My Day in a Nutshell

On the very rare occasion I get a weekend off, this was what my day looked like:



8:00 AM - I got to sleep in till 8!! And i rolled out of bed and onto my yoga mat.




9:00 AM - I made myself some coffee while I got started onto some early morning crafting!


11:00AM - I didn't get done until about 2 hours later and then continued with some chores like sweeping and cleaning the bathroom.




12:00PM - We haven't got our washer and dryer yet so we drove to J's parents' to do our laundry!




1:00PM - While a load was in the wash, we trudged outside to do some mushroom foraging.




2:00PM - We trekked over to see the neighbor's (very friendly) cow. Poor sod, she is always so happy to see us, I suspect she is really lonely. She bellows real loud when she sees us coming, and bellows again when we leave.

4:00PM - The laundry didn't get done till now, and then we drove home.




Via

5:00PM - It started to pour, but we were getting ready for our movie night out! J was going to see Underworld with his dad and brother while my friends and I got tickets for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.



Via

6:00PM - It was growing darker by the minute and still pouring. Even so, Birkdale is a pretty place at night! There were only parallel parking lots available. I aced the parking bit, even though I held up the traffic for a good while.



Via

9:00PM - After we cried buckets, the movie ended. I got home and read a bad review about the movie here. Didn't think it was very fair, but certainly spot on about Hanks and Bullocks' non-contribution, as well as stellar performance by Von Sydow. I still think it's an ok watch, certainly a standard Hollywood tear-jerker.


Hope you had a productive weekend like I did!

On the grapevine...

Our carrots are all harvested. This is the lot.
I feel sad that we've been growing them for so long only to be devoured in ONE sitting.



We shared some with our dragons...



who by the way, is shedding. Verne is, at least.



Then I got busy crafting again, so there're new items in the Etsy! Whoo! This one is my favorite so far!


And i've finally learnt how to play "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the guitar! Still practising and nursing swollen fingers.


Enjoy your weekend and be productive!

The necessary evil of Online shopping!

Especially if there's free shipping! Woot!

I was shopping for the J-man's Xmas presents (check!) when my itchy fingers skimmed over these websites:



Urban Outfitters

where I got us some new sheets.



J got the Amazon Prime this year and got me an iron. So here's the latest additions to the craft room:



And then i went on Etsy and found two cute vintage Coats & Clark embroidery magazines. Can you believe they used to be only 29cents each?



And i just got my groove on into making this year's Christmas presents, so busy busy times ahead!!

How's your holiday shopping getting along?

Spreading Good Cheer GIVEAWAY August and Etsy Pick of the Week :: sometimesiswirl

Yes, after the long hiatus, the Etsy Pick is back!

This week, I bring you a wonderfully talented little lady by the name of Sarah Hennessey, who draws and doodles as a first love, but also embroiders her creations (yes, yes, you can tell i have a certain bias affinity towards embroiderers hehe). Her pen ink drawings remind me of a dear childhood friend D. D once doodled (beautifully) all over a photo frame, included a picture of us and gave it to me as a birthday present. I still have it to this day, even though she presented it to me 12 years ago (OMG!)

But back to Sarah, of the Etsy store sometimesiswirl. I looked through her Flickr account and I'm so much more in LOVE with her drawings now. I know i should include more pictures of her ink drawings, but I really love how her designs translate so well into embroidery! See it for yourself in the pictures below. Or you can check out her flickr too!

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1. When and how did you begin drawing / doodling, and what is your background?

I was drawing and doodling ever since I could hold a pencil, it seems. As a young child, I loved coloring books (always tried to rope a parent into coloring with me), and in elementary school, I was constantly doodling little abstract designs in my notebooks, on the back of my left hand, in sketch books at home, everywhere. I did also take art classes in grade school and high school, and in college, I majored in Art History. For my major, I was required to take a handful of studio courses, so I do have experience with drawing, design, painting, and fibers from college.





2. You sell prints of your illustrations, but also embroider them as well. Why do you choose embroidery over other methods of presenting your illustrations?

I just decided to try embroidery one day, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I didn't even have a set idea or object in mind, and naturally, the composition that started to take shape resembled one of my illustrations - while it wasn't perfect, I was surprised by the fact that the piece turned out halfway decent, so I just continued to sew my designs. Through a lot of trial and error, I've found that I absolutely love embroidering. It's incredibly relaxing, and I think my designs translate naturally to fabric and thread. I'm still able to capture quite a bit of detail by separating out a smaller number of strands from the embroidery floss, and there are endless possibilities with color, so I think that helps too.


My favorite!


3. What are some your influences and sources of inspiration for your illustrations?

I have always found myself gravitating toward mehndi, floral textile patterns, but at the same time, I love really modern and simple design, too. I absolutely love the early drawings of Paul Klee (anything by him, actually). I also love the automatic drawings of Andre Masson. Other illustrators who inspire me: Heinrich Kley, Kay Nielsen, Hannah Davies, Alphonse Mucha (love art nouveau), Hannah Firmin, Nadia Flower, Yellena James. Oh I could go on forever...



