Here's an easy embroidery for December. Many of you may be really busy getting ready for the holidays so I wanted to do something with just embroidery, no applique. The outer edge is just 2 rows if stem stitch with all 6 strands of floss. I then added seed beads in between the rows. The rest of the embroidery back stitch and french knots with 3 strands of floss. This would be great done on a dark fabric and the poinsettias done in white.
Late as usual but here it is. I'm still dealing with a bad case of the blues since losing Dillon and had a hard time deciding what to draw. Once the leaves started turning such pretty colors (LOVE maples!) I knew a simple branch would be prefect for me to do. If it's spring where you are do the leaves in shaded of green and add some french knots or seed beads in a pretty color for flowers.
Only 1 day late! It's been really extreme around here. Sunday was the DH's birthday, Monday was our anniversary, and on top of that my sweet Dillon is not doing well at all. His vet put him on tranzene which is an old time nerve pill. I know all about it cause I was on it a long time ago. I had to take half the child's dosage most of the time so I wouldn't fall asleep. My poor baby was sleeping so much and so sound we thought he had died a few times. After 2 seizures last week we were willing to try anything. Tests aren't showing anything major so again it's all a mystery which sucks. Personally I think it's the meds he gets for fleas, ticks, and heartworm. I truely believe that stuff is what caused my sweet Spice girl to have them and probably even Murphy. NOT a fan of any chemicals of any kind! Ok thanks for listening but back to this month's embroidery.
I made small yo-yos for the centers of the sunflowers but the circle could be filled in with french knots or buttonhole stitch.
I've been thinking about starting to sell things at my Etsy shop and at Ebay that have to be mailed. Right now all that's up at Etsy are PDFs of my patterns.
I have 2 plastic tubes with Halloween dolls and 1 with Christmas stuff I'd like to sell but I quite selling anything that resulted in me going to the post office last year once covid hit.
You may have noticed I also stopped selling tatting shuttles and that was because of covid, too. I'm thinking about selling them again. I love the large Tatsy shuttles for big projects and they are made in the US!!! Over the years I found Clover shuttles very popular so I'm looking for a wholesaler for their line. Another problem with this is that I'll have to open an account with a new distributor and that usually entails a $200 or more order and then I have to hope they'll still give me a good discount. In case you didn't know not all wholesalers give a 50% off discount even when they insist on large orders.
So it's all up in the air, just thought I'd write about it since a customer asked about my decorated shuttles.
I cut the 'sand' fabric from the fabric in the background. I LOVE seashells and had planned on doing just a large shell in the heart but after playing around with my sketchbook I prefered this. I really liked the pennant banner.
Well, here it is and as always it stays up free until google makes me delete photos or I have to move my blog elsewhere.
Right click the pattern to save it to your hard drive. You'll need to print a pattern for tracing then you'll need to cut it out for the fabric pattern. You may want 2 patterns printed.
©Billie Jo Heisler 2021
All rights reserved
Disclaimer:
I drew this design by hand then used a software program to edit it.
Please consider the drawing copyrighted. You have my permission to print copies of the drawing in any size for your own use but not to share or sell. If you want to share the pattern please link to the blog pages.
The embroidery design is my own. I have not knowingly copied anyone else's work.
I decided I needed a new sketch book for all the Angela Kennedy classes I'm going to do. They're not so much classes as examples to try. I did buy one of her classes on etsy which I want to find time for. I'm going to do some decoupage with her name and one of the drawings for the sketch book cover. I have some nice scrapbook paper for the background.
Since I've learned so much from Tam's Kaleidoscope classes I dug out the case I keep my paints in to find my gesso and medium. Sad to say both had gone bad so I had to buy new. The medium is in the photo. I still need to get some gesso. I also found I had water color pencils, surprise to me :), so I bought a pack of water color brushes. Christa Forest used them in her class. This women is freakin' amazing!!!!!! I love watching her work. I don't have the patience to learn to draw and paint like her but it is such a pleasure to watch her.
I found a YouTube video on using color pencil on fabric and a tip was to use Loc-Tite mounting putty to erase. Well, I never knew you could erase these pencils from fabric so I bought a package to try. Results: after smooshing a piece up I tried erasing some purple pencil from fabric. It did remove most of the pencil. Maybe if I kept at it, it all would be gone. Not so good on paper, though. It didn't work at all. I got out my Pentel Hi-Polymer eraser and it took it right off the paper. BTW, it didn't work on the fabric which was just white cotton
The 2 spiral bound books in the background I found in my paint box. Forgot I had bought them ages ago. Just packed them away since I really wasn't doing much drawing then. They're pretty old (copyright1988). I'm always on the look out at used book sales for any craft books so I guess that's why I bought them.
