Weekend Reading — 11/6/15

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

My weekly roundup of links to things that caught my attention this week:

I saw lots of excellent finishes this week on blogs across the web, but Andrea posted a huge number of beautiful finishes at The Craft Room. I love seeing how she finished the “Peace” ornament by Hands on Design.

And, speaking of beautiful finishes, Hilary at Crazy as a Loom shows off a gorgeous tunic she made from her handwoven fabric. Plus, she shares photos of her awesome weaving space. Jealous!

I read Art & Fear a few years ago, but obviously I need to read it again because I missed this lesson, too.

This Nigerian weaver wove his entire car in raffia. Got to see it to believe it.

This weekend is SOFA in Chicago at Navy Pier.

Video of the Week

This week’s video is “Problems Only Book Lovers Understand” with Reading Rainbow’s LeVar Burton. The part where the light goes off made me LOL because my office in my old job had a light-saving feature and I would be sitting at my desk working and all of a sudden the light would go out and I would have to wave my arms around like mad to trigger the sensor to turn the light back on. Fun times.

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Show and Tell: “Sylvania” Finished

Posted on November 3, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I have another finished piece to share with you this week. I stitched this piece last year while my husband and I were watching all the episodes of “Star Trek Enterprise” on streaming video. He had never seen the show before. I had watched it when it originally aired, but there were a lot episodes in the later seasons I had not seen. So, I worked on this project while we watched television. I’m only just sharing it now because I took such a long break from the blog — I’ve got lots to catch up on!

Sylvania by SHSW

The pattern is “Sylvania” by Summer House Stitche Workes. I came upon this pattern at my local stitch shop. I was not previously familiar with this designer, but “Sylvania” was a lot of fun to stitch, and it worked up pretty fast. I see Summer House Stitche Workes has other patterns that seem to belong to this series. I especially love the “Sophia” pattern, and I think it would make a great companion piece to this one.

I framed “Sylvania” myself, and the frame is another one that I bought from All Barn Wood.

I’m happy with how it turned out, although I still haven’t found a place to hang it in my home. For now it sits on the floor, leaning against the wall in my little home office space.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Weekend Reading — 10/30/15

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Here’s what I’ve been reading this week:

“The specialized needlework known as tally is unique to rural Upper Egypt and dates back hundreds of years. But it began disappearing in the last century and is at risk of going the way of so many handicrafts, now mass-produced by machine.”

Read about how Egypt is trying to save its folk art traditions.

Fine Cell Work teaches needlework to prisoners in the UK. The Huffington Post UK has an in-depth article about the organization’s work. They produce some really stunning cushions and other work which you can buy online.

My local EGA chapter was recently profiled in the Chicago Tribune! Huge congratulations to everyone mentioned in the article.

Wallpaper alerted me to contemporary Native American artist Jeffrey Gibson whose amazing work includes beaded and woven wall hangings. You can see more of his work at the Marc Straus Gallery website, where Gibson has a new exhibit.

Video of the Week

I’m honoring Halloween this week with this classic animated short. From Disney’s Silly Symphonies, this is “The Skeleton Dance” from 1929. Enjoy!

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Halloween Patterns

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Gosh, here we are already at the end of October. I am so excited that Halloween is on a weekend this year so I can be home to pass out candy. I get home from work too late during the week to catch most trick-or-treaters, so it has been several years since I have bought candy for Halloween. And, because next year is a leap year, I won’t get this chance again until 2020 when Halloween lands on a Saturday again! Crazy.

I haven’t done any Halloween stitching, but here are a few patterns I love with a Halloween theme:

Halloween-Patterns

Clockwise from top left:

  1. “Jack’s Bash” by Plum Street Samplers
  2. “Oct. 31st” by With Thy Needle and Thread
  3. “Year in Chalk October” by Hands On Design
  4. “Halloween Cove” by By The Bay Needleart
  5. “Mini Witches and Crones” from Heaven And Earth Designs
  6. “Hocus Pocus” by Prairie Schooler

I love the “Year in Chalk” series that Hands on Design has been doing this year. I have not bought them yet, but I am so tempted to splurge and get the whole set of 12 months.

The “Mini Witches and Crones” design is by the artist Jane Wooster Scott. I have three cross-stitch patterns from Heaven and Earth Designs adapted from her artwork, but I’ll admit I have not yet started stitching any of them. I am still too intimidated by HAEDs, but I love Scott’s folk art style.

Finally, “Hocus Pocus” is in my pattern stash. Prairie Schooler has a number of great Halloween designs. I may have to pull this one out of the stash and aim for next Halloween…

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Weekend Reading — 10/23/15

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

My weekly round-up of needlework, embroidery and weaving links, plus other things I enjoyed reading this week:

“There seems to be a myth that works of art magically appear in the night, seemingly by the aid of elves, with fully formed concepts implanted in the artist’s mind for them to regurgitate at the next opportunity.” Read this wonderful interview with weaver Christina Hesford.

