Mostly Stitches

New Home!

2011-09-08T11:59:00.001-07:00

We have moved!
Come visit us at MostlyStitches.com and update your rss feeds!
<3

How did it go?

2011-07-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

I know you have all been waiting patiently for an update about how our sale at Last Thursday went.

It went pretty well, considering our sort of off the beaten path location and it being our first time. We had fun and got a lot of compliments. Our booth looked darling and once the wind died down a bit, it was a piece of cake. The Koi Fusion tacos helped also!

Here is a peek at the super cute hand dyed (with all natural ingredients) napkins that we will be selling in the etsy shop soon! A variety pack or a set of all the same color, your choice! Custom made! We could even add some little embroidered embellishments if you want!

We will also be dying tote bags and any other things we think might be fun to dye.
You can see a little bit of the totes in this picture of our booth.

Overall, we didn't sell as much as we hoped but it was still fun and we are going to do it again next month. If you missed us last week, you will have to come visit in August!

<3

Last Thursday and Hello Again!

2011-07-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

The last post on this blog was on April 6th! That is just so sad. We have been busy with lots of crafts and projects but somehow none of them have made it here.

We finally got a Facebook page set up, so go click the thumbs up at facebook.com/mostlystitches!

We are going to be selling some items at Last Thursday on NE Alberta this week, in the lot across from Radio Room! Come by and say hello and see our precious goods in person!
Here is a sneak preview of some of our new fave creations.

Lots of lockets:

(my personal fave is the robot followed closely by the feather!)

Pretty hand dyed sweaters using all natural materials (which will be available to custom order):

Sweet embroidered vintage pillowcases, each one is one of a kind:

Fun hand cut felt all purpose greeting cards:

and a few other tidbits of darling items made with love.

We are also going to be offering handmade custom banners such as this very soon via Etsy:

and whatever doesn't sell will be in the Etsy shop this weekend.

So keep your eyes peeled to Facebook for updates and we hope to make something for you soon!

<3M&V

Organization Craftiness

2011-04-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night, home alone. I have some naan bread and chicken curry from Trader Joe's waiting to be eaten, but I'm not hungry yet.

I think to myself, hey you should stitch up some more lockets to put in the etsy shop. I pull down my box of embroidery floss (and other various tools) and decide it is time to put an end to this madness.

I started wrapping the floss colors around my fingers but quickly realized they would all get tangled super soon. Matthew was in the midst of hacking his new ipad cover to fit the old ipad and it dawned on me, I can hack some stuff too!

I grabbed an empty beer six pack box and cut it up into little cardboard trapezoid shape thingies to wind my floss around!

I put on Amelie mainly because I wanted to hear the lovely music and thought it would keep me from getting bored while wrapping and wrapping and wrapping floss. It had been so long since I watched the movie that I found myself actually watching it more than I had planned so this took probably twice as long as it should have.

I didn't get any stitching done tonight, but I did get all my floss neatly organized and it makes me happy. I don't know why it took me so long!

ooooh rainbowy!

Do you have any crafty organizational projects to share?

New lockets for sale on Etsy! Finally!

2011-04-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

Made this precious tiny landscape embroidery for Jane.

And posted a few other lockets in the Etsy Shop!

Have any ideas for tiny things I can stitch into these??

Craft Night: Easy and adorable felt brooches

2011-02-27T16:29:00.000-08:00

Check out these super cute brooches we made at our last craft night! Inspired by various things Jane found online, we each whipped up our own little brooches with felt, embroidery floss and little pinbacks. Jane didn't quite finish hers but here are Vanessa's, Megan's and mine pinned on a previous craft night project, a tote bag!

Two more tiny lockets

2010-12-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

Here are two more tiny lockets I made for Christmas gifts. One for V and one for Holly.

A blooming deer, this is the same locket as the bird hat lady that I posted last.

A colorful heart for Holly. This locket is a bit smaller than the other.

Locket of Love

2010-12-20T21:04:00.001-08:00

So so proud of this first little locket I made for my dear friend Meredith. More of these coming soon, and to be sold in the etsy shop. Suggestions of miniature arts I can stitch in there?

