Findings–3/11/16

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Findings Post Header Image

I created a fancy new image for my findings posts. Findings is my weekly roundup of links of inspiring needlework, textile, art and book news from my wanderings around the web. Here are this week’s links:

TextileArtist recently featured some of their most popular posts, including this post discussing the best embroidery scissors.

Lizzie Kate is celebrating 20 years as a cross-stitch designer!

Although I love butterflies, moths creep me out. But, I kind of love these textile sculptures of moths by artist Yumi Okita. She also sells on Etsy where you can see more of her work.

Jacqueline Poirier paints landscapes on plates and then photographs them so the plates blend into the real landscapes she has depicted. Very cool.

An historian believes he has found a photo of Vincent Van Gogh taken in 1888. The jury may still be out on this one…

Artist Jean-Luc Cornec has created strange sculptures of sheep from old rotary telephones. The phone cords make perfect woolly curls.

Video of the Week

This video is so random because it happens to be an ad for an Australian accounting firm, but I love the animation:

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WIP Weds: Vintage Eggs, Memory Thread Heart and Celtic Knot

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I have three active works in progress. Although the Vintage Eggs pieces are really eight separate items, I am sort of counting them as one set of items.

Last week I showed off the finished pig motif from the Vintage Eggs series and my start on the sheep. Unfortunately, I don’t have any finishes to share this week, but I have made some progress on the sheep:

Prairie Schooler Vintage Eggs CrossStitch Sheep

So one sheep is done, and I have made a good start on the second sheep.

Next up is the memory thread heart project. This was a project I started as part of a group class at one of my embroidery guild meetings. I finished the stitching a couple weeks ago, but I would like to complete it as a small decorative pillow. I have never pieced and sewed a pillow before, so this is going to be an experiment. But, while I have a sizable stash of needlework fabric, I have almost no sewing fabric stash. Consequently, I was thrilled and touched by the generosity of a follower, Gwen, on Instagram who sent me some lovely fabrics (and a lot of other goodies!) to help me out. She sent me the fabric and buttons below, which are perfect for finishing this heart project:

finishing-memory-heart

So, I am hoping to have time this weekend to measure and cut and sew and finish off this project! *Fingers crossed!*

Finally, I have started another small piece. I am stitching the Celtic knot pattern that I designed for an Altoids tin top. I need to get this stitched before Monday evening which is when I will be leading my tin topper finishing class for my guild meeting. So, yeah, I need to get busy on this one this week! But, it should be a quick stitch. Right now I just have the outline of the knot done:

celtic-knot-crosstitch-start

That is where I am at on my projects this week. If all goes well, next week I should have some finishes to show off!

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Findings–3/4/16

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Time for my weekly roundup of needlework, textile, art and literature links from around the web:

Gracewood Stitches has a free cross-stitch design that can be adapted in unlimited ways.

Happiness is Cross-Stitching has a free pattern perfect for Mother’s Day.

ArtNews has a wonderful interview with artist Faith Ringgold, who is now 85-years-old.

Artist Jane Perkins re-creates famous paintings and well-known portraits using found materials. You’ve got to see them to believe them.

Artist Susanna Bauer adds stitching and crocheted edges to…leaves, transforming them into stunning yet fragile sculptures.

Video of the Week

Okay, so this is an ad for Android. But, OMG, it’s so cute and sweet. Enjoy!

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WIP Weds: More Progress on Vintage Eggs

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Hello, hello. Time for another update on where I am at with my projects. My main WIP right now is “Vintage Eggs” by The Prairie Schooler. But, I am starting to see the finish line now. Last week I finished the vase with the flowers. And, this week I have another finish! Woo-hoo! Say ‘hello’ to the happy hog:

Prairie Schooler Vintage Eggs Hog

The pig was a quick stitch because it uses few colors and they are in biggish chunks. I did mess up in the counting so the word “Oink” and the tulip above the pig are slightly off, but…that’s how it goes sometimes. I wasn’t going to pick it all out because I can work around it.

