All To Pieces

Fat quarters, not too carefully selected.  A favorite pink, a blue that can't decide between grey and green, some browns in all shades and a little muslin to rest they eye.

Cut into so many pieces, scattered on the table, waiting for my daughter's nap tomorrow to be sewn  together anew, even prettier than they were before. 

When said aloud the idea of cutting whole pieces of fabric into smaller pieces just to sew them back together again into another whole piece seems a bit ridiculous but oh the joy that can be found in doing just that!

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Color Bind?

Forgive me for using such a common pun but I just couldn't come up with another title for this post :)

Anywhoo . . .

I seem to collect thread. It's not intentional, at least no more intentional than simply and uncontrollably being drawn to something that you love. Forgive me for using such a common pun but I just couldn't come up with another title for this post :)Of course I collect more than I should. I will "temporarily" misplace a thread, being absolutely convinced that it is the only color that will work for my project, I hastily order it. Usually, by the time the replacement thread arrives in the post, I've already located the original thread and dismissed it as not being quite right for that project. So now I have two. When I shop at my LNS I go there with the sole purpose of selecting linens, because I have more than enough thread. Of course, I use the thread there to guide the color selection of the linens and then when I find a combination I absolutely love I convince myself that I don't already own whatever skeins I've chosen so I have no choice but to buy them along with the linen. So again I end up with two skeins of the same color and in some particularly embarrassing cases, three skeins.

Having multiple skeins of the same color has led me to a bit of a problem this morning (yes, too much thread can be a problem).

I adore hand-dyed threads, especially Gentle Arts. To each his own, but for me the color and shading cannot be matched by commercially dyed threads and I rarely stitch with anything else. Anyone who has stitched with hand-dyed threads knows that there are differences between dye lots. Usually these differences are very subtle.

Two skeins of Gentle Arts Old Hickory. One I ordered online and one I purchased at my LNS, scant months apart. The skein on the left is just slightly darker and more brown than the skein on the right. A set such as this is wonderful for shading or for making a part of a sampler appear stained with age. At least that's what I would do. The difference is barely noticeable, as my husband couldn't see any difference at all. Do you see a difference?

Two skeins of Gentle Arts Harvest Basket. Similar method of acquisition of as with the Old Hickory thread. The skein on the right is certainly more yellow whereas the one of the left just appears brown (at least to me). More than a subtle difference but certainly nothing to get all worked up over, right?

Finally, two skeins of Gentle Arts Walnut. To be honest, these were most likely purchased years apart but when I purchased the most recent one from my LNS there were skeins there of both shades. Even my husband noticed the difference between these two skeins. The skein on the right was bought specifically because it was such a different color than what I remembered it being.

This post does have a point to it, I promise. I'm beginning work on a few samplers and I have chosen one of each of these skeins to use, two on the same project. Obviously thread suggestions are just that . . . suggestions . . . but do you ever purchase a pattern intent on achieving the same look as in the model? Does it bother you when you go to purchase the threads or gather them from your stash and realize that one or a few or none of them look as they do in the photo? I would hate for anyone to be disappointed after purchasing one of my patterns and was hoping all of you could give me your input into this little color conundrum I seem to have created for myself.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Happy Easter . . .

xoxo

Springtime, Sightseeing & a Sampler

With Easter in just a week and Spring Break beginning tomorrow it is official . . . Spring has arrived!

Our two oldest are visiting my brother and sister-in-law for the week. I began missing them the moment they left but I know they will love their first visit to NYC. They arrived late last night (or early this morning depending on how you look at it) and are already seeing the sights. Here is a photo of them in front of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. They are the little black, white and blue dots between the doors :)

The two youngest are home with us. Mina is still too young to be gone from Mommy and Daddy for too long and Benjamin . . . well he doesn't care for travel. The last family vacation we took was last summer to Ocean City, NJ and the entire drive home Benjamin was making us promise to never make him leave his home again. Day trips are all right, but the moment night comes he craves his own bed, his own books, his own music . . . he just enjoys the comforts of his home and is loathe to be without them. I can't say I blame him . . . he takes after me in this regard.

The photo is of a (not so little) piece I'm working on now. This is all the progress I have to share so far. I'm not entirely sure the direction this piece will take and wasn't when I began stitching it. The color inspiration comes from this material.