French knots are fun!


4. Do you have a favorite piece, or a special story about an illustration to share?

I will always have a soft spot for this drawing (see below), as it's the first thing I listed in my etsy shop when I first opened it, and it very much inspired most of my other "swirl" drawings that came after it. I have really loved coming up with different variations of the weird, abstract garden scenes I draw - they all kind of derive from this one.





5. Do you have a day job, or do you do this full-time? Can you share a few tips towards your success?

I do have a full-time day job at a university, so I must do all-things-etsy after hours. I recently did a blog post imparting my most important advice, and you can find that here. If I had to pick some really quick tips, I'd say take photography very seriously, and have an established/experienced seller critique your photos and shop listings. Also, network network network - In person AND throughout the etsy community (or, in whatever artistic/creative community you belong). As soon as I joined some incredible teams on Etsy, I really challenged myself to improve my shop. Also, being on a team provides an incredible support system.


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And here is the giveaway for the month of August! One lucky reader will win a set of 5 Abstract Flower blank notecards (pictured above) if you:

1. Leave a comment below
2. Go to Sarah Hennessey's Facebook page and 'Like' it
3. Tweet (@punkychewster) about the giveaway
4. Follow my page

Leave a separate comment for each of the above. PLEASE include your email address when leaving an entry below so I have a way of contacting the winner. Giveaway ends Friday, Sept 2nd, 2011, 11:59PM EDT. International readers are welcome as usual, and a random winner will be picked!

Alrighty! Have fun and happy weekend!

Etsy Pick of the Week :: Sukan

I am loving the Middle Eastern designs on these pillows!! Made from antique rugs, known as kilim, they are upcycled into fabulous looking new pillow covers! I love the colors and designs; and the pattern placements are impeccable, giving the rug-turned-pillow-covers a whole new look!



Sukan / SOFT Hand Woven - Turkish Kilim Pillow Cover - 16x16



SOFT Hand Woven - Turkish Kilim Pillow Cover - 16x16



SOFT Hand Woven - Turkish Kilim Pillow Cover - 16x16


*****


But guess what made my day?

♥♥ Embroidered lovelies! ♥♥


Hand Embroidered Suzani-Pillow Cover



Hand Embroidered Suzani-Pillow Cover



Hand Embroidered Suzani-Pillow Cover

*****



According to Wiki,

Kilims are flat tapestry-woven carpets or rugs produced from the Balkans to Pakistan. Kilims can be purely decorative or can function as prayer rugs.

Kilims are produced by tightly interweaving the warp and weft strands of the weave to produce a flat surface with no pile. Most kilim weaves are "weft-facing", i.e., the horizontal weft strands are pulled tightly downward so that they hide the vertical warp strands.

The weft strands, which carry the visible design and color, are almost always wool, whereas the hidden warp strands can be either wool or cotton. The warp strands are only visible at the ends, where they emerge as the fringe. This fringe is usually tied in bunches, to ensure against loosening or unraveling of the weave.

*****


Go check out the Etsy shop Sukan. The prices may be a little steep, but there's a sale going on right now! If you can afford it, it'll really be a nice piece of vintage loveliness to own!

Crafting on a Monday: Mandala embroidery in the works!

Been so busy working over the weekend! Summer camp is coming up and I've been asked to plan for 2 camps! It's so much fun though! I'll be adding stuff like blowing bubbles, flying paper planes and growing beans in the curriculum! Can't wait to do the camps!

And just as I thought i was going to have a lovely Monday to rest... my neighbour calls to ask me to babysit!


We've been busy drawing...


Doing tree rubbings...


Picking wildflowers and blackberries...


And I've been snatching bits of quiet moments to do this...


This is the little cupcake! and her brother is with the J-man somewhere out in the woods...

Winner of Spreading Good Cheer Giveaway!

Yay! the giveaway has ended!
And the winner is...

T E! Or Teuni as she is known on Twitter.

She was kind enough to indulge me (haha) but it did help spark off some ideas and that's what I likey!

She had 2 suggestions for me:

"Floating on by? Come in and say Hi!"

and

"There's always something beyond the clouds..."

I liked the first one immediately because guess what it reminded me of?
My old-time favorite "Float On" by Modest Mouse!!



So, I took the liberty to embroider a phrase from the song instead. And unpicked a few areas that i wasn't too satisfied with. It was my very first try at cursive embroidery, and it came out a wee bit tiny! But at last I'm done and I hope you'll like it just as much!



Please contact me at granolabar AT gmail DOT com with your mailing address and I'll mail it out promptly! Yay!

Next upcoming project: Mandalas

Third day at home, third day without caffeine. Not feeling great, i decided to stop drinking coffee and soda, and drink plenty of water instead. But oh my gosh, the caffeine withdrawal headaches are so.not.fun. I cannot make the slightest movement without feeling them. So a word of advice to you all, don't get addicted. Or else, don't think about quitting. Not a pleasant experience. :(

And I've been BORED stiff. I'm pretty sure i am ready to be back at work tomorrow. I can't handle sitting around not having enough energy to do anything, but too restless to be in bed all day. Whenever i'm idle in bed, my mind races and I think about what I could be doing. This happens to me a lot when I can't fall asleep at night. I usually grab a piece of paper and scribble my ideas down.

