Embroidered Gnome

      Gosh, it's been more than a month since I posted anything to my blog but I haven't been lazy, just busy.  More gnome work, of course, but I've also been pushing myself to renew old crafting skills as the hand coloring and card making crafts seem to be less and less possible.  

     It's been nearly 50 years since I did any amount of hand embroidery, though I loved it during those years when it was a regular activity.  A few weeks back, my granddaughter gave back to me a huge pile of embroidery flosses, needles, and other supplies which I had given to her when she wanted to try her hand at embroidery.  Seeing all those luscious thread colors whetted my appetite for trying it again, despite the eyesight problems.  (A large, desktop, magnifier helps tremendously!)  I ordered some white Aida cloth online, and as soon as it arrived I began practicing all the old stitches I once knew so well.  I found that I'm much slower (and more careful) with the stitches than I used to be but it's coming back.

     For those of you who don't know, Aida cloth is a stiff, woven fabric with evenly spaced threads which are a specific distance apart and that makes it so much easier when one can use the tiny "holes" between threads to keep your stitches even.  While I was working stitches on a practice piece of Aida cloth, I began to wonder if I could use Aida cloth to make clothes for gnomes, thereby being able to have lovely, even embroidery work on the clothing.  I was concerned that the stiffness might make it unsuitable for clothes but I knew of no way to find out other than to try it!  :-D

     I want to share with you the end result.  I must tell you that this particular gnome took hours and hours to complete and that the embroidery itself took me more than 6 hours to complete, simple as it looks once on the gnome.  All the white parts are the Aida cloth (both coat and top hat), but Aida cloth also comes in colors and, now that I know it works for gnome clothing, I'm going to get some of it in various colors.  Doesn't it give great visual texture?

     Here's the gnome:

     What do you think?  Of course, I love him but I'm the one who did all the work so I'm totally biased.  :-D

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

My #1

     This sweet little bear is from Conie Fong and makes a perfect anniversary card, I think.

     ProMarkers
     QuicKutz circle dies
     2 different CS for the circles
     Smaller 2 circles are embossed with Linen folder
     Embroidered flowers
     Pink, satin bow (hand tied)

     Challenges:
A Perfect Time to Craft
CCC Digi
Classic DT Open
Craft-Dee BowZ
Creations in Pink
Digi Doodle Studios
Friendship
Outlawz Festive Fri.
Scribbles Designs

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Embroidered Kitten

     For the last 7 years or so my once-beloved sewing machine has taken a backseat to my paper crafting.  In fact, when I moved nearly 4 years ago, I left the embroidery attachment and the quilting kit packed away although I did unpack my actual sewing machine.  I've done a few things with it, mostly Christmas projects, but for the most part it has been tucked away in a corner, sad and lonely.

     Last weekend, I dug out the embroidery attachment because I had been given a new-to-me data card for the machine, filled with cute animals and insects and flowery patterns normally used for dressing up kids clothes or even household linens.  What I hadn't thought about was the possibility of making embroidered appliques but after testing one or two of the small flower patterns on some scraps of muslin, here's what happened (see card below.)  I think I may have discovered a new addiction (plus a way to combine my two favorite things - sewing and card making) !!

     What do you think?  Once I had the machine set up and programmed with the data card, it took about 9 minutes for the machine to make the kitten; I had to change thread for the kitten's ears and again for the butterfly (twice).  But it took me longer than all of that to hand cut the applique with scissors (Note to self - get your tiny embroidery scissors sharpened!) keeping the kitten and butterfly all together as one piece.

     Obviously, the "coloring" was done with the various threads instead of my usual markers but I did have to choose the threads.  Once it was cut out, I used white fabric glue to attach the applique to some scrap CS, then trimmed that to fit.  The CS acted as a stiffener so that the kitten wouldn't curl.

     I die cut the scalloped circle with a die from Memory Box and the scalloped frame was cut with a Sue Wilson die, then run through my 'Linen" embossing folder.  I glued the applique to the circle, then layered it onto the Sue Wilson piece, and all of that went onto a piece of dp from the Linen Closet stack by DCWV.  I chose papers that had beautiful Wedgewood blues to compliment the blue-gray of the kitten, but in the photo the blues look more "sky" blue.

     The only other thing needed was the little satin bow and it was finished.  I see many more of these in the future.  However, I'm now going to have to start budgeting for more data cards for the embroidery attachment.  Why does everything crafty that I love end up costing so much?  :-D

     Challenges:
Butterfly
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafting by Designs
Crafty Creations
Kraftin' Kimmie
Outlawz Twisted Thurs.
Paper Shelter
Scrapy Land
SUYP Cats
WordArt Weds.
World Wide Open DT

     Well, that's it for me today.  I'm going back to the sewing machine and make up more appliques from some of the flower designs.  I'm sure with more practice I'll get better and things will go faster.  I've already promised myself that I'll make at least two of each applique design on that data card, using different color combos and put them in my stash before I go and buy another one.  The cards run from $35 to $75 depending on how many designs are on it.  See, I told you it would be an expensive addiction!  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie