Becka’s Project Journal

The MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art) does a community exhibition once every 10 years called “A Foot in the Door“.  Anyone can enter a piece of art in nearly any medium as long as it fits in a box that’s 12x12x12 inches.  I can’t pass up an opportunity to exhibit something at the MIA!  This is a detail of my piece for the exhibition.  I won’t show you the whole thing until the show opens, that just seems like a spoiler.  This is made from my hand-dyed cotton fabric and embroidered with perle cotton thread. (Each of those squares is 1 inch, so you have a sense of scale.)

I love alphabet samplers.  This scrap of fabric was a remnant I found last fall and I have been waiting to make something fun with it.  It is a tan colored cotton, which is coated with a fine layer of metallic gold, so it’s slightly shimmery in person.  I decided to to a tiny little alphabet sampler with a goldfish.  And when I say tiny, here’s a photo for scale…

What you will need:  scraps of fabric about 4 inches square (almost anything will work), scrap of batting , pencil, buttons, sewing needle, thread, sewing machine, iron, blank cards, scraps of colored card stock, double-stick tape or glue stick.

Start with your fabric (a piece for the front and a piece for the back) and batting.  I have a plain tiger print (left) and I made a quick little piece of crazy patchwork by pulling some scraps out of my bin and stitching them together (middle) and a piece of cotton quilt batting (right).  Felt or a scrap of polar fleece would work fine for batting too.  (The photo doesn’t show the backing pieces.)

Draw and cut out a heart from scrap paper to make yourself a pattern.  If you like slightly lop-sided hearts like I do, get your favorite kid or husband to draw it for you.   Size depends on how big the card is that you are making.  My hearts are about 3 inches tall.   Put the pattern on the wrong side of your back fabric piece and trace with a pencil.

Stack up your fabric pieces in this order from top to bottom:

• Back fabric (wrong side/traced side up)
• Front fabric (right side/pretty side up)
• Batting

Stitch all the way around the heart, following your pencil line.  (I hear you.  Somebody said, “But you need to leave an opening to turn it right side out.”  Nope.  Just trust me, we get to that next.)

Trim away the extra fabric, leaving about a 1/8 inch seam allowance.  Clip the dip at the top of the heart and trim off a little at the tip, to help it turn a little neater.  You can clip the curves too if you want to.

Now, how to turn it right side out?

Pinch the layers with your fingertips and pull them apart so that you have just the center of the backing fabric.  With a sharp pair of little scissors or a seam ripper, make a little slash through just that backing fabric. Don’t go all the way to the stitching line but keep it in the center.

Why not leave an opening in the stitching?  I like how this way you get a really nice smooth stitched edge all the way around (no hand sewing), plus this backing part of your heart will be stitched to the card, so it doesn’t show.

Use the slash you made to turn the heart right side out.  With a chopstick, gently smooth it out then bring your heart over to the ironing board and give it a good dose of steam.  (We’re looking at the back in this photo.)

Now, quilt it!  Stitch about 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around the heart.  Do a second border of stitching or some doodles in the center of you like.  I like to press it again after this step.

Now it’s time to assemble the cards.  Choose a quilted heart, a button and a scrap of card stock.  I used some recycled card stock from a holiday project.  Using embroidery thread, stitch through the heart and button to attach them to the card stock scrap. I like to make mine off-centered. Tie a knot on the back to hold everything in place.

There are two quilted hearts stitched to their card stock scraps.  Now to finish them up.  Use double-stick tape or glue to attach your quilted heart/colored card to a plain card.  Write a message if you want to or leave it blank.

Happy sewing!

Wednesdays I always have a couple of hours between when I get home from work and when I go off to knit with some friends.  I thought I might try to do a regular Wednesday post of whatever random thing I am working on.  So here’s a start.

A little baby hat for a little friend.  She doesn’t have a name yet but she was born a couple of days ago.  And it’s Minnesota, so she needs a hat.  Why red?  It’s going to be an apple!  I am going to put a stem and a couple of leaves on the top.  I already made her a little stuffed pear and I am going to do a bib with fruit on it too.  So it’s a fruit theme for her gift.  (Pattern from Ann Budd Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns, with my additions.  Yarn: Queensland Rustic Wool superwash.)

