Craft Attack

Work has slowed down a little, and it's been hot/humid, so I've spent a lot of time inside, working on craft projects.

I traced the image of a marigold from an art book and hand embroidered it.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out and now it's framed in my office!  Marigolds are one of my favorite flowers.

I finished knitting myself a pair of vintage-style Scandinavian mittens.

I have small hands, but these mittens are still very slim-fitting.  I really like this traditional feather-and-fan pattern.

I've been trying to practice both precision and color-matching in sewing, so I tried this sample block.  The blue is a little bright, but it exactly matches the flecks of blue in the white fabric.  There's still room for improvement, but with practice comes more precise points! 

I bought a new dress pattern that's modeled on traditional German dirndls, with a laced-up midsection.

Here's a sketch showing more detail:

Really looking forward to making this!  Speaking of garment making, I had a real breakthrough this week.  I'd picked up a pattern on clearance, forgetting that pattern dress sizes have no relation to actual clothing size.  So, the size 6 - 14 pattern I bought actually went no larger than 28" for the waist. 

I studied the schematic and figured that I could measure the space between sizes and increase it until I found my own size.  I used a big roll of thrift store paper tablecloth to trace on...

...and then made my toile, or practice garment, out of some old sheets. 

It's just pinned or basted together with large stitches, but it seemed to fit well enough.  I used my enlarged pattern pieces and cut my fabric...

It all came together in one rushed afternoon and IT FIT PERFECTLY!

I learned so much by making this.  More practice at putting in zippers, and my first time doing gathers (those tiny pleated folds beneath the waistband).  First time making a toile and enlarging a pattern, too.  I also learned to pay attention to fabric type:  I dutifully cut, sewed, and hemmed a wide piece of fabric on the bottom, but since it doesn't contrast with the original fabric, it's not even noticeable on the skirt. 

I love the fabric and the skirt looks pretty, but I won't be wearing it.  Another great learning experience:  learning what does and does not work for my body type.  This design is just not a flattering fit.  The wide top panel accentuates the waist and stomach, and a set of gathers starts just above the widest part of the hips, accentuating THAT part too.  So I'll just chalk this up to a great learning experience, recycle the fabric, and try again! 

I finished a baby cardigan for a friend.

It's really more like a little coat, and the first time I've put a lining in a knitted garment.

I was torn over which fabric to use...

...but in the end, I went with the plaid.  It was so easy.  I just cut a big rectangle out of an old plaid shirt of Todd's (cut on the bias, or diagonal, to give more stretch), pinned it into the proper shape, and whip-stitched the edges.  It didn't take any time at all!

I will definitely be lining more cardigans!  It was good to get my rubber stamps out again, too.  I've been feeling a little guilty for my vast supply of card-making tools that I haven't used lately.

Tabitha was a huge help, as usual!

I can always count on her to lend a helping hand or "supervise" the job.

Hope you've had some time to craft lately...have a good week! 

Snips and Snails and Snake-Back Scales

I've had a very productive two weeks!  I finished my little quilt.  I had enough red fabric in my stash for backing and had decided against anything more than a thin sheet of cotton for filling, so it was really a fairly simple process of laying down the backing, centering the filling and top sheet, pinning it, and stitching it on my sewing machine.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  Each square is about 5 inches, I think.

To bind all three layers together, I used light tan thread to stitch a few Xs  in the corner of every other square, right at the seam.  It only took about 30 minutes and is quite invisible!  I love this little quilt and only wish it was big enough for our bed!  :)

I finished my cross stitch pattern and am very pleased with how that turned out, too.

I'm going to frame it soon!

I was so excited about my spider idea last week that I decided to go ahead and try it right away.  I thought that it would be good practice with different kinds of stitches, and I was curious about the photo-to-finished product comparison.

Here's the original photo (not to muddy the waters, but I swapped swapped out the abdomen of this particular spider with another photo of the same spider, because it showed more detail):

I blew this photo up on my computer and used copier paper to hand-trace it from the screen:

Then I used a light box and water soluble marker to trace this design onto fabric.  I worked on it an hour or two every night before bed and got done fairly quickly.  Voila!