Next up, I started the two leaping sheep from the “Vintage Eggs” series. Here is where I am at now:

Prairie Schooler Vintage Eggs Sheep Cross-Stitch Pattern

Once I finish the sheep, I will only have two left to do in this series. I might even start finishing the completed ones this weekend and start turning them into some Easter ornaments. Stay tuned! And, if you want to follow along with all my stitching updates, follow me on Instagram @thatrabbitgirl — Instagram has a wonderful, active stitching community, and I am having so much fun following so many talented stitchers.

 

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February 2016 Reads

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I only finished three books this month, and I read them all in eBook format, so I only have this lame photo collage to share instead of a pretty stack of books:

Books read in February 2016

No Mud, No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hahn

This was the February pick for my church’s book club. I have read several other books by Thich Nhat Hahn including Peace is Every Step and Present Moment Wonderful Moment. He does an excellent job of breaking down mindfulness practices for a Western audience, and this book is no exception.

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

I wanted to read more creative books this year. Last month my creative book was Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This month I read Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. It’s funny to me that some creative types need to be told that sharing is a good thing. Showing our work is something that the stitching community does very, very well. We have “work in progress” Wednesdays, for goodness sake! And Instagram is one big non-stop “work in progress” Wednesday among the stitching and crafting communities. So, I did not learn a whole lot new from this book, but it was a fun, light read.

Self-Compassion by Dr. Kristin Neff

I started this book ages ago and finally pushed myself to finish it this month. It turned out to be perfect timing because the principles in this book complemented the philosophy underlying No Mud, No Lotus very well. So, it was great to read them together in the same month.

Dr. Neff puts her own unique spin on mindfulness practice as a means to cultivate greater compassion for one’s own faults and perceived flaws. One of her practice that I’ve been putting into practice since reading the book is the following mantra, to be said to oneself when you are suffering in any way, whether mentally or emotionally:

This is a moment of suffering.
Suffering is part of life.
May I be kind to myself in this moment.
May I give myself the compassion I need.

This is a great book for anyone who struggles with feelings of unworthiness, which is pretty much everyone. If you’ve read and enjoyed any of Brene Brown’s books, Self-Compassion is a great complement to Brown’s writings as well.

Magazines
I read lots of stitchy magazines this month!

March 2016 CrossStitcher
March 2016 World of Cross Stitching
March 2016 Cross Stitch Collection
March 2016 CrossStitch Crazy
April 2016 Just CrossStitch

Did you miss last month? Catch up with my January 2016 reads here.

Want to see what else I’m reading? Follow me on Goodreads!

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Findings–02/26/16

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Findings is my weekly roundup of links from my wanderings around the web. Topics often include textiles, embroidery, books and more. Here are this week’s links:

Wild Olive comes up with some awesome rainbow color palettes using DMC floss.

&Stitches reviews the new Coloris floss from DMC. I’m not sure if the threads are available in the U.S. yet, but you can see them on the French DMC website.

The embroidery site at About.com has a new tutorial about painting embroidery hoops for framing. It’s way easier to do than I thought.

The Nashville Needlework Market is next week, and designers have been sharing sneak peeks at some of their new designs on their websites, including With Thy Needle & Thread, Praiseworthy Stitches and Plum Street Samplers.

Artist Olena Mysnyk makes bookmarks that look like characters’ feet sticking out from the pages of the book. Visit her site to learn more.

Video of the Week

“Malak and the Boat” is an animated short sponsored by UNICEF that highlights the stories of the youngest victims of the Syrian refugee crisis.

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WIP Weds: Two Small Finishes

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I am excited because after having almost no progress to show last week, I have finished both of the pieces I was working on.

First I tackled the memory thread on the heart pattern I was working on as part of a guild project:

memory-thread-love-heart

I am very happy with how this turned out. Manipulating the memory thread and getting it to stay in place long enough to secure it to the fabric was tricky, but I got the hang of it. I’m not sure I am in a rush to use memory thread again, but I am glad I got out of my comfort zone and tried something new. I am deciding how I want to finish this piece. I am thinking about making a small decorative pillow, but we’ll see.

