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tea towel apron

tea towel apron

This tea towel was spared from the coffee experiment. I’ve been planning to turn it into an apron ever since I saw the project in Amy Karol’s first book. I love how it turned out, especially the pleats. I can’t wait to make more! Here’s a view of the tie.

tea towel apron

project details: This towel was part of a wedding gift. I’m so glad to give it a new life in the kitchen. Tie was in my stash from who knows where. Pattern from Bend-the-Rules Sewing.

coffee update: I took Happy Cat’s advice and re-brewed the grounds after my coffee yesterday. The towels have been soaking for over 24 hours and are still blue. I think they are made of kevlar.

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my creative space

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Country Living’s Crafting Vintage Style and have fallen in love with the thick and thin stripes of vintage tea towels.

Usually I see them with red stripes, but this book has a lot of blue inside its pages. I grabbed some navy and natural wool and started crocheting around some small plastic bottles destined for our recycling bin. This is the result.

vintage inspired crochet bud vase

I like that the bottles are plastic. I’m hoping to put some of these in my shop, and shipping will be less expensive than glass. I’m also hoping to get a picture with a real flower soon. Right now our garden is just starting to poke through the surface. I had to improvise for the photo.

Kirsty is rocking the blue and natural colors this week, too. Visit her blog for more creative spaces.

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valentine’s day heart bunting

Last year I made a paper heart bunting for our kitchen window. When I went to hang it this year, it was gone. Maybe I stored it in a safe place? Maybe I recycled it? I wish I could remember. Anyway, it was a good excuse to make a new one. I forgot to take a before picture of the tea towel I used, but you can see part of it in this creative space.

valentine heart garland

It was basically a grid of small and big hearts. I cut along the small hearts and then serged the side and bottom raw edges, trimming the small hearts off as I went along. I folded over some bias tape and stitched in the top edges.

valentine heart garland

I managed to create this from start to finish during my daughter’s “quiet time.” I don’t remember the last time I completed a sewing project so fast. Plus, I think I’m finally figuring out how to master the tension on my serger!

recycle: Garage sale tea towel: 25 cents. Bias tape part of a Goodwill grab bag.

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my creative space (a day late)

scarf, bunting and zipper bag

I can’t believe I missed the first Creative Space of 2010! I was so busy last night playing around with my “new yarn” that I totally forgot to write a blog post. Whoops!

My creative space for today, and most of this weekend, is filled with the color red and lots of pretty hearts. I’m making good progress on my red scarf for Craft Hope. I have to take pictures of a sweetheart zipper bag that I finished up yesterday. And last, but not least, I plan on making a Valentine’s Day bunting out of this tea towel.

I’ve been missing Kirsty’s Creative Spaces and I’m so glad she’s hosting them again. You really should check out all of the wonderful blogs listed!

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handmade birthday gifts: embroidered
tea towels

Back in June I tried my hand at cross stitch. It didn’t turn out very well. I had a really hard time getting all of those little x’s lined up. In hindsight, I think I needed to use different fabric—something with more of a grid-like structure. I really loved the idea of a customizable tea towel so I didn’t give up!

embroidered tea towels

These are birthday gifts for my brother- and sister-in-law. They have very diverse interests: he’s a city guy who loves playing his guitar and she’s a country gal who loves riding her horse.

Embroidery is so cool! It lets me make matching gifts for two people with completely different favorite things. Seriously. Where can you find matching music/horse anything?

Here’s a close up of the guitar. The artwork is from Sublime Stitching. All of Jenny Hart’s stuff is so cute!

sublime stitching jenny hart guitar teatowel

Here’s a close up of the horseshoe. The artwork is from some clipart on my computer. I had to simplify it a bit before I could use it for stitching.

sublime stitching jenny hart guitar teatowel

Aren’t those french knots cute? Now I am totally in love with stitching and I can’t wait to try something else!

project notes: Tea towel pattern from Linen, Wool, Cotton. Guitar from Sublime Stitching. Linen fabric and embroidery thread from my stash.