Tutorial / How 2

 

 

Hey! If you're trying to think of what to stitch for gifts, but are kinda stumped, how about stitching the gift tags? 

Dude, I totally have a tutorial for you here.

I've been stockpiling yummy looking Thanksgiving recipes and crafty turkey-day cuteness, and I thought I'd share my finds. The countdown to pumpkin pie (with cinnamon whipped cream) has begun!

Crafty Stuff:

Turkey redwork from The Little Red Hen

Badbird's Turkey embroidery pattern

Homemade pumpkin pie play-dough

KnitaLatte's Crochet Acorn Tutorial  

Turkey Boy Amigurumi Pattern

Abraham Lincoln Embroideries from Lasassone and IamSusie and Stitchin.Thyme

Wild Olive's Recipe Cards, Autumn Coasters, and Tired Turkey Embroidery

My Paper Crane's Turkey Hand Cookies (Brilliant!)

 

Upcycled Napkin Ring How-2

Grocery Shopping List Print-out

Yummy Stuff:

Buying a Turkey: Tips 

Mashed Potatoes with Brown Butter, Goat Cheese, and Sage

Cranberry-Apricot Chutney

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Carrot Flowers (Cute!)

Pull-Apart Rolls

Carmel Pumpkin Cheesecake 

Individual Pie Pops

Jennifer Perkin's Pumpkin Ice Cream

Jenny's take on giblet gravy. 

Vegan Thanksgiving recipies. (via Counter Culture) 

 

Other Fun Stuff:

Vintage Cookbook Illustrations

Vintage "Kitchens of the Future"

Scratch and Sniff Holiday Cards (love these)

 

 

 

Ahhhh, late August. Composition notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, the smell of paste in the air... School is back in session. And we have a very special how-to that's sure to get you to the head of the class!

May I introduce our Teacher, Ms. Karin (Orange Flower). Karin does beautiful work - sweet, simple, and fun. The zipper pouch she made here looks like it came straight out of a modern Japanese Craft book. Just darling. This pouch is perfect for pencils, but with other embroidery transfers, it would also make a great make up case (or tampon case). Take a look at the tutorial here. And we want to see your projects when you finish- don't forget to submit to our Customer Gallery. 

How-To: Zippered Pouch with Reverse Applique

 

 

I have a wee little tutorial on floss blending over on the Chronicle Books blog!

Look ma! No hands! Ever wonder how to separate strands of floss away without them snagging before you get to the end? Well, this is a novel technique I learned years ago from an old book: pass the floss through your mouth while you pull the strands apart. It works like a charm! Just don't try it with lipstick. You can also "strip" the floss instead, by combing it over a bit of velcro to comb apart all the strands so they will pull apart more easily. I do the mouth thingie all the time, myself. Works like magic. Chee, I feel kinda like Buffy Sainte Marie!

 

 

I didn't manage to have a free pattern for you this Friday, but I do have a satin stitch tutorial freshly up (that comes with a little sumthin' extra, so even if you're all about the satin stitching, you should check it out). Just a wee little project for you to try over the weekend. Learn your satin stitches here.

 

 

Once, long ago, I blogged about salvaged embroidery. But I'm going to blog it again because I still have these little re-vamped pillows, and what with all the lotus-making going on, I thought it was timely. So often I come across lovely vintage embroidery whose fate has fallen to a horribly stained textile. This pretty (I love the colors this stitcher chose) lotus motif was stitched on a pair of pillowcases that were covered with not-putting-my-head-on-that brown stains. So, I cut the embroidered ends off, and made a pair of small bolster pillows. You can see the earlier blog post with an image of the bolsters here. Shazam! A quick and easy no-embroidery embroidery project for you.