Heat Wave

by Kelly

It's officially 102 degrees Fahrenheit here today. To give you an idea how hot that is, here's a picture of the poor robin family nesting on our garage.

So let's see...102 degrees Fahrenheit....that's 39 degrees Celsius.  Hmmm...

And look, our personal thermometer is only showing 100 degrees!


Nope. Things still don't seem any cooler. Maybe I'll wander down to the river and dip my feet. See you!

Fourth of July and Herbie

by Kelly

Red...

White...

and Blue...

Happy Fourth of July!

(Insert fireworks here, unless your town is lame like ours and already did them. Oh well.)

P.S. Yes, Herbie payed a visit to our town. How cool is that?

Chicken Scratch Embroidery or Depression Lace

by Kelly

Chicken scratch embroidery is basically Smyrna stitch (a cross stitch with an extra cross, so that it looks like an asterisk) done on gingham fabric. When done right, it looks like lace and is a cheap and easy way to decorate the edges of ordinary gingham aprons and curtains, and jazz them up a little. That's one reason why it was so popular during the Depression, I guess.

via Tie One On

I have been wanting to try chicken scratch embroidery for quite a while now, but didn't have any gingham fabric. So a few days ago, I broke down and actually bought some, instead of waiting for it to magically appear in my crafting bag. Two dollars worth of fabric and I was all ready to finally give this a try.

It's very easy to do, if you already know how to cross stitch. The results aren't the same, because it's usually done with only two colors - white and the darkest shade of the gingham you're using, whether it be red, blue, or whatever. On the other hand, there's no fooling around with charts or multiple colored skeins, either, which is a plus.

The fabric I bought is pink. My mom would laugh if she found out that I bought pink fabric, since I was so vehemently anti-pink for so many years. Even in the thick of the '80's I wouldn't wear pink, and no amount of persuasion by the mighty fashion industry would break me down. Luckily, my mom is as anti-computer as I was once anti-pink, so she will never read this.

I'm using size 30 variegated crochet thread, which is working out really well. I have come up with what I think will be a really neat idea using this graduated color scheme, so we'll see how it turns out. Stay tuned :)

Meanwhile, if you have some gingham and want to use it for something other than Chicken Scratch embroidery, Tie One On (a blog about aprons and making aprons, in case you're wondering) is currently running a sew along with a gingham theme. Check out her blog for more details.

Show and Tell

by Kelly

A new sea green shawl and about twenty more crochet hexagons. This hexagon blanket won't be too small, unlike the first one I made.


I have a pair of jeans that I've never been very happy with, so I decided to turn them into jean shorts. Luckily, my sewing skills have improved greatly since the first pair I ever made, when I was 13, and I'm fairly confident that I can do it now. In fact, I made a pair last year that I've been wearing constantly.

So, of course, I've set my sights really high, and decided to try something new....

via ievos pievos

Jean shorts with lacy crochet trim! How crazy cool is that? Am I the only one who thinks these are awesome? I don't care if I am...I'm making myself a pair anyway. Or at least, I'm going to try to. If you'd like a pair too, visit ievos pievos and check out her tutorial first.

The Picnic Basket

by Kelly

Ah, picnic baskets. Packed with potential, but you never know what might be inside. There are so many dietary plans and restrictions these days - vegan, organic, gluten free, peanut free, low-carb, and the list goes on and on. If you have an appetite for a traditional picnic, and open the lid of the basket to reveal a bottle of distilled water and a bag of low-calorie rice cakes, imagine your disappointment.

Well, would you like to see what's inside? Could it be southern fried chicken? Hot dogs? Is there orange creme soda? Potato salad? Apples and French cheese? Blueberry yoghurt and a burn notice? Fava beans and a nice Chianti????

Hmmm.....embroidery supplies. Some people might be disappointed. Me, not so much.

Knee Deep in Crochet Hexagons

by Kelly

Just wanted to stop in and show you the depth of my obsession with crochet hexagons...

Well, that doesn't look like too many, does it? Ah ha, but here's another shot.

 

Oh....well, that's a different story. Notice the tiny remnant balls of yarn in the foreground? Don't worry - there's more yarn where that came from.

(Thanks, Donna!)

Embroidery on Denim

by Kelly

So I had all this denim that I had saved for some reason, and a sudden urge to embroider something. So here are the results...

This one started with the words 'flower girl' in pink. I was going to embroider a little girl in a white dress picking flowers, but that proved to be way too complicated for my simple design skills. So I settled on a white basket, the kind that a flower girl would carry in a wedding.

I added a bit of ribbon, a memento from our trip to Florida in November. And since I don't happen to know any flower girls at the moment, it's listed for sale in the shop. And then there are WIPs...

That up above is the Grinch's heart, which is, of course, two sizes too small. I'm not sure what these will ultimately become, but I love the look of that little red heart. If I had enough red floss, I'd probably be embroidering them everywhere. Luckily, I'm all out of red at the moment.

And another flower from the garden, just because.

These flowers kept disappearing from the plants, and reappearing scattered all over the lawn. I found out why this morning, when I saw a squirrel pick one and eat out the bottom, presumably to get that nectar hidden down inside. I would never have imagined such a thing unless I'd seen it with my own eyes.