Fall Embroidery Projects

Finished Barrette

Finished Hair Clip

Beginnings of Podcast-inspired Crossed Stitch Samplers

A Fishy Tale

Of course, it's a fishy tail. ;p
I found clip art of a sun fish of some type, and modified it into my own little fishy. Not much is stitched so far, just the spots on the eye and the, well, spot, and the parts of the tail. Each stripe will get some embroidery on it as well, and it will all get stitched together, with probably some details in the water as well.
I've really been liking using bright colors, imagining colors where they don't normally go, I started that idea with colored pencils and water color a few years ago, and am now bringing it into felt. But I think in the water it would be very cool to try using an almost exact color thread in different embroidery techniques or shapes. Then it would be almost hidden.
I'm thinking of these full sized felt pieces as Felt Painting. I'm not sure if that's the best term or not, but it's a work in progress term for a work in progress work.

On my desk

Thought it was time again to share what's on my desk at work.
I have a nice desk job, where I get to leave right at 5, and not worry about work until I'm back in the morning. (and lucky to be close enough to go home for lunch) I'm very thankful to have a nice desk job, even tho sure, I do sometimes complain about something or another. But hey, who else gets Arbor Day off as a holiday?
Anyway. We also get the standard two 15 minute breaks each day. So I use my time creatively. If it's a full work week, that's a whole two and a half hours of creative work I can get done.
I've mostly been making lots of little felt pieces; pins, magnets, key chains, and different kinds of hair thingies. But I was inspired to try a huge felt piece. I'm thinking to use one felt sheet as the background, the ones I get are just a few smidges bigger than an 8 x 10 sheet of paper, so I'm thinking when it's done, I can crop it to fit a regular picture frame.
So what is it?

Mask

Here is the mask I made for Halloween. It's embroidered felt, with a ribbon tie. The embroidery is completely random. It was fun to make, but a little hard to see out of.

Thread Thrifting

I heard recently that our local Goodwill thrift stores had started a 'bit wall' with all sorts of little sets of bits. This was important because I heard it from a fellow gamer, and we were talking about game bits, which are always needed, and I like to craft with them sometimes, too.
The 'bits' I found this time, was thread. Awesome sets of three-to-a-package DMC thread, on their cards, with their numbers written on already. I got four. Aren't they beautiful!?!

And after being worn a while...

Can you see the wear and tear on these ? This is after being worn for approximately six months. I searched back through my iPhoto, to find a picture taken right after they were finished, just to see when I had started wearing them, and looks like I forgot to take a 'finished' photo.
Typical shells. I take a bazillion pictures during part of the process, and forget to take a 'finished' photo. Silly me.
Anyway, as I mentioned before, I'm using this pair (set?) as a trial, seeing what needs to be changed. I wear them every night (necessity really IS the mother of invention), whereas some folks who might want to buy a pair, might only use them once or twice a week, like The BFF, who's pair has held up very well.
See how the turquoise fleece in the back is kinda scrunching around to the front? I think I might need to cut the fleece a tiny, tiny bit smaller than the felt, to prevent this. It may also depend on the kind of felt, which I will need to pay more attention to.
The elastic part is a child's headband, which I discovered is maybe close to an inch smaller than the adult headbands I have found. That definitely caused the pulling at the temples.

'Night Shades

I guess most people would say sleep mask, but when I started making these, I just could not come up with 'sleep mask', in fact, it took me five minutes right now to come up with that. Eye blinders always popped to mind, I remember answering the fleece-cutting store clerk's question by saying I was making 'eye blinders' and seeing the silent confusion in her eyes. (Doesn't everyone understand what I mean, regardless of what I say??)
So the term Night Shades came to me, as they are kinda shades you wear at night, right? And adding the apostrophe, makes it actually Good-Night Shades. Awwe, how cute.
These are one of the things I'm working on for potential sale. There, I said (wrote) it out loud. I have had a goal for too long now, to get an Etsy store started, and maybe saying it out loud more will help my get my butt in gear. Besides the four that have been pictured here so far, that are for personal use or gifts, I have half a dozen started, with the felt layer, all embroidered and felty (the most time-consuming part) finished.
I'm kinda working through the trial run of the ones I wear, to see if/how I need to tweek the measurements a bit. The fleece inner side and the felt outer side don't seem to wear at the same rate on the ones I wear every night, so I'm thinking I need to cut the fleece a bit less. And the headbands that I have used so far have been ok, but I need to figure out a good supply, not just hope to pick some up at the Dollar Tree.
These two are:
top: (red with flowers) Holiday gift for The BFF's mom, just finished at time of photo.
bottom: (fuchsia with flowers) my own pair, worn every night since creation, worn at least two months before this photo.
Can you tell my pair has been worn?

Finally Fotos (or Phinally Photos?)

