Birdie Towel

I found this pattern over here and decided that I should make this one for my newly crafty sister-in-law Alyson, (check her out). She loves modern, birds, flowers, plus bright colors. When I first showed it to her, she didn't say much so I thought I would just keep it. But then she saw it at her garage sale yesterday while I was finishing it and she said she loved it! Funny. I told her good, because it was for her :D I just love the little birds....

I think it turned out pretty cute. I still feel like I have so much to learn about starting, finishing and different stitches, but my beginners class is tomorrow, so hopefully I will learn some stuff. Please don't look too close, but I am trying :)

How do you get the hoop circles out?!? I have tried to iron, but it doesn't seem to come out...

Kokeshi Towel

Here is the third towel I tried to embroider. I found this Free pattern over at Sublime Stitching : http://www.sublimestitching.com/freepattern_kokeshi (sorry I don't know how to do the shortcuts yet).

You can print it out on your home computer, hold it up to the light and trace it onto your towel and your good to go. They also have a gallery you can upload your creations too when you're done.

I used 3 strands for most of it and 6 for the hair because I wanted it to look nice & thick. I made this for my friend Danielle who made me the Mini Sushi Cakes when Goldy was in town. She is half Japanese and has a large collection of these dolls in her house. I packed it up in this cute box I had laying around and tucked her in there like she was sleeping.

I have never seen any of the cool patterns that I am finding online lately, I am really excited to try out some more :D I have one that I am working on and will post when I am done.

Fun Weekend

We had great weather and brought our camper up to my parents house and parked it in their driveway. This way we could still "camp" but stay close to the bathroom and kitchen! haha. Really my daughter wanted to camp and we didn't want to be gone for the whole weekend, so this was our compromise.

They have such a beautiful lake place it's like a vacation when you just go to visit. We fished, used the Slip-n-slide, watched birds, roasted hot dogs on the fire and Grandma even made us pancakes and sausage to eat in the camper.

I have to admit I did bring my new hobby along and tried to embroider by the fire. I was trying to thread the needle in this photo and I was able to finish ones of the free patterns I was trying out. I will post the photos next.

Another Towel done

Here is the second towel that I embroidered. My daughter thought that I really needed to add blue to this one, so the cup in the background is blue.

I decided to take a beginner's class to see what else I can learn about this new hobby. The class is at an awesome store called Crafty Planet in NE Mpls: http://www.craftyplanet.com/ It is at the end of the month so maybe my skills will greatly improve after that. hahaha

I have more to post stay tuned....

Latch Hook

Sophia's dad decided he wanted to get a Latch Hook kit so they could work on something together. I gave him a coupon and he ran to Michael's and came back with this kit. He remembered doing it as a child and wanted to introduce his little girl to Latch Hook, isn't that sweet :D

I told her I'd make it into a pillow when they were done with it.

Shhhh... Please don't tell

I snuck into the craft room today to finish a card I started a little while ago. I have a million other things that HAVE to be done, but I couldn't help myself when I walked by the open door today.

I bought these Stampin Up stamps called She's All That at a garage/craft sale and got a great deal on them, I didn't love the wording or the poodle so I left them off. I was thinking "It's a mod, mod world" as I was making this one. Paper is by Scenic Route.

Thanks for looking!!

New Hobby?

So I might have found a new hobby. Like I really needed another one. Oh well...

When I was at my fav craft store in St Cloud, Crafts Direct, I found some cool embroidery patterns that I thought I would try. I have always liked the towels that are at craft shows, but always thought they were kinda expensive and not really my style. I do have a few because I always appreciated the work that went into them. Now I know why they cost a bunch to buy, they take a while to make.

So this is my first one and I learned a lot and still have A LOT to learn!! But I enjoyed the process and did a bunch of it while taking a drive with my family. I feel a little like my grandma... But with cool patterns. I found patterns by Jenny Hart over at Sublime Stitching http://www.embroideryasart.com/ and she had some of the coolest patterns I have ever seen. I have always loved Retro, Funky designs so I really appreciate the fun stuff she does and patterns she provides.

I have started with a pattern by Aunt Martha because they are pretty inexpensive and I wasn't sure if I was going to like this or have the time(I still have to finish my cousins wedding invitations in the next couple of weeks). But I think I might be hooked, so soon I will try Jenny's awesome patterns. The pattern pack I am going to try is Krazy Kitchen.

Remember I am just a Beginner!! I am not a pro by any means, but I will list some things I have learned as I go to help others starting out. (don't mind the ring still in the towel, I was too excited to iron it before the photo!)

Card Parts

Here are pieces to make the belly bands for my cousins wedding invitations. Aprox. 150 of them...

City Parade

We live in a suburb of Minneapolis and this morning was the city parade. It started at 9:30, which isn't too bad except that the temp was in the 40's. It was the coldest parade we have ever been to! The kiddo was such a good sport :) maybe because they were throwing out candy...

More Flowers!

I'm a real estate appraiser and in the mortgage industry it seems like when it rains, it pours. So I have been trying to work my butt off lately when rates are so low. So on Sunday my daughter and husband went to run some errands, find a park, have fun etc.. so I could work. When they came back they brought me these awesome roses! They wanted me to know how much they appreciated my hard work. Somehow they found a mixed bunch which seems to fit :D

Hopefully I will be able to post some more card photos sometime soon, but I really haven't been able to make too many lately. I will have more photos of the wedding invitations I have been working on for my cousin.