Another Finished Project: Fabric Wreath

 Hello!

Due to the lockdown, I have another finish - a fabric wreath.  I got the form from a storage unit that hubby bought (like Storage Wars but real life).  The form is 18" in diameter.  When I started on this one (after the jewelry letter!), hubby asked me if I was "trying to foo foo up the room" because it's now MY room.  I told him, of course I was.

I really didn't know how to do it, but thanks to Pinterest, I figured it out.  Oh, if you want to follow me on Pinterest, my ID is stacy27c.

Since most of the tutorials were for 14" wreaths, I knew I was going to need more fabric.  I ended up using 468 strips that were cut 1" x 8".  I used 13 different fabrics; 7 whites/creams and 6 blues/greens.  Most tutorials I read said to tear the fabric for a raggedy look.  I'll admit I was lazy and used my rotary cutter.

My form had 9 sections like this:

Here are the fabrics I used, in the order I used them:

I started at the top left pile and tied a strip around the outer 2 rings of the wreath form.  I then went clockwise through the piles tying the next strip around the middle 2 rings, then the 3rd strip around the inner 2 rings, then back to the outer 2 rings.  For each of the section on the form, I went through my piles 4x for 52 strips per section.

When I finished the 1st section of the form, the last strip was tied on the 2 outer rings.  When I started the 2nd section of the form, I kept to the pattern and started on the middle 2 rings.

I only did one tie per strip, like this:

That was sufficient to keep them on the form, plus left them longer for a fluffier wreath.  I decided to hang it on my closet door so that I could see it from pretty much anywhere in my studio.  Here's my finished wreath:

I do have one more wreath form that I'm going to do up for Christmas.  I'll post when I get that one done.

Happy Stitching and Crafting!

Stacy

Quilt Studio...it begins

Months ago, I was trying to move some shelving (the kind on wall brackets) to an alcove in my upstairs sewing room.  Hubby came up to help me as I was having issues that I figured couldn't be overcome (no studs in the side wall).  Unfortunately, I was correct and the shelves would have to stay where they were.

As he was heading back downstairs, hubby suggested that I turn our "back room" into my quilting studio.  He's a darling man, I'm definitely keeping him.  We've just been using that room as a "dumping" area for stuff.  My office does occupy about 1/3 of it, and my piano is the only thing in the other 2/3, apart from the "stuff".

Just a couple of days after hubby made his brilliant suggestion, my father-in-law moved in while recovering from foot surgery.  The 2/3 of the room became his office and bedroom.  My piano got pushed into a closet area and all the other stuff got removed from the room.  This past Saturday, after 4½ months, FIL moved back to his own house!

Now that all of FIL's stuff is back at his house, I have a blank canvas to work with.  It's going to be a looonnngg process!  Here's my starting point:

You can just see the edge of my desk and chair in the foreground.  Everything from there to the piano will be my quilting studio!  The piano will end up staying in the alcove (former closet).  First up, painting!  Since I'm going to put in new flooring, it makes sense to paint first so that I don't have to worry about spills or spatter.

The brownish ceiling will be first and it's going to be white.  There is only one window in this room and one exterior door so there isn't much natural light.  I'm going to paint directly over the paneling in a soft white.  The piano alcove and the interior of the closet to the right will be light, beachy tones.  Probably a blue or green sea-glass tone.

Okay, I said painting was first.  It's not.  I have to clear out the rest of the room as best I can in order to paint.  I'm making a start, but as hubby would put it, I'm puttering at it.  ;-)

Will post updates as they happen!  Don't hold your breathe between posts though.  I'm only going to do things as I can pay for them in cash.  I'm not going into debt (no credit card purchases) to do this project!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Orts

Hello Fellow Stitchers!

Only stitchers would have a clue about the title of this post.  However, there are a lot of misconceptions about the word itself.  It is a word!  It is not an acronym!  (gasp!)

No, it doesn't mean Old Ratty Threads (I've seen that one and many others).

According to my Oxford English Dictionary (two volumes in a case with a drawer to hold the magnifying glass!  Yes, I'm a nerd!):

Ort  [First found in 15th c. in plural ortys, -us but not usual till end of 16th c.]
Fragment of food left over from a meal; refuse scraps; leavings, broken meat

It has since come to mean pretty much left over bits of anything, we stitchers use it to refer to our clipped thread ends.

On the Heaven and Earth Designs FB group, the question came up about what we each do with our orts.  I mentioned I keep my orts in a bowl made from...orts.  I was asked to show a photo of my ort bowl so I thought I'd share here how I made it.

I don't have any photos of the process but it's pretty straightforward.

