ohmygoodknits! // a knitting & crochet blog » embroidery

Cross-stitch pendant garden

Lisa — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:24:37 +0000

I suppose I went a little nuts with cross-stitch, a few weeks ago. I’m not entirely sure anyone needs a cross-stitched flower pendant, much less three of them. I just really enjoyed making them. And I want to make more. Stitching on wood felt so much easier than having aida or linen on a hoop. It felt more precise and…natural? I don’t really know how to describe it, but after getting the drawing onto graph paper (some of the flowers in the book I mentioned last time were too big), I just got started and the next day I had a beautiful little flower to add to my collection.

[Scalloped pendants were bought from the workroom & circle pendant was bought from modern needleworks]

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Wrap It for Mom

Lisa — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:49:25 +0000

Mother’s Day is this Sunday! I’m going to plant a rose bush (or 3) for my mom, but every year I also get the grandmas a photo book (standard 8″x11″ from Snapfish) filled with photos of their grandsons. Because who do moms love more than their own kids? Their GRANDKIDS. It’s true.

Anyway, I’ve had the books for a few days and I’ve been trying to think of how to wrap them. I’ve done wrapping paper, decorated kraft paper, and even scrap fabric in the past. This year, I went with vintage silk scarves. I had two sizes. One was a big 36″x36″ square and the other (this one!) was a bit smaller, at 21″x21″. Here’s how I wrapped it:

1. Place the book face down on the scarf with the edges of the book facing the corners of the scarf. Tie a knot with the 2 corners on the short side of the book.
2. Flip the whole thing over and a tie a knot with the adjacent corners. This is the “front.” Optionally, you can tuck in the little flaps on the back knot. If your scarf is little, like mine, you’ll be able to see some of the book poking through, like this. I rather like the texturing coming through from the linen book cover.

Finish it off with a pretty tag. I wrote out the word mom on a piece of cardstock, poked holes with my embroidery needle, then used two strands of floss to trace my letters. It took 10 minutes tops!

Are you doing anything special for your mom or mom-like figure in your life this weekend?

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Cross Stitch: floral pendant

Lisa — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:48:12 +0000

I have had a crush on the wooden cross-stitch pendants for a long time, but seeing Danielle’s projects, two weeks ago, pushed me over the edge. I bought a pendant. ONE. Because I was unaware of how much I would love this tiny project! I racked my brain for ideas–my initial, “mom,” a bunny, etc. Finally, a lightbulb went off and I ran to my bookshelf and pulled out some vintage needlepoint books. It was tough finding something small. I had a lot of beautiful fonts but they were all too big.

I finally came across this book with nothing but floral charts. There’s a whole page with these small flowers. I chose the one I liked most and transferred it to some graph paper, then drew the template of the pendant around it. I had to sacrifice a bit of the edges, but I don’t mind. I am in loooooove!

I am kicking myself for not buying more pendants. I bought them from the same place Danielle did–The Workroom. I am going to buy some more soon. I think they’d be beautiful key chains for Mother’s Day! Psssst! I already bought the floss for my next. Shades of coral for the flower and mint for the background. I can’t wait!

What do you think? Tiny projects are awesome, no? I started this yesterday and finished it this morning. I would have finished sooner if I hadn’t accidentally cut my working thread at one point. Pfffft!

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Make it: Embroidered Heart coaster

Lisa — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:31:29 +0000

I made heart shaped coasters, but you could switch out the shape with whatever you like. You could give THESE away as Valentines! They’re fairly quick to complete and easy peasy.

Materials
embroidery floss
a needle
double-sided tape
4″ x 4″ cork coaster (I bought 12″ x 12″ tiles and cut them up. 9 per tile!)
heart shape to fit your tile

not shown:
ruler, pencil

1. Adhere your heart to your coaster with a small piece of tape. Mark the “corners” of the heart by placing a ruler across the tile diagonally and making small marks on the edges.
2. Working with a LONG piece of floss (leave the non-working tail connected to the rest of your floss), insert the needle at the bottom tip of the heart, from front to back.
3. Bring the floss back over and insert about 1/8″ from first spot. Continue bringing the floss to the front and stitching at evenly-spaced (as even as you can muster) intervals along the edge of your heart.

