Saturday Stitching: Embroidery

The last time I embroidered something was when I did the leaves on the Fox and Rabbit Changing Seasons MSAL. I didn’t really like what I’d done and after some research, I discovered why they didn’t look like they should – I’d done the satin stitch incorrectly. Before then, I hadn’t done any embroidery since I was about 16 – 30 some odd years ago.

Not long after I did the leaves, I was gifted with an embroidery kit:

I was actually quite excited to get this, and I quickly chose a section to work on first:

Once I got the hoop onto the fabric and actually looked at the pattern I lost interest. I told myself I’d start it later. Later became two days ago when I was wanting to stitch something, but I neither wanted to work on the MSAL not wanted to start something new. I took out the kit, got out the project and started watching embroidery videos on YouTube by Sarah Homfray Embroidery

I really like how soothing her voice is and how informative her videos are. I’d watched some of her videos before – couching gold work is very cool. I chose to do the stems first and watched a video to see how to do the stem stitch properly – turns out I’d done this one incorrectly in the past as well.

I’ve moved on to leaves now which use the satin stitch and after a fun video, I now make them properly too. I like the way they look a lot more now. I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m not a total dud either.

I’m only going to work on this project when I really need something different to do so, it won’t get done any time soon. I will share my progress from time to time so you’ll be seeing more of this in the future just not on a regular basis. I do have to say, now that I’m doing the stitches correctly, I’m a lot happier with the whole project.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Happy Mail!

I received a lovely surprise in the mail from the mother of all people. 🙂 I opened the package, but after a quick peek, I decided to share this happy mail with you!

It’s a lovely little mini kit! It’s supposed to be half scale which is awesome!

It has an instruction booklet that’s like an IKEA manual – mostly pictures! There’s also a baggie full of tiny stuff!

Check it out!! So tiny!! I think this is smaller than half scale but not by much.

The bookshelf is roughly 1 1/4 inches which translate to about 2 1/2 feet or so. That’s 3.175cm(approx.) translating to .762 meters. I don’t know about you, but a chair is about 2 1/2 feet or so tall so, the bookshelf should be taller. It shows in the picture, the bookshelf is much higher than the chair which I’ve linked to since the photo is copyrighted:

Dollhouse Kit

Still, this looks like a fun little build once I have some time for it. 🙂 I’ve not done something like this before, but I have been talking to Mom about doing something on a larger scale.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!

Saturday Stitching: MSAL – November Part 2

I’m trying to find time to work on this part, and I’m finding myself reluctant to do so. I’m always this way when a project this long in the making is finally coming to an end. Still, I’m looking forward to completing this and finding a way to make it a Fully Finished Object(FFO).

In my Project Parade, I showed you where I was at then:

It was almost half. There’s white stitching on top of the purple of the middle/main flower, and I’m still deciding what to do about it.

I just added the flowers and that’s it I’m afraid. I should have more work done by next week.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!

Free Crochet Pattern Friday: Bolster Pillow Project

I mentioned this project in my Project Parade post, It’s a Victorian era pattern which is sewn onto a bolster pillow. You can find the original pattern here:

Bolster Pillow Pattern

Bolster Pillow Picture

I made the filet crochet mesh base:

I’m using pink crochet thread size 10 I think. I was given several balls of thread without labels, and I’m still learning how to tell the sizes just by looking at them. I’m also using steel hook size B(1.5mm).

Since my last post, I’ve made the stems and leaves:

They don’t look like much right now, but once they’re straightened out and starched, they’ll be fabulous!

The remaining part is a trio of roses, and I’m using a darker pink/mauve thread that should be size 10 as well. I’ll be using the same size hook too.

When I next post about this project, it should be done or almost done. I’ll be getting a purple bolster pillow to put it on. The picture doesn’t show what colors are used, but the pillow is much darker than the crochet. I think the light pink with darker flowers will look lovely on the dark purple pillow. We’ll see…

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Wildlife Feeding Stations

Just a quick post before I go off to work.