This will keep you busy all weekend. Mary Corbet shares her giant list of favorite embroidery and needlework blogs.

Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers is generously sharing her 12 days of Christmas patterns for free! You can stitch them as ornaments, but she also provides instructions to stitch them up into a single sampler. The first 3 days have been posted. Check back on Sunday for day 4.

Do I need another pin loom? I might, especially if it is this new star loom designed by Noreen Crone-Findlay. I see star ornaments in my family’s future…

Did you know you can get a free digital subscription to Handmade Business? Handmade Business was formerly Crafts Report and is a great magazine for anyone in the business of selling their crafts. And, if the free subscription wasn’t enough, you will also get access to a free eBook, “The Ultimate Guide to Handcrafted Success” by Bruce Baker.

Video of the Week

Seriously trippy animated video with an Alice in Wonderland theme made to promote Good Books, an online non-profit bookstore that donates all proceeds to Oxfam.

GOOD BOOKS: "We Need To Talk About Alice" from Plenty on Vimeo.

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Finished: Lizzie Kate’s “My To Do List”

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I posted about this one a long ways back when I started it. It did not take me 22 months to stitch! But, the finished piece did sit around for some time before I finally got around to framing it.

So here is the completed “My To Do List” by Lizzie Kate:

Lizzie Kate--My To Do List

I framed it myself, which was an adventure because I had never framed my own stitching before. But, I think it turned out fine. I bought the 8″ x 6″ frame from All Barn Wood.

I have more than a few other L*K patterns in my stash, including this kit…Gah! So many patterns, so little time…

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Weekend Reading

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

“Finally, after my children were grown and out of the house, I began to make these small embroidered pieces.” An interview with textile artist Deborah Slabek Baker.

Turn your iPad into a lightbox for tracing embroidery designs.

Are portable looms the perfect looms for autumn?

I love this idea: Aimee Ray points out that embroidery patterns also make great coloring pages.

Meanwhile, there is a Harry Potter coloring book in the works.

Video of the Week

Watch Hogwarts come to life in this delightful stop-motion animated short.

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Autumn Stitching Inspiration

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Since giving up on my project the other week, I have not started anything new, but I am itching to stitch something seasonal. I love autumn-themed patterns, and these caught my eye recently.

Autumn Stitches

Top Row, L-R:
1. “Family Blessings” by Imaginating
2. “Autumn Leaves and Sunflower Seeds” by Blue Ribbon Designs
3. “Autumn Alphabet” by Lizzie Kate

Bottom Row, L-R:
4. “Enjoy The Harvest” by Mill Hill
5. “October” by Prairie Schooler
6. “October Curls” by Bent Creek

I’m pretty sure I have “Autumn Leaves and Sunflower Seeds” in my pattern stash. I may have to go stash-diving this week…

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Weekend Reading

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

Sharing links to articles, websites, videos and more that I enjoyed during the week:

Mister Finch is a self-taught textile artist who makes some strange yet compelling soft sculptures.

Christine Kane’s “5 Secrets to Practical Productivity” made a lot of sense to me. I struggle with both numbers 1 and 2 on her list.

I like this flowchart of copyright guidelines for crafters and hobbyists.

You can play the Oregon Trail computer game online for free thanks to the Internet Archive. Plus, check out their huge collection of other vintage MS-DOS games.

Why blogs are better than Facebook. I completely agree.

Video of the Week

My husband and I saw Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Cinderella) at the Lyric Opera this week. It was great fun. Here is a teaser trailer of the production:

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Giving Up on a Cross-Stitch Project

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Rabbit Girl Crafts

I did something unthinkable this weekend — I threw away a cross-stitch project I had been working on.

This was not a decision I made lightly. Although I have plenty of UFOs that I may or may not ever finish, I have never thrown away a project before.

Mostly I didn’t want to get rid of it because of the perceived waste:
–throwing away good fabric
–throwing away used thread
–the time I had already invested in the project

Fortunately, the project was a small one. It was a single ornament — part of a set of 8 ornaments. I had already stitched 4 of the patterns in the set. So, I was only losing a 4-inch square piece of evenweave and a relatively small amount of thread.

So, why did I want to throw it away? I wanted to toss it because I had made several errors stitching it that affected the look of the piece. I had already ripped and resewn one section, and then I discovered additional mistakes, and it was too late to pick them out. Usually I just soldier on if a mistake is minor, but these were so bad (to my mind) that I no longer wanted to finish the piece. I was actively resisting working on it, and it was preventing me from wanting to stitch at all.

After it sat on my desk for over a week, untouched, I took a deep breath and gave myself permission to just toss it.

I thought I would feel a twinge of guilt over the waste, but you know what? I felt relieved. Throwing away this bungled project removed guilt rather than added to it. I felt a tiny, tiny weight lift from my shoulders because I no longer had to work on this project which I now hated.

Now I am free to work on something I will enjoy. But, I think I will take a break from this particular set of ornaments…

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