Have A Handmade Christmas

I love things that are handmade. I just think of the time and effort that has gone into making it so special. I know the many loving hours that it can take crocheting a blanket, designing jewellery or painting a picture. This weekend a friend and I ventured up to the big smoke (Perth), to visit a handmade market in Forrest Chase, Made On The Left. I like the name.. a lot! I love to try and support local, handmade artisans when I can. There are just so many talented people who are working really hard to make gorgeous hand crafted treasures, its really quite inspiring.

I picked up a couple of Christmas presents, and loved admiring the amazing work! Some that I will revisit when our house is finished, because I have nowhere to put too many lovely things yet, so I keep the in the back of my mind for later.

For now, I just oooh and ahh over these beautiful items, and (of course) share some of them with you!!

DIY Heart Embroidery Wall Hanging

This hearts embroidery is something that I made a while ago, but it is really quite quick and simple to make, it looks great and is a nice homemade crafty embroidery piece to add to your home. So, I thought I would do a little DIY tutorial, which includes how to iron- on transfer embroidery patterns or images onto your fabric. It would go perfectly is a kids bedroom or as a part a collage of prints and pictures on your wall in any room.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

-Embroidery Hoop (I used a 9 inch hoop, but you can scale the pattern to any size you want)

- Un-dyed Calico or white cotton material

- Needle

- Embroidery floss (at least one colour, but you can use all different colours if your prefer)

- Tracing Paper

- Iron on transfer Pencil

- Iron

- A printer to print out the pattern

- Scissors 

optional: Some craft clue to glue down the material to the hoop

HOW YOU DO IT

1. Print off the template from HERE

2. Trace the hearts onto the tracing paper with an iron on transfer pencil (I bought mine from Spotlight) 

3. With the pencil marks facing downwards dry (not steam) iron the pattern onto the calico that is cut to the size to fit in the hoop with about 4-5 cm extra material around the hoop.

4. Put the iron on patterned calico in the hoop stretch so it is nice and tight and then tighten the hoop.

5. The stitch I used for the hearts is the simple back stitch. Which means you are just putting the needle back through the hole that your previous stitch created (see picture). 

6. Once they are all finished trim the material around the edge of the hoop, and glue it down. 

use the hoop to line it up correctly and then remove to iron!

Make sure the pencil is sharp, you don't want these lines too thick!

The back stick, makes it look nice and neat.

Then you are finished and it is ready to hang.
Oh so so easy! But it looks really nice!

Karen xx

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You is Smart, You is Kind, You is Important

I have a new embroidery piece in my Etsy store, my first new addition in a while. This piece was inspired by the book The Help written by Kathryn Stockett. I read it last year, and I loved it. It made me angry, it made me laugh, it made me cry, it was a beautiful story. This quote stood out to me immediately. One of the main characters is an African American maid called Aibileen Clark, who looks after a little white girl, Mae Mobley. Mae Mobley "ain't cute" according to Aibileen, and doesn't really fit in with her mothers ideas of the perfect daughter, even though she is but 3 years old. Aibileen doesn't care about this, she cares about teaching Mae Mobley that she is smart, she is kind and she is important. No matter what anyone else says. They really have a beautiful relationship, one that Mae Mobley's Mother should have with her daughter but doesn't seem to have that desire.

I love this quote because I think every child should have these words spoken to them, that they should be able to grow up believing these things about themselves. It isn't about what they look like, or what they can or can't do, it is about who they are as a person. It breaks my heart when I see children in terrible situations. There is a family that I often see that have major domestic disputes in the middle of the street, which we have called the police about before. They have a small child, who isn't even two years old yet. When I was stitching this, I thought of this little boy. It makes me wonder if he has ever heard these words, it makes me so sad to think he has to grow up with this kind of volatility around him on a daily basis. It doesn't do much for creating a secure and loving environment to help him to become a well balanced and secure adult.

So for me, this is a great reminder, to tell our children everyday. 

You are Smart, You are Kind, You are Important. 

I'm back and I'm having a BIG SALE!

In honour of being back in action, and starting to stitch again, I have decided to kick it off with a big SALE in my Etsy Shop. By big, I mean for two days only you can get 40% any item. Just fill in the Coupon Code: IMBACK at the checkout to receive the discount.

www.etsy.com/shop/yellowdandy

Pass it on to your friends!