I did forget to add the new 0.5 pencils, the Pentel clicky erasers and Fiskars pencil sharpener I bought. I like to use the smaller lead pencils when drawing Johanna's inky creations but I still like my old Berol Turquoise with 4H lead for Angela's girls. I bought the pencil, 2 lead refills, the sharpener needed for them, and my big set of Prisma pencils when an old stationary store went out of business. Jack and I went overboard buying up various pens, pencils, rulers, paper, and other things at 50% to 75% off. I got a 60 pencil set for under $25.
I'm also finishing up the August free embroidery and 'The Fall Stall' pattern. I spent a few hours this afternoon sorting thru doll patterns I started then put away so I have 2 of those I really want to work on. Finally finishing the new seahorse pattern made me want to make dolls again. As always I'm juggling way too many projects but I find it keeps me from getting bored. It also helps to put something away for a while then go back to it. It gives you a fresh eye to see what you really should change.
Don't forget to come back for the free August embroidery!
Ever since I took Johanna's online classes last year I've been wanting to buy a copy of this book. I found a like new copy on ebay so I bought it! It came last week but with walking dogs and the extreme heat I just haven't had the desire for drawing. The sketch book is from last year. It's not like I really need another hobby but this is something to just enjoy and inspire my embroidery designs.
I'm trying to finish up another large design. I'm almost done with the quilting but then I have a lot more to do. I'm updating the Fall Stall design I gave for free in 2019, adding a lot more to it to make it worth buying. Now it will be a quilted wall hanging with even more embellishments! I'm doing all the quilting by hand so it's taken longer than I wanted but after sewing one bit by machine I ended up picking it all out and doing it by hand.
Hope you all have got your covid shots, if not take care of your self and those around you.
Here it is the freebie for the month. It was inspired by this fat quarter I bought at Walmart.
You won't find the tiny fishes on the pattern because I added them after I had already drawn it. They are a twisted chain stitch. I also added a chain stitch on the boat. It just seemed to need some sort of stitch to decorate it. I'm thinking filling it in with buttonhole stitch would have been better.
The tiny birds are just straight stitches with a french knot for the body. I chain stitched the top of the heart with light blue and the bottom with dark to make the wave. Then I added yellow running stitch. I haven't sewn it to any fabric yet because I may use the anchors instead of the boats. I'll do another row of running stitch when I do sew it on the square.
Here's the pattern:
How busy are you? Here are some of the craft things I’m doing when I’m not doing the regular house chores, mowing grass, gardening, and helping the husband with whatever he’s working on.
I’m working on some new patterns. One is for a cloth animal that took me forever to find fabric I liked and even now I’m wishing for something else. That means it will get set aside while I move on to the other big project. It’s a new series of tatting patterns like my seasons series.
I was going thru some patterns I designed even before the
original ones printed by Handy Hands. I need to see if she is still printing
the book. If not it reverts back to me and I can sell it the way it was
originally designed. As for this new pattern, I have to remake some of the
samples simply because the threads for some are no longer being made. I’ve got
2 more to do, then comes deciding what I’ll put them on. I haven’t tatted in
probably over 2 years. I moved on to other hobbies and just lost interest until
I came across these old designs. If it didn’t take so long to tat I’d have even
more patterns. You know I even designed a bunch of jewelry patterns but never did anything with them because I was afraid someone else may have already designed something similar. That's the problem with tatting.
When I’m not working on those items I’m working on a book with over 20 patterns. I’m not ready to reveal what they will be for since I haven’t decided whether I’ll sell it myself or try to get a contract with a publisher. It’s so hard to give up control and let a publisher take over.
Oh, and I don’t want to forget all the embroidery and quilting I’ve started (and not finished) in various containers in my sewing room. All I seem to finish are the monthly freebies I put here on my blog.
So what’s this all about you ask? I recently added some more hobbies. I took some free weeklong art classes called Kaleidoscope 2021 free taster classes put together by Tamara Laporte. I thought some of them would help me with designing new doll faces and working with colored pencils. I enjoyed the classes so much I went out and bought water colors (which I haven’t used since I was a child) and a large box of sketching supplies. Now I’m looking for more classes. Here’s some pictures of results of 2 of the classes.
Of course instead of just drawing Tam’s dog and painting it, I turned it into an embroidery, too. I really liked the class of the girl with the bird on her shoulder. Angela Kennedy was the teacher. She has artwork on etsy and I just found here Facebook site called 100 days of hair, and yes I'm going to do them even when I know I'm over stressed with making stuff now. Last year it was Johanna Basford and now it’s learning how to use watercolors after drawing.
