Fourteen Countess

Cross-stitch valentine card!

2012-02-14T06:00:00.002-05:00

We're big Valentine's Day fans in our house; not only is it my birthday, but it was my mom's birthday too! I really enjoy having a birthday on a day when so many other people are in a sweet, loving, generous mood.

Steven is a graphic designer, and that means he appreciates nice paper goods more than the average Valentine. So I wanted to make sure that I deliver something really special for him this year. I started out by stitching up the sweet redwork and cross-stitch heart above. (I found this pattern here.)

I stitched the red cross-stitch border directly onto my cardstock by hand, and then I finished the edge with a little machine zig-zag stitch. This came out a little less even than I would have liked, but I thought it wasn't a bad result for my first time stitching on paper. Mom always taught me to keep the back of my work neat, and I actually succeeded on this piece:

I'm very excited to give this to Steven today! Happy Valentine's Day, sweethearts!

Valentine's Day is coming!

2012-02-12T18:17:00.000-05:00

Valentine's day is nearly here! I baked some yummy heart-shaped cut-out cookies last weekend, and I spent some time in the craft room today making a valentine for my sweet husband. I can't wait to share it on 2/14!

"Made in France" work in progress

2012-01-29T20:50:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law started stitching this project many years ago. I was very excited when she handed it off to me at some point in the last year or so.

I recently pulled this out and started working on it in the evening in front of the television -- unlike counted cross-stitch, a printed piece like this requires little concentration and is ideal when you've got four seasons of Mad Men to re-watch before the season 5 premiere on March 25!

When finished, this will be the largest work of embroidery that I've ever done. Wish me luck plugging away at this pretty, colorful project!

Leafy cross-stitch quartet, part 4: the ginkgo leaf!

2012-01-14T19:14:00.000-05:00

Finally! The fourth installment in the leafy cross-stitch quartet: the ginkgo leaf!

The first three installments can be found here (maple), here (oak), and here (birch).

I'm really happy with all four of these pieces, but I think the ginkgo is my favorite, because of its significance to me and Steven. When we lived on the upper west side of Manhattan, we always admired the ginkgo trees in the neighborhood. Ginkgo trees are the oldest trees in the world and they are renowned for their resilience. They're able to survive harsh weather, urban pollution and in the case of Hiroshima, even exposure to the atom bomb. Their fan-shaped leaves are unique, and they possess both medicinal and culinary uses.

(Lest you think these beautiful trees are perfect, you should try not smell them when they start dropping their seeds on the ground.)

We've collected a few other ginkgo-related items over the years. When he isn't wearing it, Steven stows his wedding band in this pretty dish that I picked up at Crate & Barrel:

(Note that the dish is layered on top of one of
our chic agate coasters from Zhush.com!)

I bought this ginkgo leaf necklace from Etsy shop Ginkgo and wore it on our wedding day:

Last year, Steven surprised me with this beautiful ginkgo leaf ring from the very talented Etsy seller tiderdesign:

And we still need to germinate the seeds from this ginkgo tree-to-be kit and find a nice spot to plant it in our yard:

So here's the final leaf again, this time in its little frame:

It took me nearly a year to get these designed, stitched, framed, hung, photographed, and blogged! Would you like to see how they look on the wall in our master bath?

Ta-da! I'm rather chuffed with the final result. I really enjoy bringing accents into our home that hint to the world outdoors, and it's especially nice to have a reminder of leaves during these cold, grey winter months!

I've actually been home on staycation for the last two weeks, and I made time to work on a TON of home improvement & craft projects. I'll make an effort to highlight some of them here in the coming weeks!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

2011-12-25T17:49:00.003-05:00

We're doing double-duty at our house tonight, celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah. We've had a lovely holiday season, and I'm happy to say that Santa both gave and received some darling handmade gifts this year. I'll be sure to snap some pics and share them here soon. Happy Holidays!

Happy Hanukkah!

2011-12-21T08:14:00.005-05:00

A little cross-stitch button for the festival of lights! Happy Hanukkah!

Jasmine tree ornament

2011-12-17T16:43:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun stitching up this jasmine flower Christmas tree ornament earlier this week!

I really enjoyed making this because it was a multi-step project. First, I shot the photo of the jasmine flower, over a year ago when we were on vacation in Spain. Here's that original photo:

Then I cropped the photo to make it round:

I wanted the ornament to actually have the scent of jasmine, so I mixed up some jasmine essential oil...

...with some cellulose fiber fixative, which absorbs the scent of the essential oil, making the scent last longer in a project.

I printed my cropped photo on some photo fabric that can be put right through the computer printer:

And then I stitched my photo fabric onto the felt, which I embellished with embroidery. Once the embroidery was done, I sewed the front and back pieces together with a little blanket stitch, and stuffed the inside with my jasmine-scented fixative and some fiber fill. Here are some more photos I took before wrapping it up and giving it away today:

I've got several more ornaments underway at the moment, and will reveal them here sometime soon. Happy holidays!

Thinking of my Dad on Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T10:16:00.000-05:00

When I want to express myself and be creative, most of the time, I'm working with fabric, needle and thread. I like to work with materials that are familiar and cross-stitch especially appeals to me because of its grid, structure and inherent organization.

Earlier this year when I was invited to join the wonderful women of the Beacon Collage Crew in their monthly collage gatherings, I was really nervous about working in a new medium, especially collage, which felt so open and flexible to me. At first I had trouble focusing and reigning myself in with it, and producing projects that I was really happy with.

But a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give collage another try with a particular subject in mind, and that was my dad, Howard Moore. My dad was a Vietnam Veteran, and his army service was on my mind, so I dug up some old photos and stuff, and got to work. It's a small piece, but I'm happy with how it turned out and happy that I pushed myself to be a little more experimental.

And since today is Veteran's Day and I'm sending my gratitude out to all of our veterans, and thinking about my dad's time in Vietnam, it seemed like a good time to share this project here.

Thank you, veterans! And Happy Veterans Day, everyone.

Healing through sewing: The National 9/11 Flag

2011-09-11T14:41:00.000-04:00

via

I was in New York City on 9/11/2001, commuting to work along with everyone else under the prettiest, bluest, sky that I think I have ever seen. So many memories from that day, and the ones that followed, have come back to me as this major anniversary approached.

Earlier today when I was watching some of the 9/11 coverage on CNN, I caught a segment about a very special project, the National 9/11 Flag. This flag is a 30-foot American flag that was flying across the street from the World Trade Center on 9/11, when it was badly damaged. The flag was taken down later the next month, and it sat in storage, still torn and tattered, for many years after that.

But since 2008, the flag has been undergoing a process of restoration and healing, traveling around the country, receiving patches from retired American flags from all 50 states.

via

Stitchers who patched the flag have been nominated by people in their local community in recognition of their service and sacrifice. After the final stitches have been placed in the flag, it will go to the National 9/11 Memorial Museum.

If you'd like to learn more about this incredible project, click here:

As I researched the flag today, I also learned about the amazing New York Says Thank You Foundation, which is the custodian of The National 9/11 Flag.

As their website says: The mission of The New York Says Thank You Foundation is to send volunteers from New York City each year on the 9/11 Anniversary to help rebuild communities around the country affected by disasters. It is our way of commemorating the extraordinary love and generosity extended to New Yorkers by Americans from all across the United States in the days, weeks, and months following September 11th.

