Post Title To Be Decided On Later

Well, this should hardly come as a surprise, but I am a champion procrastinator. I’m pretty good about big things like bills or potentially life threatening maladies, but for anything less important than a LAST NOTICE cable bill or a truly alarming freckle I’m hopeless. I try to excuse my procrastination by pretending my time is super valuable and thus shouldn’t be wasted on things I don’t feel like doing... but no one falls for it. It’s laziness pure and simple and, when combined with my own unique set of neurosis, it yields some interesting results.  For example, on four separate occasions I have bought new sheets rather than wash the ones I own. This isn’t nearly as wasteful as it sounds because I almost always end up cannibalizing an extra (clean) sheet when I run out of base fabric for whatever project I’m working on, but it’s still pretty pathetic. 

Anyway, the point of all this is to explain why I haven’t listed anything new on etsy for quite some time. It’s not that I haven’t made anything... making things is fun... listing them is not. I therefore have QUITE the backlog. This is less than half of it... meh. 

Silk Ribbon Roses: Easier Than You Think

I love silk ribbon roses. They’re one of the most striking things you can do with ribbon embroidery; they’re also one of the easiest. It’s basically just a process of making a spoke and weaving the ribbon over and under the spokes. 

Start by making a spoke using a shade of thread that matches the ribbon you plan on using, though the thread won’t ultimately be visible so don’t agonize over finding exactly the right shade. You’ll need to make an odd number of spokes. I usually go with five but for smaller roses you can use three, for really large ones you can use seven. 

Kinda hard to see the spoke... trust me it's there

Bring your ribbon up through the center of the spokes and begin weaving it over and under your spokes. 

As is often the case with embroidery, maintaining the correct tension is the trickiest part. You want to keep the ribbon tight enough to avoid knots but loose enough that the rose looks natural. It gets easier with practice.

Sometimes the ribbon will twist as you weave it. It’s not a problem so don’t obsess over trying to keep it straight. 

There is no set number of rotations, just keep going until the spokes are covered and the rose looks the way you want it to. More rotations will give you rose a more tightly wound look. 

If you run out of ribbon you can always bring your ribbon through the back, knot it, and then pick up where you left off with new ribbon. You can also switch colors midway through for a two-tone look. 

Once you’re happy with your rose, bring the ribbon through to the back side of the fabric and knot it. I usually try to bring it through over one of the spoke ends which helps to further disguise them. If any of them are still visible you can hide them with leaves.

That’s all there is to it. Easy right?

no idea what I'm going to do with this... mothers day card maybe?

New Jewelry

Just added new jewelry to Etsy!

This design with lots of small flowers has proved pretty popular. I should make more like this but with multiple colors and such tiny stitches the back gets pretty messy and it's hard to keep the tension right... I'll have to work on it though because I LOVE the way this came out.

Also kind of in love with this red one. I've been putting large multilayered flowers on a lot of things lately and they all come out different... I'm a fan.

Quarter Life Christmas Projects

So, it’s not technically December yet, but I’m already really excited for Christmas. Maybe it’s because the only way to enter my office building is by walking through a mall, the stores of which started decorating for Christmas round about July... but I really feel like it should BE here already. Actually, I can't fairly blame it on the stores... I've always been like this.

When I was little I would usually channel my impatience by watching A Muppet Christmas Carol on repeat, devouring my mothers cranberry bread, and orchestrating the decoration of our tree and house with fascist zeal (white lights only, all ornaments need my approval, anything made with popsicle sticks or corn flakes is strictly forbidden and will probably be thrown away when you’re not looking). I don’t know how my family put up with me. This was when I lived in Phoenix, a place with winters so mild a frozen puddle could actually attract a crowd. That kind of weather makes for wonderful retirement living but somewhat lackluster holidays.

Now I finally live in a city with real winters (though apparently not this year) but my usual modes of Christmas preparation are no longer available. For one thing, I can’t find the Muppet Christmas Carol on DVD anywhere, for another, my apartment has no room for a Christmas tree and my very poorly behaved cat would make short work of any decorations I tried to put up. To make matters worse, I can’t bake. After a series of heartbreaking results and one small fire, I’ve stopped trying. Mom, if you’re reading this please feel free to send me some cranberry bread... also my roommate devoured those candycane cookies you sent last year... just a thought.

Anyway, this is all a very roundabout way of saying that as part of my thoroughly disappointing journey into adulthood I’ve finally come to terms with the need for new holiday traditions. So tonight I’m watching Game of Thrones, sipping wine, and making Christmas ornaments. Not exactly a scene from Normal Rockwell... but it’s a start.

I got the idea for the ornaments from a little Christmas wreath I embroidered this summer. It was on too small a piece of fabric to really do anything with but it was so pretty I didn’t want to just put it in a box and forget about it, so I turned it into an ornament.

For some reason, even when a sew a perfect circle, the edges of the ornament look lopsided... thats why I added the braided trim. It’s a patch... but I think it’s kind of pretty and have added it even to my non circular ornaments.

Anyway, I hope these ornaments will become tradition for me. I really do love making them and it’s nice to think that maybe they’ll turn into cherished keepsakes for someone. In the meantime, does anyone know where I can get a copy of Muppet Christmas Carol? Game of Thrones is great.. but I need something with a happy ending and something tells me this isn’t it...

PS- Mom, in exchange for the cranberry bread I’ll send you a few ornaments... sorry about all those ones I secretly threw away years ago. I know you wanted to keep that cornflake wreath I made in kindergarten but trust me, you’re better off without it. These are so much prettier.