Backstitching Embroidery Tutorial

About a year and a half ago, I figured out how to do hand embroidery and I have been selling "framed stitcheries" in my etsy shop.  A friend of mine asked me to teach her, so I snapped some pictures of a piece I am working on that will look the the one above when I am all done.  (If you find that my pictures are not phenomenal, I am blaming most of it on the dreary weather.  The rest I blame on rushing through it to get back to a cranky, teething baby.)

Materials:

~embroidery hoop

~fabric

~warm'n'natural batting

~DMC floss

~embroidery needle

Step 1:

I always trace my design by holding my paper and fabric up against a (clean) window so that I can see through the fabric to the design on the paper underneath.  You can also tape them on if it is something more detailed or you can't hold it still.

I use batting underneath my fabric when I can to give it more stability and so that you can't see the threads behind it.  Then I put them together and place it in an embroidery hoop.

For the floss, I separate out 2 strands (it comes in 6 strands twisted together if you but the little 35-cent DMC floss at your local craft store).  Then I just thread it through the needle and knot the end. 

Now you are ready to go!

Step 2:
This one was already started, so ignore the "bel" there. 
Poke your needle up through where you want to start.

Step 3:
To begin... JUST this time... take a regular stitch.

Step 4:
Pull that through all the way and then comes the tricky part.  Poke the needle back up through about the same distance ahead as your first stitch.  You want to keep them as even and as close in size as possible.  There will be a little gap between where you are pulling the thread back up and the first stitch.

Step 5:
Now, put the needle back in at the end of the first stitch you took.EXACTLY at the end of that stitch or else you will have gaps and it won't look as nice.

Step 6:
Pull the thread all the way through, and then come back up again a stitch-width in front of the one you just did.  Just keep going backwards like this, keep the stitches as close in size as you can, and don't leave gaps between your stitches.  Pretty easy once you get the hang of it!

I have also been using this technique to hand embroider Easter basket liners.  I love the way this one turned out (she chose great colors). 

I hope you found this tutorial at least a little helpful.  Now I have to get back to weaving.  Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way!

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Chicken and Waffles

Chicken and waffles is a very common meal around these parts. I can remember the first time I met someone who was not a "local" and had never had chicken and waffles. I was shocked and horrified! I thought everyone ate chicken and waffles.

It is really just good, homemade waffles topped with cooked chicken and gravy. You can figure out how to make the cooked chicken and gravy on your own, but here is my awesome recipe for homemade waffles (seriously, only the best of my recipes for you guys!):

Waffles

1 cup flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup milk
3 eggs (separated)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Add milk and egg yolks (beaten).  Stir in oil and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.  Fold the egg whites into the batter.  Pour batter onto hot waffle iron and cook until golden brown.

I suppose that you can make these for breakfast as well.  I bet they would be great to freeze and pull out on busy mornings.  Sadly, not too long ago one of my kids said, "You mean you can eat these with syrup?"  Umm... I guess we eat chicken and waffles more than syrup and waffles.  =)

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Car Roll Tutorial

In my attempt to be the coolest aunt ever (I have 22 nieces and nephews so far!), I made this cute little car roll. It is made from some fabric I had on hand (it’s hard to find non-girly stuff in this family!) and some size 4T jeans that were headed for the garbage. I was inspired by THIS tutorial, but I wanted to do a few things differently:
a) I don’t have duck cloth and I don’t know where to get it. Hence the denim.
b) Sewing on little bitty pieces of yellow felt didn’t sound like fun. So I channeled my inner quilter and made the road that way.
c) I rolled it instead of folding so I didn’t go all fancy on the outside and I skipped the stenciling cause I didn’t feel like it.
d) I made my own strap to velcro on from fabric.

So without further ado... here is my version of the Look at that- a title photo just for this post! I am going all fancy here (OK, so I just got a cool close up and wanted to use it). I took the best pictures that I could get since PA is seeming more like Seattle these days. Of course, the sun came out when I was done, but I am not complaining ‘cause I missed it sooooo much! So forgive all of the poor quality pics. I tried.

Materials:

Black cotton
Yellow cotton
Any cotton for the pocket
1 ½ legs from an old pair of kids’ jeans
3/4" piece of Velcro
Thread

Part 1: The Road

Do all the cutting first and get it out of the way. You will need 2 pieces of black cotton measuring 2 3/4" by 14" for the "lanes" and for the "dashes" in the middle, you will need one piece EACH of black and yellow measuring 1 1/2" by 14". Sew the 2 small strips of black and yellow together lengthwise, then cut into 1" strips. Sew them all short ends together, alternating yellow and black. Then sew this row between the strips and press towards the "lanes" and you are all done with the road! EASY!