This documentary trailer will introduce you to this group's extraordinary mission and accomplishments:

I love the way they describe their work:

"The secret to New York Says Thank You’s growing national 'pay it forward' movement is very simple: What we do is not about 9/11. What we do is about 9/12."

Another free pattern download!

2011-08-11T22:50:00.001-04:00

I recently posted that I was interested in making some of the simple patterns I dream up available to others here on the blog, and then the Free Downloads page was born.

One of the earliest projects I shared when I first started the blog was this little owl cross-stitch:

Guess whoo was added to the Free Downloads page this evening? Enjoy!

Beacon, NY in the New York Times!

2011-08-06T11:02:00.002-04:00

via

I saw this article in the New York Times yesterday, and was happy to see Beacon and some of the other nearby Hudson Valley towns in the news. But since I was viewing the article on the small screen of my iPhone, one detail escaped my notice: that I am the chick on the left hand side of this shot of Beacon's Main Street! When my husband took a look at the article on a real computer screen this morning, he recognized that it was me. What a hoot! I had just walked out of Salon Arje, where Arif had hooked me up with a new color and a trim. (Thanks Arif!)

There's actually a lot of cool stuff going on in Beacon this weekend. Last night the patio at The Roundhouse at Beacon Falls opened up, and we stopped by after work and grabbed drinks and a little nosh while overlooking the falls.

The Roundhouse by day

My iPhone photo from the patio last night -- it was hopping there!

And if that isn't exciting enough, there's a very cool event happening here tonight as well:

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Electric Projected is a street party that will feature bands, DJs, and animated shorts projected onto the facade of the Electric Windows building on the east end of Beacon's Main Street -- right where the NYT photo at the beginning of this post was taken. Hope to see you there!

Leafy cross-stitch quartet, part 3: the birch leaf!

2011-07-30T10:48:00.001-04:00

So we've seen the maple leaf, and the oak leaf, and now it's time for the third member of our leafy quartet: the birch leaf!

I have always loved birch trees. We had a big birch tree in our backyard while I was growing up. I've got to dig up some photos of that old tree, as it features in some of my most cherished childhood memories. My dad used to fuss over that tree more than any others in our yard, watching it for insects, watering it, giving it fertilizer. He always told me that birch trees were delicate, and you had to give them extra care to keep them healthy.

Each time that we travel in Vermont, I can't get enough of the beautiful birch trees there:

At the Dorset Quarry in Dorset, Vermont

At Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home (a must-see!)

More at Hildene

One the grounds of the Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) (another must-see!)

Another lovely spot at SVAC

So it was with fond memories from the distant and recent past that led me to include the birch in our leafy quartet:

The fourth and final leaf in the quartet? Perhaps my favorite of all: the ginkgo — coming soon!

First Pattern Download on Fourteen Countess!

2011-07-26T13:19:00.003-04:00

For some time, I have been wanting to digitize my cross-stitch patterns (I sketch my ideas with graph paper and pencil) and make them available to others. I finally sat down and worked out a simple process using a very basic design, my recent HIV/AIDS awareness ribbon. I wanted to share this one first because I knew it would be the easiest to create, but also because I thought folks might be interested in making use of it for charitable fund-raising purposes. It can be stitched in any color you like: red for HIV/AIDS, pink for breast cancer, the options are endless!

I've added a new page called Free Downloads where this free pattern can be found and downloaded.

Under the Creative Commons license that I recently created for the blog, folks are free to share my work and create works derived from it for non-commercial purposes, so long as an attribution is given to Fourteen Countess. Enjoy!

Where I'm From

2011-07-23T10:53:00.000-04:00

Recently, Steven and I ventured to north-central Pennsylvania for a reunion of my dad's family. I hadn't been to Potter County since before my dad died over 29 years ago, and it was quite amazing to take in the incredible scenery (they don't call Potter County "God's Country" for nothing!) and to catch up with family who I hadn't seen in ages. I haven't sifted through all our photos of that weekend yet, but here a couple shots of Pennsylvania's natural beauty:

Reconnecting with family after such a long time away was wonderful, and it brought forward a million memories from my childhood. I recently read Clueless but Hopeful Mama's Where I'm From post, and I had been wanting to pen one myself for the last few weeks. With all these memories from the past fresh in my mind, this exercise was very easy and a lot of fun.

Where I'm From

I am from olive-colored kitchen appliances,Kodak cameras, half-hidden bottles of Black Velvet and kids’ clothes sewn byhand.

I am from the neat white ranch with thetan roof, a T-bird in the driveway, floors you could eat off of, and KC and theSunshine Band on the eight-track.

I am from pollen-covered red poppies, thedainty pink rosebush, a sweet purple lilac, papery birch and dusk-bloomingmoonflower. From ant-covered peonies, fireflies, corn-fields and hungrymosquitoes.

I am from summer birthdays celebrated in breezygarages, pop-up campers in the Thousand Islands, from those who keep secretsand those who tell everything. From Charlene and Howard, from Moores andHameisters, Hardings and Fords.

I am from saving up until you can affordsomething and taking good care so that everything will last.

Fromyou-can’t-dance-and-it’s-too-wet-to-plow, and Mr. Tooth Decay will steal yourteeth in the night if you do not brush them, every one.

I am from the closest church we could findwhen a funeral loomed, a kind lady pastor who played guitar, and talk of acreek baptism that never happened. From wanting to know where Cain and Abel’swives came from and never getting an answer that satisfied.

I'm from “The Flower City” by way of Geneseeand Friendship, from census documents that say Alsace Lorraine and England, andfrom red hair and freckles suggesting Ireland, too. From homemade cakes,decorated for hours, and fried bologna sandwiches with catsup.

From the boarding house where she toldgiggling roommates that she’d NEVER go out with that boy from the blind dateagain, to the winter wedding six months later, and the grandma who swore wedescended from a Native American princess. And a disgraced president.

I am from instant photos, slides, weddingflowers and diaries, scattered about on the floor of our someday-baby-to-beroom. I am from wishing and waiting to pass all these down.

If you'd like to write your own, you can find the original template here. Leave me a comment if you do; I'd love to check yours out!

Leafy cross-stitch quartet, part 2: the oak leaf!

2011-07-11T11:59:00.001-04:00

I recently shared a maple leaf cross-stitch here, the first in a series of four leafy embroideries.

The second piece of work in this quartet is an oak leaf. As with my maple leaf, I had good reasons to pay homage to the oak. If you have been following along here for some time, you may remember that in February of 2010, our home had a close encounter with an oak tree following an especially fierce, Hudson Valley blizzard. Here's how our house looked when it was over:

Thank goodness for those power lines! If the tree hadn't landed on them,
it would have dropped straight down -- onto our car!

To give you a sense of what the storm was like, we felt like it went like this:

OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a rough night.

Anyway, she was a beautiful old tree, and once I got over my annoyance at her uninvited visit (and the ensuing insurance company interactions that were needed to clean up her mess), I really was sad that she wasn't around anymore.

So here's my little memorial to the oak tree that mercifully did not crush our car and gave us a little excitement in our first winter in the country.

Fresh out of the hoop.

Close-up of the stitching.

All framed up and ready for hanging!

And the next leaf I'll share will be the birch leaf!

BUT FIRST -- there's still two chances left to get in on the Pay It Forward craft swap and receive a hand-crafted item made just for you by me! Interested? Have a gander over here and be one of the next two folks to comment and YOU'RE IN.

Pay It Forward!