When I started Johanna’s free classes last year I bought a sketch book and some good erasers but after these classes I went out and spent (for me) a lot on art supplies. Now I’m stressing over whether I’ll really use them, should I return them, or should I just keep them. I mean did I have to have the large sketching kit? No, I could have bought a small one for half the price. Will I ever use the all the charcoals in it? I’m beginning to realize that I most likely won’t. It was the little case it all came in that “called” to me. I love those sorts of things. At least I did get the small watercolor case since I knew I may not use it very often.
After reading what I just wrote, it has made me realize the case will be going back and I’ll get the smaller set of just pencils and a new pack of blending stumps. The art classes are supposed to be a calming fun hobby but if buying supplies I may not use is making me stressed it’s not working. I’m not good with spending large amounts on craft supplies any more. I have SOOOOOOOOOO much I’ve bought and never used.
There’s all the supplies for microscope jewelry that I really wanted to make but it seemed like every time I got them out Mom would call. By the time I got off the phone I lost my muse so I’d put it all away again. Well, I can’t blame Mom anymore since she’s gone, now it’s the husband. I just know if he saw me trying to solder there’d be all kinds of “helpful” hints and he’d take over. Another hobby I used to love was making fur bears using old fur coats and new fake fur. I still have a large box (the kind Chewy deliveries come in) filled with coats, fur, eyes, silk thread for the noses, books, and lots of magazines. I got so tired of the fur sticking to me, the dogs, and getting all over the house I just gave up making bears out of fur. I need to sort everything so I can sell it all on ebay. At least I didn’t go too overboard with scrapbooking supplies. I realized early on it just wasn’t for me. Then there are all the doll size chairs and the pumpkins and the feathers and the fabric. I’m thinking I no longer want to a part of the ‘she who dies with the most craft supplies wins’. What’s the point of having so much stuff that instead of being inspired you feel overwhelmed? Guess that means I’ll be adding to the piles of sell, donate, toss. Now to make the time to take pics for ebay.
BTW, if you going to Tam’s site, willowing.org you’ll see more classes for Kaleidoscope 2021. It will be in August. Of course these you have to pay for. Tam does beautiful fantasy style artwork. Her drawings make me want to make them in cloth, not just draw them.
The next embroidery will be up soon :)
I had soooo many ideas for this pattern that I kept setting her aside. I decided that this past winter was going to be the time I finally finished her. She is an updated version of my old seahorse riders pattern.
I have Seafoam tucked in some seashells and that's how I plan to display them but just like the original pattern you can add thread or fishing line to the top of the seahorse and hang them.
Here's another pic so you can see the fin Kailani is sitting on and the ruffled bustle over her pants. Her hair is Tibetan lamb wool. I bought the skin at Ebay and cut the wool from it to attach to Kailani's head.
Seafoam's fins are wired with fun wire and pearls. I decorated both Kailani and Seafoam with seashells, beads, pearls, sequins, and glitter.
Now about Kailani's name. It is a girls' name and is pronounced kye-LAH-nee. It is of Hawaiian origin, and the meaning of Kailani is "sea and sky". As a sea nymph she can breath under water and in the air.
I know you're surprised that I got this up right at the beginning of the month. I decided to go with the theme June weddings. This would make a cute shower gift for the bride. Embroider it in her wedding colors and instead of 'June' use their initials, the year, or you may be able to squeeze in the date numbers.
Of course you can make this with both birds the same. Skip all the decorations on the birds and have them holding a charm or other item where their becks meet. Instead of all the French knots use tiny seed beads. I used narrow silk ribbon for his bow tie and her bow at the tail.
I'm not sure what fabric I'll sew this embroidery to so the photo shows 3 but I'm already thinking I'll not use any of them and instead go for a pink fabric with swirls I have.
Here's the pattern:
It was my birthday last week and the DH got me another pair of Silver Forest earrings. He knows I love their designs plus it makes it easy for him to shop. We both HATE shopping even for ourselves. I'd like some holiday themed earrings but with a birthday in May and anniversary in August there's not much to choose from. Last year he did buy me a pair with flags but I'm not real crazy for them.
Here's a pic of almost all of my Silver Forest earrings. A few are missing, probably mixed with with all my jewelry findings. The pink earring on the left were a free pair I got after filling out a form found at their web site. You save the stickers that come with the earrings, so it's buy 5 and get a pair free. I also have a black pair missing from the picture that was free. I didn't choose the pink and gold pair and they're just not my style so I'll use them for some jewelry designs or maybe just sell them.