Today, i was doing the same. Only at 2 in the afternoon. The sunlight was filtering in through the blinds, and I was grumpy about not being able to stay outside because of the darn headaches. And then i thought about doodling. I hoped my brain would allow me to do that much.

I have been thinking about new embroidery projects ever since i was done with the Russian dolls. And i've also been wanting to draw mandalas for the longest time. So...





I've drawn a few more and I want to buy me some color pencils so I can color them in. Can't wait to embroider them!!

Yay! 100th Post!!! Matryoshka Delight!

I've been very productive this Memorial Weekend, listing four new items on my Etsy store

Have you seen my favourite though?



I'm loving the colours! I'm glad i finally decided to practice my embroidery stitching again. It was so much fun!


Front


Back

Wish i could craft all day long...

By the way, if you'd like to try out that cute little bag for yourself, i got the pattern off Burda Style. It's a free download, so go ahead and have yourself a fun time!

Onward fellow crafters!

Spreading Good Cheer Giveaway: Look up!

Guess what we saw up in the sky today?






It's a balloon fest! We screamed hello and they tried to land in a field next to our house, but not quite successful, because they almost got caught in a tree, so they took off again.

Now is this inspiration or what.



Except that i'm not too witty to think up a clever phrase to accompany the embroidery. So i'm doing my FIRST giveaway, seeing how giveaways always spread good cheer all round.

SO...

Help me think of a catchy phrase to embroider. I'll pick the best one, embroider it, and then send you this embroidered wall art, as a way to say thank you! The hoop measures 5". The giveaway ends next Friday, 3rd June 11:59PM EST.

I am going to extend this to international readers too, since most of my friends are not in the US. So put on your thinking caps!! Send in your clever entries. Oh yes, and multiple entries are ok :)

Yay!!!

Etsy Pick of the Week :: bylina ::

You know how embroidery excites me.

When I made my treasury list some time ago, I found this little gem of a shop - bylina.

The lovely lady, Katarina is the inspiration behind this Etsy shop. I've had the privilege to do a short interview with her. I am in love with her collection of vintage linens, hand embroidery and lace, and I want to share my finds with you!



1. Tell us a little about yourself

I live in the beautiful city of Barcelona with my husband and our little boy. After years in the fashion industry I decided it was time to get creative on my own. For a long time I have been collecting vintage hand made embroidery from Slovakia, where I am originally from. Embroidery is a very important part of Slovak folk cultural heritage. It is generally very rich in color combinations, motifs and the craftsmanship that has gone into making it is absolutely amazing. Also I grew up in an environment where crafting was an everyday occurrence. Both my grandmothers and my mum love needlecraft. To this day I still scavenge my local flea markets with my grand mother in search of vintage embroidery.


2. And a little about your Etsy shop, bylina

The idea behind my shop was to give a new purpose to beautiful vintage hand made needle-crafted pieces that would be otherwise locked up in my closet. The largest part of my collection are embroidered tablecloths which I find are not very practical for every day use. So I started to repurpose them into objects that I could easily incorporate in my home and fit better with my sense of aesthetic. For now, in my Etsy shop, I sell repurposed pillow covers, wall art and vintage pieces. But there is much more to come...



3. What do you draw your inspirations from?

My inspiration comes from the needlecraft itself and the hours that were dedicated into making it, which I really admire.


4. What is your favorite piece by far, and why?

It is very hard for me to pick just one piece as a favorite because each piece is different and unique. But I do have two favorites : the pair of vintage embroidered wall art hoops and the vintage geometric hand woven pillow cover (both featured in this article).


5. Do you have any words of encouragement for new Etsy sellers out there?

I listed my first item on Etsy three months ago so I am still very new at this and I am still learning...


Well, aren't we all learning every day anyway.


Thank you Katarina, you were so kind to oblige! Please visit bylina for more vintage embroidered beauties!!

Owl Vs. Wicked Step Scissors

VS



I have long been in love with these two pairs of embroidery scissors found on Sublime Stitching. I couldn't decide which one to get. The wicked step scissors is so cute and has such a fun name, but the owl pair is just too adorable! To make things even more difficult, the owl scissors is currently on sale!

Help me decide, which one would you choose?

And more exciting crafting news. Heard on the grapevine ...

Joann Fabric and Craft store is setting up a new branch in Mooresville, just a mere 10minutes drive away!

Yipee!!!

All the talented people out there!

Found this via Feeling Stitchy



Isn't it neat? Love the pop of red on the muted linen.



And just as I was about to post this, my dear friend and fellow crafter sent me this in my mail. Early morning yumminess!







Via MaricoMaricar

I aspire to be a better embroiderer!!