1 Day SALE!!! My First Alphabet

Hey everyone! It's been so quiet around here, but not behind the scenes. I've finished a few fun projects and I have a lot that I want to blog about! I just haven't had time to sit down at the computer and do it.

I did want to let you know that I will be having a  

One Day Sale  

TOMORROW TODAY 

 (Feb 18th)

for 

My First Alphabet paper piecing pattern

(on Craftsy only)

So if you've been wanting to try this, but have been holding off, tomorrow's your chance to get it for a deal! Don't miss it! I'll remind you again tomorrow with a few finishes of things I've made with it. :)

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!

Heart Art :: an oversized cross stitch pattern for Valentines Day! :)

Happy almost Valentines Day! :) I have been working on something fun lately, and I am so excited to share it with you! Though it definitely does not have to be a valentines-day-only item. I think I'm going to hang mine up all year long...

I have had so much fun making these! They are super quick! (I finished the blue one this afternoon, in between meals, stories, taking care of kids, etc.) The other two take a little longer, 2 nights max. They would be cute if you embroidered a word or saying in the middle/around them too. But I'm too chicken and don't want to mess them up. I would like to put LOVE in the middle of the pink one, maybe after I get a little more practice. ;)

Cross stitch is great though, it's so simple, and I've figured out a good way that is fairly fool proof. I haven't cross stitched since middle school, maybe elementary school, but it's definitely fun! :)

Supplies:

You of course can use whatever brand, supplies you like best, but this is what I used and am really happy with. :)
* 6" embroidery hoop
* fabric: something large enough to fit in a 6" hoop. Cotton works best, I made the pink ones with linen, but linen is a little bit harder to work with.
* Stick and Wash interfacing by Pellon. LOVE it! You don't have to iron it, and I guess it washes off if you want. It's a good stabilizer while stitching.
* Paper and Printer - to print off the pattern
* Scissors to cut out the pattern, and some for cutting your floss
* Embroidery floss. I used the variegated floss I won at Sewing Summit. Brand: Cosmo. I really like it, and I really like the effect the variegated colors give it.
* Glue stick or lapel stick
* Embroidery needle. I don't know what size mine is, but it's blunt and thick - which is especially good for the prep work.


The rest of the instructions I have written on the pattern sheet that you can download from Craftsy here. There are no pictures however, so if you are a picture person, be sure to keep reading. (I will also include a few extra tips below.) :)

Prepping:

Cut out your fabric.

Stick your stick and wash to the back of your fabric, in the center.

Place fabric in the center of your hoop.

Cut out the pattern piece, leaving a boarder around the edges. (I forgot to leave a boarder on the top.)

Generously apply your glue stick to the back of the pattern, especially in the corners, and cover the entire paper. Apply to the center of your hoop.

** You want to make sure your paper doesn't shift at all while prepping the pattern. If it shifts, your lines will be crooked and it won't turn out nice. Especially since you have the stick and wash between the paper and your fabric, I say the more glue the better (ok, but not too much. Just enough).

Decide if you are going to cross stitch the outside of the heart, or the inside. For this tutorial I did the inside, and will be poking all of my holes on the inside or white part of the heart. If you are going to do the outside, then you will poke your holes in the yellow part (the pattern is actually pink, but we ran out of ink and apparently still have some yellow left in there). :) 

**If you are doing the outside, this is where it is especially helpful to leave a boarder around the pattern when cutting it out.

Using JUST your needle, start poking holes in each corner of the squares you wish to cross stitch.

** A thicker needle will ensure that you will be able to see your holes later while you are cross stitching.

Poke through all layers, coming out the front.

Progress photo, for filling in the center. You could actually do all of it, making the center a different color than the outside. That would be cute too. :)

Progress photo of the front. Here is where cotton is a lot easier to use. The holes show up WAY better in cotton than in linen. In either case, the stabilizer is nice to have on the back, because the holes also show up well on it. I look equally at the back of my pattern as I do at the front while stitching.

All my holes are now punched - from the back

All the holes punched - from the front

Cross Stitch:

You can do anywhere from 2 strands to 6 strands. If you use all 6 strands, you will need a little bit more than one skein of floss (you can see how much I'm short in the photo below). If you do 2 or 3, you will have enough in one skein.

Using 6 strands. I love the look of the thickness of it, but I need to order more floss.

Starting in one corner, carefully peal the pattern back and start cross stitching in one direction. 

** With the linen, I found it necessary to keep my pattern attached to the back as I often needed to re-punch my holes. The cotton however, did not need that and I easily finished the heart without re-punching any holes.

Cross stitch the entire pattern in one direction.
I almost forgot to take a picture and already started going the other direction.

