Stash Busting, Beads Edition

Hello, everyone.

There is a lot of stash around here, as has been said before. I saw a number of seed bead bracelets on Pinterest and watched a video or two and got inspired to see what I had to work with.

I did say, lots of stash. (Sadly, repeating that phrase doesn't use it up. One must actually make things to use it up!)

Lots of seed beads are included--size 11 Dynamites, size 15 Rocailles, assorted odd bits and pieces, they all went together into a few bracelets and a necklace.

Three bracelets and a necklace

What I'm learning: yes, there is a handy video about braiding the strands. It's trickier than it looks, especially toward the end of the braid. Y'all will note that only one thing in this group of projects is braided.
Using the bails that don't open or adjust in size with seed bead strands is only sort-of possible. It's surprising how thick a strand of the tiny beads is!
The little cones at the end of the strands are working with a wire-wrapped loop to hold the strands, it's the only way I could make sense of it. Also the tigereye bead on the necklace is on a wire work piece. It's fun and peaceful to wrap the wire around the pliers to make things.

Another bracelet

I was happy to be able to use up some of the odd bits from "assortment" bags that have been gotten from Fire Mountain Gems over the years. Also to find homes for some of the assorted saints' medals that have accumulated.

Another one done...well, ready to soak

Hello, everyone.

This is another project that had been started a while back. It is a flour sack towel, with one of the Aunt Martha's stamps on the fabric. This particular flour sack isn't as gauzy as some of them are. I still don't think I'd store flour in a bag of it, as the weave is somewhat loose.

I stabilized the front and back with Sulky Solvy. (Basted it down with some sewing thread to keep it stable.) Stabilization makes all the difference in the world on this floppy fabric.

The next dish towel will be an opportunity to try out the new Stick n Stitch dissolvable. It arrived after this one had been started.

This is the front side. The round "clover" flower was done in light purple daisy stitch/chain stitch. Then at the bottom dark purple seed stitches were added inside the chains. In the middle orchid-pink seeds. And at the top pale-pink seeds, to give some dimensionality to the blossom.
The pink blossoms are outlined in back stitch, as is the yellow one. The tiny lines inside the petals are one strand of outline stitch.

All threads were stash cotton floss, not labeled, either back stitch or outline stitch depending. As the piece hadn't been soaked yet, y'all can see the bits of Sulky Solvy reflecting light near the stitching.

And this is the back side. It's not glorious, but it's not too horribly ugly. One or two of the endings is lumpy but I'll let it stand. It is, after all, the back of the dish towel.

More on the Hexie Log Cabin projects

Hello, everyone.

I looked back through the old posts and discovered that, while there had been photos taken of the Hexie Log Cabin potholders, they never actually got posted onto the blog.

This was a sewing club project. I learned that it's important not to mess up the placement of the first strip, as when you come back around to it there needs to be enough fabric to attach things. Also--a main purpose of the project--I learned about starting sewing on the first strip in the middle of the side, so there can be a smooth connection at the end.

These make great little gifts, and you can use up lots of smaller scraps. The plain teal in the center one above wasn't even quilting cotton. It was left over from a blouse made some years back. (It also reappeared in one of the little fabric bowls a couple of months back. The fabric is a little thicker than quilting cotton.)

The back side is a single piece of fabric. It needs to be about an inch larger than the front and batting trim out. This is so it can be folded over as the binding.

Scrap busting, problem solving

Hello, everyone.

Some little while back I posted about hexie log cabin pot holders. This little scrap buster is a follow-on to that idea.

The problem: the base of the mixer might scratch the kitchen counters.
Solution:

The mixer mat. 

I measured the base of the mixer, which didn't actually fit on the larger hexie log cabin trivet already made, and went to the stash for fabrics. As y'all can see, a fair proportion of the red prints on hand also include greens. It wasn't intentionally designed as a Christmas season mat, I just wanted a bright red themed mat to bring some brightness to the room.

The batting inside it is the same InsulBrite that was used in the pot holders...it was in stash. 😉
The binding is a foldover binding of the reverse side fabric.

