x-stitch ... years in the making

Did I ever mention that I am quite the procrastinator? Well, here's proof. I finally finished a cross-stitch that I've been working on for the past few years. It's not that big (about 12"x12") and I really have no good excuse for why it took so long. This cross-stitch saw me graduate high school, graduate college, go off exploring, and start graduate school. Yeah ... when I say that this took me a "few years," what I really mean is 7 and a half years. Oh yes.


I received the pattern from a friend for my 16th birthday. We had taken biology together, and for a bug-collecting project, we managed to catch some butterflies. In the process of pinning them to the board, some of the wings fell off and we became the wingless butterfly friends. She gave me the cross-stitch as a reminder of that. We actually haven't talked in about five years or so and we've both just changed so much, but I'm glad that I've finally been able to complete her gift.

Kind of bittersweet in a way. The cross-stitch is completed, we've lost contact, time has moved on ... seems kinda final.

cookie tags

I make a lot of cookies. Most of my friends are in architecture studio, slaving away until the wee hours of the night. Since I don't have studio and I get lonely, I like making them cookies or doing menial tasks for them (like gluing together a pile of cylinders). Since I make a lot of cookies and I feel bad throwing away all those plastic bags, I have decided to make reusable, washable fabric bags for cookies. Well, I haven't gotten around to that part yet, but I've made the fabric tags to identify the cookie types. I'll get around to making the actual bags later ... eventually ... sometime. I'm busy!

   
First comes the template. I would've just cut out a chunk of fabric and started sewing, but I have finally learned that I am not good at cutting a straight line. I drew a rectangle 2.5" by 6" in the corner of a manila envelope with my trusty metal L ruler. Cut out a chunk from the corner of the template and then went about tracing shapes from the fabric. I have a lot of this cheap fabric because I originally used it to cover the wall partition in my studio. It's the same fabric I used for these.

   
Cut out all those shapes, and then fold them in half with the wrong sides out. The fabric I used was the same on both sides so it really didn't matter. Sew the two long edges and the short side closed while leaving open the wedge. Then flip it right-side out through the opening that was left. I ironed it at this point to make it easier to work with. I'm not good at drawing a straight line, cutting a straight line, or sewing a straight line. Oh well. Wonky edges make it seem more homemade, right?



Then comes the stuffing. I just added a bit of stuffing into each tag to give them some thickness and make them a bit more substantial. Batting probably would've worked easier, but I don't have any of that. While embroidering I would have to keep pressing the stuffing to where I wanted it because it moves a bit. Once the letters are embroidered, however, it's pretty much stuck.

   
To make it easier to attach the tags onto the bags (which I intend to have some sort of drawstring or handle), I decided to sew on some loops. I used a random shoestring that I had and cut it into three-inch strips. By the way, this was a new, clean, completely unused shoestring. Since it was going to be used near food and was meant to be washable, I avoided my usual twine and ribbon. Tucking it into the wedge, which had been folded in, I secured it with a pin, and then took it to the sewing machine. I stitched around the edge of the entire thing, and when it got to the area of the wedge, I stitched that opening closed, making sure to get the ends of the cord as I went.


Then came the final step: embroidering! This was the most fun but also the most time-consuming part. I didn't really plan much before starting the letters, so in some cases I had to go back and redo a letter or two to fix the spacing. This is where a disappearing-ink pen would've come in handy ... if only I had one. Make sure to sew all the way through the tag to cinch in the stuffing. I think it's cute because the reverse side of the tag spells out "oatmeal" but backwards.

I currently have three made: oatmeal, choc chip, and sugar. I plan on making a few more, but I have no idea how I'm going to embroider "peanut butter" onto one of these things. I'll probably also have to make another "choc chip" in case I make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal chocolate chip (which would require both an "oatmeal" and "choc chip" tag). I'm running out of the purple embroidery floss I was using, so that is yet another thing to add to my list. On the other hand, my August total is so tiny!

project supplies + updates

Whew. I really need to stop beginning projects and then storing them away ... where they tend to sit for a really long time while I begin other projects. Oh well. My class ends tomorrow, so I'm going to have a lot of free time to start finishing up these things. I constantly browse CraigsList because I love seeing what other people are trying to get rid of and sometimes I find really good deals. Case in point: stuffing!


Three full bags of Cluster Stuff, a total of 48 ounces, all for $5! Sweet. I generally work with poly-fil, but I figured it was all kind of the same, right? Well, cluster stuff is definitely different, but it works find for my little projects. Poly-fil is more clumpy, but this stuff is like a lot of little curls. Now I need to add projects to my list to use up all this stuff!


With stuffing crossed off my list, I made a trip to Michael's. There, I picked up some 2 mm black leather cording (yay for 40% off coupon!), 1" diameter wooden disks, and some metallic-y pink ribbon that was on sale. There was a Dollar Tree nearby, so I stopped in, but all I could really find were some birthday cards. Eh, I can always use more of those. Then I went to Hancock Fabrics and got a yard of gray fleece that was 30% off. So all in all only spent about $25. Fabulous.

   
Well, before I got started on using those supplies, I figured I had to finish some of the lingering ones. First up, the little pouches that I had been making. Now I have six, neatly hanging on my door (next to my beautiful scarves). I'm debating whether I should make more or not. Eight would be a nice number, and I do need more places to put all my odds and ends, but do I really have the time to hand-stitch two more? I'll have to mull that one over. Then comes the embroidery I've been working on (off and on) for the last month. I could probably work forever on the thing, but i decided to stop. It'll probably become a pillow, but it needs some sort of border thing. But at least it's out of the hoop now, which will allow me to start another embroidery ....

finally back (sort of)

Whew. So first week of class is over, and it's a doozy. So far it's pretty easy, but it's philosophy and there's just a ton of reading and on and on and on. Eh, not really my kind of thing. I've applied to a lot of places, but still no job, but I haven't given up hope yet. So ... I finally went to the computer lab on campus and got some pictures off of my camera.

   
Ta dah! The embroidery I've been working on. It's currently far more intricate than in these pictures because I just keep working on it. There are a few places were I screwed up (this is what happens when you embroider at 4 AM) so I need to add more swirls to "fix" those areas. It's kind of losing its clean look and becoming a bit too busy, but all-in-all I'm pretty happy with it. It's all just chain-stitching. I expect I'll post later when there's more completion, when I'm finally happy with it, and when I turn it into a pillow. Hopefully I'll get to that last stage sometime this summer, but who knows? Oh, and I almost forgot one of my favorite pictures.


It's a sewing machine! My mother bought it for me when I was back at home as an early birthday gift. It's just a simple beginner's model, which is fine with me. I'd never actually used one of these things before, so it took some trial and error and I'm still not very good at using it. Anyway, it won't be making much of an appearance as it's staying at home for the summer, but no matter, since I have plenty of projects enough for now. In fact, this evening I finished a project which I'll post tomorrow ... if I manage to make it to the computer lab again.