Pom Poms-Not Just for Cheerleaders

2010-11-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

I saw this DIY wreath post on Apartment Therapy and followed it to Bleubird Vintage's blog and found the cutest wreath ever. (Also, the cutest blog ever but that's another story) The colors she used work for both Thanksgiving and Christmas but you could really use any colors you want. We made this our next project for our weekly ladies craft night. The first time I made one of these cute little pom poms I was squealing and texting Michelle with their cuteness, only to find she was on the other end doing the same. We got a head start on making the pom poms but overall it only took a few hours collectively to make enough for the 3 wreaths that we made. Bleubird suggests making about 40 pom poms for each wreath but I felt I could've used more in the end to cover more surface area. It took us two evenings as a group to make them, one to make the pom poms and one to assemble the wreaths.

We all found this project to be super simple and everyone loved the end result! To make your own pom pom wreath check out this post on Bleubird's blog!

Pom pom haircut trimmings

The first of many to be made

So cute!

Two cards and two notebooks

2010-10-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is a lot of stuff in one post because I am too impatient to post them all separately. Should be posting lots more soon, since we are crossing our fingers we get into Crafty Wonderland!

Monogrammed notebooks, H for Holly and A for someone who bought one from Etsy!

Birthday cards for two September ladies, Missy and Mari! I really love how both of these turned out. So cute.

C & P, a wedding card.

2010-09-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

So have you heard of this amazing website, Spoonflower? Well you upload your own patterns and you can have them printed on fabric! Once you order a swatch you can sell your patterns to the public on the site! They have lots of different fabric options from lightweight cotton quilting fabric to upholstery weight twill and all kinds in between and they do contests where you design certain themed fabric patterns.

They had a special a little bit back where you could get an 8" x 8" swatch for free (normally $5)! So I uploaded a bunch of my patterns and ordered one of my own! Though I will probably tweak it before allowing it to be sold, the swatch was a perfect background for the card I wanted to make for my boyfriend's sister's wedding the following week.

I stitched a C and P for the bride and groom's initials and then did a little ambersand in between. I love the ampersand, it is my favorite part. I then stitched a heart around it which turned out kinda wonky but I still think this card turned out awfully cute and I hope C & P like it.

<3

J is for Julia

2010-08-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

In making a birthday card for Julia, I looked around in my suitcase of crafting supplies and finally got to use some of this crazy fabric I bought back in February or March. I stitched this freehand and didn't hoop the fabric so it was a lot harder and didn't come out as precise as I would have preferred. Neverthelesss, I think this card turned out very cute, better than I first envisioned.

A card/notebook for Ben & Kennedy

2010-08-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

I hope they have opened this already so no one is surprised when this posts to Faceboook!

I stitched this little K + B for Kennedy and Ben's wedding this past weekend. I didn't want to make a normal card, so I thought a fun idea might be attaching something hand made to the cover of a little moleskine notebook that they can use to keep score in when they play cards or write grocery lists or whatever it is that they want to use it for.

I think it turned out really cute and I hope K & B like it! The color doesn't come through too accurately in the photos, but the thread was a pale seafoam greenish color and I drew the letters freehand right onto the felt with a gold sharpie before stitching over it.

Little birdy framed

2010-07-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

I had been meaning to stitch up something small and cute for my good friend Meredith for months. Her birthday was in May and I bought this frame on clearance back around February or March thinking it would be a perfect canvas for a little embroidery. I never got around to stitching anything in time to mail it to her and felt like a bad friend. Finally her visit up to Portland kicked my butt in gear and I made this with her in mind.

I love it and secretly wanted to keep it for myself! It turned out so cute. (a little bit more detailed close up shot is here.)

blue and white bunting

2010-07-06T17:27:00.001-07:00

I got the idea in my head that I should make a ton of bunting to hang all over the backyard for a 4th of July party. I should have started earlier, but as it turned out I (with some help from Vanessa) was able to string together over 10 feet of bunting to string up! I would have liked to have about twice that much but it looked pretty cute if you ask me.

little felt triangles waiting to be strung together. (photo by Matthew)

Strung up along the side of the house and shed. (photo by Matthew)

close up.

A couple of stitched cards.

2010-06-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Cards are probably my favorite thing to embroider little things for. I have always made handmade cards since I was a teenager and this new skill makes my cards a ton more awesome.

Here are two stitched cards I have done in the past few months.

This was sent to my mom for Mother's day. This photo is from my phone and is pretty terrible. I forgot to take a picture of the finished card, but this is the design i did, sort of modified from a couple Jenny Hart patterns and stitched freehand onto felt.