This project is somewhat of a rough draft, there may be more mixer mats made in the near future. Possibly a spring themed one? Or a Valentines one?

A little repair project

Hello, everyone.

Things have been a little bit busy. One reason is the subject of this post: a repair on a knit dress.

I love my Icebreaker merino-blend knit dress. Unfortunately, one day I tried to pick it up with a snaggy, sharp fingernail. Oops. A collection of very obvious holes appeared in the front bodice area.

I looked around on the internet and tried the one knit-holes repair I saw listed. It might have been all right for the back hem or someplace out of the way like that. This was to seam the edges together with the best match in an all natural thread that is around. It made glaringly obvious linear lumps on the front bodice.

So I got the seam ripper out and took the stitches away as well as possible. This was going to need a back patch, I decided, and baseball stitch. Or some reasonable facsimile of baseball stitch.

The back side of the patch, showing some basting stitches as well.

Got an old pair of pantyhose (washed) and cut a chunk out of one leg. This is the thin part of the knit, not the thick part near the waist. Basted it, two layers thick, onto the back of the dress fabric with some random thread. Put the reinforced area gently into an embroidery hoop and used the same (not quite matching) charcoal colored DMC floss to stitch the edges of the holes down and to each other as well as possible.

The front side of the patch.

After the patching stitches, the dress came out of the hoop for a while. I got out some new embroidery stabilizer: Stick n Stitch. This is a stick-on and dissolvable stabilizer. They claim you can run it through your ink jet printer but I really wasn't looking to make something that complex and heavy with stitches.

The traced daisy. I used a temporary marker pen.

Traced a daisy from the Dover Publishing floral designs book in the cabinet onto the soft (not paper) side of the stabilizer, pulled the paper backing off, and stuck the stabilizer down onto the knit. Put the hoop back on  carefully.


Stitched the daisy and a couple of leaves onto the fabric, using wool thread. (It may be tapestry thread, but the weight looked right.) I used a tapestry needle to do this, on the theory that if one uses a ball point needle to sew the knits, one should probably try to use a ball point needle to embroider them.

The threads of the flower.

Progress on the front side.









Stitches used: leaf stitch (?) for the leaves, with one strand of the Floralia. Stem stitch for the petals. Cross stitches scattered for the center of the flower. These last both in the Felicity's Garden thread.



Ready to soak:































After soaking and drip drying, the finished repair.

 The double layer of pantyhose knit seems to have worked out well for the patch behind the fabric. It has similar stretching characteristics, which matters on this kind of thing, and the dress is a thin knit so a thin patch was needed.

The Stick n Stitch worked reasonably well for a stabilizer and pattern transfer, but probably does a bit better with either a smaller needle or a crewel (sharp) needle to pierce the fuzzy stuff. I was careful not to tighten the thread tensions too much. And this dress being now even more delicate, will get hand washed from now on I think. But I love my Icebreaker tank dress. It's so comfortable and packable.

Remembering Sobrado dos Monxes

Hello, everyone.

In my post last year, when we got to Sobrado, there was only the one photo. It showed the carved dome in the old monastery church.

Nearing the town, the trail (peaceful road, actually) passes a lake full of waterlilies.

The old monastery, now occupied again by monks, was partly despoiled by the interim owners, who sold some of the dressed stone for construction. In addition to the old church and some dormitory space, much of the old cloister remains.

At one time there were sculptures visible here. If you go there, there are old paintings that the monks  are restoring.

An angel? They have been cleaning the accumulated dirt from the image.

The town also has more modern things. We stayed in a private albergue. It's a couple of blocks away from the monastery.

We did go to Vespers, though, with the monks. It was peaceful to sit silently and join our prayers and meditations with the readings. If you haven't been to Vespers before, you know it's coming to the end of the service when the monks all recite "Padre nuestro,...." The silent hours descend for the monks then, and the visiting pilgrims all leave without chattering or side wandering.

The people's flower gardens along the sidewalks were in bloom.

This pinwheel blossom is apparently an actual variety.  I had never seen them before. Since then, I have occasionally seen it mentioned on various gardening pages on the web.

Gazanias? So pretty.