 Here's a side-by-side of the two abdomens:

It's not perfect, especially two tracings separated from the original, but I'm really excited about the possibilities. 

I found another pattern repetition today that is an intriguing possibility for embroidery.  I glanced out of my office window and saw this black rat snake on the ground below.

Round pupils = non venomous.  Black rat snakes are great to have around, although Tabitha was hissing and spitting from her window perch the entire time.  I didn't know that cats had opinions about snakes, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me.

All in all, a lovely snake!  But I really loved his scales.  I could see embroidering just this section of his body!

I'll definitely save a project like that for a later date!  

Lots of other wildlife around this week.  The birds, of course, are loving this cooler weather. 

A mockingbird...

(Female) Baltimore oriole...

...and an Eastern phoebe.

 

Our red fox is back, too, although he still looks awfully ratty...

With October right around the corner, it's safe to say it's almost fall in South Carolina! 

I decided to celebrate yesterday by making two giant cinnamon chip pumpkin scones with a cream cheese glaze.  I blogged about it here in 2011 and basically stick to the same recipe, but cut it in half and throw in a handful of cinnamon chips.  So good...especially in a saucer-sized serving!  

Todd and I have had a few too many 'saucer-sized servings' this year (sigh) and are going to both try to eat healthier foods, but I'm still going to shoot for baking at least once every two weeks...as long as I can give away the extras!

Have a great week!

Spider Backs and Wasp Attacks

The weather here is finally, finally starting to cool off and the wildlife is responding.  From my office window I've observed almost daily a little red fox (with a full tail - he must have been molting earlier and not infested with mange - thanks for the reader tip!) trotting into the woods.  The turkeys have been out and about, and just this weekend I saw a woodchuck ambling down the driveway!  Of course, the Canadian geese are settling in great numbers on the pond every late afternoon.  I love to hear them murmuring on the water at night.

This is the time of year for spiders.  A beautiful spiny-backed orb weaver has spun a web outside my office window.  It's too far off the ground for a picture, but I can watch him while I work.  His web is ingenious.  It puffs and moves in the breeze like a downed parachute, and those intermittent dashes of solid white warn away birds. 

He's no spider, but close enough...a harvestman lurks on a leaf.

On our deck is a large garden spider.  She is collecting her share of those pesky shield bugs that proliferate in the fall and tidily storing them in her web.

I've always enjoyed the pattern repetitions I've seen in nature, from tree bark variations to leaf veins to water ripples.  I have no talent with sketching or painting, but with hand embroidery I have the possibility to take tracings from photos and reproduce designs in thread.  Look at the detail and shading on her abdomen!  This will be my first challenge. 

Look at the abdomen of this little orb weaver!  Yellow, with just a smattering of brown dots.  Really cool. 

Here is another 'pattern repetition' that I'd love to reproduce in thread.  This is a hornworm caterpillar.  A real garden pest. 

See those white things?  Those aren't caterpillar eggs.  They're braconoid wasp cocoons.  The wasp lays her eggs beneath the skin of the caterpillar.  The larvae feed on the caterpillar.  As they mature, they push their way through her skin and spin cocoons.  When they're fully mature, they exit the cocoons and fly away.

Here is a close-up of the cocoons:

See the holes where the larvae pushed through?  Talk about battle-scarred!

If you look closely, you can see 2 larvae, newly emerged from the caterpillar.  I lost about 30 minutes watching them make their cocoons.

I think it would make such a cool embroidery project!  I'll tuck that away for a later date.

The trees have been fairly silent for the past 6 weeks, but birds are suddenly everywhere.  Bluebirds, titmice, catbirds, warblers, and other birds are filling the air with their calls.  Red-throated hummingbirds are in a frenzy at our feeder.  All sorts of woodpeckers, too, are knocking around in the trees.  We had a pair of piliated woodpeckers last week - the largest in the woodpecker family.  Love!

Our plants are responding to the cooler weather too.  Ferns are putting up their new bronzed leaves...

Beautyberries are maturing.

Chives are up!

Our gardenias and one group of azaleas bloom at random times.  They're going full-bore right now.

Now if we can only get to the point where our temperatures are consistently in the 60s and 70s, we'll be set!

Have a great week!