I wanted to stitch something for Christmas presents, but wanted to make it something practical (not everyone rocks hoopla walls) so I made tortilla cozies.  I'm including a booklet of my favorite Mexican food recipes and some tortillas with each one.

The one I'm keeping, had to do a prototype.  Design is a comic by Natalie Dee.  Who knew french knots would be perfect for taco meat?


A vintage pattern I did in redwork.


A lovely senorita for my sister-in-law.


A gentleman taking his pig for a walk.


The pineapple price haggler.


Sweet sleepy burro.


Edit:  I added this action shot so you can see how they open (thanks melissanorth):


I got all of the vintage Mexican motif patterns from the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers group on Flickr. 

Mini-Tutorial,  no pictures, but piece of cake to do:
I stitched each design on a 13" square piece of unbleached muslin keeping the design about 8" square.  Then I cut each one into a 12" circle.  I then cut two 12" circles out of pre-quilted muslin (or you can deal with batting if you are braver than I am).  I placed the embroidered panel on top of one piece of the quilted fabric, then stitched extra wide double fold bias tape around them.  I then stitched another piece of bias tape around the second quilted fabric circle.  Stack your two circles together, sandwich a hanger in between and starting halfway up the circle, stitch an arc including your hanger over the top of the circle to the other side leaving a gap in the bottom for your tortillas to go in.


C&C welcome. Thanks for looking.   Closer photos of each design are in my Flickr photostream linked below.

My tribute to Thanksgiving



"Unwavering Cranberries", "Tired Turkey", and "Sentimental Mashed Potatoes" characters all from Mollie Johanson/Wild Olive's "Harvesters" embroidery pattern.  Stitched in two strands, backstitch and stem stitch and lightly tinted with colored pencils.

I added the words from Adam Sandler's "Thanksgiving Song."  Four strand backstitch.

Oh and a tip: Don't watch "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" while stitching, my tears kept blurring my vision and I poked myself with my needle a few times.  Sad movies and embroidery do not mix. 

Thanks for looking and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

We live only a few hours from the Grand Canyon and had never taken my kids before.  At ages 7 and 5, they didn't find the Canyon so exciting, but we all got a kick out of a sign that they had on the buses warning against feeding the attack squirrels.  Definite shirt stencil material!


White on navy blue, looks a little lighter in the photo.

And the inspiration:

I'm ready for autumn, even if the weather here in Arizona doesn't want to cooperate.  This is an excerpt from a little song called "Come Little Leaves" written by George Cooper, popular with kiddos in the late 1800s.  Stitched on linen in an 8" hoop, with two strands of DMC #69 variegated floss.  Not too sure if I like the super light parts, this was kind of a test project using the variegated thread on linen.  It is a little difficult to read from a distance, but quite legible closer up.  Live and learn.  It does get me in the fall spirit, though!  

I made this bag to accommodate a design I stitched for a stitchalong on Flickr.  The theme was vintage sewing themed patterns (lots of Day of the Week patterns featured sewing themes on Wednesday).  This is another little place for me to stash those loose threads or projects-in-progress.





The bee pattern is from a Vogart transfer set that I found at a thrift shop.  The bag is the "Poochie Bag" pattern offered for free by Happy Zombie at http://thehappyzombie.com/blog/?p=368

This is an owl pillow that I stitched up for my daughter who can never have enough stuffed buddies on her bed.  It is the "Owlie McPillowpants" pattern from Small Stash Sewing: 24 Projects Using Designer Fat Quarters by Melissa Averinos.  It is about the size of a standard pillow and uses 5 fat quarters. 



I learned a few new techniques with the applique of the facial features and the feather cut-outs of the wings.  I only had to curse once, that was when I had a little trouble stitching the opening closed after it was stuffed.  Now that I've got one down and survived it, I think I may make more as gifts.



Thanks for looking.  Comments or suggestions welcome!


 

I have about 15 reels and boxes from family movies from the 1930s and 40s.  The films were transferred to video and I don't have the filmstrip anymore, but the boxes and reels are very neat.  The reels are about 3" across and are silver or black.  The boxes are from all different years with different Kodak logos and some cool postmarks.  I know they have potential, but I'm having a creative block as to what to do with them.  Please Craftsters help!

sheepBlue, that is so cute.  Love all of the little details.  You can't go wrong with 'shrooms, owls & snails!

I received from crafty gurll today!   I have a fabulous mushroom on mine, too.  She keyed into my favorite colors being aqua and red, and my likes of woodland cuteness and retro style. 



My lonely gnome wanted to keep her outside, but she's going on my wall!  Thanks crafty gurll!

you step on a nail!     They really had a way of scaring kids straight back in the day.  Another installment from the vintage safety series...





Pattern from a vintage safety coloring page found online, tinted with chalks, words printed on fabric and fused on, dresses are reproduction fabrics.  I give credit for the pretty hair to mafiosagrrl whose embroidered locks inspired me to take a new approach.

I still have a few more projects to do with the safety theme.  My first was here http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=354856.0

Thanks for looking and don't forget to watch your step!

My son is turning 7 this month and is a total nut for Lego and particularly Lego Star Wars sets.  Being a second grader now I thought he might not be so keen on having a Bob the Builder quilt on his bed anymore so I decided to make something custom. 

First, I scoured the Internet for illustrations of minifigures and Lego Star Wars characters.  I came across the illustrations of countblockula on Flickr and decided to go for that style. He didn't have all of the characters, so I had to wing it with Obi Wan and Yoda (you can tell by looking at them).  I blew up the pictures to be about 14" square, printed them out and traced onto Kona Cotton using a lightbox and a fabric pencil.  I then handpainted all of the characters using soft fabric acrylics.  Once all of the panels were done I pieced them together with some fabric that I found at Joann's, black with small gray dots like stars.  Instead of going the quilting route I made it into a duvet so I could replace the comforter inside depending on the season, etc.  It is backed with a charcoal gray sheet.  Another plus of it being a duvet, it will take up less room in the linen closet, he's going to be stuck with this sucker until he has his own children!

Here are some closer shots (please excuse the wrinkles)...










A couple geek notes:  I know Clones and Luke weren't alive at the same time, but I wanted to cover all of my son's likes, this also explains why Leia is missing but we have an obscure guy like IG-88 on there.  Also, after watching Empire Strikes Back last week I realize I was off on Yoda's color.  It may not be up to the standards of the purists, but it works for us!

Thanks for looking.  C&C much appreciated.