To mix up the colors a little more with the thread, I sometimes go around in different directions so the different colors overlap more. Just make sure you don't miss any "x"'s and that you don't trap yourself in later.

Keep going until it's finished!
Make sure to tie off all your ends.

I think I am going to turn this one into a pouch or something.
These would also be cute as a mini pillow, a pin cushion. or part of a mini quilt or quilt. If you are going to add it to a different project, be sure to plan accordingly and cut your fabric the right size, and center it in the hoop where you will want it to end up.

If you are going to keep it in the hoop, trim the edges of the fabric, and glue to the inside of the hoop. I really like these simple directions here for finishing your hoop: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42706337@N07/6134773975/

Finished Hoops:

I'm going to keep this one on my wall. LOVE it!

Close up

You can download the pattern HERE.


If you make one, I'd LOVE to see it! (seriously! I am thrilled every time I see someone make something inspired by one of my patterns or tutorials!) You can share it in my flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/fromblankpages/ or shoot me an email!

Happy Stitching!! :)

Winner Winner!

How did you all like the Rafflecopter?? I think I liked it, and would be happy to use it again. One thing that is nice about it, is that I can still read all your comments, but my email is not bombarded with entries. I Love your entries and comments, but with three little kids, it's impossible to look at my email all day. This is a good alternative... I can read them during breaks and it all works out! :)

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway for the free copy of "My First Alphabet"! I love all your ideas! and decided to make a list of them to share. There were a lot of creative ideas, and I definitely want to use some of them. :)

• A bag covered in type - inspired by an exhibit at the Hirschorn Museum
• My last name
• Love
• Son's/daughter's name - on a quilt, throw pillow, pillow case
• Love pillow
• Names: last name, son's/daughter's names, friends name, siblings names,
• Quilts for specific person with their name on it
• Pillow cover with our last name for our bed
• Some alphabet textile items
• back packs for the grandkids
• Karma framed on the wall
• "Stars" for the back of the lucky starts BOM quilt
• Quilt for daughter with "love always, Mama"
• awesomesauce. just because it should be used
• dogs name on a quilt
• baby quilt with baby's name
• A quilt for my daughter with nothing but positive words to lift her up everyday!
• a bib with the childs initial on it :)
• Peace
• A playmat
• Welcome... As a wall hanging!!
• I would make a wall hanging with words of inspiration..
• I need to finish a picture quilt and this would be perfect.
• A throw pillow cover with a short phrase or state name maybe? This alphabet is so cute!
• SEW
• Love
• Valentine
• faith
• I would like to make a pillow for my grandparents diamond wedding celebration
• I'd make a giant sampler quilt - whole alphabet
• I'd like to make a "Touch this quilt" quilt!
• Quilts for grands' names with appliques: S is for sun, etc
• supercalfragilistic! (sp)
• I might make a quilt with song lyrics. :)
• My first word would definitely be CALM (maybe with 337 exclamation points following it!)
• A Valentine's day pillow would be my first project.
• To make a diaper bag for my friends new granddaughter. Her name is going to be Faith and she wants it worked into the side of the bag. I'm thinking of using my Amy Butler Weekender Bag and this pattern for the front pocket
• I still have to finish my sons' quilts, and I would love to add a personal "love you" on the back of each.
• Blog name
• I have a saying perfect for our family which I would love to make into a quilt for my Mother in law - I can't remember it exactly but it's about a family being a circle, every new member makes it stronger and each loss brings it closer together. Love the alphabet!
• simple
• I have a lap quilt i need to expand without just adding a border; I would put inspirational words around the edges, I think!

Ok, ok, onto the winner:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats Nikita! I actually already contacted her and sent off the pattern.

 I will have to do another giveaway once my next pattern is out... they are too much fun. :)

If you are interested in getting a copy, you can find it on Craftsy or Etsy!

Thanks for all your support!!

It means the world to me! :)

A Lovely Year of Finishes - February

I was looking around Flickr and noticed that the link up for February for the Lovely Year of Finishes (flickr link, or read about it here at Sew Bitter Sweet Designs) closes tomorrow. I have one project in mind that I definitely want to finish up this year. ... so here is my link up blog post!

I know I already posted about this today... I have so many repeat things on my blog. Hopefully that will end as I finish things up!! Which is my ultimate goal, of course.

I want to finish my knitting needle roll!

I'm really trying to get more organized, as well as beautify my sewing/crafty space. I love looking at everyone's awesome sewing rooms, and then I look at mine and it definitely needs some help. ;) Anyway, I'm making this strip of 1" finished hst blocks for the front strip. Then I will use the tutorial here for the roll. I used this same tutorial for my Sew Sew Modern swap, and it was so quick and easy and turned out great! (sorry another repeat of info if you are a regular reader. p.s. thanks for reading!) ;)

So anyway, if you have a project you want to finish this month, be sure to go link up! 

You can win some prizes too if you finish. :)

W.i.P. Wednesday {2/6/12}

Hello! :) Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for a free copy of My First Alphabet, a paper piecing pattern. You can enter HERE. I am loving everyone's ideas for what they would do with it! Thanks for making my to-do list longer. ;)

I feel like I've been having Crafters ADD times a million lately. I am working on so many things, or at least feel like it. I keep going around in circles from one project to the next, but honestly, I think the variety helps keep me motivated and I feel like I'm accomplishing a lot. 

In the sewing area I have been working on my DQS13 mini. Here's where I'm at right now... 

I started with just a corner of it, and actually have one more row to test. I was SO nervous about how these colors were going to come together, but I am really loving it! I hope my partner does too! The single squares are 2.5" finished, and I have 39 more to go AFTER I finish this next row. They are small and the pattern is simple enough, so it goes fairly fast. :) It's my Starburst pattern (you can find it on Craftsy or Etsy).

I am also almost finished with a new cover for our mini trampoline. The original one got shredded!

New! and my little drummers.
I am hoping this one will hold up a lot better. ;)
I used some Home Dec fabric by Jessica Jones. Nice to finally use this from my stash.

All I have left to do is make wholes for the legs to go through. We will be jumping in style now! :)

I've also been slowly adding onto this project:

1" finished HST's. It makes me just a little bit mad (as in crazy) but I am loving it. I will be turning it into a knitting roll, similar to the one I made for the Sew Sew Modern swap. So excited to have something nice for myself for once. ;)

(ps. I'm still waiting for my items to arrive and I am DYING!!! It is so hard to watch everything awesome get snatched up and wonder what is going to be left for me... even though it's all awesome so I am in no way disappointed. The suspense is just killing me!)

While I was waiting for my Woodland Sampler to arrive, yep, I'm jumping on board with that one. I decided to do a little cross stitch of my own and came up with a little surprise. I want to have this up in the next few days... I want to make a million of these! (this is actually my second one!)

I don't think I've done any crossstitch since I was in elementary school, maybe jr. high. I LOVE it! It's so relaxing and fun. I'm really excited for my new, easy to travel with, project!

Though I want to turn it into a calendar instead of just a single panel. I'm using this cute button calendar from I heart Patchwork as my inspiration.

I am also slowly working on my honey cowl. Mostly just in the car while my hubby drives. I think I am officially the slowest knitter in the world! But I'm determined to finish it.

As for a finish, I made up this cute little zippy pouch for a good friend. It was her birthday on Sunday, and since we still had sickies, we all stayed home and it's still sitting on my desk. She'll get it this weekend at least. :)

I used some remix dots (I think) for Robert Kaufman. I picked them up at Sew Mama Sew while they were having a good sale. Love it! And the dots are awesome for spacing out my stitching. Wahoo!

The inside with a little pocket.

and I added a zipper pull. :)

It looks more like a St. Patrick's Day present with all the green. lol. :)


OH! and on the computer front (I told you I've been multitasking!) ;) I finished up the UPPERCASE letters of the new My ABC's pattern. Except we ran out of printer ink so I can't test it. It may be another few weeks before this one gets released. I'm excited about it though. and then the lowercase will be next.

Linking up at Freshly Pieced!

On the schedule for tomorrow... potty training. 

Wish me luck!

My First Alphabet Pattern Giveaway!

It is time for a Giveaway!!! I've decided to offer up a free personal use copy of My First Alphabet pattern to one lucky reader! (plus I really want to try out Rafflecopter, since I never have before.) :)

The pattern comes with 3 pages of instructions and tips, including how to add a little variation to your patterns. 

It also includes a paper piecing pattern for every letter of the alphabet (all uppercase).

If you are new to paper piecing, you can find a complete tutorial on my blog HERE (including a supply list and tips for cutting and finishing your blocks).

So let's try this out! All the ways to enter are in the Rafflecopter. If you have any questions, or it doesn't seem to be working, let me know. :) (UPDATE: I think I fixed it so you can answer the question in the Rafflecopter if you don't want to leave a comment on the blog. I can still read your answers either way, and love all the ideas so far!! My to-do list is getting longer!) :)

The giveaway is open from now until Wed, Feb 6th at midnight! 

I will pick a winner on Thursday after I figure out how to pick one. ;)

Thanks for playing along!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can find all my patterns on Craftsy and Etsy.