Red Love

I may have mentioned at some point that I like the color red.  My Pinterest boards are full of Red Ideas...the top two photos are images that I have pinned.  The first is a tutorial from Purl Soho.  I simply took a pre-made white tea towel and did three lines of decorative stitching with a deep red thread.  Modern and vintage at the same time!  The second photo is from http://lilliathome.blogspot.com/search/label/Jul and is in Norwegian, so I am not sure what it all says, but I took the cross-stitch pillow idea and designed my version in Bernina V6 Embroidery Software in the cross-stitch program.  It was quite easy:  just click in a square that you want a stitch.  I made a towel out of a deep red Osnaburg fabric.  Love that fabric and color, don't you?  I used a wash-away stabilizer and stitched away.  I threw the towel in the washer and dryer to remove any stabilizer and this is how it looks - straight out of the dryer, no ironing.  Red and white Heaven!  Jerilynn 

Name Coasters

Remember the snowflake name coasters I  made last Christmas?  I though I would come up with another name idea for this year.  I made the snowflake by digitizing a name (Lori in the snowflake picture), mirror-imaging it and wreathing it 6 times in a snowflake pattern.   Hmmm, what else could I make by wreathing a name.....duh!  A wreath!  I added some hot-fix crystals just for a bit of holiday sparkle.  Any week now Bernina Embroidery Software Version 7 is coming out.  I can easily say that I am just more than a little excited about learning all the new stuff it can do.  I hope the wreathing tool is still there.  I  need to make a bunch of name wreaths.  Jerilynn  P.S.  Can you tell what the two names are in the new coasters?

Going in Circles

Circular embroidery attachments for sewing machines are so much fun.  Pfaff has one for their  machines now and it is very sturdy and easy to use.  I also have an attachment for my Bernina and my Brother.  I guess you could say I really like using them - and each machine has their own unique stitches, so I have been having a great time thinking of new projects to make with them.  I came up with a good idea!  I thought it would be fun to try to put in a zipper with the circular attachment and make a half-circle bag.  The idea worked great!  I  made a jewelry pouch, a sewing kit pouch, and a smaller pouch to stick in a bag for money, etc.  They are lined and have an inner layer of Soft and Stable for padding.  I will probably write a pattern for this technique.  I will keep you posted when this is done.  In the meantime, I am preparing for the Sew Club lecture at Sew Complete in October. Of course I have too many projects I want to finish and too little time.  Some days I feel as if I am just going in circles.  Jerilynn

Apple Woolfelt Coasters

What a gloomy day.  Still hot and muggy and no sun for a decent shot of my newest coaster set.  I am getting an order ready and thought I would come up with a new variation of an apple design I did last fall.  I think they turned out pretty cute, but I need to work on the sew-out order.  Too many jump stitches for this lazy-trimmer.  This is the last big lake weekend of the year, and probably the last weekend before the front of our house gets torn up.  I am  excited about the new addition-to-be, but realize that things are bound to get messy.  Carl and I made a pact when we put on the big addition a couple of years ago not to get upset about the inevitable snags in the plan.  We agreed to figure out solutions and look at the problems as opportunities to be creative.  Even though a three season screen porch is a minor project, there will be surprises.  I have a long list of things that should have been done yesterday to keep me busy in the studio.  I will supervise from above.  When I think that I need a mental break, I will turn to my simple little Woolfelt coasters that seem to amuse me to no end.  In the meantime, I need to spiff up the house and make a food plan.  Apple pie sounds good. Jerilynn

Getting Ready for Snow

The weather.  Let's talk about the weather.  Carl always says that there will be a winter storm during the high school basketball finals at Madison.  He also says that it will usually get very hot once school starts in the fall. He is usually spot on.  Although some kids don't start school until after Labor Day, and I see that the really hot/humid weather should break by then, some kids have started, and it has been a muggy mess.  Last winter was cold and snowy and loooooong.  I am sure there are all kinds of predictors for this year, but I am prepared for Old Man Winter.  I have made a new set of coasters that I am calling Cabin Blanket Coasters.  How do I ever come up with such clever names?  My furniture will be protected from coffee, hot chocolate, and warm spiced wine.  For sale soon at Idlewild, a local Outfitting store that is chock full of cool clothing and decor.  You better go buy a set or two before the snow flies.  Jerilynn

Tackle Box Catch-All

We do not have a junk drawer in our small kitchen. There is a drawer in one of Carl's tool cabinets that has an interesting assortment of "stuff" leftover for the junk drawer at our condo. I am sure he would be delighted if I would sort/toss/discover the contents. Feeling very noble about the lack of said drawer in the kitchen, I spied the file basket at the end of the counter that we use for pens, paper, chargers, sunglasses, flashlight....hmmm...we HAVE a junk drawer and it is right there - in plain sight all along! In the meantime, I bought a vintage green tackle box to put in the niche under our tv to hold coasters and playing cards. Unfortunately it was about 1/16" too tall. It was just patiently waiting for a good idea. I dumped out the contents of the basket file, and wish I had taken a picture of what was in there. Just like a junk drawer, it had a puzzling amount of odds and ends. Even if I had ever needed any of it, I wouldn't have known to look for it there! I also have the inability to throw away pens or pencils, even if they don't write well. So, the spot to grab a pen to write a quick note had about 50 to choose from. Armed with the desire to utilize the tackle box, I whittled down the pens to a few favorites (wow, it was hard to toss the remaining writing utensils. Aren't they still good for something?) a small stack of cut scrap paper, two phone chargers... You get the picture. There is even built-in measuring on the tackle box lid for quick sizing. It is cute, efficient, and the lid can close. Check back with me in 6 months to see what curiosities accumulate within. Jerilynn

Quilt-As-You-Go

I like going to sewing/quilting/photography classes in my red jammies.  Of course, the classes are online, and I usually watch them with a cup of coffee, lazily starting my day.  I think that if I keep watching techniques, eventually something will stick and I can apply it to real life.  I have taken quite a few Craftsy classes, some free and some for pay.  Of the half dozen or so that I have watched, only a couple were disappointing.  Some I would even watch again - so much good info was presented that I may have missed something the first go-round.  One class that was really good was the class by Tara Rebman, Quilt-As-You-Go Patchwork Bags.  The main project was the Tinker Tote, first picture above.  The class included the pattern for the bag, and very good step-by step instructions, presented with humor and lots of good hints.  The quilt-as-you-go technique has been around for a while, in many different forms, but this one is simple and straight forward, producing neat results.  The drawback to some other methods is that the back of the quilt has some start and stop problems.  Tara gets around this by quilting the patchwork top, then adding a back.  The first project in the class, to introduce her method, is a sew, flip, quilt potholder.  Pick fun fabric scraps, some heat-resistant batting, cotton batting, and thread.  Zip, zip, top is done.  Add a cute fabric back and do some quilting in the ditch.  Round the corners to avoid mitering, and stitch on a bias binding.  A fun, quick project when you are avoiding doing what you really should be doing.  Did I write that out loud?  Jerilynn