Part 2: The Velcro Strip

You will need a piece of cotton measuring 4" by 6" ( I just used yellow cause it was already 4" wide). Lots of ironing here- press in half lengthwise, open, and then press the edges in toward the center. Open it all up, hem in the end 1/4", and then sew your loopy velcro on one side just after the hem so the little box will be hidden. Fold the sides toward the center... ...and press it half. Then topstich around three sides, leaving the non-velcro side alone. See? No box on the other side.
Part 3: The Pockets

Now we are getting into the denim. Cut one piece from the pants 14" by 5 1/2" and from your other cotton cut a piece 14" by 6". Press the cotton in half, wrong sides together, and sew the raw bottom edges of the denim and cotton together (Good way to cover up a few stains here!)Topstitch the folded edge of the cotton just to keep it in place better. Then sew lines for pockets - mine were at about the the following intervals: 2 5/8", 4 7/8", 7", 9 1/8", and 11 1/4"
Part 4: The Outside

Take the remaining 2 pieces of denim, cut them to 14" by 5.5", and sew them together lengthwise and press the seams open.Sew the fuzzy piece of velcro on at 6" from the left end of the bottom piece and about 2 1/2" from the bottom edge.
Part 5: Assembly

Sew the two inside pieces together.Sew the raw-edge end of the velcro strip to the bottom, velcro up, lined up with the edge of the pocket. Go over it a bajillion times.

Sew the outside and inside together, right sides together, leaving the non-velcro end open, and flip (push those corners out real good!)Fold the opening edges in and topstitch the whole way around and down the middle, too. I used white thread cause I didn't feel like changing it, but I like it! It's kind of like road edges.

Part 6: PLAY!

I was so disappointed that I could only find Sheriff Rosco's car and not the General Lee. :( But Rosco always loses! Fold. And roll. Secure with velcro. Perfect to tuck away in Mom's purse or a backpack!

Naomi's Quilt

Not my best quilt ever, but it is FINISHED!!! AND I got it done BEFORE her first birthday (with 4 hours to spare). I originally wanted to machine quilt this one, but since I can't lower my feed dogs, it was a failure. :( So, rip, rip, rip it was.
Then I hand quilted the cow blocks, but I couldn't figure out how to quilt the red blocks, so I gave up and tied them instead. The back is a cute farm print that I had and the reds are all leftover from a red tractor quilt I made a few years ago (I pieced this top in my "pre-baby rearranging use it or move it sewing stage"). I love the little "moo" fabrics on the border and the red binding, too.

Another project finished! YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! Only about a million more to go... :)
(Notice the cow in the background looking at me like I am completely crazy!)

Tandy Cakes

Here is one for all of you chocolate/peanut butter lovers out there! ;)

I love homemade tandy cakes! I think these are so moist and delicious because I bake them in a greased 10" x 15" glass baking pan. Here is the recipe:

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
12oz. bag milk chocolate chips

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add vanilla and milk; mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix again. Stir in melted butter. Batter will be a little lumpy.

Pour into a greased 10” x 15” glass pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the top and edges begin to turn golden brown. You will see popped air bubble marks all over the top, too.

Let cool about 15 minutes, then spread peanut butter over the cake. Melt chocolate chips in a microwavable plastic dish on 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate over cake, spreading evenly. Cool completely and cut into squares. (You can freeze the plastic dish and then twist it to remove the bits of chocolate stuck to the sides- no wasting chocolate! That is just WRONG!)

***EDIT***Please note that this calls for a 10" x 15" pan! A regular 9" x 13" cake pan won't work, so please don't use that size and then call me to tell me that I have ruined your life with a failed recipe from my blog. (You know who you are! But I love you anyway!)

Grace's Quilt

TA DA!!!! I started Grace's baby quilt a few weeks before she was born (hence the bright, but neutral colors). I was inspired by Anita's beautiful quilt HERE, but since I don't like to do sashing, I decided to use this Moda Bakeshop pattern, except I cut my own squares instead of using a charm pack.
They are both sooooo cute!!!
See that red pinwheel? Those are what I was cutting when I cut my fingertip with the rotary cutter. :( I hand quilted this, of course. Just oulined the white triangles in the pinwheels and around the border.

When I saw that the 3D triangles were called prairie points I had to try them. Anything with the word "prairie" just sounds adorable and makes me think of Laura Ingalls!

But frankly, they were a pain. I couldn't get the spacing right and the more I tried to fix them, the worse it got. AND I couldn't hand quilt along this edge (which I thought it needed to keep them in place) so I had to stab stitch one stitch at a time the whole way around.
But it is still an awesome pattern and I love it!!!

Link Parties are found at the top of my blog and, if I get a minute here and there, I might be found linking up at some of those.