Amy Barickman Mother Goose Book and Fabric Line and Embroidery Scrumptiousness

My new love is absolutely embroidery.  I took a class at the beginning of January to refresh my skills.  I confess, I learned to embroider in girl scouts.  Who can still say that?  And I have been working on Sharon Wilhelm's Garden Sampler.  It's almost done except for those maddening French knots.  Now, I am working on Snow Days by Crabapple Hill.  It's is so amazing.  I even made my own light box.  But. . .I ran across this post by Amy Barickman on her blog and had to share. . .

"Many times I’ve been asked how I get the ideas for my books, patterns or fabric lines? And the short answer is lots of places.  My passion for seeking out vintage sewing treasures and collecting sewing books and ephemera has lead to many of my projects over the years. The Sew-it Book, Buttonware, Hankie Style andVintage Notions are just a few of the books that I have created based on inspiring vintage items I’ve found and collected.

Through my travels, I always seek out antique malls, galleries or flea markets to rummage through. Often, I see something beautiful that catches my eye – colors, fabric textures, the shear artistry of a piece or the details in the stitching. It may just be an old book filled with gorgeous illustrations.

Many times this stirs my creative juices and I combine the inspiration with current trends in the market to come up with a new book or pattern idea. Other times, I find a vintage piece and realize the concept or creation would be interesting to today’s consumer and feel the need to “rescue” it from obscurity.

One example is my latest embroidery book, A Stitch in Time with Mother Goose. This book of vintage embroidery designs, along with my coordinating fabric line from Red Rooster Fabrics of the same name, was inspired by a darling baby blanket I found during my travels. The quilt was created from an old Butterick transfers pattern circa 1920’s. I’ve also discovered in my collection the original magazine ad featuring the pattern for sale. Below are a few shots of the original blanket.

I was toying already with the idea of creating a new embroidery book with a vintage feel and had some wonderful Mother Goose line art that I wanted to use, but the project had not yet come to fruition. I happened upon this hand embroidered baby blanket in bluework, along with the original vintage transfers and the entire project took shape.

Embroidery is really making a come back. The book includes 25 designs to be transferred to fabric and instructions for 7 different projects including two quilts. Here are just a few projects included in this book:

Another method of embroidery can be done with just the Mother Goose fabric itself. Two of the fabric line coordinates are “cheater” blocks. These two panels – one in red and one in blue – have the Mother Goose line art already printed directly on the fabric. All one has to do it thread your needle and following the lines. No transfers needed."

Amy is doing a giveaway at her blog.  Be sure to check is out.

What I've been up to

Wondering what I've been up to. I have about 4 knitting projects I am juggling - season 18 dr. who scarf for hubby, raglan baseball style sweater for son, Sock Knitters Anonymous Jan. 11 Mystery Sock, and mittens for National Knit Mitten Month. The above is the cuff of my sock. I have to wait until the 8th for Clue 2. In between, I am working on my son's sweater and the mittens.

Don't have much time but wanted to share.

Quiltapalooza Samples

Quiltapalooza is tomorrow at Happiness is Quilting (HIQ from here on out).  I have made three samples for it and have been dying to show pictures of them but have had to bide my time.  I am terribly glad I am done though because I need to get busy on my Christmas projects.  I made a spreadsheet that told me how many inches I would have to knit a day to get Madden's raglan sweater and Mike's Leisure Hive scarf done.

Mike decided he wanted a Dr. Who scarf like the one Tom Baker wore in Season 18.  We had watched the Leisure Hive episode and he was fascinated with the color changes in the scarf.  Be looking for pictures as I make forward progress on the scarf.

I am also preparing teacher samples for a class I want to teach in the spring at the store on clothing construction.   I am having difficulty deciding what would be really fun to make.   We'll see.

Diggin' It! - new gardening spot

I visited Diggin' It on Saturday and was impressed with her plant selections.  They were high quality and she carried a lot of interesting foliage which I love for my containers on the front steps.  She did not have a lot but what she had was in good shape and she was tending them.  I'll have to posts pix when the plants fill in.  I bought blue and orange pansies, Northern Lights chard, and mustard greens.  I am going to go back for some kale and more pansies. 

My great-grandmother always planted blue pansies so I feel I need to carry on the tradition. 

She also carries a line of organic fertilizers made in Dallas called Rusty Can Organics.  I bought one that was high in nitrogen that I thought would be good for my pansies and also put it on the azaleas.  I'll have to see if he makes one for azaleas or I should just mix it with old coffee grounds like I always do.

I bought an antique needlework sign and some soaps.  She had hand-painted rocks that said "UNT - Mean Green"  I bought one for my birdbath area where there is river rock.  Adds a touch of whimsy and my husband has not noticed yet.   Can't wait until he does.  My birdbath broke so I am on the lookout for an interesting alternative birdbath.  I thought of some kind of granite or concrete basin.  Any ideas?

Ribbing slog

Okay, the most difficult part for me in any sweater is getting through the ribbing.  I just lose interest.  I thought the corrugated ribbing would be better because of the constant color change but, alas, it is the same movement and my mind starts to wander to more pressing matters like paint color for the master bedroom.

I am about 2/3 of the way through the corrugated ribbing on the bottom of the paper doll sweater and the good news is that it's in the round so I am not faced with doing the ribbing again for the front.  I am slogging though away while listening to my old-time radio podcasts.  My favorite is Great Detectives of Old Time Radio with Adam Graham, Old Time Radio Dragnet with Adam Graham, and Case Closed!.  You can get all of them through ITunes.  I loved Radio Detective Story Hour with Jim Widner but he has not been able to keep up with it lately.  He would give background and historical information on the different radio detectived as well as critiques.

I would love to find a great doctor who to listen to.  Speaking of which DH has requested an episode 18 leisure hive scarf.  The original was made from chenille and he is not a chenille kind of guy.  I am thinking berroco comfort but have not selected color choices that would replicate it well.

Sore Fingers?

I am working on my paper dolls sweater with those amazing knitpicks needles but the dang things are so sharp that I have developed a pin-sized blister on the fingers I push my needles with.  I looked around at Happiness is Quilting and found two different products I am testing:

 

• Thimble-It Clear Stick on Pad - an oval stick on pad made of clear vinyl
• 
  Colonial ThimblePad  - a moleskin stick on pad about the diameter of a pencil eraser

I've been wearing them at work and around the house to see how they work.  Results later

Veronica Sweater and other fun stuff



Photo  used with permission of Sarah Barbour
and published in Interweave Crochet


I've been dying to make this sweater (in orange, of course).  It's seamless, raglan-sleeved crocheted sweater and it given me cause to love a new designer - Sarah Barbour.  Check out her blog here.

Anyway, I am going to be making this in Berocco Comfort which is one of my new loves.  You'd think a town the size McKinney would have a decent craft store and I would not have to go to Lindale to buy yarn.  Sheez.

Also, very exicted about tomorrow.  We are supposedly going shopping for tile for our master bath and getting paint.  woo-hoo.  I am excited but then that means I have to go out and paint.

I am working on a sample quilt for the shop.  It's very hush-hush though because it is for quiltapalooza.  Also, I am making a cute quilted bag (a la Vera Bradsley) for a shop sample.

I am about finished with my i-cord cast-on for the paper doll sweater (see Nov. 1 post).  I think it will be awesome and totally wearable.