4. When you get to a corner, stitch in the spot, then come up along the adjacent edge and stitch into the same space.
5. Continue stitching along this side until you get to the next corner. Stitch into that space, bring the floss back over along the adjacent edge and stitch into the same spot. Continue stitching until you run out of floss. If you get back to the beginning, stitch into the first spot, then knot the ends together and weave them under the stitches on the back. You’re done!

If you run out of floss, follow steps 6-7:

6. Cut a long piece of floss from your non-working end and re-thread your needle with it. ON THE BACK of the coaster, bring the now working thread through the first two or so stitches, then start embroidering up the side, the same way you did the first half of the coaster.
7. When you get to your original thread, knot the ends together and weave them under the stitches on the back. Now, you’re done!

Like I said above, use them as coasters or little pieces of art! You could use this same method to embroider on cardstock to make a lovely Valentine’s Day card. I’m going to make some for my boys!

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Craft Night: Felt Camera

Lisa — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:10:09 +0000

The night before last, My Girl Thursday and ♥elycia hosted Craft Night! I logged on while they were getting their camera and stream situated and proceeded to cut my pieces during the first few minutes. I followed along with them for about an hour and a half and then had to help with bedtime. I was able to pick up where I left off when I got back and finished all of the sewing that night. I stuffed my camera the next morning and presented it to Andrew.

He LOVES it. I took these photos this morning and you can see where the felt is already pilling. I used the craft-store stuff because that’s all I had on hand. I intended to make it all blue, but…ummmm I ran out. Ha! Oh well. I like the contrasting yellow sides and top/bottom.

Did you participate? Show me!

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Stitching on stitches

Lisa — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:44:41 +0000

The Purl Bee posted a tutorial for cross-stitching on single crochet stitches. It just so happened that I had a piece of single crochet that could seriously use some sprucing up!

I can’t bear to part with smallish containers, so they all get little cozies. It will be home to pencils or markers or even a plant. Hip hip hooray for re-purposing trash!

embroidery: Easter eggs and pineapples

Lisa — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:12:21 +0000

I wanted to embroidery a doily. Then I thought about how delicate crocheting a doily is and how embroidering one would probably make me mad. SO, I stretched this lovely doily (that I had 3 of!) over some vintage fabric in an embroidery hoop and started embroidering on it.

I just free-formed it, I guess. I used the openings in the lace to determine my pattern. I only used the back-stitch and ended up with something that sort of resembles a traditional crocheted chevron pattern.

Can you see it?? The chevrons/ripples/whatever? The pattern also kind of resembles an Easter egg, no? Like if you view it from the top? Please tell me I’m not hallucinating that effect!

I finished it off with a vintage button, that was part of a set I bought at an antique store a couple years ago.

It’s all nestled in a cherry-stained embroidery hoop.

Making this was totally relaxing. Following the doily pattern was stimulating, but easy. If you have a doily hanging about that is nice, but with no real purpose, I suggest doing this! The effect is nice and you can leave your favorite parts (in my case, the pineapples!) alone.

What do you think? Does it do the doily justice?

DMC colors

Lisa — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:02:19 +0000

How about some flossy love? I guess I’m kind of hung up on golds, olives, and teals. I lined up this floss, today, and realized they’re pretty similar to the Gütermann colors. I can’t be the only one who enjoys this mash-up, right? They’re just so complimentary of each other.

Are there any color combos your brain just ends up defaulting to?

the lensbaby close-up

365.264: cross-stitch monday

Lisa — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:54:17 +0000

I think it’s interesting that knitting the same stitch over and over can get so monotonous, yet cross-stitching is really fun. I mean, it’s just a bunch of tiny X’s. It should be the boring monotonous craft. But it’s not. I really dig it! It’s definitely a good breastfeeding craft, too! No worries of stabbing baby eyes with long sticks.

365.248: x-stitched A

Lisa — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:05:38 +0000

dinero: a coin purse

Lisa — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:15:56 +0000

I made this back in September, I believe. I am rearranging my craft area and I came across a tote bag and this was in it! no, there wasn’t any money in it, just my tiny sansa clip mp3 player. I should take up cross-stitching again.

the yellow fabric is, I believe, linen. It came form a set of a napkins I thrifted.

little embroidery, little lactivist

Lisa — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:56:20 +0000