Machine Cross Stitch Samples

My experiments with machine cross stitch are coming out very well.  Currently I am working on designs with repeating motifs so I can master the design quickly.  I'm using one color & sticking with a few repeats until I decide upon a real project.  I'm using a piece of linen scrap fabric.  I decided to use some vivid thread colors because I know I can always pop these samples into a crazy quilt somewhere.  All of the samples are in the 4-5" range.

I especially like this one.  

Sometimes the thread isn't perfectly aligned.  I'm unsure why that happens but I'm not too concerned.  Galloping by on a fast horse it looks good to me.  These pictures are enlarged & at very close range.

This is just darling!  I could see a length of this somewhere.  It was very easy to graph.  That's the beauty of repeating elements.

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Gifts! Yea! + YoYos

My mailbox was busy this week!  It's always wonderful to get gifts from female friends.  They send what you want not what they think you want!  😎😎

Some trims and buttons!  Just in time for my 3rd block.  The colors are perfect.  Thanks Barbara! Look at those sweet roses and hearts.  Love them! 

Last night while watching Cabaret with Liza Minnelli I dug through more vintage doilies and trims looking for likely suspects to dye.  

Because . . .  this dye arrived from Rian!  Oh boy!  Time for some red & orange & yellow doilies!   This is going to be fun! 

This morning this piece from the dark ages fell into my lap.  Stamped designs on a dirty beige background.  I think I may cut it up and see how it dyes.  The paint should act like the perfect resist.   This was fun.  I think I should try it again. 

Shirt buttons glued to a cardboard & used for a rubber stamp 

I'm continuing my exploration of YoYos.  Rian suggested a tie dye yoyo so I scrounged up a piece of rayon already dyed.  I cut 2 large circles hoping for some really cool flowers.  I've added some lame, silk, plaids and some cheap costume fabrics to the mix.  They all have some great possibilities, right?  I'm separating motifs from doilies that also look like they will be good flowers (and maybe will also dye well).

 

Lots of movement with the stripes & plaids

I had a little piece of trim already gathered so stuck it behind this costume fabric yoyo.  I have some dangling beads for the bottom.

This is a silk yoyo from a blouse.  Very soft.  I'm unsure how I'll work with it but I like it! 

Today I am working with my machine embroidery software that changes graphed designs to a program the machine can read and stitch.  These will be little bits to add to my crazy quilts. 

After the fact I can see I missed a X.  Oh well.  Who cares, really?  This is about 1" x 7" & took 3 minutes to stitch.  It took a bit longer to graph (which is the real work) but it sure is a cool addition to crazy quilt supplies.   Obviously, this is a simple design but I could flip, mirror, elongate and such with it for all kinds of ideas.

Stitched on a piece of white linen. With a quick glance it almost looks hand stitched. 

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Crazy Quilt Block 2: Finished

 I'm leaving the corner areas a little sparse because I know they will be joining the other blocks.  Then I'll be finishing all the corners and seams.  Crazy quilting is a lot of work.

I don't know about you but I'm starting to get cabin fever.  It's been hard to get and stay focused this week.  

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Making YoYos

 I'm trying to relax and cut down the need to work all the time.  I discovered a TV channel that has some good free movies so I've been watching them.  I generally like something easy to stitch while watching TV.  Enter YoYos.  It doesn't get any more mindless than yoyos.  

A long time ago I bought a stack of cut circles off an eBay vendor.  She misunderstood what I wanted and I ended up with a ton of dark plaid circles cut from men's shirts.  I've tried to use them but blech.  So I sorted through the circles, pulled the ones with which I could vaguely work & started stitching them.  It's nice to have a little stash ready for embellishing.

And then I just veered off the path and pulled out a piece of fabric I painted a long time ago.  The paint was acrylic which made the fabric stiff but the design is interesting.  I wanted to see if it would gather up into a yoyo.

This was a very large circle (7") & the fabric didn't gather well.  I have a stash of  rough torn fabric strips.  I pleated the edge of one and am stitching it to the circle's edge.  I like where this is going.

The big gaping hole leaves space for all kinds of embellishments.  I have a bag of very pretty sheer florals.  They rip well so I ripped a length and gathered it.  Inserted into the hole it fills that space nicely and adds some additional oomph!

Now I have a focal flower for one of the upcoming blocks.  I'll bead it and it will be a Star YoYo!  

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Current CQ: More Block Surgery

I'm finished with CQ block surgery!  Now that I am actively stitching on this piece I feel it should meet my current tastes.  The Madonna block (you can see the previous quilt in my sidebar) never really worked for the aesthetic of the quilt.  