Yes, I have been becoming more creative this fall.
Habits changing.
On my breaks at work, I've been working with felt more. Pins, barrettes, puppets, sculptures, and sleep masks. Lots of sleep masks. I have some fun designs already in progress, and even more still in my head, and I am working toward stockpiling a bunch for my (future) etsy store.
The two shown were both finished a couple weeks ago for gifts.
In my not-on-my-breaks-at-work art/craft time, I have started the habit of Studio Time on Friday evenings. Last night was the fifth week in a row I sat down for at least 1 & 1/2 hours to work on poly clay. Organizing my art supply closet a while back was the best thing to get my Studio Time going. I have a dedicated shelf area for all my poly clay paraphernalia and the three totes and one milk crate fit perfectly into the area. So on Friday evening, I can pull everything out, and subsequently clean it all back up, very very easily. Making it easy is important for me since I don't have a 'craft room' right now.
I had already bought the blues for a specific idea, so that was what I've been working on. I just mixed a few different shades of blues and whites, and decided to just go with a polka dot pattern. I love caning with poly clay, but since it's been a while since I've been seriously working with it, I decided to kinda start slow, re-learn some of the basics. The evening that all I did was condition the clay and mix maybe one color was so therapeutic!
Shown are several slices of the long cane I ended up with, before they got more manipulated into something else. I have three finished things so far, and lots more of the cane to use.
And my epiphany of late: I love working with felt for the same reason I love working with poly clay: COLOR!

Pincushions

Pincushions
Originally uploaded by seeshells

There is sooo much cool stuff on Craft Stylish, I'm sure I miss half of it! Luckily, others share when they find something cool! Crafty Pod pointed to an awesome tutorial for tiny pincushions made from bottle tops. They are so simple and quick, I cranked out four on my breaks at work, even on a week that I took one day off!
Of course, I had to add beads, and some sequins, too! If you click back to flickr, you can see each one closer up!
As I was making them, I decided one of these would be for my mom, her birthday being the last day of July. One just seemed to be specifically for her, and when I was working on that one, she happened to call from their vacation! So that clinched it for me. I'll still let her decide which one she likes best, I wonder if she'll pick the one I think she'll pick...(OK Mom, make your pick!)

And knowing me, I can't just make cute little pretties. As I was stitching the top on one, I thought, 'hmm this feels like it could be a brain' and the zombie pincushion below was born! I think he ended up looking a little like Bert, but that wasn't intended. That one is mine, of course!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Four-Leaf Clover Pin
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

My Dear Grandmother has her birthday on St. Patrick's Day, which has always been kinda fun for her. Because of her holiday birthday, she has collected various shamrock paraphernalia over the years.
I made her a lucky four-leaf clover pin with felt and bead embroidery this year. I took it to her the first week in March, so she could wear it all month. Which she has.

Creative Hands

Creative Hands Vol. 1 cover
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

I thrifted this book Friday evening, when Artist Extreeme (sometimes also known as The One Who Can Not Make A Decision) and I went on a multi-stop adventure.
I didn't realize until I got home and really got to looking at it that it is Volume 1. It gives a little taste of a lot of hand work, so it seems that it could be complete with those little bits. But I guess it's a 22 volume set. I hadn't decided if I might take it apart, for collaging or whatever, but if it's a set, maybe I'll keep watch for the rest of the set instead of ripping this one up. We'll see.
Flipping through it while AE was looking through the clothes, I found some cool things, and a couple parts that kinda offended me, in that this-ain't-the-stone-age kind of pro-chick kind of way. But it was originally published in 1966, so we'll forgive the stupid parts, and relish in the nostalgia. One page had photos of a few of the contributors. Funny, they all had the same haircut my mom had in the 70's, but I guess all brunette mom-ish crafty women had the same haircut in the 70's.
I scanned a few choice pages (hopefully without stepping on any copywritten toes), click on the pix to jump to my flickr to see the other scans.

One of my favorite pages is below. It's showing an example of how to find a group of colors to use together. The smaller photos are of a harbor, and the large photo shows the afghan that was inspired by the colors of that harbor. Cool idea!

Felt Fortune Cookie

Felt Fortune Cookie
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Yes, I am doing more than only crocheting. I do tend to get obsessed when I'm starting something new...
On my breaks at work, I'm still mostly working with felt. Pin production has slowed, as I am experimenting with a whole 'painting' that will end up being mixed media I think, but is starting off with a felt background.
And when Craft Sanity had an interview about a month ago with Hilary Seabolt, who makes the cutest felt food, she was kind enough to give us a free pattern for this little cutie. I stitched it by hand, and almost put beads all around it, too. Next time I think I will.

More On Sadie

Sadie, Sadie, Pencil Lady
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Don'cha love it when your different projects or interests blend together almost as if they were meant to work that way, without you really even doing anything? I do.
I was working on the second project in the Felt Underground kit, a monster pencil case, and I was going to use my own colors for this one, but I wasn't inspired to make it a monster, and wasn't sure about their directions. They started you off with two big rectangles, and one small one for the bottom (they had it standing up). They didn't have a ton of step-by-step photos, and I wasn't sure how they planned to make the one smaller rectangle work as the bottom, but I liked the zipper in the center, so I got started.
Somewhere in the not understanding their instructions, and wondering what I would use this for, it being rather thin, it hit me to put a thin strip all the way 'round, to make it an actual 3D rectangle with the zipper turning into the most beautiful monster mouth as soon as I turned it sideways. ;p
Where she's from, the moles and facial hair are signs of true beauty. And her name just popped into my head as I was sewing her eyelashes on, it's a derivative of the song Sadie, Sadie, Married Lady from the movie Funny Girl.
The most perfect part about how she morphed, is that she is now the perfect place for my Art Journaller supplies, and that's another step closer to my Art Scout button!

Say 'Hi' To Sadie

IMG 5680
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Sadie, Sadie Purple Lady.

iPod Case

iPod Case
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Way back in maybe November, my Guy gave me a cool felt kit he picked up at B&N. It had four pieces of felt, a couple zippers, a couple buttons, an instruction book, and a few more little notions. This was a very romantic and sweet gift, beings that he got me something that is of interest to me and not at all to him. A lot of gifts are things that he or I would both like, you know, like electronics, music, board games, stuff like that, so this gift was especially thoughtful.
So I wanted to make him something special from the kit. One of the three things that there were both instructions for and supplies for in the kit, was an iPod case for an 'old school' iPod. Perfect. He has exactly that, the 20 gig, almost 1/2 inch thick, no video, first run iPod. The instructions were good for this project, and the colors were great, his favorite color is dark green, and mine is purple, and both were included. The instructions showed an orange fish design on the front of the case, which wasn't really interesting for him or me, so I found the apple logo, and used my own light green felt for the front decoration.
I was so pleased with how the logo turned out, and was happy to bring it home to him, but he foiled my plans!! Just before I gave him the gift of this wonderful case, he had the idea that we should share his iPod! Talk about selling your hair to buy a watch fob!
No, really, it was wonderful of him to want to share it. I can put so many more crafty podcasts on it than my shuffle, and I can actually SEE which ones I'm listening to!
So this nice case will go mostly unused, but I hope, still appreciated. ;p

What could this be??

??
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

Sometimes I'm a bit cryptic in my posts...and this is one of those times.

This is the back of something that just went in the mail today.

Whatever could it be??

Someday Your Whole Name Will Be In Lights

Someday Your Whole Name Will Be In Lights
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

My brother's girlfriend had a birthday last week (Happy Birthday, D!), and when I got the e-mail reminder from mySpace Wednesday (not that I had forgotten!), it prompted me to think of something to make for her. I started this Wednesday during my afternoon break, and got most of it done during breaks Thursday and Friday. I had the idea to stop by their place after work Friday if it was finished to deliver it, but it wasn't quite finished then.
This is the first time I've named a pin, I guess that makes it an object d'art. ;p
I did the center of the D first, so I could stuff as I went along the outside. The stuffing went pretty well, better than I expected, it's very poofy.
And the background is my new coat, my early birthday present from My Guy (thanks, Honey!), isn't it luscious?

Felt Tissue Box Cover

Felt Tissue Cover
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

I have the most recent photo program now (thanks Honey), but for a couple weeks, I was between programs, and couldn't upload anything to flickr. In getting ready to upload the photos I've taken in the last couple weeks, I realized that I hadn't posted a finished shot of this. I blogged about starting it, I blogged about how I got the idea to use polka dots, but I hadn't blogged the finished product.
Well TA-DA, here it is!
Each circle was bead embroidered on separately, after the sides were stitched together making one long piece. Then the top was added, and the last sides were stitched together.
Each side is a bit different.

Zombie Recognition

AND I almost forgot to share: my Zombie bag got featured on Feeling Stitchy!!
How awesome is that?!

Angel Pin

Angel Pin
Originally uploaded by seeshells.

I've been doing lots of felt embroidery, in the form of pins. I've discovered that a small felt pin is a perfect thing to work on. I can get a lot done durning my work breaks, often I'll do the cutting out of the pieces during that time. And while at work, when there are little waiting periods, waiting for the computer program to finish processing, I can get a few stitches in. I'm keeping the current pin pieces and embroidery thread and supplies in my little lunchbox, so it easily goes from work to home, and I can sneak in a few stitches waiting for my computer at home, too. It's fairly easy to pull out the little lunchbox anywhere, and I'm getting better at 'crafting in public'. So far that's been my grandma's house, a game day, and (not felt, but still in public) a coffee shop.
This little angel was made specifically for a work friend who is moving out of state. I was her 'Secret Santa' last year, and I remembered that she loves angels. The angel is made up of three pieces, a heart, triangle, and circle. The pin itself is 2 3/4", which is a little big, I think for regular wearing. I figure this size pin will be good to put on a coat, hat, or bag.