Completed Embroidery!

I finished my project! As from my previous post, this was just a practice run to refresh my embroidery skills. The finished product is a protective pad I can put on my lap while I flick card (I'll be doing another post on how that works later).

Here is a closeup of the finished embroidery:

And a picture of the finished pad with my flick carder on top!

I can't wait to get started on the next phase of my project! (Alpaca... mmmmm it's calling my name!!)

A First Attempt at Historic Embroidery

With my growing interest in historic textiles, I figured it was time I started delving in head first. This is my first project. Basically, what I needed was a tough piece of material to put over my leg while I card alpaca (prep for spinning it into yarn, for those who might not know... I'll do another post about it soon!). If not... I have a feeling my jeans would be a bit worn in odd places!

Here's what I did: I cut out two pieces of canvas duck cloth fabric (it's a little heavier than regular canvas, either that or I just ended up with really nice quality stuff) about 14.5" by 11.5". I then marked a 1/2" seam allowance around both pieces so I could fold it in and stitch it together. Nice and easy leg protection! But, knowing me, the plain fabric was boring so I needed a bit of embellishment. For my purposes, it would be more of a border than anything else, but still necessary. Here is the plain fabric, before I chose a pattern:

Then it was the quest for a pattern. I did a bunch of research from different periods and cultures on my Pinterest boards lately (here is the link if anyone is interested) and I settled on a 12th century Sicilian embroidery design. After some playing around I eventually got it traced on my fabric so it looked something like this:

I really liked the contrast of the black pen (yeah, I know, I should use a fabric pencil... I couldn't fine mine). I decided to go ahead and continue with the black/cream contrast and found some black sewing thread. I wasn't sure what kind of stitch I wanted to do with it, but jumped right in with a plain satin stitch and LOVE the result! It's not super fancy, but still gets me some decent (needed) practice on a basic stitch.

Yes, I know... my embroidery skills need a lot of work. That's why I'm getting practice! :)

Just a Quick Update

Lots of exciting things going on lately!

Life is always a bit crazy with two busy little girls... but it's so much fun! Miss Q is getting bigger by the second, and often shows off her smarts (with a pinch of sass). Here she is doing her best to give the tree his stick back-

Miss C is already a bit over 1 year old! I can hardly believe how big she has gotten... she doesn't quite walk yet but managed to stand on her own in the Post Office today looking more than a bit shocked. She's such a ham- I always get a smile for the camera! Here she is, testing out her new shoes (which squeak when she walks!)-

As for myself, I am still working hard with my Etsy shop (check out my store here). I've changed my construction a little bit so the bags are sturdier and also added several new designs! I'm really excited to add my next shape- I am waiting for some word back from my wonderful bag testers. (If you actually *do* check out the link and see something you like... I have free shipping going on for the next week: FREESHIP is the code for that.)

I have also become more and more interested in historical textiles, so there will probably be a lot more posts on those in the nearish future. It depends on how a few things work out, but I am hoping to be able to go back to school this fall as well! 

We also moved recently. New apartment, new ideas, new hobbies... it's been a wonderful and exciting summer so far!