This was done as a wedding card for a lovely couple. I stitched this freehand onto felt and luckily it was just the right size. I heard they are planning to frame this! So proud of it. It took sooo long but it was so worth it.

I have a handful of projects in the works and am going to revive this blog if it's the only thing I do all summer! :)

KEEP OUT, this means you!

2010-04-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

So I made this cute little mini diary. I love it. Someone should buy it. or buy anything in the shop! Got a request? Tell me!

WTF OMG EGGS

2010-03-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

I have two projects to share with you guys today!

The first one is something that just came to me when I was at work, thinking of what I could do with this pretty fabric I bought a while ago. I have a lot of it, and wanted to do something with picture frames. Then it came to me: OMG WTF. Who doesn't love those phrases. I know I do.

Both of these are for sale in the Etsy store.

The other project is really cute and fun. I decided to host a small Easter dinner this Sunday and Vanessa decided this week that craft week would be Easter themed. I was planning to make a banner with all kinds of Eastery shapes cut out of felt but we decided to do a table decoration instead. Here is a picture of the work in progress.

I'lll post the finished product too, once we get it done.

Happy crafting!

Embroidered notebooks

2010-03-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

I am sure I am not the first person to do this, but I am kind of in love with these little moleskines I stitched up last night!

M and V! I drew the letters right on and then punched holes and then stitched 'em into cuteness. And I just noticed that the colors of the letters match our banner. Whoa.

You can get your very own in our Etsy shop!

First item for sale!

2010-03-16T16:42:00.001-07:00

So last night I finished and posted the first item in our Etsy shop!

This adorable and versatile banner was really fun to make and it is hanging on my closet right now, making me smile until someone buys it.

Coffee Time!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a silly yet adorable coffee cozy that I made for my new roomie. The words are not quite centered on the fabric, which annoys my perfectionistic tendencies in these sorts of projects, but just goes to show me that I can't "wing it" all the time. Yet.

Oh and of course you can request your own custom coffee cozy (coozie? sleeve?). Dream to your hearts content my darlings, I (or Vanessa!) can make it!

Mostly Stitches Introduction-Part Deux

2010-03-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I'm Michelle's counterpart to this new blog, Vanessa, Vana, or V. You may know me from blogs such as Mostly Soup or Today on the Train.

Michelle and I started embroidering only a couple of months ago when I convinced her to come with me to an introductory embroidery class one rainy Saturday. Michelle's not much for saying no and thus our new hobby was born. She's already far surpassed me both on quality and quantity but I did manage to finish one tiny little project last week.

I snagged a beanie from a clothing exchange party that was adorable except for the ugly Volcom logo that was embroidered onto it. I decided to make my own embroidered patch and slap it over the logo to transform the hat into something I would wear. Michelle was kind enough to sketch a tulip for me onto a felt patch and I embroidered over it. We were feeling very springy in our Portland 61 degrees and sunny weather. The tulip head is free hand, the stem is stem stitch and I used back stitch to sew it onto the hat.

I think the results turned out pretty cute and I have the hat on my head as I type this very sentence! So if any of you have an article of clothing that has a hole, a stain, an outdated skateboarding company logo on it, or the like, feel free to request a custom cover up from Mich or I. Nudge, nudge (Mostly Stitches Etsy Page, products coming soon).

Transformed!

I am proud to present to you... Mostly Stitches!

2010-03-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hi! So Vanessa and I have take up embroidery and have high hopes and vast project ideas to make money with our newly found talents! This is going to be a blog to document our projects, progress, and fun crafty things we find around the web. We have also started an etsy shop for these endeavors(MostlyStitches.etsy.com) and are super excited for what's to come.

To get this blog rolling, here is a project I did for Hollys Birthday a couple weeks ago. It's not perfect but I love it. Would you or someone you know buy something custom like this? For Holly I glued it onto cardstock to make it a birthday card, but this kind of thing could easily be a patch or decoration for a bag/backpack/notebook/jacket/etc.

Here's a close up of a freehand design I did for a simple and fun project/gift. I stitched this on a piece of felt for a to-go coffee sleeve for Jessie's birthday. I think it turned out really cute. On the back side is just a little pink heart.

Stay tuned for much much much more fun stuff!