2011-07-02T13:35:00.002-04:00

I recently started following a blog called All The Live Long Day, which is penned by the lovely and crafty Annika. A couple nights ago, she wrote a post about the Pay It Forward crafty swap that she had just joined. I have never done a swap before, but when I read the details of this one, I immediately wanted to get in on it too.

Pay It Forward is about making some crafty and thoughtful things, and giving them away to someone else (three someone elses, to be precise, as you'll see in the rules below). I love this idea because you can use any crafty skills you like to make your items, and you have a WHOLE YEAR to make them. (Now that's a deadline I can live with!) Just read the six points below, and if you'd like to get something handcrafted from me, be one of the first three commenters on this post!

The Rules

1. Important! You have to have a blog.

2. I will make something for the first three blog owners who comment on this post. It will be a surprise and I will make it and send it to you some time during the next 365 days after you have commented. I'll check out your blog, your Flickr page, your Pinterest, etc., for inspiration for your gift.

3. Make sure you let me know your email address, so that I can get your contact details.

4. To get a handmade present from me, you have to play too! This means YOU pledge to send a little handmade something to three readers of your blog. It doesn't matter what you give, as long as it is handmade by you!

5. Once you comment here, you need to post about your Pay It Forward on your blog to keep the fun going -- you can just copy the rules from me and please include the Pay It Forward badge in your post. Also, feel free to join the Flickr group to see what else is being sent!

6. If you aren't already a Fourteen Countess follower, become one now! You're also welcome to visit me on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

I can't wait to see who comments here so I can start brainstorming your gifts!

P.S. Annika got into Pay It Forward from Julia over at Blue-J Cottage. Julia seems to be quite a prolific swapper AND she's getting married TODAY. Many congrats, Julia!

National HIV Testing Day -- June 27, 2011

2011-06-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned before that I like to cross-stitch on my long daily commute into New York City, but I don't think I've ever said what it is that I do at the end of that trip each day. Since 1995, I've been working in human services and public health, and my work has been focused specifically on HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment for the last five years.

Tomorrow is a big day for those of us who work in HIV, because it's National HIV Testing Day.

On National HIV Testing Day, we make a special effort to make sure that EVERYONE knows how important it is to know their HIV status by getting tested.

If you'd like to find a free HIV testing location near you, just stick your zip code in below and hit SEARCH:

I am fortunate enough to do this work with a pretty incredible team of people, so I have stitched up some red ribbons that I'll be giving out to my awesome colleagues tomorrow:

HIV testing is quick and easy! Even President and Mrs. Obama have done it:

Don't delay! Take the HIV test today.

Leafy cross-stitch quartet, part 1: the maple leaf!

2011-06-04T08:56:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to share my latest cross-stitch project with you! For quite a while, I've been wanting to create a series of silhouette pieces, and in April, I finally sketched out some leaf silhouette patterns and got to stitching.

Steven and I chose four different trees that we like for inclusion in our little quartet, and the first one I stitched was the maple. The maple made the cut because we have a maple tree in our yard, because the maple leaf has an interesting shape, and because everyone knows that they deserve it after being oppressed by the oaks for so long.

Here's a snapshot of my original sketch along with some early stitching. Silhouette cross-stitches are ideal for a commuting stitcher like me; once the outline is done, it's so easy to sit on the train and fill it in without needing to count or consult a pattern any further!

And here's a progress pic that I captured on my ride to work one morning:

As you can see in this image, I decided to experiment with stitching all the left to right stitches first...

i.e., these stitches: /

and then I went back over the whole thing and stitched my right to left stitches.

i.e., these: \

I WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. This piece had a weird optical effect because it was stitched like this, and it gave me a wicked headache to look at it for the rest of the project!

But I persevered of course. And here's how it looked post-stitching, washing and steaming (I'm using a steamer on my work these days instead of an iron, and I much prefer it—I think it's gentler on the threads):

Here's a close-up:

And this morning in a fit of ambition, it was framed!

Up next: the maple's oppressor, the mighty oak!

Mother's day tea towel from a linen dress

2011-05-30T12:07:00.000-04:00

One of the things I love about living here in Beacon, NY is the fact that I can always count on our Main Street shops for something unique and lovely when I need to find a gift for someone dear.

A couple of weeks ago, my hubby and I were wandering around Main Street looking for some inspiration for a mother's day gift for my mother-in-law, Lisa. As usual, we ended up in our favorite shop, Clay, Wood and Cotton (aka CWAC):

CWAC is an adorable shop with a range of beautiful handmade items. At shop-owner Kristy's suggestion, we decided to give Lisa a "tea-time" themed gift this year, starting with this sweet cup and saucer from Virginia Piazza pottery:

Next, we stopped by the Alps Sweet Shop...

...because what's tea-time without some truffles?

Final stop was the Beacon Natural Market...

...for the tea. We thought some organic Yogi Tea would be nice.

Then we headed home so I could whip up a nice tea towel to tie everything together. I wanted the towel to coordinate with Lisa's new cup and saucer so I raided my craft stash, looking for something in the green or blue family. I've had a very light blue linen dress from J. Crew in my craft stash for quite awhile. I used to love wearing this dress, but it doesn't fit me right anymore:

I harvested some fabric from the skirt, and stitched Lisa's name on it:

I sewed a band of cotton fabric (which you may recognize from earlier projects, here and here) to the bottom, and here's the result:

Enjoy your cuppa, Lisa!

Upcycled, embroidered cardigan sweater

2011-05-28T23:44:00.000-04:00

I've had this Ann Taylor LOFT 3/4-sleeve cotton cardigan for at least eight years. It's really nothing special, but it just seems to go with everything, so I've gotten a lot of use out of it. Here's a shot of it out on the town one night on vacation back in 2006:

You can imagine my disappointment when it recently finally started to show its age...

...and even began unraveling a bit on the back:

But I'm not ready to part with this old girl, so I decided that with a little repair-work, and some pretty embroidery, I could breathe new life into it.

For a while I was stuck trying to figure out what to embroider, and that's when Amy over at Early Bird Special posted the Lovely Lotus Free Embroidery Pattern!

This is exactly what I was waiting for!

My first step was to print out the lotus flower pattern, which I then traced onto some Sulky Solvy water soluble stabilizer. (I seriously love working with that stuff; you can read one of my other posts about it here.)

Here's how it looked when the stabilizer was pinned onto the sweater:

And then I basted the stabilizer on, and I stitched! The lotus flower looked like this before I washed the stabilizer away:

(It might not be apparent in these photos, but I used some metallic DMC thread on the middle petal of the lotus flower. DMC 3849, Light Effects Aquamarine Blue, to be exact. It's such a pretty look, but damn! Could metallic floss be any more annoying to work with?)

ANYways, here's how it came out on the front of the cardigan:

I really liked the little swirly parts of the pattern too, but I decided to stitch them on the sleeves:

And remember that ratty part on the back of the sweater? I did a little pseudo-darning to stabilize the holey sections (pseudo-darning because I have no idea how to darn properly). After that, I sewed some ribbon along the edge that matched the embroidery (this might be my favorite part):

And here's the final product:

Voila! Maybe I'll be able to squeeze another eight years out of it now!

Next up: Lisa's embroidered mother's day tea towel!

Owl-themed baby shower!

2011-04-23T18:39:00.005-04:00

I haven't blogged a thing in over two months!

Between a crazy period at work and a computer on the fritz, pulling together crafts and writing about them has taken a back seat for a bit.

