here are some Teeny Tinies from Wild Olive. They are so danged cute!  Not sure what I'll do with them... These are so wittle tiny that it was hard to do some of them.  I finished most of these watching TV super late at my parents' house.

Le Petite Prince

Have you ever read The Little Prince? A bunch of people I know are obsessed with it. I guess it's what the hipsters are into these days... and so naturally I had to find out what the fuss was about. It is, at the same time, cute, sweet, and heartbreaking. I'm really happy with how this turned out. I'm not sure what I'll do with it but... I'll figure it out! 

"On ne voit bien qu'avec le couer. L'essential est invisible pour les yeux". It means, "One sees well only with his heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes." One day, maybe I will learn French.

First Wild Olive Teeny Tiny

 I love random things and I love tiny things, so the Wild Olive Teeny Tinies pattern was RIGHT up my alley!  I finished this one today... the pic is a little blurry, and I'm sorry, but I'm not a photographer.

Teeny Tiny Tub!

So Many Patterns, So Little Time

I have so many things I want to stitch up. I have a ton of Wild Olive and Sublime Stitching patterns I've not done yet. I have a ton of other stuff as well that I've just found or people have passed down to me as well. And I've drawn up a couple of little things myself. I never know where to start, and I always get overwhelmed, so I decided to make a list. I have friends who have moved into new apartments, birthdays, and Christmas coming up, so I made a list of people I'm doing embroidery projects for, and I started on it Thursday. I did this one from an Urban Threads pattern. Yes, I know, they are evil, but I got this stuff before I knew they were evil and I'm not about to pitch it! I made it for my friend who's just moved into a new place.

This is another for his roommate- the pattern is by Annie Oakleaves. Here, I tried my hand at coloring the fabric. I'm a terrible color-er. I have the tendency to color in one direction and then totally switch it up, and I have to learn that is a no-no. But I think it came out okay anyhow. The satin stitch for his cape is pretty good, I'm very proud of that!

That's it for now!

Dreams of Coffee and rain

 I love the Red Velvet Art girls.  I have been looking at their art and their sketches, and they are so cute.  I found this one and printed it out so I could stitch it up for myself.  I personalized it a little to it fits me- the hoodie and the hair!  I love love it!  It fits my personality pretty well, as I love rain and coffee!

October Friends

I have at least three friends with October birthdays. Branden, Chenin and Rebecca. Branden is a man and I don't think needs any embroidery pieces. Chenin I think lives in CA and would probably love an embroidery piece so maybe I'll hit her up for her address. But Rebecca lives here and she loves the embroideries I have done for her. I think I ran across this on a vintage pattern site, but I can't remember. She has a similar tattoo.

Sublime Stitching x Model Citizen

I saw this on Sublime Stitching's blog and I can't find the pattern for sale, so I printed it out and stitched it up for my sister. I thought it was cute that this tiger girl is kind of punk rock with tattoos, and I thought of my sister immediately!

The Cake is a Lie

Here is something I made for my boyfriend. It's from some game he's playing... Portal, maybe?  I got the cake from an Urban Threads pattern, I think, and then I just did the letters like old school computer font.

Deathwish Dena

Ooookay, here is a Roller Girl that I did for my friend Deathwish Dena, who just joined a roller derby team here in Austin. I forget which team. So see, I'm not that gooda friend.

Anyhow, this is a Sublime Stitching pattern that I borrowed from a friend. For some reason, I was sort of intimidated by this one as well. Maybe because it's so detailed. But I think it came out nicely!

Mystery Gift- Thank You!

So I was sitting here at home, watching those horrible Judge shows on my day off, when there is a knock at my door. When I opened the door, there was a dude who handed me a padded envelope. Inside that envelope was the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad, which has tons of rad embroidery patterns. I did not order this. There was no invoice for this in the package. Using my amazing skills of deductive reasoning, I came to the conclusion that SOMEONE has sent me a gift, and for some reason, did not include anything telling me who they were! I love mystery gifts. If you're reading this, thank you so much. It makes me feel special.