My New Studio

In my past life (i.e. - before I had kids) I was a land development consultant, and I worked from home.  I needed a cell phone and a computer, paper and pen, and I was set.   Then came my children, and my home office began to breed dust bunnies.  

So when I decided to open shop I transformed my office into a studio, and now I can leave stuff out without worrying about toddlers getting into my pins, scissors, and sharpies!   Though honestly, I did have to put child-proof locks on because my littlest one just figured out how to open the door and was, in fact, walking around with pins, scissors, and a very big, very red sharpie.  True story - I had to take one of my big kitties off my shop because she got Sharpied. (Spell-checker says that's not a word, but anyone with toddlers knows IT IS SO!!!)

my online shop

My husband bought me a gorgeous cutting table off craigslist about a year ago - it has something like 19s.f. of surface area.  It is totally dreamy!  He moved it upstairs last weekend and I wanted to celebrate by taking pictures! So here, friends, is my new studio!

OK, so this is just one corner.  But in the other corners are a big corner computer desk, the door to the hallway, and the closet door - not much of interest.  Then there is the wall with my sewing machine and fabrics, but unfortunately my camera is being flaky and deleted that picture for me.  How sweet.

Here's my little corner up close.  I have some of my favorite photos, some embroidery that is in-process, my itty bitty picture frames, a big huge glass canister for buttons, and a little duck figurine that is actually a  pencil sharpener!  Oh, and since the filing cabinet is metal, I can add magnets to hold up some of my favorite sketchbook pages.  It's in process, but I like it - I like the organization - I know where things are, it's not a big jumbled mess.  Yay!

That's all for now.  Hope your week goes swimmingly!

:) Caren

A Portrait in Embroidery

I'm not quite finished with this project, but wanted to share it with you.

It's based on a photograph, but it is amazing how different and "flat" things are without shading and lighting.  I am not great at the perspective and shading stuff that so many of you are.  I just copied what I thought to be the best lines from the photo, right onto the fabric, and went from there.  

Now the question is - how should I finish it?  Should I frame it?  Make it a wall hanging?  What do you think?  If you have any other ideas, please let me know.  (Or this one might be hanging, unfinished, on my file cabinet forever).  

Cheers!

:) Caren

Embroidery Firsts

I have been working on making some fabric postcards lately, and I have so much to share with you!
First of all, how many of you like when you embroider something and little floss "tails" show through to the front?  I don't.  Not at all.  So this is the first time I used a tear-away stabilizer, and it worked great, plus, the extra layer helped to make that light fabric more opaque.

This is also the first time I have used a machine satin stitch.  Yep, I've never done any machine embroidery at all, just hand-work.  It didn't turn out perfect, but the theme for this project is "handmade holidays", so it totally works!

And then there is this cute reverse-applique porcupine on a scooter.  It was my first go at itty bitty words.  Can you read it?  "Hugs 25 cents"

 Here's the back.  Pretty much the same for all of them, except I wrote a little on the others.  I like my little "stamp".  That was made from printable fabric (Avery and Staples both have their own version).

Though this is not my first time working with Stick-n-Washaway product, I wanted to talk about it because I really do like it, and maybe you've not heard of it.  It is like a fabric sticky note - you stick it on, stitch through it, and then just wash it off.  I used it on this particular piece because my Spunky drew this picture (he named it "Robot Retractable Arm Malfunction" - have I mentioned how much I love that boy?!!) I really like the picture, but it was too big for a postcard, so I took a picture of it on my digital camera, uploaded it to the computer, re-sized it, and printed it right onto the Stick-n-Washaway!  Sweet, right?

(Sorry if that sounded a little like an infomercial.  I never can tell how much to share!)  Oh, but since I'm writing this in the middle of the night and that's when I tend to ramble... did you notice my buttons on the picture (above)?  Those were glued on (E-9000, not hot glue).  The picture just needed something extra....

I'd better get to bed now, or this will turn into a novel (and I wouldn't be surprised if I lost more than a few followers!). So anywhoooo, you all have a great Sunday.  I'll be praising the Lord from my piano at church.  Maybe I'll see you there!

:) Caren