Because of the harsh winters we’ve had the last couple of years, I’ve begun feeding the birds and squirrels in the yard during the winter. I’ve put them out recently, and the animals are quite pleased. I may leave them up year round just to help them out. I don’t have pictures of the animals and birds using the feeders, and you’ll see why. I plan to video tape these feeders when I get a proper camera.

This bowl holds food for the big birds and the squirrels. Yes, there’s a rock in the water dish. It’s made of very thin plastic and with the winds we’ve been having, it needed help staying in place.

This is a hanging feeder for small birds, and they love it. I have a suet cage for our young woodpecker, but I don’t have a place to hang it yet. The tree it was in was killed during last year’s freeze, and the branches aren’t sturdy enough to hold the weight of the bird. There’s a cheek blue jay who shares the suet too.

Beautiful Mimi out for her morning walk is checking things out before she gets off the porch. The neighbor was mowing their lawn, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be out in the noise.

She’s a 20 pound cat, to give you an idea of how big she is. 🙂

That’s it for today. I’ll try to get a proper video of the animals when I can.

I also have a opossum and an armadillo sharing the underside of the house with us – it’s a pier and beam house so there’s space beneath it. I won’t be able to get footage of either since they mostly are nocturnal, but I’ll figure something out.

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!

YouTube Tuesday: Salvage Hunters

I decided to watch something totally different from my usual, and I found Drew on House to Home, a BBC program on YouTube. Drew has his own playlist, and he’s on Season 5. The guy, and his team which includes his wife, is awesome, and they’re all fun to watch. I actually have been learning stuff as Drew is very knowledgeable on the things he goes after.

Below is the first video in his Season One playlist. Not sure if it’s his very first but still, it’s a good place to start. Drew is the man in the hat not the man in the foreground. 🙂

If you like the playlist, be sure to comment under the video to let Drew and the BBC know plus hit the correct buttons to see more from them all. I have!

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!

Project Parade

I know I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks – too many reasons why not to post here, and none of them are really that are of any interest to anyone but myself.

What I’m hoping is of interest to you is what I’ve been working on these past two weeks. Some are ongoing projects, one is a new small and one is just something I was trying out. Let’s begin

MSAL – November

I’ve done almost half of the design for November. I have one big flower and two small flowers to add before I move over to the left side of the design. The top part of the middle flower is done in white which you really can’t see on the white background. I might pick it out and try another color, but I like the white so….

Dollhouse

I worked on two “wooden” floors for the Ground Floor. One goes in the Tradesman’s Entry and one in the Pantry. The above is what I started with.

This is what both floors looked like basically. I forgot to take a picture of the first floor before I glued it into the dollhouse. The staining looks a bit natural, but I’m still going to be covering it up with a welcome mat or something.

Crochet

Not the best picture I’ve ever taken, but you can still see what I’m working on. It’s going to be the decoration of a bolster pillow. It’s a Victorian Era design, and you can find it at the following links:

Original Bolster Pillow Completed

Original Pattern for Design

I don’t think I’m going to follow the pattern completely, but I’m going to do most of it.

Something Different

I wanted to try something different, just to see if it would be something I’d like to pursue in the new year. I like trying new crafts just to see if I can.

This is called Viking Wire Weaving, and it’s just a very small length of it.

For a first attempt, I don’t think I did too bad. I need more practice. It was easy to learn, but it’s going to take work to get it looking like it’s supposed to. I used YouTube videos using the search words Viking Wire Weaving.

I think I’ll be working on improving my weaving skills in the coming year.

Let me know what you think, and let me also know what you think I should try next. I have some time before the new year, and I’ll try anything once. I’ve already tried knitting and while I am okay at it, I don’t like it. I get bored with it. What else can you suggest??

I’ll be working harder to keep up with my posting from now on, but I’m only human – not to mention it’s the holidays so….

See you on the flipside and don’t forget your towel and sonic screwdriver!!!