My latest sweater.  I still have to finished the sleeves (which will be 3/4 length) and the collar (ribbed).  My friend Danielle gave me the perfect beach pebble buttons, which will go on this sweater. Pattern is Safire , yarn is Galway Worsted 732.

This is a research project.  There is a local organization here that asked for session proposals for an arts educators convention.  The theme for this year has to do with Native American tribes.  I have been wanting to put together a Native Americans unit for a while for the Textile Mobile.  We already have really fun units for textiles from Japan and India.  So I proposed a session on beginning beadwork in the Plains Indian style.  I have been pretty much obsessed with this kind of beadwork since I was about 6 years old.  This stitch is called the “lazy” or “lane” or “hump” stitch.  It is small sections of 6-8 beads stitched side by side in rows (you are looking at 2 rows in the photo).  It is used to fill large areas, so this is the stitch that is used to cover moccasins or the yoke of a ceremonial dress.  Your goal is to put 6 beads in the space of 5 1/2 so when you pull the stitch tight, it humps up a little, making the rows stand out a bit.  You can’t see it so well because of my color choices, but it is working for me ok.  Interestingly, I read that the stitch was developed to resemble quillwork, which was how these pieces were decorated before beads arrived on the scene.  Porcupine quills are only so big, so larger areas were covered with bands of quillwork stitched side by side.  I am stitching on some lovely buttery leather (acquired on my last trip to Prairie Edge).
One article I read suggested drawing some guidelines on with washable marker, which is a huge help.  I started the second row without and it was harder.  This will be a wide cuff bracelet when I am done.  For the workshop I am going to use larger beads (6/0) and embroidery thread on wool felt.

I love paisley.  I think paisley was one of the first patterns that I can remember being able to identify.  It’s like when you realize that a robin is a robin and not just another generic brown bird. I can remember a time when I would look for paisley when we were out shopping just to see if I could find any.  Anyhow, a friend asked me yesterday what I was working on after the holiday frenzy and this is it.

Paisley brooches. They are made from a couple of layers of nice wool felt, with a sort of reverse applique where I have cut patterns out of the top layer so you can see the color underneath.  Then stitched with beads.  I have been on a kick for brooches lately.  Something about wearing a lot of cardigans with turtlenecks, they seem to beg for a fun pin.  (I got the most amazing wooden owl one for Christmas from my mom & dad – I will show you that later!)  I am not sure that everyone is as charmed by pins & brooches as I am, so who knows if anyone will want to buy them, but I am getting ready to put a few in my etsy shop and I might take them to the Textile Center shop as well.  (I’d love to hear your opinions!)

Finally all of the holidays gifts have been delivered and I can share a few with you.  This is a dry-erase clock for my dad.  (I am getting ready to mail it in the photo, the cardboard box is not usually there).  Credit for the idea goes to someone on etsy.  I wish I could tell you who but after 10 minutes of searching I can’t come up with it.  This is a piece of masonite painted with white board paint.  Yep, you can buy white board paint.  It’s a 2 part thing that you mix up and is only good for 2-3 hours, so we decided that since we had it mixed up we would paint part of the kitchen wall too.  So now we have a white board by the kitchen door.  It’s fun writing on the wall.  I drew a goofy hickory-dickory-dock on the clock before I mailed it, but we thought it would be fun for writing “be back at –>” and silly stuff like that.

These are a birthday present for my niece.  They are life size.  I also made her several strawberries.

Erik (my nephew) got a whole basket of strawberries.  They are both having great fun feeding their pretend fruit to the dolls and stuffed animals.  Starting on several more of these as baby presents for some upcoming baby showers.  You can find patterns for them at Ravelry: Mr. Pear, or Mrs. Saucy Apple or Strawberries.