I also got these. I'm a Jenny Fan. Her books put a funny spin on dealing with panic attacks and other similar problems. The plants were a gift I bought for myself.
It was a nice birthday because as usual there was a dog competition that Jack worked so I had most of the weekend to myself. I'm betting most of you would not be happy that your husband didn't take you out to eat or at least do something with you. I don't eat out because of being lactose intolerant so that's always a no go and I don't want to sit around in the heat watching the dogs run around. Ah, but I do enjoy having time to my self to finally get my email cleaned out and work on projects. Below is a doll for a new pattern that's almost done! Hope to have her ready before the end of June.
It's bad enough to deal with feeling panic when wearing a mask but when my glasses fog it gets really bad. While cleaning out a drawer I found this bottle that my husband had bought years ago when he liked to take waterfowl pics. It stopped his camera lenses from fogging so I thought I'd try it on a pair of Flower glasses (Drew Barrymore at Walmart) I had and it WORKED!!!!!!!!
I don't know if it would work for everyone but it did for me. Wish I would have found this a year ago :( I put a drop on each side and used a clean cloth like it said to dry as I did each drop.
You may wonder why I'm still wearing a mask when my state allows those fully vaccinated to go without unless the place you want to enter still requires it. Well, my allergies are the worst they have ever been so I cough a lot. To avoid grief from others it just seems easier to wear a mask.
The reason I ask about Aldis is that I found the cutest garden boots there last week. But I do have one problem with them, the chickens think the flowers are real and keep pecking my feet :)
Still have a head cold but I guess it's part seasonal allergies, too. It's making me SOOOOOO tired and other than a minimal amount of housework not much is getting done. I've tried a few different medicine and one for coughs and mucus seems to help the most. The DH is getting tired of hearing me cough and the snoring that's coming from not being able to breath well is keeping him up. I just remind him of when he snores and I have to move to the livingroom to get some sleep. I'm just glad I did get both my covid shots so I don't have to worry about going for one.
The pic above is of a begonia I got at Easter. Isn't it really pretty? Behind it are 2 kalanchoes and a poinsettia. I used to grow a lot of african violets but don't seem to be able to keep them alive anymore. I think the house is too dry in the winter for them.
I keep all my UFOs on the shelf with the crate that has the hearts stenciled on it. The crate and 2 shoe boxes have various doll projects as does the crate at the bottom of the pic with the stenciled pineapple and the box to the left of it.
Hope you are all feeling well. PLEASE get a covid shot and wear a mask so we can get back to some normalcy.
The last few weeks have been insanely busy. Between working on new patterns, writing directions, walking dogs, cutting grass, getting both covid shots, and then dealing with a cold I'm worn down mentally and physically. The shots made me tired and I had a SORE arm but that was it for any complaints. It's this cold that's stressing me.
May is my birthday month so I wanted to do a fantasy version of a May flower I love, bleeding hearts :) You'll see the finished version doesn't have the tiny flowers that are on the pattern. I decided to wrap the border so left them off.
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Hope you all had a good Easter. We had a quiet one with just the 2 of us for dinner. I was so tired after making the meal since the DH was helping a friend do some work at his place.
I'm still getting over some stomach trouble I had for a week then getting my first covid shot. The shot just made me tired and my arm hurt for 2 days but Tylenol took care of most of the pain. As for the stomach upset, I'm finding my body no longer tolerates beef real well. A small burger or 1 small meatball seems ok but not roast or steak. They just sit too heavy. I'm sure all the garlic I used for the roast didn't help either. I spent a week hardly eating and mostly sleeping. I wasn't sure I'd make it for the covid appointment. I did and I'm so glad the local hospital decided to lower the age requirement so I wouldn't have to wait until the state did. Jack and I have both had 1 shot. He goes back on Friday for his second. I'm being very careful of what I eat since I don't want to miss my second on the 21st.
For years I've had stomach trouble every spring. My doctor said that the change in my diet causes my IBS to act up more but I also think it has to do with overeating from stress and being too overweight. I'm only 5 foot, barely 1 so I should be under 120pounds which I'm not. Since I have a phobia about medication I used food to deal with anxiety instead. As long as I knew I wasn't going anywhere I snacked all day. If I knew I was going out I didn't eat at all and since I tend to being somewhat housebound that meant WAY to much chips, sweets,and things I baked. Right now I'm eating so much better and a lot less. Now if I could only keep this up :)