But I was working on one big project that I pulled together a few weekends ago: an owl-themed baby shower for dear friends Maureen and Laura.

It was a lovely day and I'm thrilled to share some of the crafty details here.

It started with the invitation

(with thanks to my graphic designer hubby,

who turned my scribbles into something presentable):

I decorated with an orange, yellow

and green color scheme:

(By the way, these Martha Stewart tissue pom poms

are super-easy to make!)

These silk flower arrangements were the

first craft project I pulled together for the big day:

Parties make Sassy a little grumpy.

Everyone knows I've caught the owl fever that's going around,

so I was pretty psyched to make these felt owl brooches

as shower favors for our guests:

We had some special little girl guests at this shower,

so there were felt owl barrettes for them:

Guests were invited to note some words of wisdom

for our expectant moms.

I think the wisest contribution came

from one of our little well-wishers:

"Give the baby chocolate milk each morning."

Words of wisdom were hung on this little tree I fashioned

from branches from around our yard, a little floral foam,

some spanish moss and a yellow bucket from A.C. Moore:

We played the baby picture guessing game:

Here's the growing pile of baby gifts:

Of course it wouldn't be a baby shower without some yummy cake.

Our wonderful friend Patti contributed this gorgeous carrot cake:

I didn't get around to snapping my own photos
of the other things we noshed on,

but here are the links in case you want

to sample them for yourselves:

Emeril Lagasse's spinach, mushroom and four-cheese lasagna

Ina Garten's turkey sausage lasagna

One pot kale and quinoa pilaf

Martha Stewart's pumpkin chocolate chip bars

Here's our lovely group while presents were opened:

I can hardly wait for June when the guest of honor will arrive!

Fourteen Countess turns one!

2011-02-07T23:38:00.000-05:00

Today is my blog birthday! It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I wrote this. To celebrate, I'd like to share a special WIP that I'm working on.

It was Stitch in Public day on Saturday, and that motivated me to unearth a project that I've been meaning to finish forever. My mom started stitching this project over twenty years ago, and I've finally picked it back up:

When it's done, it will be the Serenity Prayer:

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can; and

Wisdom to know the difference.

I've been focusing more on stitching things that I designed myself in the last year, but it's kind of nice to work on something more traditional again, especially something with a message that I have found so helpful over the years. It will be even nicer to finish up a project that my mom once worked on. Is anybody else working on an especially meaningful project these days? Please feel free to leave a comment and share it with us!

Snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW

2011-02-05T13:57:00.000-05:00

For most of January, we kept ourselves busy with work, some healthy new year's resolutions, and of course SHOVELING SNOW.

As a result, I haven't had any new stitching to share in far too long. I'm heading out in a few moments for Stitch in Public Day,so hopefully I'll have a new project to show off soon. In the meanwhile, here are a couple shots of the snowy scenes around our neck of the woods:

Snowmageddon has apparently led to a shortage of yummy things for deer to nosh on, so they have been spending quite a bit of time foraging around our place:

Looks like they're in a hurry to an early bird special in this one:

Happy February, all!

Easy as (birthday) pie

2011-01-09T22:16:00.001-05:00

Today we celebrated my fabulous mother-in-law's birthday! I offered to make her a little birthday dessert, and she requested apple pie. I was about to stick the pie in the oven this morning, and I thought it might be nice to personalize the pie crust to make it feel just a bit more birthday-ish:

Many happy returns, Lisa! <3

Shrinky dink hamsa ornament

2011-01-06T21:39:00.002-05:00

I know I said that I was done showing Christmas tree ornaments, but I've got one more to share that I had to save until after I gave it to my hubby on Christmas morning.

Whenever possible, Steven and I try to give each other handmade gifts, so I wanted to whip up something original for him for Christmas this year. (Of course, I will spend the rest of my natural born life trying to catch up with the awesomeness of the gift he gave me for our first wedding anniversary.)

Last fall, we went on a fabulous vacation in Spain (I still need to get my act together and blog some of the crafty things that I shot photos of over there!) so I knew I wanted to make something for him that was inspired by our trip. I decided to use one of our favorite photos from the trip as inspiration:

I took this picture of a door-knocker when we were wandering around the beautiful, sunny streets of Marbella on the southern coast of Spain. This door-knocker is a hamsa, a middle eastern symbol that is believed to ward off the evil eye. (And who couldn't use a little help warding off the evil eye?)

With my photo identified, my next step was to print the image out using my inkjet printer and some inkjet shrink film, trim the image and poke some holes in the corners, and toss that baby in the oven. (Have you watched a shrinky dink bake lately? I'm 37 years old and I find it to be a magical process to watch, every time!)

After my image was baked and shrinked, I sewed up a small pillow using some fabric from a vintage dress that I picked up at a local thrift store a couple of months ago, and stitched the shrinky dink to the pillow with metallic thread and some french knots. (Sorry for the lack of good tutorial images on this -- I was under the gun on Christmas eve to get this finished and had no time for photography!)

Here's the finished piece:

Ta-da! I was sad to pack this one away when we took the tree down last weekend. I'll have to start brainstorming another shrinky dink project soon!

Snowflake button pin!

2010-12-31T14:26:00.000-05:00

I didn't have time for much cross-stitching during the holiday season, but I did manage to create this little snowflake button pin:

Since Mother nature dumped about two feet of these little babies on us here in the New York area last weekend, I'll be perfectly happy to stick with the stitchy kind of snowflake for as long as possible in the new year!

What should I stitch up next, I wonder? Is it too early to start thinking about Valentine's Day projects?

O Tannenbaum

2010-12-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Now that I've shared so many of our ornaments, here's a shot of our tree, decked out in all her handmade glory:

Merry Christmas!

Last three handmade tree ornaments!

2010-12-24T13:11:00.000-05:00

I've got three more handmade tree ornaments to share before Christmas comes tomorrow!

My mom crocheted this rose ornament at least 25 years ago. It has a tiny music button inside that is still working after all these years! It plays White Christmas when you press it:

I made this one when I was a little kid. I am pretty sure this was from an ornament kit that someone had given to me.

Here's another one made by my mom. She stuck some pins into a bit of styrofoam, and then wove her orange and gold embroidery floss around it to create an ornament frame. Clever, right? This is one of my favorites because of the cute photo of my little bro in the middle.

Soon I'll reveal the tree itself! Merry Christmas eve, everyone!

Plastic canvas rocking horse ornament

2010-12-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

I haven't stitched anything on plastic canvas in a long time, so it was nice to be reunited with this little guy when we decorated the tree this year:

Can you believe Christmas will be here in just two more days? Back to the crafting and wrapping for me...!

Sparkly beaded ornaments

2010-12-21T00:11:00.000-05:00

I should really share a photo of our entire tree one day soon! In the meanwhile, here are a few more ornaments crafted about a zillion years ago by me and my mom, this time from the beaded category:

Next up: plastic canvas! Yes, we dabbled in every craft imaginable when I was growing up!

Felt mitten clip ornaments

2010-12-20T07:00:00.007-05:00

My mom and I crafted up these little felt mitten ornaments when I was still in grade school:

These are a super-simple craft to make with kids, because once the mittens are cut out from the felt, they are simply glued to an alligator clip barrette like this:

photo via Too Cuties Boutique

...and then decorated with whatever little sequins, rickrack, yarns or other doodads you can find in your craft stash.

And they're a breeze to put on the tree, since they clip easily to the branches! Next highlight from our house: beaded ornaments!

Crocheted plushie Frosty and Santa

2010-12-19T08:00:00.008-05:00

I've always loved these plushies that my mom crocheted when I was small:

there must have been some magic in that old silk hat...

santa claus has got a hot rod sleigh

I've tried my hand at knitting, but I've never learned crochet... maybe I'll have to add it to my list of things to try in the new year!

Mr. and Mrs. Frosty

2010-12-18T12:06:00.002-05:00

A couple more tree ornaments from mom's ouevre:

Mrs. Frosty, rockin' the sequins

Mister Frosty's not afraid of a little bling himself

Next up? Crocheted plushie Frosty and his friend, crocheted plushie Santa!

Plushie ball ornaments

2010-12-18T08:00:00.006-05:00

When I was small, my mom decided that she was tired of me, my brother, the two dogs and the four cats wreaking havoc on her fragile Christmas tree ornaments every year. Her solution? She crafted up some unbreakable plushie ball ornaments!

Next up on our stroll down Christmas ornament memory lane? Felt Mr. and Mrs. Frosty, coming soon!

Cross-stitch of Christmas past

2010-12-17T21:44:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of the cross-stitch pieces from Christmases past that came out with our decorations last weekend:

Small Candle from Leisure Arts' Christmas Stitchin' (1981)

Tree Ornament from Leisure Arts' Timeless Ornaments (1995)

I've worked on a couple of small holiday cross-stitch pieces this year too, but the big question is this: will I get them finished before Santa's big night?

Vintage handmade felt zoo animal ornaments!

2010-12-14T21:40:00.003-05:00

I absolutely love pulling out the Christmas ornaments from my childhood every year, and most of my favorites were crafted by my mom. This past year, I've gotten really into crafting with felt, so I'm especially cheered by these felt zoo animals that my mom made (incorporating both sewing and hand embroidery) back in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

a happy hippo

i love his little lion toenails

every fashionable pig has a yellow bow on her tail this year

look at those spots! (mom was a master satin-stitcher, apparently!)

These little guys are a fitting decoration at a time of year when everywhere you go feels like a zoo! Do you have any beloved ornaments that you look forward to every Christmas?

The (handmade) stockings are hung...

2010-12-13T00:41:00.000-05:00

Today we did our Christmas decorating! We put up lots of handmade goodies from Christmases past that I'll be posting here in the coming days, but for tonight, I thought I'd share our home-made stockings. Most of the childhood Christmas decorations that I treasure were made by my mom, with one exception: here's the stocking that my dad latch-hooked for me when I was little:

latch-hook stocking by Howard Moore, circa 1981

Sassy obviously has a stocking, too. I sewed this up for his first Christmas, back in 2004:

because Sassy is always a perfect angel

I went with the Eames small dot fabric for Steven, of course:

Small Dot Green is a quintessentially "Eames" decorator fabric from a golden age in industrial design. The Small Dot design originated as the Eames's entry into a textile competition held by the Museum of Modern Art in 1947. Four designs were submitted - the other three being Dot, Crosspatch and Circles - but only Crosspatch went into production at the time. The remaining three designs - Small Dot included - were recently reproduced from archived drawings with the assistance of Lucia Eames, daughter of Charles and Ray. (via http://www.jandofabrics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=cha00006)

What do you hope that Santa will leave in your stocking this year?

Quickie wine glass tags from felt scraps

2010-12-05T19:49:00.001-05:00

I hosted a brunch for some friends at our house about a month ago. Shortly before everyone arrived, I remembered that I had intended to whip up some wine glass tags so that everyone could keep their drinks straight throughout the day.

I already had the little round wire thingees in my craft stash. I don't remember where I bought them, but there are lots of etsy sellers who stock them:

wine charm rings via etsy seller ShantiSupplies

I didn't have time to make anything elaborate, so I decided to do something simple with the felt scraps that I had laying around in my craft room. I used my pinking shears to give the scraps a pretty edge, poked the wires through them, and voilà!

I hope you're planning to do some fun holiday entertaining this month as well. L'chaim!

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming

2010-12-02T23:15:00.001-05:00

It's the second night of Hanukkah, and my thoughts have turned to... LATKES!

Earlier this evening I remembered the adorable Hanukkah book that I picked up last year, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming (by Lemony Snicket and Lisa Brown):

You really have to read this book -- I think it's hilarious. Here's our poor little upset latke protagonist:

In case you can't tell what he's saying:

When I remembered that we had this book, I was struck by how easy it would be to create a screaming-latke-inspired embroidery. First I traced the illustration onto my handy-dandy Sulky Solvy Water Soluble stabilizer:

And then I stitched away by the light of the menorah! (Ok, it was the light of the TV but that hardly seems as festive, right?)

His arms and legs came out a little janky, but other than that I think he's a handsome fella.

I hope that you have many delicious holiday treats planned for the coming days as well!

Happy Hanukkah!

2010-12-01T23:26:00.002-05:00

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, which means that it was time to pull this out:

I stitched this up last year from a free pattern that I found on the web:

via http://www.koolerdesign.com/fcstardavid.aspx

The symbol in the center is chai, the Hebrew word for life. I'm not an especially religious person, but when we lit our menorah this evening, we spent a few moments reflecting on the blessings that are recited for Hanukkah, and this one which is read on the first night of Hanukkah really resonated with me:

Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

Baruch Atah Ad-noi Elo-hei-nu Melech Ha-olam She-heh-che-yah-nu Ve-kiye-ma-nu Ve-kiye-gi-ah-nu Liz-man Ha-zeh.

I hope that you have also found a moment to reflect on the blessings in your life today -- Happy Hanukkah!

Framed for the holidays

2010-11-24T23:03:00.001-05:00

Waaaayyyy back in February, I wrote a post about a special project that I was working on, a cross-stitch of our home. To recap, here's a photo of our house:

My husband Steven created an illustration of our place last year, and gave it to me for Christmas:

Isn't it fabulous? I loved his design so much that I turned it into a cross-stitch pattern and stitched it up by the spring-time...

... but I *just* got around to framing it this month:

Why does it always take so long to get these things into a frame? At any rate, it feels great to finally get this tribute to our home up on the wall -- just in time for Thanksgiving. Now I just need to get a move on my holiday projects! Which seasonal crafts are you working on these days?

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T08:36:00.000-04:00

There's been less time for Halloween fun and Halloween crafting than I had hoped for this year, but we did make some cool foam pumpkins with our wonderful houseguests a couple of weekends ago:

And we made a trip to the local pumpkin patch:

And on Friday night I channeled Louise Brooks at a very wild and scary Halloween party:

I hope you're having a marvelous Halloween this year, too!

Reclaimed Vintage Dress Fabric

2010-10-30T08:53:00.001-04:00

Earlier this month, I found a phenomenal vintage dress in a local shop. It didn't fit me very well, but I fell in love with the fabric and the shop owner graciously dropped the price until I couldn't resist it. At first I thought about taking it in until it was my size. But after examining the dress more closely, I decided to rip it apart at the seams and harvest the fabric to sew it into something else.

I'm still in the ripping phase, but I thought I'd give a little peek at it while I'm figuring out my next move:

Pretty fun, right?