Supplies:

• White glue (like Elmer's)
• water
• orts
• balloon (or a bowl, I like the balloon though - it ends up being less messy)
• paint brush, popsicle stick ,etc.
• plastic container for mixing
• gloves to keep you clean

In the plastic container, mix some glue with a little water.  You want to thin the glue just a little bit so that it's easier to spread.  I'd say maybe a ½ teaspoon of water at the most.  I'm guessing about ¼ cup of glue.  It's better to start with too little glue/water.  You can always make more, but it's a messy bother to dispose of any excess.

Blow up and tie off the balloon.  A helium or mylar balloon is really not going to work.   If you use a bowl instead, turn it upside down and cover with plastic wrap (cling film).  The bigger you make the balloon, the wider your ort bowl will be.  You need to be the judge of how big your bowl can be with the orts you have.

Putting the tied end into a bowl will help keep it steady while you're working on it and while it dries.  Using a brush or stick, spread some of your glue mixture on the top of the balloon.    Lay some of your orts on the glued area.   "Paint" some glue on the orts.  Add more orts.  Repeat the glue/ort process in the size and shape you want for your bowl.  When it's the way you want it to look, finish with a layer of glue.  Leave overnight or longer until it's dry.  When you're sure it's dry, pop the balloon.  Enjoy your new work of "ort".  lol

Here's mine:

The coin is a US quarter for scale (about the size of a UK 10p piece).  This bowl measures just under 5" (12cm) in diameter and is just over 2" (5cm) deep.  As you can probably tell from the bowl's shadow, it's not a solid bowl, it's kind of lacy.

Here's a picture of it from the bottom:

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Diamond Painting

I know, it sounds so cool, right?  Unfortunately, they aren't real diamonds (sigh).  Also, there's no paint involved.  I consider that a good thing...paint's too messy.

I heard of diamond painting on the HAED FB page.  One lady on there was doing a HAED in this medium rather than cross stitching it.

I thought it looked interesting so I bought myself a kit.  The one I chose was a simple, inexpensive one (not a HAED) just to see if I liked this craft.

It came today!  It came from China and wasn't supposed to be delivered until at least March 9th so getting it 8 days early was a bonus.  I unpacked it and here it is:

The "diamonds" get attached to the front of the canvas, which is sticky.  You can see the color key on the right side of the canvas.  For this particular kit, the diamonds only go on the trees, not the ground.  The pink thing peeking out on the right side, is the grabber "pen" for the diamonds.  If you look closely, you can see that there is a clear plastic sheet covering the canvas - that gets peeled off to expose the stickiness.

Here is a close-up of the "diamonds".  They are small, about 1/8" (2.5mm).  These happen to be round, but I know there is a square version, too.  If you click on the image for a larger view, you will see that these are numbered 741 and 742.  These numbers correspond to DMC color numbers so ordering your own supplies just got simpler!

I got this kit on Amazon.com.  If you were to look for suppliers, the best places appear to be:

• Aliexpress (China)
• DHGate (China)
• Smith Beads (UK)

Please note:  If you order complete kits from the China suppliers, the images are NOT LICENSED.  That means the artist's work is being ripped off and they are not getting any compensation for their art.

Ordering supplies, the canvas, diamonds, tool, etc., is perfectly fine but please make sure you order the patterns from legitimate sources (your local needlework shop, designers' websites, etc.). 

If I enjoy doing this and like the way it looks, I might do a few of the cross stitch patterns that I own in this  medium rather than stitching them.  I would do the ones I like but not sure I'd ever stitch this way.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

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Sewing Room - New Addition!

I've been at it again.  DH* has been a great enabler!  He bought this for me at a local auction for $8.50:

It actually looks better in the photo than it did when he brought it home.  At this stage, I had sanded it down as preparation for painting.  Oh, and I'd removed the hideous bronze-colored drawer pulls.  Yes, the drawers aren't in correctly in this photo but I didn't notice until later.

Like all of the other pieces in my sewing room, this one got a base coat of Starless Night (dark blue).  It's a paint & primer in one from Behr which is great 'cause it saves a step!

Here is one of the drawers with the base coat done and taped off for the "special treatment" I chose for this piece.

The tape was 1.41" wide which is close enough to 1.5" so I cut the tape pieces 3" long for balance.  I did attempt to use a ruler for the spacing but it still turned out a bit wonky.  The gaps between the tape are approximately .25".


It took longer than I'd expected to do the taping; about 2½ hours for the 4 drawers.  At that point, I just wanted to be done so I took the drawers out to the carport and spray painted them with Rustoleum Flat White, also a paint/primer combo.

Because the weather is cool and damp, I brought them back inside to dry for about 20 minutes before I removed the tape.  The pieces along the edge were easy because they were wrapped around the side.  For the pieces in the middle, I used an X-acto knife to peel up a corner on each piece.

