A Needlebook Obsession

Hello! A confession here - I think I might have an obsession with needlebooks... I have a ton of them. Some I have made, some have been made by friends. One was made by my dad - my favorite of all. Let me show you some of them - then you decide - do I really  need a kit to make more????

Wool needlecases with stamped die cuts on top two. Bottom left is simple wool applique. Bottom right was given to me by a friend - just a few pieces of wool sewn together - functional. Second picture is these cases opened up.

Made by a friend - silk embroidery.

Another silk embroidery case by my friend.

A beautiful fan shaped needle case with tons of silk ribbon flowers on the front. Beautiful inside and out. Made by my friend.

Cute wool beehive case - made by me.

Wool felt case made by a friend.

Simple 30s fabric case - made by me.

More silk ribbon cases from my friend. She passed away a couple years ago, and I bought these at her estate sale.

A simple roll case - made by me.

A felt and wool felt case - made by me.

This one is my favorite. My dad made it during WWII. He was a marine and fought in several larger battles. I imagine this was his field sewing kit. He left it to me in his will.

This was made from wool by me - just a simple case.

This crazy needle case was made by a friend of mine. It is made entirely from French knots - over 100 per inch!

Make It Monday #205: Confetti Cluster Stamping

Hello! I have a card for Papertrey's Make-It-Monday this week. Lizze Jones showed us how to use little confetti-type stamps and a basic shape to create a design element on our card. You can see the video here.
For my shapes, I used the balloon die cut negative from Birthday Style. I used confetti stamps from Shakers and Sprinkles. The ink colors I used were Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise and Limeade Ice. The sentiment is also from Shakers and Sprinkles. This card will go out to my 6 month old grandson. I send my grandkids birthday cards each month.

Hope you are having a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Scratch Embroidery

Before this month, I had never heard of chicken scratch embroidery. I have so many different hobbies already - I didn't need another one. But alas, Erin had to go and introduce chicken scratch stamps over on the Papertrey site on Nicole's blog here. I thought I was safe for a while. I googled and pinterested "chicken scratch" and wasn't overly impressed. I figured I'd pass on this one.

Then the other day I was in a quilt shop and saw some beautiful aqua gingham fabric. Aqua is my favorite color. Cannot resist it! So I bought a yard and thought maybe I'd give chicken scratch embroidery a try. Just a try. Not going crazy with it - yet.

So I searched on Pinterest and found a couple tutorials for actually doing the embroidery on gingham fabric. It started to look inviting. So I cut a 9" x 9" square of that beautiful aqua fabric and some Size 8 white pearl cotton and gave it a try.  It's actually very easy once you wrap your head around it.
Oh.my.gosh! I really really loved the results! The pearl cotton just makes the design jump off the fabric! I.think.I'm.hooked! So I made a little 4" square of a simple design using just the basic stitches, and then made it into a pincushion. LOVE!

This is the basic stitch pattern I used. Just four double cross stitches, four straight stitches, and then the weave through the straight stitches. I did the weave twice to make it pop.

Pinterest Link

I can't believe how the stitches transform the gingham! So I think my next project will be to make two little aprons for my two granddaughters with a chicken scratch border along the bottom. Not quite this elaborate, but along this line.

 

Pinterest link

So what do you think? I think I need to order those stamps so I can make a coordinating tag!!! It never ends! Good thing it's so fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Make-It-Monday #203 - Doodling with Stamps

 Hello! Thanks for stopping by today! I am entering the card to the left in Papertrey's Make-It-Monday this week. Ashley showed us how to doodle on our stamps. It's alot harder than it looks though. At least for me! I think you need to be relaxed to make this work, and I think I was just trying too hard. My first attempt (see last card) was awful - way to busy. The second attempt (see left) was much simpler - and the one I will enter for the MIM challenge.

The third attempt below was ok - just not my favorite. I will keep practicing at this technique, because I love the look it brings to your cards.

I used Beautiful Blooms 2, and the Swoosh dies.

 This was my first attempt - way too busy!

Thanks for stopping by!