It's been a few years since I tried to sew anything major, but I've really been drawn to any craft ideas that involve sewing lately. And I've got lots of inspiration for this project. I'll never forget the beautiful brocade outfit that Michelle Obama wore on inauguration day:

via life.com

And of course I drool over the examples on Mad Men:

via pennydreadfulvintage.blogspot.com

via amctv.com

But I know my sewing skills are too rusty to make anything as elaborate as the items above! So maybe a pencil skirt like this one?

via theoutnet.com

I could order this vintage pattern to get me started:

via etsy.com, seller bluettecourt

Wouldn't my fabric make a festive skirt for an upcoming holiday party? Wish me luck!

Wedding Ring Pouch

2010-10-23T17:05:00.003-04:00

Earlier this month I was very excited to share the prayer flag that I embroidered for my girlfriend's wedding on 10/10/10; today I'm going to show you the little pouch that I made to hold the wedding rings during the ceremony.

I drew my inspiration for this project from the AMAZING wedding invitation, which was designed by another friend of the couple. The invitation had a beautiful, boldly colored floral motif, which was even incorporated into the stamp on the envelope:

Here's the invitation itself (the type design was quite lovely but I erased the details in the interest of privacy; can you guess who's pleased with herself for learning how to use Photoshop today?):

Here's a close-up of the design element that I wanted to feature in this project:

And here's the pouch itself:

I should mention that this was my first time stitching on linen, and it was an absolute dream to work with! Now that my wedding-related crafts are done, I wonder which project I should focus on next...?

Embroidered Wedding Prayer Flag (with pseudo-tutorial)

2010-10-11T21:26:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in a couple of recent posts (here and here), I have been very much looking forward to the October wedding of my best friend. The wedding weekend has finally arrived, and the big day was yesterday, 10/10/10!

The brides invited their guests to decorate squares of fabric that would hang as prayer flags at the site of the wedding ceremony, which was held outdoors in the beautiful Hudson Valley. Here are a few of the flags:

I'll show you the one I made in a moment, but first I have to gush over the flag made by my girlfriend's grandmother (AKA Grams):

A craft-themed prayer flag with an embroidered Care Bear and a wee knitted sweater?! (Pardon me for a moment while my head explodes from its awesomeness.)

Like Grams, I decided my prayer flag should feature embroidery. I was a reader at the wedding, so I decided to stitch the first two lines of the poem I read, which was W.H. Auden's O Tell Me The Truth About Love:

I'm pretty darn enthusiastic about the method I have been using recently to transfer designs onto fabric, so I snapped some photos as I worked so that I could give a bit of a tutorial in this post.

Here's the fabric before I started working. It's cotton, and vulnerable to fraying so I protected the edges with tape:

Then I drew my design on a bit of Sulky Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer. (I love this stuff: it's super-easy to stitch through, and when you're done stitching, you just submerge your piece in warm water and it dissolves like magic! It's perfect for transferring a design onto something that's too dark for fabric marker). I taped the Sulky to the fabric so that it would stay in place while I basted it on.

Then I basted the Sulky into place:

Then I stitched! Here's how it looked before dissolving the Sulky:

And here's how it looked afterwards! I did get some fraying on the edges when I ripped off the tape, so I just used my pinking shears to tidy it up. (I am just now noticing that Grams did the same thing!)

Sassy insisted on inspecting the piece before we left for the wedding. Doesn't he look ominous here?

Getting a closer look.

Happy, happy wedding, M & L! I was also very honored to create a little pouch that held their rings during the ceremony -- you can expect to see photos of that here in the coming days!

Blumenthal Gallery, Post Number 3

2010-10-01T09:00:00.004-04:00

Today in the Blumenthal Gallery I'm going to feature our most recent acquisition, another painting by my father-in-law, Jack:

This one also hangs in our dining room. I love the warm tones and the way it feels like the sun is just coming up on a beautiful new day. Here's my favorite section of the painting:

"Juan Flora del Valle" -- does this sound familiar? Juan = Jack, and Blumenthal?

blumenthal Name Meaning and History

Jewish (Ashkenazic) and Swedish: ornamental name composed of German Blumen ‘flowers’ + Thal (now spelled Tal) ‘valley’.

from Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/facts/blumenthal-family-history.ashx)

Blumenthal = flowers of the valley = Flora del Valle! Genius!

Upcycled Curtains

2010-09-29T09:00:00.005-04:00

When we moved into our house last year, the previous homeowners had left some red, roman shades hanging in our bedroom. I don't have photos of the actual shades, but they looked like this:

I liked them, but they didn't look right with our stuff, so I took them down. They weren't in the best shape, so I knew we'd never hang them again exactly as they were. But they were made of a really nice red, twill fabric, so I tore them apart, laundered the fabric, which came out looking like new, and stuck it into my craft stash for a rainy day.

Steven recently asked me if I could throw together some curtains for a window in his graphic design studio, and I thought this fabric might work out nicely for that. And here's how they turned out:

We originally bought a cafe rod to hang the curtains on this door, and then we realized that would require us to drill through the door's metal casing. This felt like a pain in the neck, because we're pretty sure all of our drill bits are made of carbon steel, which isn't good for drilling through metal. Steven started wondering if we could create some kind of a rod using magnets, to adhere to the metal door. To my amazement, at my next trip to my new favorite store, I found a magnetic curtain rod for $8 that was the perfect size! Here's a close-up of the rod, sticking to the door:

After living in our house for 16 months, maybe we'll finally get around to putting window treatments on all the windows after all!

Blumenthal Gallery, Post Number 2

2010-09-27T09:00:00.003-04:00

Here's another beautiful painting done by a member of my husband's family. This one, which hangs in our dining room, is by his Grandma Bertha:

I love the warm tones in this piece, which match so nicely with the golden light we often get in the room where this hangs. And I'm a huge fan of this kind of folk painting, which Grandma Moses, who began painting in her seventies after a career in embroidery, is famous for.

Sassy

2010-09-25T09:00:00.003-04:00

It's been awhile since we've had a look at how handsome Sassy is, right?

Here he is showing us his best side:

And his other best side:

These shots were actually taken shortly after returning from a check-up at the vet's office. This was our first visit to this office, and we are so thrilled to have found a really wonderful place filled with extremely caring and dedicated personnel. If you're in the Beacon, NY area, we can't recommend Hudson Highlands Veterinary Medical Group highly enough!

Stitching for Shpilkes

2010-09-23T09:00:00.002-04:00

I have a backpack I bought many years ago at Old Navy that I have started using again recently to lug things around when I need more stuff on me than my little purse can carry. Did a little doodle-stitching on it one evening while I was watching TV:

Stitches from top to bottom: blanket, chain, fern, chain.

I love embroidery because it's something I can do to keep busy when I'm sitting around or watching TV. I get bored if my hands aren't busy with something! I recently learned that in Yiddish, there's a word for someone like me, who always has a lot of nervous energy and can't sit still without doing something: shpilkes. Shelly Shpilkes. It works!

Blumenthal Gallery, Post Number 1

2010-09-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

I have been feeling so much more motivated to create and craft since we moved upstate last year, and I can't help wondering if some of my inspiration comes from the gorgeous original artwork that we've hung in our home. Most of the art we have displayed was created by members of my husband's family, and I feel very fortunate to have married into such a talented group of people!

I thought I'd share some of these beautiful pieces, starting with the first one we put up, an abstract painting that hangs in our living room:

This painting was created by Jack, my father-in-law, and I love its bold colors and striking angles. Keep your eyes here for more work from the Blumenthal Gallery in the coming days!

Prayer Flag WIP

2010-09-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned in a recent post, our amazing friends Maureen and Laura are getting married! I'm very excited about their big day, which is coming up in October.