I took care of that!  

I rearranged some elements harvested from other block surgeries.  I also added the cross stitch piece & some of my newly dyed blue lace pieces. 

Forward to the hand work now! 

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Christmas Crazy Quilt: 2013 Unfinished Project

My friend Cindy is working on some Christmas stationery to sell on-line.  I just moved all my embroidery files to my computer.  I had a lot of Christmas designs.  I'm in a finish projects mood.  Or, at least make a decision about its worth and move it to its next destination. 

All these influences prompted me to pull out accumulated supplies for my Christmas wall hanging.  According to a letter in the package of supplies I started this in 2013.  Right after I moved back to my house I took one of the blocks off the wall hanging and started working on it for a pillow.  I didn't get very far. Truthfully it has taken me awhile to embrace this project again.

The current crazy quilt has really built my self confidence about mixing motifs, trims, stitches and still producing a cohesive piece.  Previously I struggled too often with making everything match; designing for someone else's perceived aesthetic.  I wasn't giving myself permission to be myself and enjoy the journey. 

This time when I looked at the blocks I have already stitched and the supplies I've accumulated, I feel like I can have some fun with the Christmas wall hanging.  I don't have to stick with a tight theme.  Christmas is the theme!  It's as easy as that. 

By the time I pieced these blocks, I had learned the value of low contrast or almost solid fabrics. They are 15" blocks.  I like large blocks.  I have a lot of large embroidery designs and I like to give them plenty of room.  I also have a good supply of "stuff" I can use to develop a theme so there's that too.

At one point I had the idea to make this a wallhanging of nothing but snowflakes.  So I started machine embroidering snowflakes.  Well, that's way too narrow for me.  There are so many other wonderful Christmas designs to use. 

These are pretty intense.  They took somewhere in the vicinity of 2 hours each to stitch.  

Once I abandoned the snowflake idea, I started envisioning patches scattered around the surface.  These are the start of some very wonderful patches.  I looked through designs yesterday for more to add. 

Some time in my thrifting past I found this '80s Santas panel.  They will be great appliques.

Another friend crocheted a pretty stack of snowflakes for me.  I think I'm set for snowflakes now.

I found this poinsettia table runner on the Christmas clearance table.  It will make a swell border. 

Sounds easy enough, right?   Yep, for Christmas 2021.  Ya know, if we make it that long. 

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Vague New Crazy Quilt Idea

I did something way out of character yesterday.  I sat down in the late afternoon and watched a movie.  It was Sybil with Sally Fields & I had never seen it before yesterday.  What an interesting movie!  I've also started listening to new podcasts.  I'm trying to increase my scope of awareness.  

While I was watching it I started sifting through a box of vintage linens I've had for awhile.  In the box were 2 tablecloths.  I would have liked some simple hand stitching while I watched the movie but I didn't have anything handy.  Then the thought came to me to combine the more desirable of the little embroidered motifs on the tablecloths.  I've seen some similar ideas on Pinterest and they usually pique my interest.  

Today I vaguely laid out the idea.  I don't intend to make this into a big production.  Just a little homage to the linens of yesterday and then pass the remaining linens forward to someone else. 

I thought this tablecloth would be the better of the two for the base.  I like it's weight & the space division. 

I like the corners on this tablecloth. 

 

The general idea

If I stitch this that will probably be enough of old vintage linens for me for the rest of my life.   Another itch scratched.  

I wonder if I can resist some mother of pearl buttons and other vintage trims added to the mix.  Ha! ha!  Yea, this could get out of control quickly! 

May You Rest In Power Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Thank you for your hard work for all American Women

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Crazy Quilt Block 2: Detail Progress

 Areas morphed as they are prone to do.  I settled in with some good podcasts and sewed embellishments down.  

I moved the crocheted pink flower out of the main bouquet and made it the center of its own universe.  I like it! 

That little beaded section was the fiddly part I was lamenting in the last post.  It turned out fine after all the gnashing of teeth.  Those cute little flower beads are from a girl's stretchy bracelet.  I tell you:  girl's bracelets are great for embellishment stash.

I kept it simple with the crocheted flower.  Great looking with the beads.

Here's where I left off last night.  Time to finish the flowers today. 

There was a time in my crazy quilt journey when I was timid about covering pieces of embroidery or trims.  I'm letting go of that timidity with this piece.  The resulting layering is so much richer when parts of one layer peek out from another layer.  

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