Needlework Flashback: Grand Old Flag

Please take time this weekend to remember all of our service members who have given their lives in the name of protecting our freedom.

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In honor of Memorial Day, I'm sharing this photo of a sampler I stitched back in 2001:

The design is by Lesley Rudnicki, Hillside Samplings, published in Just CrossStitch magazine, 2001.

Stitched on natural linen (looks like 32ct) using over-dyed cotton threads (probably Gentle Art Sampler Threads).  The blue ground and stars of the flag are stitched over one thread, the stripes of the flag are a diagonal satin stitch - I know this stitch has a different name when done this way, but I'm writing from memory and it escapes me now.

Don't forget to RSVP for the Mets Stitch N Pitch

Last week I emailed my group's RSVP for the Mets' Stitch N' Pitch Guinness world record attempt at Citi Field on June 5. Today, I received a follow-up email from the Stitch N' Pitch Team -- they need 250 minimum to set a new Guinness World Record for the Most People Crocheting Simultaneously. They've sold plenty of tickets, but haven't received enough RSVP's for the Guinness event yet.

They need more people to RSVP! If you're planning to be part of the world record attempt, don't forget to send an email to Guinness@StitchNPitch.com and let them know you are coming.

You can purchase tickets up until the day of the event and you must have a Stitch N' Pitch ticket to be part of the Guinness event.

Tickets are available online at Mets.com. Use the sign-in ID STITCH and password METS. Or you can get them through a local shop: See the list of participating shops on StitchnPitch.com

Read more about the Guinness world record event

If you participate in the Guinness "Most People Crocheting Simultaneously" you get free yarn, crochet hook and Met Project Tote Bag (first 500 people)!

If you're going, make sure to RSVP ASAP!

Hammered

I'm finally caught up on the blog with my sewing projects to date, but still not back to sewing anything yet. I have a good excuse (or two).

One of those excuses is painting -- as a result of our kitchen renovation, there are a lot of walls and other objects that need to be painted or touched up.

The first finished touch-up was the powder room medicine cabinet.  We opted to keep the old cabinet rather than spend money on a new one.  Besides, we couldn't stand the idea of throwing away something that was perfectly useful, just the wrong color. So we refurbished it.

The frame around the mirror is a hard plastic and it used to be shiny metallic gold.  I never liked the gold.  Before the renovation,  as I was prepping the room by taking down the old wallpaper, light fixture and outlet covers, I decided to try removing the mirror and frame of the medicine cabinet.  That's when I discovered it was just like a regular picture frame and could easily be painted a different color.

Choosing a new color was a minor challenge. Most of the other metal accents in the new powder room - the cabinet hardware, light fixture - are the currently popular "oil rubbed bronze" finish, but the faucet is a victorian nickel.

First we tried spray paint in a matte finish, metallic nickel color, thinking it would disappear against the glass mirror, but it didn't look right.  The second choice worked better - it's Hammered brown paint from Rustoleum.  In the close-up above, you can see that the paint dried in a slightly textured finish with both gray and brown tones. I really like this look - I'll have to use it again on something else.

See - it looks much better now:

Of course, the walls still need to be painted ... it's on my to do list.  I have a few other touch-up projects to finish first.

Crochet Projects for Stitch N' Pitch

I'm planning on going to this year's Stitch N' Pitch event at Citi Field and we even found a local NJ shop to buy our tickets - Creative Knitworks in Westwood.

I just needed to find a crochet project to work on for the attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most people crocheting simultaneously. The project had to be something that would hold my attention long enough to finish it....

Searching the web for pattern inspiration, I came across this free Baseball Scarf design by Lily Chin. The PDF pattern can be downloaded and includes instructions for both knitting and crochet versions.  This probably won't be news to most Stitch N' Pitch fans, as it looks like it's been available for several years. Since I don't work with yarn too often, it IS new to me. I was pretty sure I could handle it.

Actually, I've already sort of finished it:


I used white and blue yarn from my stash and bought the orange at JoAnn Fabrics. After the photo above, I added the detail work between the individual baseballs. Before adding the baseball stitching, I thought I'd finally set up the Huskystar ER-10 felting machine that I bought several years ago and see what it could do. The yarns are all mostly acrylic, so I wasn't expecting perfect felting, but the effect is somewhat interesting.



It's going to take several days to felt all 11 sections of the scarf and afterward I may try either machine or hand embroidering the baseball stitching and maybe a few other Metsie details.

So the next question is, what am I going to work on at the Stitch N' Pitch event?

How about this free crochet pattern from Caron for a Two Tone Tote in orange and blue ..... here's the front of the tote, finished a day or so ago:


This is the same orange yarn from the baseball scarf - it's TLC Essentials No Dye Lot worsted medium weight 100% acrylic in Persimmon; the blue is Lion Brand Jiffy bulky weight 100% acrylic in Denim.  The pattern calls for using two strands of yarn for all stitches.  I'm finding that it makes the crochet process a little slower, but the result is a thick piece that should make a nice sturdy bag when its finished.

I started a few rows of the back and now that I understand the pattern better, I'll probably put it aside until Stitch N' Pitch so I can work on it at the event. I plan to make the bottom and the straps of the bag in the blue denim color, then I'll add some sort of lining.

I don't know what I'll do with it when it is finished ... 

Westie Applique Bib

A few weeks before Easter I purchased several machine embroidery designs from Planet Appliqué, one of which was this Westie appliqué design.   Actually, they call it a Yorkie Terrier Puppy, but it looks too much like a Westie to me.

For a sample stitch-out, I thought I'd try embroidering the design onto a bib for my nephew RJ:

The appliqué fabric is a scrap of blue quilter's flannel and it's embroidered onto a purchased blue bib (from Babies 'R Us).  I used a sticky wash-away stabilizer, so the only stitching on the back of the bib is the bobbin thread.

Shamrocks! Mini Quilt

This was a quickie project finished just in time for St. Patrick's Day:

On a spontaneous trip to The Cozy Quilt Shoppe in March, I picked up this Shamrocks monthly mini design by Patch Abilities. At first I was drawn to the cute little leprechaun hat hanger; after a few moments of hesitation I decided it would be a nice little project for an afternoon. (The finished piece measures 6" x 21".) Since I haven't had much time for sewing yet this year, I was looking anxiously for a quick 'fix'.

The fabrics are all from my stash, and I did need to get creative with fitting the small shamrocks to some of my larger scraps.  Even the binding was in the scrap pile -- originally I had cut it for a different project, but measured wrong so it was too narrow for it's intended purpose.  It was just the right size for this project.

The shamrocks are fused to the pieced background, then machine stitched around the raw edges with a blanket stitch through all the layers, quilting at the same time. I added a little more stitching in the ditch quilting around the border, too, before attaching the binding.

It turned out great and it was wonderful to finally be able to start *and* finish something new.