They have invited all their wedding guests to create/decorate a prayer flag, an idea they are borrowing from the Buddhist faith. As they explain, "A prayer flag is a rectangular cloth often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. When the wind blows through it, it scatters blessings across the surrounding countryside."

Isn't that a lovely idea?

The fabric for our prayer flag came in the mail recently. Here it is:

(Forgive me for the gratuitous inclusion of my tootsies. They are included for scale and to show off the pedi that I splurged on this weekend!)

Here's a close-up of the fabric:

I'm really excited about what I have in progress for this, and will reveal it here after their big day!

Thanks, Dollar Store Crafts!

2010-09-18T13:13:00.002-04:00

I just saw that the chair cushions I recently made out of dollar store placemats made it onto the Dollar Store Crafts website today!

How exciting! Thanks, Dollar Store Crafts!

Pot Roast Carbonnade

2010-09-18T08:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had a day off from work, and since I rarely have time to make a big supper, I decided to do a little cooking. I recently found a really nice recipe for Pot Roast Carbonnade by Melissa D'Arabian. (Any recipe that calls for a bottle of beer has to be good, right?) I think I've only seen Melissa's show on the Food Network once, but I'm looking forward to trying some of her other recipes based on the way this one turned out:

We ate it with some homemade mashed potatoes, red cabbage and a little malbec that one of Steven's lovely clients gave to us -- yum!

By the way, do you see that cute little pumpkin napkin holder in the top photo? Picked that up at the Family Dollar yesterday for $2! I'm starting to develop an unhealthy obsession with that store...

Dollar store placemat, reclaimed!

2010-09-11T23:15:00.002-04:00

There's a Family Dollar store just up the street from where we live, and it's so handy when I need to pick up cheapy items for around the house. Shortly after we moved in last year, I bought a bunch of these golden-colored placemats; at $1 each, I couldn't beat the price and they were a perfect match for the color scheme in our dining room.

But after using them for awhile, they started to look a little worse for wear, and I decided to toss them in the washing machine. They came out cleaner, but whatever was inside of them to keep them stiff had disintegrated in the wash and wrecked their original flat shape:

This made them totally unusable as placemats. And even though they only set me back a buck each, I hated to throw them in the garbage, so I stuck them in my craft stash, hoping that some upcycling inspiration would eventually strike.

I've been wanting to buy or make some cushions for our dining room chairs for some time, and I recently started wondering if I might be able to reclaim our ruined placemats for that purpose. This weekend I decided to monkey around with them and see if my idea would work.

First, I stuck some pins in where I thought they should be hemmed to fit our chairs, and I lopped off the extra fabric:

Next, I used my seamripper to take out some stitches so I could turn the fabric in onto itself:

Then I turned the fabric in, and pressed the seam:

Then I stuffed it with polyfill, and pinned it for sewing:

Then I stitched it up, covered up some buttons and sewed them into the middle, attached ribbons for tying it to the chair, and here it is!

There's actually a whole website devoted to crafting with dollar store items; you can check it out right here. Happy (cheap!) crafting!

Pre-Wedding Craft Party!

2010-09-06T13:47:00.001-04:00

Years ago when we lived in NYC, my friend Maureen would host craft night at her place in Williamsburg, and we girls would get together once a month with our stitching and our gluing and our take-out to get our craft on.

Last night, Maureen and her fiancée Laura hosted a craft night on steroids, wherein a bunch of their friends got together to make things that will decorate the venue where they're getting married this October. I'm not going to show too many photos of the decorations themselves, lest I take away from the final reveal on their big day. But here are a couple shots from the crafting and general merriment that we enjoyed last night:

This is Aine's phenomenal sewing machine, which stitched up a ridiculous number of pillows last evening. This thing is totally retro and totally diesel -- and it was totally free from a local guy who had it laying around in his garage. Score!

And here's Aine on her machine and Maureen wrestling her Husqvarna into submission.

A preliminary pillow pile.

Of course we had helpers. This is Rudy...

...and brother Henley.

Here's Maureen under the 39 finished pillows at the end of the night.

Aerial view of the pillow pile.

And the couple of honor, Maureen and Laura. 34 days to go, girls!

2nd wedding anniversary gifts!

2010-08-14T08:52:00.006-04:00

Two years ago on August 11th, Steven and I got married!

8/11/2008

Last year was our "paper" anniversary, when Steven gave me a gorgeous book that he made for me, and I gave him some bird prints from the very talented Josh Brill of Lumadessa.

The second anniversary is for cotton. We have a cotton-themed collaborative art project in the works but in the meantime, we gave eachother a couple of little cottony gifts to hold us over until that's done.

Steven picked my gifts up at the marvelous Clay, Wood and Cotton, right here on Beacon's Main Street. We *love*love*love* letterpress, so I wasn't surprised that he chose this sweet card from Ink & Wit:

And this adorable pillow, made by Diane Patmos (you can check out her etsy shop, called snowdrop, here!):

As you may have read in earlier posts (here and here), Steven and I are a little crazy about owls. So I decided to give him an owl card from the Natural History Museum:

...and an owl plushie that I picked up from one of my other favorite Beacon shops, the echo boutique and toystore:

Happy second anniversary, honey!

Summer break

2010-08-08T22:01:00.000-04:00

Is your summer just flying by? It certainly feels that way at our house. I haven't had a moment to pick up a needle or even think about what my next needlepoint project should be in weeks.

I did manage to take a few moments to appreciate the summer scene in our yard this weekend. Here's what I saw:

Lots of blooming in the front yard

Black-eyed susies

Somebody has been nibbling on our purple cone-flowers!

Probably the chief nibbler

I really should thank him for keeping our grass neatly trimmed

I hope you're surrounded by pretty summer scenes too!

Antique embroidery

2010-07-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

We strolled around Cold Spring, NY this past weekend and I found some neat old embroidery pieces in the antique shops there:

Please forgive the lousy cell phone photo -- it reads:

TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE
THE ROAD IS NEVER LONG
E.H.B. 1932

I really liked this blackwork piece:

I also saw a very sweet antique plate that read: "When two fond hearts unite -- the yoke is easy -- the burden light." I wasn't able to get a decent photo of it, but I thought it might be a cute saying to stitch up as a sampler myself. I guess this will have to go on the (growing!) project idea list...

Ed Emberley-inspired fox embroidery!

2010-07-11T19:19:00.000-04:00

Steven and I recently rented Fantastic Mr. Fox, and ever since then, I have been obsessed with the idea of stitching up a little fox embroidery of my own.

That's when I remembered that I still had a copy of my cherished childhood book, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals. When I started thumbing through it, I knew I had found the inspiration for my next piece.

Ed Emberley is an American artist whose work appears in over 50 books. I adored my Ed Emberley instructional drawing books when I was growing up, because they showed me, step by step, how to create pictures using simple shapes and lines.

Here's the cover of my book:

(Do you notice that some naughty child colored in the ear and tusk of the elephant in blue? Let the record show that I am pretty sure it was my younger brother, and not me, who was responsible for this act of defacement. But let's move on.)

Here's the inside:

And the back cover:

And here's Mr. Emberley's beautiful fox:

I had some felted wool laying around that I had taken from a thrift shop sweater, and I decided to create my fox on the sweater pocket. Felted wool is definitely my favorite fiber to stitch on. Since it is hard to sketch out a design on wool, I drew my idea first on the Sulky Solvy water soluble stabilizer that I got last month, and basted the stabilizer onto the fabric. I didn't shoot any photos of this, but I loved working with this stuff, and will absolutely use it with all my wool stitching projects from now on. It washed right off in warm water when I was done -- easy peasy!