Here's the finished piece including the new hardware.  I went with silver so that all the pieces I've done share the same color palette:  Starless Night, Flat White and/or Silver.  The handles cost almost as much as the desk - they were just under $2 each.

As you can see, I did remove a couple of pieces of tape before I spray painted it.  No real reason, I just liked the idea.


Here are the other pieces that I've redone and are in my sewing room as well:

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

*DH = Dear Husband

New-ish furniture in my stitching room!

I have a table next to my stitching chair to hold my stitching accessories and iPad while I'm stitching.  It's not the best setup so I've been looking for something else.

Here's the culprit:

The table is just one of those cheap round things with the screw-on legs.  The doily is fine - I made it!  There's not a lot of surface room and I have to have ALL my stuff that I might need out and in the way.  It also doesn't help that the cat loves to walk under it and  occasionally tries to pull the doily (and everything on top) off the table.

So, I've been looking for a small chest of drawers to replace this unfortunate thing.  Thanks to my hubby, I was able to get this for no money!  He swapped some stuff he'd gotten out of a storage unit (think Storage Hunters) for this at a local second-hand store:

Now it's not really easy to tell from this photograph but this needed some work.  Plus, it was a tad too traditional for my craft room.

Here are the rest of the before photos:

Now for the directions on the transformation.

Step 1:

Remove the hardware:

The hardware was, thankfully, easy to remove.  Two screws for each handle and they just came right off!  I had more trouble finding a screwdriver in my husband's toolbox than I did in taking the handles off.

Step 2:

Sanding

Now hubby was very helpful in letting me use his palm sander.  Since I'd never used it before, he put the first piece of sandpaper on for me but made sure that I knew how to do it so that I could change it when it wore out.  That bit was easy.

I was using 60 grit sandpaper.  If you've never used sandpaper, I'll tell you this:  the lower the grit number, the coarser the sandpaper.  I really should have been using 40 grit or lower.  The finish on this really didn't want to come off!  I ended up using the entire package of 60 grit.

The edges of the drawers and the bottom/feet of the piece I had to do by hand.  That was fun (heavy sarcasm here).  I actually still had to do the left side of the chest after I'd run out of the 60 grit.  I'd noticed that the finish seemed a bit gummy and I knew the 100 grit that I had available wasn't going to work so I improvised.  We always have a bunch of razor blades around our house (the kind you put in a utility knife, not the kind you shave with), so I grabbed one of them.  I used the razor blade like a scraper and took off quite a bit of the remaining finish that way.  It even worked on the curve of the foot area!  I then used a piece of the 100 grit to do the little bit of finish the blade didn't get.  Whew!  I'm tired just writing this!

All total, it took me about an hour each evening for 3 evenings.  Either my back would start to hurt or my hands would get too tired so I'd quite for the night.

Here it is all sanded.

On the side, near the top, you can probably see where I broke the rule:  "Go with the grain".  Seriously, that was the only way I could get in there!

Step 3:

Wipe down.

I didn't take photos of this 'cause it was rather boring.  Take a damp cloth and wipe the whole piece down.  You need to make sure you've gotten all the sawdust off the piece.  Let it dry before proceeding to paint.

Step 4:

Hardware prep.

First I needed to determine if the hardware was actual brass or something else.  With a handy dandy magnet, I discovered it was not brass.  The magnet stuck to it, so it wasn't brass.  Hallelujah!  (Brass is more difficult to paint.).   I gave the hardware a good cleaning with soap and water and a metal scouring pad.  Most directions I found said to use steel wool but I didn't have any.

Step 5:

Priming/Painting the hardware.

Ok, I kind of merged this step.  Priming and painting should have been separate steps.  I already had silver metallic spray paint which I was planning to use.  It turns out that it was paint and primer in one!  Yeah, me!  I took the pieces out to my carport to do this bit.  Since it was quite windy, I placed them in a cardboard box with the opening facing me (rather than facing the sky).  I sprayed them all, then using a toothpick, I swung the moving part of the handle to the other side and sprayed them again.

They were dry to the touch after 15 minutes so I brought them inside to finish "curing".

Step 6:

Priming/Painting the Drawers


I had thought about doing the finish where you spray paint through a lace curtain panel but I couldn't be bothered to go shopping for one.  Yes, I turned down the chance to shop.  I was tired.

I did want to have some sort of accent on the finished piece so I thought I'd paint part of the drawer fronts using the same silver paint that I used on the hardware.  Out came the painter's tape.  The drawer fronts have 3 distinct areas:  the center where the hardware was, a medium-sized border area, and a narrow border.  I chose to paint the medium-sized border with the silver.

