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For the first time ever, Inspire Me Thursday’s theme (owl) sparked an immediate image. I saw owl eyes made out of sunflowers, and I was off. Made of fabric, ribbon, felt, and thread. I had fun with the machine embroidery.
The makeover is taking a while because I keep spending the majority of my time working on projects I’ve uncovered. I finished a needle work project over the weekend and have launched into work on a piece that I’ve been dying to make for almost five years.
I continue to roll fabrics when I can (soothing, mindless, color therapy), and I’ve collected a number of baskets, boxes, and tins, all ready to store things when I decide I need to organize something that isn’t currently organized.
Shelves with more rolled fabric
But mostly, I’ve been messing things back up. My current passion is “The Gift of Sensitivity” which is going to be soft sculpture/mixed media illustration for The Princess and The Pea. Currently, I’m making mattresses. I still have to decide how many total I’ll be doing. I originally intended on making the traditional 40, but I’m not sure I’m going to do that now. I have twelve mattresses so far, some finished, some still being embellished to make them look more mattressy, but that doesn’t seem like enough. I suppose if I’m going to really make a lot more, I’ll need to buy more foam (which is my currently filler of choice). The big breakthrough was finding a simpler way to put the mattresses together. They’re small enough that simple construction is key.
Mattresses for The Gift of Sensitivity
Back in February, I started the Needlework Project From Hell. At the time, I claimed I was determined to get the thing done, and in fact, I worked on it steadily until I had all the embroidery and beading done. I had to use a magnifying glass to see what I was doing, and still managed to screw up a lot (as you can see in the photo). I decided to ignore the mistakes and bull my way through (and make the first side I did, which had the most mistakes, the BOTTOM of the pin cushion… 
).
The half on the left is the bottom half.
Because it was such agony to get to this point, I put the project away. I wasn’t up for more hair-tearing having worn myself out getting to this stage. Kelleen finished her cushion recently, despite having to beat the bushes because her kit was short by a couple of tiny, unique beads. So I finally got the little monster back out, and I discovered I had done the right thing in taking a break from it.
The assembly “step” (which made up one-third of the detailed instructions) had you whipstitch the two pieces together through an outline stitch made with thread the same color as the linen. Even with my magnifying glass, it was a nightmare. It took me four hours to put the thing together, and it’s barely 3 inches square. The funny offset that gives it the weird shape was the easiest part of the construction process.
The Pincushion From Hell
So, I have one more thing in my life of which I can say: it didn’t kill me, so it must have made me stronger.
I’m just back from a wonderful visit with my lifelong best friend Kelleen. We have a tradition of starting an arts and crafts project whenever we’re together, and this time we went for needlework. We started out in Big Box Land looking for something small and easy just for entertainment value. Disappointed by the poor selection, we left empty handed. We decided to visit The Needlework Cottage and spent a happy time exploring the store. In the end, we found a little project we were both interested in: pin cushions. There were several beautiful patterns and we had a hard time choosing. In the end, I wound up with the one below, while Kelleen bought the “Cherry Blossoms” version.
Cute, isn’t it? Kelleen’s is just as lovely. What neither of us realized until we got home was 1) this sucker is SMALL! and 2) the intriguing Diamond Eye Stitch (the thing making the beige holey border in the middle) is a nightmare when worked on linen using thread that practically matches it in color.
In our innocence, we both rushed to get to the Diamond Eye Stitch, intrigued because neither of us had ever done anything like it before. We soon found out how important it is to get the stitches in the right spot. I worked the entire border at least three times over due to the many misakes I found myself picking back out. To add to the fun, this pincushion has the same pattern on the bottom, meaning twice the agony… I mean, fun.
Kelleen sorting the microscopic beads that are part of the kit
Once we realized what a challenge the Diamond Eye Stitch was, we both took the bit in our mouths and barreled on until we finally finished both sides.
I relaxed once the border was over with, convinced the vines would be much much easier. It wasn’t long before I realized that the counting for this part is just as difficult if not more so than for the DES. Even working in high contrast colors didn’t help. The uneven strand widths in the linen make it difficult to get the counts right. I ripped out as much as I could stand to, but I ran out of patience. I decided to put this messed up version the bottom, and hope that after three more tries on this part of the pattern, I’ll be able to do it correctly on the top.
Tiny, isn't it?
My determination to finish this sucker is still high, so I will be working on this daily with the hope that my determination will outlast the project. Wish me luck!