And here's how it came out:

Here's a closer view:

And his little face.

After I stitched the fox, I thought he looked like he'd enjoy some flowers. Here they are:

As the Fantastic Mr. Fox might say:

"That was pure wild animal craziness." {whistle! click click}

Summer noshing

2010-07-11T12:58:00.001-04:00

We had houseguests this weekend and it gave us an excuse to load up on lovely summer produce and make some delicious recipes that we rarely find time just to make for ourselves.

There's a brand-new greenmarket at 1st Avenue and 27th Street, close to my job, where I snagged these amazing peaches on Friday:

These were halved, brushed with butter, grilled, and then served with ricotta cheese, honey and toasted almonds. You can literally throw this dessert together in 20 minutes!

And I wanted to serve yogurt, granola and fresh berries for breakfast today before our guests hit the road, so I was thrilled when our grocery store had these perfect local blueberries:

I've never made lemonade from scratch before, and I wanted to have a really refreshing summer drink in the house, so I tracked down an excellent lemonade recipe that calls for mint, ginger and honey.

Fresh Mint and Ginger Lemonade

via epicurious

yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (packed) chopped fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh ginger
1/3 cup honey
2 cups boiling water
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups (about) cold water

Ice cubes
Fresh mint leaves
Lemon slices

Lemons and mint leaves:

Chopped ginger:

Preparation:

Combine chopped mint, ginger, and honey in medium bowl. (I decided to zest a couple of our lemons and throw the zest in at this point for a stronger lemon flavor.)

Add boiling water. Let steep 30 minutes. Strain into 4-cup glass measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract liquid. (I tossed the ingredients into a bit of cheese cloth so that I could really squeeze all the juicy goodness out.) Add lemon juice (I juiced 4 lemons and I had more than enough juice for this recipe) and cold water to measure 4 cups total.

(Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Fill glasses with ice cubes. Add lemonade. Garnish with mint leaves and lemon slices and serve.

I was so excited to drink this stuff that I forgot to photograph the end result, but it pretty much looked like lemonade, but a little darker because of the honey. I just loved that the lemonade was sweet enough with only honey as a sweetener!

Cheers!

Summer Sassy

2010-07-11T12:17:00.001-04:00

It's finally cooler where we live today, but for the last week we have been in the middle of a scorching heat wave. It's times like this when I'm very glad that we give Sassy a short summer haircut each year. Here he is, lazing about under the ceiling fan before the heat broke:

Would you just look at this face?

Speaking of adorable creatures, I can't wait to show you the fantastic little fox that I stitched up last week! Photos coming soon...

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-03T15:57:00.002-04:00

I love decorating for holidays in the summertime, because I can put up some red, white and blue stuff for Memorial Day, and leave it all up for Independence Day and beyond. I had a little flag on our dinner table for awhile this summer...

...but then our apparently treasonous cat decided to defile it by poking his fangs through it several times. Rather than just toss it out, I thought I would use the fabric to whip up a couple of patriotic buttons for the Fourth of July. Here they are:

Later on, we're going to meet some friends to watch the fireworks here in Beacon, which are made possible by donations from generous local businesses and residents. Wishing you and yours a happy fourth of July and a fun long weekend!

Stitch Sampler

2010-06-30T22:30:00.001-04:00

We stopped into Barnes and Noble this evening to look through some travel books, and on impulse I grabbed a copy of Lucinda Ganderton's Stitch Sampler:

I really didn't think I needed another embroidery book, but the second I picked this up, I knew I had to have it. It has beautiful, full-color, step-by-step instructions for about a gazillion stitches. I can't wait to start experimenting with them!

French Knot Letter B!

2010-06-27T16:18:00.005-04:00

Finally! I've finished the project I've been working on for the last couple of weeks, exclusively made up of french knots. Would you like to see it?

I was excited to work on this fabric, which I found at a tag sale earlier this year, because it picks up on the yellows and greys we have in our house.

Here it is, all framed up in its hoop:

I'm even liking how the back turned out:

This piece was a great way to perfect my french knot technique, but I think I've had my fill of them for awhile!

Summer Blooms

2010-06-27T15:49:00.000-04:00

I've been away from the blog for quite a while! I've been busy stitching up a really fun piece, using french knots exclusively. It's nearly done, and I can't wait to show it to you! In the meantime, here are the first summer blooms from our yard for your enjoyment.

Echinacea (also known as purple cone flower):

Pink hydrangea:

Happy summer!

Dancing crane

2010-06-13T23:49:00.003-04:00

In keeping with my practice of embroidering birds (previously blogged here, here, here, and here), I recently decided to stitch up a tribute to the beautiful crane.

I was inspired to create a piece with a crane on it for my AMAZING acupuncturist, Jackie, who runs Dancing Crane Acupuncture here in Beacon.

Revered in many cultures, cranes are a symbol of wisdom and longevity in China. Folklore says that they mate for life, and who could blame them with a fabulous mating dance like this?

And here's the stitched crane, sewn up in a little pocket:

I went with red stitching, as Jackie is an Aries, and that's an Aries color. I can't wait to give this to her next weekend!

Floss porn

2010-06-13T13:14:00.002-04:00

Last weekend when we stopped by Steven's parents' place, in addition to giving me some fabulous embroidery scissors, Lisa hooked me up with a whole bunch of pretty embroidery floss, too. Here's the lot of it:

There's a lot of wool floss there, which I'm excited about because I have never stitched with wool floss before. I'm really loving this group of green cotton skeins, too:

I can't wait to figure what to make with all of these!

Groundhog visit!

2010-06-12T23:15:00.000-04:00

We've got a very cute groundhog living in our neighborhood. Today he paid a visit to our house and I was quick enough with the zoom lens to grab a decent shot of him:

I was too slow on the draw to capture the even cuter chipmunk who was enjoying a snack while sitting on the top of our redbud tree today, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled and my camera ready for next time!

Solvy's in!

2010-06-08T23:21:00.001-04:00

Woo hoo! My long-awaited Solvy water-soluble stabilizer has come in!

I have never worked with this stuff, but from the way people rave about it, I am very excited to try. I think this is going to make it a lot easier for me to get my designs onto fabric, especially onto felt. I'll be sure to share some results soon!

Crane/stork scissors

2010-06-07T19:00:00.027-04:00

I have pretty much always wanted a pair of those beautiful, gold- and silver-colored bird scissors used by embroiderers, but I never got around to tracking down a pair.

You can imagine my delight when we stopped by my in-laws' place for a quick visit this weekend, and my wonderful mother-in-law hooked me up with these beauties:

Aren't they gorgeous? I'm not sure if they are meant to represent a crane or a stork -- perhaps I'll have to do a little internet research later on to see what I can learn about their history. Either way, I will be looking forward to using these every day!

Goodness!

2010-06-06T23:27:00.000-04:00

This weekend I was very excited to finish up our quotation from Henry David Thoreau: Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

First, Steven came up with a design for me:

That type is Rockwell, and though I couldn't translate it perfectly into a cross-stitch pattern, I think it provided the proper inspiration. Here's how the stitching came out:

And I was even ambitious enough to stick it in a frame! Here it is framed:

Now we just have to find a good spot for it in our house!