Spring!

When I think back on how busy the last few weeks have been, I feel like I should have more to show for all of my hard work!  Unfortunately, I have not had one minute to work in my sewing room on any of MY projects.  Right now my to-do list is longer than there are hours in the day, and, with some deadlines looming, I've got to put my projects on the back burner.  I have a beautiful wool skirt that is *almost* finished, but I won't get to wear it this season.  I love how it's turning out, with some hand embellishment, and can't wait to show it to you.  I just hope we haven't reached bathing suit season before I can.

Most of the things that have been keeping me occupied aren't blog- or picture-worthy (tagging items for my church's consignment sale, taxes, yard work, subscription renewals, doctor's appointments) but here are a few little projects that I've been working on.

I needed to come up with five little thank you gifts in a hurry.  Luckily, I had some materials all ready to go that allowed me to whip up these five kanzashi flowers in an evening.  A couple of years ago I led a program at my local ASG group on making kanzashi, and I still have lots of prepared supplies left over which makes it easy to get started on a project.  You can read more about the flowers in some of my previous posts here. 

Today is the last day of school before Spring Break and I sent some special treats to school with my kids today.  I told them that these are the Easter Bunny's favorite cookie.

Lastly, my oldest son is finishing a program he's been in all year (hence, the need for thank you gifts).  They are sending him off with a little party this afternoon so I made these cupcakes for the occasion.  The butterflies are made from gumdrop-style orange slice candy, the antennae are piped icing and the tips of the antennae are sprinkles.

All of these pictures make me feel so happy, like spring has really arrived.  Wish me luck finding time over the next week to finish up some projects in my sewing room -- with Spring Break happening at my house I'll be lucky to find even a few minutes for myself!

Hari-kuyo, A Book for Broken Needles

A few weeks ago I signed up for Susan Elliott’s online class, The Hari-kuyo Needlebook Course.   Susan does a great job explaining Hari-kuyo, the Japanese Festival of Broken Needles on her blog.   This cultural festival lays to rest the needles broken during service each year.  Susan has designed a resting place for, not only our working needles, but those that are broken, until they can be disposed of.  I’ll share with you some pictures of my book along with some thoughts about the project and the class.

For the class, Susan provided optional kits for those who wanted them.  Seeing that my current mantra is use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without, I chose to come up with my own supplies.  My husband and his family lived in Japan for a number of years, and my father-in-law continued to work in Asia for many more years.  I have been the fortunate recipient of LOTS of lovely Asian fabrics that I knew would work well for this project.  I began with a piece of cotton ikat that I purchased some years ago from Susan McCauley with Mekong River Textiles.  From there I developed my color-way by combining vintage kimono scraps with Asian-inspired quilting cotton.  For the inner felt pages I turned to my supply of felted wool.  I found a particularly appropriate piece to house the broken needles:  a small scrap from my late father’s sweater (which I blogged about previously here and here).  I love that above that piece I embroidered, “Broken but not forgotten”.  With my supplies at hand I was ready to start the class.

Susan’s materials were first rate.  The class was broken down into 5 lessons, each with a different topic for the day which Susan would post on a private blog.  The materials included written instructions in PDF format along with lots of clear pictures as well as videos showing exactly how to accomplish the steps.  Susan’s videos were really great.  Her speaking voice is pleasant and easy to understand, and her photography very clear.

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER

For this project we did ribbon embroidery, floss embroidery, machine stitching and 3D flower making.  I really enjoyed every step, and now I can’t wait to use my new needlebook!  With all of the hand embroidery I've been doing lately, I think it will get some use.

Vintage Hand Embroidery

A few of my friends complain to me that I don’t post enough on my blog these days.  I hope they are just saying, “We want more”.  Over the last five years, since my first son was born, I’ve tried to carve out some time each day to do something creative.  Some days (and months) it’s easier than others.  It’s only been this school year that I’ve finally felt I have enough time to do whatever I want in my sewing room.  Ironically, this has led to fewer posts on my blog.  In the past, I would only work on small projects that I knew I could finish in a short amount of time.  This led to completing lots of small projects and, hence, lots of goodies to show off on my blog.  It’s only now that I have time to work on larger, more complex items.  These, however, take weeks, and sometimes even months, to complete, hence less to share in this space.

Case in point:  I’ve been doing a lot of handwork lately.  I currently have three projects underway, all of which have some element of hand stitching involved.  I’m still working on my Alabama Chanin dress which will take me several more months to complete.  Then there’s the hand stitched needle book that I’m doing as an online class with Susan Elliot.  Here’s a little sneak peak of that one:

The third project is a combination of machine sewing embellished with handwork.  I’m hoping to have this skirt finished in the next week to share with you.  I love how it’s turning out.

All of this thinking about handwork got me to wondering where my love for it had its origins.  My mom taught me basic embroidery when I was just a little girl, probably 7 or 8 years old.  I’ve still got a few of my early pieces, including these embroidered pants that I made when I was 10.

I never quite completed them; you can see the last design I was stitching on the front, a bunch of grapes.  I still have the pattern with the iron-on designs.

Who knew when I was 10 that I would attend a college where the mascot was a yellow jacket?

Or that I would grow up to have a love for dragonfly images?

I’m not sure what the ducks walking across my backside mean, however.

So, I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into my early stitching life.   I haven’t lost the interest in the art all these years later.  I just hope that I don’t abandon my current projects with one motif left to stitch.  I’ve got blog posts to write, after all.