Mom’s “photographer’s” gloves.  Keep your hands warm but still have the ability to press the shutter.  I love the cable pattern on these.  Cables are magic.  It’s all a matter of knitting the stitches in the wrong order and cool things happen.  Cables are actually one of the first things I learned to do. (Thanks Berit!)  First knit, then purl, then cable.  I didn’t learn increases & decreases for years later, but I could make a very elaborate teddy bear sweater with a twisted cable, no problem.

Lots of small knitted projects this year.  I did some sewing, but it was pillowcases, which are not super interesting to look at.  Little kids got monograms on theirs, sister got matching ones in pretty fabric.

Andy and I decided to treat ourselves to a LeCreuset Dutch Oven for Christmas.  It’s enamel covered cast iron (weighs a ton!) and Andy picked out the “Flame” color.  He also bought me a teapot this same color a couple of years ago.  I like orange.

One of the first things we cooked in it was orange marmalade.

There it is just starting to simmer.  We got 2 boxes of oranges from my Gramma for Christmas, which we were supposed to share with the family who were all coming for Christmas.  But because of the %$#&! snow and roads that were closed, nobody could get here.  So it was just me and Andy and a lot of citrus.  I wanted to share with everyone so we decided to try marmalade.  Ours may be better as “sauce for chicken” as it doesn’t look like it set up quite as thick as we had hoped.  But drizzled on my english muffin it is quite tasty.

Tonight the pot is being put to use making what I affectionately call “Dead Vegetable Soup”.  That means I pull all of the slightly limp celery and half bags of frozen cauliflower out of the refrigerator and starting making vegetable stock.  Tonight it is celery, carrots, onions and rosemary with a few dried mushrooms, white wine & balsamic vinegar.  Smells lovely.  Potatoes, asparagus, carrots go in later.  I was supposed to go to the grocery store after work, but it is 1 degree here and I just couldn’t stand the thought.

Time to finish up the year with a book report.  In no particular order…

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews

A Christmas themed mystery, which would ordinarily be too cheesy for me.  However I bought this book about 8 hours before the winter “snowmageddon” hit us here.  (How do you plan for a blizzard? I bought groceries and books.)  Funny, light.  I like this series, although I miss some of the elements from the very beginning.  The whole reason I picked up the first book was because the main character was a blacksmith and selling things at a craft fair.  The further we go in the series the less we hear about her art, which drew me to her in the first place.

Dragonheart by Todd McCaffrey

A re-read.  I couldn’t sleep one night.  Any of the Mccaffrey family are comfort reading for me.  Long live Pern.

The Foundling by Georgette Heyer

I really enjoyed this one.  Our main character is a lordling who is sheltered, pampered and fussed over, much to his chagrin.  In short, he runs away to have an adventure, acquires some companions somewhat more naive than himself and faces a thoroughly enjoyable villain.  This one was more of an adventure story than some of Heyer’s novels, although there’s a romance as well.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Read about this one somewhere and so picked it up on that recommendation.  This is one I think my youngest sister would enjoy.   It’s a little dark and spooky, otherworldly romance.  Unlike some other uberpopular paranormal-romantic-fiction, this one has some female characters with some brain cells and a backbone.

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

A detective mystery told from the perspective of the faithful hound.  Very funny if you are a dog person.

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews

Pretty much what I said earlier about this author/series.  Enjoyable, but I would like more Meg and a little less of the wacky family.

The Darcy Connection by Elizabeth Aston

I am of mixed feelings about books inspired by Jane Austen.  I have read several by Elizabeth Aston and I appreciate the way she goes about it.  Although they center around the Darcy family, Elizabeth and Darcy are almost always traveling and they interact with the story through letters or telegrams.  I think trying to write a scene and make Elizabeth believable would be hard, but I am ok with her writing letters.  These are amusing and I enjoy the setting and flavor for sure.

Fire Raiser by Melanie Rawn

Mixed feelings about this one.  I have enjoyed other books by Melanie Rawn and read several of them multiple times (Dragon Prince series).  This one was good but occasionally felt a little political/preachy to me.  The story and characters were somewhat engaging, but I kept getting distracted by the rest.  I am glad I checked it out from the library and I think I will pass on the first book in the series.