In the comments last week I mentioned that I stitched the heart in a random pattern, which is why the colors in the variegated thread are more patchy rather than striping. Before I started adding the memory thread, I took a photo of the backside of the piece so you could see how I stitched the heart:

backside-memory-thread-heart

I hope you can see how I worked the heart in blocks and even sometimes in vertical rather than horizontal rows. I just let my needle and thread go where it wanted to go and hoped for the best.

Next, I also completed the vase of flowers from The Prairie Schooler “Vintage Eggs” pattern series:

flower-vase-prairie-schooler

I love this series, but now I am itching to start finishing some of them, too. I want to turn them into flat ornaments, and I’d like to get that done before my next guild meeting in March so I can submit them for the guild’s spring exhibit at the local park district building where we meet. Fingers crossed that I can get them done in time!

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Celtic Knot Cross-Stitch Pattern

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I am still mildly obsessed with tin toppers. Last month I created and shared a little pattern made to look like an air mail envelope. But, the workshop I am doing for my guild meeting in March comes just before St. Patrick’s Day, so I felt like designing something more seasonal. So, I’ve designed a little Celtic knot pattern that is sized to fit the top of an Altoid’s tin.

Last week I looked at some tutorials and tried to learn how to draw Celtic knotwork. It is tricky but really fun to draw once you get the hang of it. You can see the progression of my attempts here:

drawing-celtic-knots

By the time I got to the bottom of the page on my sketchpad, I was getting the hang of it.

Unfortunately, things that work on paper don’t always translate well into cross-stitch, and the bottom knot was way too complicated a design to fit on a tin topper. I had to simply things quite a bit, but that’s okay.

Instead, I’ve created a simple knotwork design that will be quick to stitch, and you can customize the colors really easily. If you’re not into tin toppers, it would also make a nice bookmark or greeting card motif. Click on the image below to access and download the free PDF pattern:

Celtic-Tin-Topper_CrossStitch-Pattern

The pattern calls for DMC Light Effects metallic thread in Old Gold (E3821), but you could substitute it with Kreinik #4 Braid in Vintage Gold. I just wanted to give the knot a little sparkle!

I hope you enjoy it.

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Findings-2/20/16

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Textile, embroidery, art and other things that caught my eye on the web this week:

Stacy at Crossed Stitches is stitching the Sistine Chapel pattern from Heaven and Earth Designs, but what really boggles the mind is that she is stitching it 1 x 1 on 34ct. fabric!

Funk & Weber Designs compares edge-following backstitches to sketch backstitches. I, too, have come to embrace the look produced by sketch-style backstitching.

Artist Asya Kozina creates elaborate Baroque-style wigs out of paper.

Embroidery artist Danielle Clough stitches flowers onto old tennis rackets. Beautiful work.

And, embroidery artist Alexandra Drenth creates stitched pieces for the insides of teacups. Unusual, but unique and lovely. Her website also features some of her other wonderful embroidery work, as well.

Lark Crafts previews some of their new books coming out this spring. I kind of want the Hemp Macrame book.

Video of the Week

Valentine’s Day is past, but this animated short is too funny and weird not to share.

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WIP Weds: A (Very) Little Progress

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Blah. The past week has been busy, so I don’t have a lot of progress to show from last week. I was hoping to finish the memory thread heart project, but that has not happened yet. I did finish stitching the heart, but I still have to manipulate and couch the memory thread. So, here is where the project stands now:

memory-thread-heart-wip2

I do like the way the variation in the color turned out. The heart was stitched using a Weeks Dye Works thread, but unfortunately I don’t know exactly what colorway it is because the project was kitted up for me as part of the guild workshop I took.

And, I was hoping to have finished the flowers in the vase motif from The Prairie Schooler “Vintage Eggs” series, but I barely got any stitching done on it at all:

wip-021716-vintage-eggs

I finished all of the red stitches for the flowers, but other than that…I may work on it a bit more tonight as I am writing this on Tuesday evening, so the goal is to finish it before next week’s update!

 

 

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