I'm not sure where I picked it up or for how long I've had it but I happened across it while organizing and I fell in love with the colors . . . grey-blue, green, white and brown. I added a light blue but other than that the colors are just as they are in the fabric. I had a rather large piece of linen and was reluctant to cut into since I didn't have a firm design in mind. The stitching is taking a little longer than usual given that I am wrestling with almost a half yard of linen in my lap. Perhaps as I get a little further along I will trim it down but I'm just not ready yet. As you can see there is quite a bit of open space in the design and I am liking it. I know I will finish the smaller alphabet and I am considering a verse but I just haven't made up my mind yet. I will see where my mood takes me and will hopefully have a good deal more to show you after Spring Break.

Until then I wish all of you a Happy Easter!

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Word of the Day . . .

POTENTIAL . . . . and all the beauty that can be found in it.

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Prim Bunny (A Free Sewing Pattern)

Can you spot the burlap rose on my little prim bunny? I ended up painting, staining and then baking my burlap strip before making the rosette. I wanted it to more closely match the bunny itself. The osnaburg and burlap both have such wonderful textures but I wanted them the same color. I think it makes just the perfect bushy bunny's tail, don't you?

There are many prim bunny patterns like this one, especially this time of year. This is just my interpretation. I contemplated little french knot eyes or a stitched nose (both of which would look very sweet) but at the end I always choose less.

I love the way she came out, especially her lines. I was a little concerned sketching the pattern. Sewing curves is not my favorite thing to do and I don't think there's a straight line anywhere in there. Her curves are soft though and I had no problem whatsoever stitching her up. I think they give her such a graceful look and are most likely the reason I've decided that she is a she. Of course yours can be a boy. You can leave off the tail entirely, if you wish. Or perhaps some wool roving? I think she would look sweet with a little rusty bell tied around her neck or a burlap saddle over her back. My bunny is painted white then tea stained but how about a brown or black bunny?

If you would like to download the free sewing pattern you can do so from my Free Patterns page. As always, if you have any trouble downloading the pattern just send me an e-mail at appleseedprim@yahoo.com and I will e-mail you a copy of the pattern. I'd love to see what you guys come up with so be sure to send me photos of your finishes. For now, it's time for me to put away the sewing machine and get back to stitching. I'll share my progress with all of you soon enough but now my stitching and I are in much need of some quality time :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn

Burlap Rose Tutorial

I wanted to share with you how I make a burlap rose. There are so many tutorials out there already but the most common way I've seen it done leaves a very large base on the rose which wasn't going to work for my purposes. This particular technique is common as well, though it's typically done using ribbon. I figured, why not give it a try. This is only my second tutorial and my first where I had to take photos of myself as I was doing it. Bear with me on the quality of the photos and just ignore my little sausage fingers :)

Start with a strip of burlap. The larger the strip, the larger the rose. Mine was bout 3/4 inch wide and about fifteen inches long and I ended up with a rose about an inch in diameter. I laid my strip out on my work table and labeled each of the ends so that you can follow along more easily.

First step is to take the top end (End 1) and fold it over the strip to form a right angle.

Next, fold the bottom end (End 2) over the right angle fold.

Then fold End 1 back across End 2 and continue folding in the same manner until you run out of burlap. You'll end up with a little "package" like the one in the photos below.

On one end of the bundle you'll have your original right angle fold.

On the other end of the bundle you'll have your last fold and two little burlap tails.

Release the bundle and you'll have a little accordian snake that will keep it's shape.

With one hand grasp the last fold, where the two tails meet, between your thumb and forefinger.

With your other hand hold the tail that forms the last top fold, the tail that is laying over the other tail.

Finally, while holding the one tail, push down with the other hand. The folds will began to gather to form the outside of the rose as the center of the rose is being pulled through. At the end you should have a little rosebud that has one really long tail and one shorter one.

I hope my instructions weren't too confusing, but if it doesn't work the first time, keep trying. If you've never used this technique before to make roses I suggest you start with a piece of ribbon. It's a little easier to work with and will give you an idea how it's supposed to work. Once you have the technique down you can move onto using the burlap. It also works nicely with a strip of fabric. Now the burlap does fray but that just adds to the prim. There can be threads left popping out of your rose from the burlap and when that happens I simply trim them away. Depending on what you're going to use the rose for you can either glue the folds in place (my least favorite choice) or put in a few stitches to hold it all in place. For my purposes I laid the two tails (now at the bottom of your rose) up against one another and ran it through my sewing machine a few times as close to the base of the rose as possible then snipped the tails as short as I wanted them.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing with you what I ended up using my burlap rose for. You might want to make a few of your own in the meantime since I think you'll like what I came up with :)

xoxo

Jennie Lynn