Embroidered Fall Bird

My first Tea Towel Tour 4 embroidery is done! This chickadee is from a free pattern offered by Andrea Zuill, 'Badbird", at her blog. Get your copy HERE.


I put a batik binding on my towel in 2 contrasting fall colors. I used my one-inch clover bias tape maker for it. This time I made it into a double fold binding by ironing it in half again lengthwise and top stitching it. I like the way it looks with this method much better than the other way I've done it.

This is the last of my stash of blank flour sack tea towels and I haven't been totally happy with the weave of these although they are very soft. I found some very nice blank towels at Cost Plus World Market today. They were about $10 US for a set of 4. The weave reminds me of the incredibly nice texture of the Sublime Stitching towel we test drove in our first Tea Towel Tour. HERE is a link. Scroll down to the one called "OUR FAVORITE Tea Towel". It is $6 US, but it is a superior quality.

We are camping this weekend and the weather promises to be comfortable and dry. We haven't camped in about 2 summers so we are really looking forward to it, but I have no idea what our equipment looks like. For all I know, critters may have set up house in our tent bag that we stored in the garage last winter...

Back To School

Hooray! The kids had to carry all their supplies to school on the first day. My daughter had too much to fit into her backpack. Her irritating school supply requirement was 60 sharpened #2 pencils. Only certain brands are allowed.


My son was saying, "MOM! Stop! you are embarrassing me! You better not follow me to the bus stop!" I didn't. He couldn't figure out why paper towels were necessary for his school supplies. Budget cuts I guess.


I guess this means I really have to get to all those things I've been planning on doing once they go to school all day. Uh... what were those things again? Tomorrow I'm going to an early showing of Hamlet 2 at the movie theater.

Japanese Embroidery Book

Last week my daughter and I had a day alone to do whatever we wanted and I think that maybe my attempts to shape my daughter's interests to reflect my own are working out great because she said, "Let's go to the Japanese Store!"

Sounds fun! We bought some yummy treats and browsed at the bookstore. I got 2 craft books and we got some fun origami paper that folds up into little snack shapes. Here is the latest book I have to share. It's an embroidery book, ISBN978-4-529-04536-0.



Little forest critters:


I didn't photograph the page that is labeled Aquarium. Here is the deep sea:


Zoo animals:


There are also several pages of adorableness like this:


I like these birds. Patterns in this book are mostly a bit more realistic. The motifs are all quite small. The taller owl here is just over 2 inches.


Bugs in cross-stitch. You'll also find cross-stitched animals and a page of Zodiac done in white thread on black aida.


Rectangel noted on my Flickr page for this photo, "It's strange to see the alphabet with animals that don't match the letters." I love these. Forget the kids. One day I might do "SUSIE"!


Next time I'm getting this second volume of "365 Design Collection for Kids" I love the first book in that series.


I'll see if I can find this volume on YesAsia to link you to it. I haven't shopped there for awhile since our local Japanese bookshop beefed up their offerings.

EDIT: Yeah.. I tried searching for it at YesAsia, but they changed their search engine and I can't figure out how to find something by ISBN and clicking willy-nilly on other embroidery books didn't reveal this title.

Cotton Time

Sarah hooks me up with this subscription every other month. This is Cotton Time issue 79. I think it is the July 2008 issue, but I can't read the Japanese...




This issue has lots of various bags. I like the one below that has a zipper along the side to give it an adjustable capacity.


These slippers made from the cuff of a man's shirt are great:


Here is a parrot pattern made from textured fabric.


Here are some ideas to use those cords you can knit with that little whats-it-called tool (seriously, what is that tool called?):



Here you can use little adorable fabric scraps to decorate simple cards:


It's only on this one page, but there are some simple ideas for embroidery on gingham commonly called "chicken scratch". I know my grandma gave me some clippings or an old booklet on chicken scratch, but I can't find it anywhere! Publishers take note! I will buy a new book on chicken scratch embroidery in a heartbeat!


This issue also has some simple clothing patterns and tips for how to make a child's hat from a pair of old jeans. Additionally, you can cut up a t-shirt and stitch it into a funky hat , bag, and shorts for the little one in your life. I should have photographed that page too, but I was distracted by the gingham on the page above,

Summer Quilt Stack

We've had one of the nicest summers I can remember. We enjoyed quiet holiday weekends at home and 3 separate secluded cabin getaways. The temperatures in Chicago this summer were pleasant and mild. We even finally got bikes for all four of us! My husband and I have wanted bikes for at least all of the 17 years of our marriage, but every year there was some other large purchase that was more important or a pesky property tax bill to pay.

All good things must come to an end and we are all ready for school to start next week. I'm dusting off my embroidery hoop which hasn't seen the light of day since last spring. Back in the spring I actually had neck strain from obsessive embroidery and knitting, so it was good for me to take a rest from those crafts.

Having kids at home really gets in the way of my crafting mojo, so when the kids go back to school I'll be able to get some projects going that I've been dreaming about. It wasn't a totally craft free summer. Above is the stack of quilts I've worked on since spring. I finished the bottom three and the top two are ready for quilting. I'm thinking they'll probably go out to a quilting service since they are quite large and the only thing I like about the quilting step is that it gets a quilt that much closer to a usable blanket. I also did a baby quilt that has already gone on to its new home.

Also a word of advice.. never wait until the end of August to get your school supplies unless you prefer to use the most expensive matchy-matchy notebooks and folders. I won't go into the confounding details of how I know this....

Cabin Weekend '08

Sadly, the summer is waning. We just returned from our favorite annual summer weekend with old high school and childhood friends at a lakeside cabin in Wisconsin. We came home to the kid's teacher assignments for the next year so it's inevitable that school starts again really soon.

Boy, was it a fun time! We've been getting together this way since long before they invented water noodles. It was the first Cabin Weekend in many years that all 22 of us were able to come for most of the weekend. I'm not sure which was more delicious, Martin's Pie Night or John's Carne Asada Night. Lisa also throws together awesome dishes from whatever is left in the fridge.


Thanks, Rick! Can we come for a month next summer?

Tea Towel Tour Round 4

Hooray! It's time for another round of our Tea Towel Tour! Signups are just starting. If your calendar is mostly free to turn around embroidery motifs in about a week (please don't be in the middle of a move or getting married in the next couple of months..) come join in! Sorry, active Craftsters only.... Edited to add: We've been filling up quickly! Our leader is holding open several international spots for embroiderers outside the USA. Don't miss out!


Here's a sampling of Tea Towel Tour stitching posted in our Flickr Group, Tea Towel Tours.

1. Aloha Baby, 2. Gnome Closeup, 3. doo_leroux's apron, 4. Gingy and the Evil Milk, 5. Tea Towel Tour 3 - Saffron for rectangel, 6. Cowgirl, 7. Puppy & Kitty Towel Extreme Close Up, 8. Tea Towel is Now Home