I masked the center panel and the outer border to prevent getting paint on them.  Then I sprayed the silver paint on each drawer.  I then went back over each drawer immediately just to make sure I had enough paint on them.  After about 15 minutes, I took off all the painter's tape.  I wanted the paint to be dry to the touch but not necessarily completely dry.  If it was too dry, removing the tape might have taken some of the paint with it.

Here they are painted before I took the tape off:

You can see some of the blue from the tape showing through.


And here they are with the tape removed:

Step 7:

Prime/Paint the rest of the piece.

Again, I didn't want this to be a two-step process so I splurged a bit.  I purchased Behr Premium Plus Ultra (paint/primer in one - interior).  I bought a full gallon because I am going to use it on other projects - a quart would have been more than sufficient for this chest of drawers.  I chose a flat finish.  The color is called Starless Night. 

I started with the drawers.  I taped over the silver all the way to the edge so I could paint the center panel of each drawer.  I left the tape on for about 10-15 minutes which was a bit too long.  While the silver paint had dried overnight, a little bit of it did come off with the tape.

So to keep a nice line between the silver area and the outer edge of the drawer, I placed the tape, painted and immediately removed the tape.  No silver came off and I had a clean edge!  When I was painting the edges, I didn't paint toward the tape, I painted from a bit over the tape toward the edge.  That way, I wasn't "shoving" paint under the edge of the tape.

Here is one of the drawers all painted with the hardware reattached:

I did paint the interior of the drawers as well because they were a bit stained.

Next I painted the body of the piece.  I can recommend spending more money on a paint brush than I did.  I bought a 2in. wide brush that was under $5.  Spend more...really!  Here's what happens when you don't:

That's just a few of the bristles that I had to pick off the cabinet that were stuck in the paint.  I had to use a pair of tweezers to grab them.  The irony is that I finished painting the cabinet with a smaller brush by the same brand with no problems.  Go figure.

Here is the completed chest of drawers:

Here's roughly what it cost me to do this project.  I did try to list the prices with the sales tax included.

• Chest of drawers - $10 list price  free
• Sandpaper - $4.50 for 60 grit package (5 sheets) + .75 for1 sheet of 100 grit sandpaper
• Paintbrushes, one 1" and one 2" - $6
• Silver Spray paint/primer - $4.50
• Gallon of Behr Paint/Primer - $40 but I have about 80% still left.

 
The top drawer now holds the remotes for my tv and dvd player, nail clippers, chapstick, and nail file.

The middle drawer holds my binder with the keys, charts, photos for the WIPs in my rotation.

The bottom drawer is the "snack drawer".  Shhhh!  Right now, it has a package of coconut cookies.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Another Pinterest Craft

I've been wanting to try the Sharpie on a mug idea for a few weeks now.  After reading a bunch of different posts, I found out that you either need a Sharpie Paint pen or else a porcelain paint pen.  I was doing some online craft shopping anyway, so I bought myself two of the porcelain paint pens - one black and one red.

For my first attempt, I thought I'd do a mug for my secret sister (S.S.) from church.  Off to the dollar store I went (bummer, more shopping!).  I got the mug...and a bunch of bins to use for my scrapbooking supplies.  There will most likely be a post about my scrapbooking stuff later.

My S.S. has her kitchen done in French country style so I figured the red pen was the best choice.  Also because of the French theme, I made my own stickers using the French Script font.  Here's where I have a confession to make...I have access to some pretty sophisticated equipment and I don't hesistate to use it!  In this instance, I'm referring to a laser engraving machine.  This is one of the perks of owning my own trophy shop; another perk is that the shop is attached to my house.

I fell in love with the "negative" look I'd seen on several different pins so I went with that.  This means that the initials I was going to create would be blank, the design is around them.

A couple of things that I learned on this first project:  make sure your stickers are firmly fastened down; and make sure to remove them before the paint dries!  I found that using an xacto-style knife works really well for removing the stickers.  You'll notice that the edges around the letters are a little wonky.  That's because I had to do some touch-up after removing the stickers since the paint had dried before I took them off.

The instructions with the pen for the baking process were to put the item in a cold oven, let it heat up to 375°, then start the timer and bake it for 40 minutes.  Once the 40 minutes was up, I turned off the oven, opened the door and let the oven and the mug cool down (according to the pen's directions).  This process should make the mug dishwasher safe.

Here (insert drumroll) is the finished mug:

Items used in this project:

• plain white mug from my local Dollar Tree
• DecoArt Glass Paint Marker from CreateforLess.com
• Windex to clean the area to be painted
• Letter stickers - while I made my own, any stickers would work

Will I do another of this type of project?  Most definitely, yes!  It was fun, inexpensive and easy to do.  I'm already thinking about Christmas gifts!

Happy Stitching and Crafting!

Stacy