Ruler Sheath & Spring Hare T-shirt

This post is one of those where things just didn't come out as I had hoped.    I was recently reminded of some very cute free alphabet designs of Vavi.  Click here for the charts.   These designs were so cute, but it was not obvious how to use them given the size of the finish.  I got the idea to make them into 6" ruler sheaths as gifts for kids.  I plan to donate them to WOCS. 

My favorite was the "Jardin d'Oiseaux", i.e. "Garden of Birds".  So I got to work stitching it up on 36ct Edinburgh Summer Khaki linen.   As I stitched, I kept thinking about how I would construct the sheath, and I came up with several different ways in my mind's eye.  My mind's eye only sees what it wants to and seems to miss the tricky parts.    Besides having to go to 6 stores before I found 6" rulers.. who knew that this was another almost obsolete item?..., this turned out to be a bear to stitch up.  I almost ruined it with too much taking it apart and re-trying.  I'm not really happy with the result, but the at least the ruler fits nice and I kind of like the wraparound alphabet.  But I'll look for some other way to construct these in the future.  I don't plan to give up!

The second disappointment was in the category of "I should have known better".  I had a T-shirt that, once again, had a blueberry yogurt stain right in the center.   I figured I'd stitch a quick little motif over it to salvage the shirt.  I picked the little girl hare from Plum Street Hare's Easter.  

I knew that designs with stems and parts that are only one or two stitches thick just never turn out right on T-shirts.  But I had forgotten that rule.  The shirt is wearable, but the stitches are so wild, it's a nightmare.  Best to wear in the presence of near-sighted people who aren't wearing their glasses and are standing far way.

Hope my next post has a finish I'm happier with.

Ink Circles T-Shirt

Why is it that whenever I get sloppy and spill strawberry yogurt on a T-shirt, it has to be a new T-shirt?  Story of my life.  But waste canvas to the rescue plus a little freebie from Ink Circles,  Ink Spot #11, Celtic Swirls.  You can get the freebie by subscribing to the Ink Circles Newsletter. I changed the colors to try to match one I saw that someone stitched, but I kind of made that pink too light.  In any case, the strawberry stain is well-hidden.  Some weird rogue stitches with this as always happens when I work on this fabric.  T-shirts are just so stretchy and not at all well-behaved!

I finished another pair of fingerless gloves with the Fetching pattern, but I forget to take a photo before I gifted them.  They were done with Knit Picks Swish.  I love that yarn.  Just such a soft super-wash wool.

I had a surprise find a couple of days ago.  I was moving a bookcase and discovered I had stored and old piece of crewel embroidery behind it.  It wasn't in great shape at this point and I had completely forgotten about it.  It dates back from the 70's when you could buy marvelous crewel embroidery kits everywhere.  Take a look at all the different yarns and stitches.  Doesn't this look like a fun project?  I think it might be an old Bucilla kit or maybe some manufacturer that has long since bit the dust. 

Moulin Rouge at Dusk & a T-shirt

After I stitched that Moulin Rouge Dancer, I couldn't stop looking at a design of the Moulin Rouge at midnight in the same booklet. I wanted to stitch it, but the design was done on white with the the entire navy blue sky background stitched in. That sure didn't sound like fun. I thought about using a dark blue fabric, but that didn't sound like much fun either. So Lauren at Sassy's Fabbys came to the rescue and made a medium blue color for me, a bit darker than her standard Ebb Tide color. That way I could do a Moulin Rouge at dusk instead. As usual, the camera just wouldn't do justice to the great colors that really pop on this 18 ct Aida fabric.



One of my Jazzercise instructors just became a first time grandmother. Some of us agreed to decorate a t-shirt or onesie in some way and the collection will be presented to her as a class gift. I thought I had kind of mastered the technique of stitching on a t-shirt, but this little thing was so incredibly stretchy! From a distance it's pretty cute and the baby will outgrow it in a few months. And it will be given with a whole set of interesting shirts, so I'm not worried that it isn't perfect. The design is a Stickeule freebie you can fine here.

Summer Love shirt and other critters

When a designer creates a design especially with you in mind, you really can't do anything but take up the challenge. That was the case for me with Kirsten's "Summer Love". Modell's had an oversize shirt that was perfect for Jazzercising and part of a summer clearance for only five bucks. Who could resist? I tried to pick colors that would show up nice. That's always a challenge. The design elements may be a bit small, but I'm pretty happy with the results on this one, although my stitches are never really nice enough on a t-shirt. I've come to accept that!




And for those of you thinking of running away and joining a crochet circus, I have two friends you can join. These are my latest from the Crochet A Little blog:

Cross-stitch Tank Top

Just in time to wear on the 4th of July, I finished a little cross-stitch design on a tank top. The top is a very light, bright green, not a color I usually go for. So I thought I might like it better with a little embellishment. The shirt looks much paler (and even blue) in the photos. I used waste canvas, but it's still a struggle to get it to come out well. It'll do. Next time I might try adding some iron-on interfacing first, but I'm guessing I won't like working with that either. I could try wash-away stabilizer at some point.

The design is a Mausimom freebie, but I don't think it's available online anymore. At least the last link I had for it doesn't work now.





Now I want to find a design to use for this luscious floss I received from Mary after winning her contest on the San-Man board. This is 'Princess' from the Sassy Strings line. I've use lots of Sassy's fabrics, but I've never tried her floss. Very reasonably priced too.



Have a great 4th of July weekend everyone!

Four Seasons T-Shirt

I wanted to give waste canvas a try to see if I could cross-stitch a design on a T-shirt. I thought that had good gift potential. Turns out to be very difficult to get the stitches looking even. I started with a little summer design by Mausimom on the left. Since I didn't like the result too much, I figured I would continue doodling on the shirt for the practice. So I stitched all four seasons with a kind of odd lay-out since I hadn't planned on doing this originally. I will say that the act of removing the waste canvas threads turned out to be an oddly soothing activity. I expected that part to be the worst. Took this pic with my new camera. A scanner would have revealed way too much in the way of crazy stitching. But you can click on the image to see an enlargement.



I'll use it for Jazzercise or a night shirt. It's a men's XL, not meant for regular wear anyway.