A Fanfare of Colours Embroidery Project

Last night I pulled out the "Embroidery Magic" folder my Mum picked up for me at an op shop last year, and decided I needed a challenge. I still have so many different styles of embroidery and stitches to learn, and this folder is full of really cool retro designs and styles for me to try. I found one that I absolutely love, and thought it worthy of the time that will need to be spent on it. Seeing I am not really that into getting out and about these days, and I feel like life is a bit of a waiting game, this project gives me something to keep my fingers busy, and sore. These old school embroiderers had fingers of steel I am sure!

Here is a look at what I am doing. This project should incorporate a few different stitches, mostly the Satin Stitch, but also the chain stitch and buttonhole stitch. It is so much work, but I am excited to finish something that is really labour intensive.

This is what it should look like, but I doubt mine will look this perfect.

This is the iron on tranfer, everything will be completely filled in.

Here is my canvas ready to start stitching!

This is what I have accomplished so far. Joel had to fly up North for the day yesterday, and so I was able to get stuck into this whilst I waited for him to get home late at night. I'm using different colours than on the picture.

I love new projects!! I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Listing Galore in my Etsy Store!!

I just listed 27 new items in my Etsy shop. I spent the morning taking all new pictures of all my designs, and then most of the afternoon listing them. I am so happy when I look at my Etsy shop now, just need to change my banner and logo to something better and I will be satisfied.

You can check out my new and improved Etsy Shop here: www.etsy.com/shop/yellowdandy

But here are a few of my new designs for your immediate viewing as well

Perth Upmarket 1st Timer!

Today I had my first market stall, at Perth Upmarket at UWA. If you came by to visit, thanks for stopping in. It was really great to just see the reactions people have to my designs. Sometimes when you do everything online it is really hard to gauge what people really think. Being able to talk to people and sell things in person was really fun. One thing that this forced me to do was to finish all my designs and get motivated. So this week I will be uploading so much stuff onto my etsy shop and also loading more options for custom embroidery pieces. Very exciting. After a day like today I am wiped, it is time for me to hit the sack!!

A City For People: New Embroidery

This embroidery is inspired by the Perth Airport. I remember noticing years ago whenever I flew into Perth, there was a sign that we drove past on our way out of the airport that said "Perth, a city for people". Every time we saw it I remember thinking and commenting, this is such a weird sign. What else would the city be for, maybe it could say "Perth, a city for dogs". It was just so obvious that a city is built for people. Well, I guess a lot of people must have commented on it and laughed about it and little old Perth, because this sign doesn't exist anymore. For those who remember that sign fondly, I hope you like this little piece. For those who missed out on ever seeing it, well, now you know what your missing out on if you haven't visited Perth. After all, it is A City For People!

New Embroidery Pieces!

Here are a couple more embroidery pieces that I have just finished, that I wanted to share. They are a couple of my personal favourites so far. I think I will have to make duplicates, because these ones are for Upmarket, but I would really like to have these for my walls at home. I might make a massive deer head one to put above our fireplace!

I am busily trying to come up with new ideas and designs to keep pumping out the embroideries before Upmarket in June, and as it is only a month away, I do not have much time.

A little something I made for my Mum!

A little something I made for my Mumma on Mother's Day...
My Mum is one of the most generous and loving people I know. Plus I love her a lot, she is one of my best friends! She has been such a dedicated Mum to us, and still goes over and above anything I would expect from her, all the time. I didn't always appreciate my Mum like I do now, but spending about 7 years away from family, really makes me understand what I was missing out on.

Heavy Chain Stitch: Poppies

I found the pattern for this Poppy embroidery piece in one of the old Embroidery binders that my Mum picked up for me from an Op Shop a few months ago. I finally took some time to look through them, and thought this looked like a challenge. It was originally for a set of place mats and napkins for the table, but seriously this took me so long and I only made one, I cannot imagine doing this 12 times over.

The entire pattern is stitched using the "Heavy Chain Stitch" which looks like this
This was my very first attempt at this stitch, but I think it looks so great. It is so much bolder than many of the other stitches I have tried, and it gives the design more definition and fullness. I think I will be using this stitch a lot from now on. If you are into embroidery you should definitely give this stitch a shot, it is actually pretty easy!

Home is where you are...

I really love this saying, and anyway you take it, whether it be "Home is where YOU are" or "Home is where you are" it just feels right to me. Maybe it is because over the years I have made my home in many different cities and states, and wherever Joel and I are together I know that it is home!
This hand embroidered piece is up in my Etsy shop as of about 5 minutes ago! Click on the picture above for a direct link to my Etsy page.