few "makings" from the past month:

Blog-posting has become erratic lately, I know... You might be thinking I've not created anything "blog-worthy" the past few months -- you could be right. However, here's a sampling of a couple recent ventures.

I embroidered a tea towel for my sis:

I embroidered a couple vintage hankies for two dear friends to catch their tears at a loved one's memorial service:

I used my Silhouette cutter for some projects:

And yesterday I bought plants to finish a previously-unfinished crafting: 

 Stay tuned -- I have a biggie decorating reveal coming up!

December Embroideries

sooooooooo . . .

Just where did 2011 go?

I managed to get a little embroidering done for a few small gifts. 

First up was a tea cozy made from a vintage (cutter) quilt. It was kinda tough embroidering because the ?batting(?) was balled & bunched up in different places. (When I rinsed out the stabilizer I also dissolved some of whatever fibers were in there -- weird!)

(I'll probably add some more pics of the entire cozy at a later date.)

I love my new flatware design from Embroidery Library! 

I did quite a few towel sets for the various households in the family.

(Also did a simple hand appliqué on some bar towels for a hand towel.)

I embroidered a snuggle-soft blanket/throw for the in-laws. They moved here from Colorado over Thanksgiving and are hoping to close escrow on their new home in Surprise soon.

I did a tea light set for my sweet friend Sara. I used all white felt to mimic a porcelain nativity. 

I trust you had a blessed Christmas season, and are enjoying a fabulous start to 2012.

back to work...

The boys' Cita (Aunt Cynthia) & Uncle Chris & cousins were visiting over Thanksgiving. For her I embroidered a flour sack towel to commemorate our dinner.

"Ready for Harvest" design by Urban Threads

Because, at this house we don't do nasty sicky-sweet disgusting sweet potatoes with brown sugar & mini marshmallows! We chop root vegetables and roast them with rosemary oil. You would not believe how delicious they are -- all browned & caramelized from their natural sugars. . .

And yes, I did make my own rosemary oil (gots to do sumthin' with that rosemary bush growing in my garden!)

"Quickie" birthday gift for a boy

Have you seen these awesome towels at Costco?

Well, I hadn't. (And wasn't it "special" to have the check-out gal tell me yeah - we had a $3-off coupon for those that expired two weeks ago...  ummmm -- thanks?)


(Did you see the SIZE of this?)



So, I gets me towel home; & while my guys were off doing this

I set about the difficult time-consuming arduous task of monogramming. Yes, the time spent creating the design can easily be double (for a simple thing like 3 letters...) the amount of time the embroidery machine is running.

I decided to use script appliqué for his name. Not over-joyed by the look of the capital "I", oh well...

Because it is quite difficult to hoop a heavy towel (ok, near impossible) I hooped a medium tear-away then basted the towel & WSS topper after it was in the machine. (Because the loops in terry cloth can poke through embroidery, you've got to use some kind of a topping... The topper also helps when trimming appliqués. )

Embroider letter outlines

Trim close to stitching

Return to machine to finish the satin-stitching around each appliqué

Clean-up on reverse

Trim away excess WSS

Rinse WSS & dry towel

Fold, wrap & give your gift!