I did a little Doodle-Stitching with Aimee Ray tonight.  I have been wanting to embroider a few of Grandma’s pillowcases that we got when she passed away.  One of the reasons I like the plain white cases is because I have so many quilts that I couldn’t possibly have matching pillowcases for all of them.  Plus, matchy-matchy isn’t always my favorite.  So I grabbed Aimee Ray’s books for some inspiration and took over the couch.

Some sweet birds are my choice for pillowcase #1.  This design is from her book Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection: 400+ Easy Embroidery Designs.  The other book I have of hers is Doodle Stitching: Fresh & Fun Embroidery for Beginners.  Both good books!

I made some good progress–tomorrow night I will probably finish it up.  (Baseball makes for a great night on the couch being lazy.  Go MN Twins!!!)

So much more to blog about!  Tony keeps asking if I shared about ___________  or ____________ or ____________.   Gotta get you all up to date on more of my domestic exploits.

It’s getting crafty around here!  Tuesday night I had a group of young girls over to learn some new crafts.  To prep for our first meeting, I had to dye some wool.  Turned out to be very easy.  A little boiling water, some white wool, and Rit Dye.

The girls and I had fun making class bags for all their goodies and some cool wool cupcakes for their pins/needles.  (Cupcakes from Betz White’s book Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects)

I’ve also been enjoying some embroidery from Aimee Ray.  This is from her book Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection: 400+ Easy Embroidery Designs.  She also has a great blog here.

The adult girls are coming over Saturday for a little creative time.  Can’t wait!

I’m so sorry Tony–you are such a good sport about my constant creating.  Our couch looks like this more than I would like to admit.  I just can’t help myself.  I love keeping my hands busy and I love being at the center of our home where the rest of the family is.

I did some knitting and then needed a break from that so I pulled out some flour sacks that needed stitching.

As I’ve said before, flour sacks are the best dish towels.  They are what my grandma uses, my mom, me, and hopefully my kids will someday too.  As Teyva says, “Tradition!  Tradition!”

You can get plain flour sacks at most craft stores.  You can also purchase iron on designs for them.  It’s as simple as ironing on and stitching with embroidery floss.

This one is ready for the stitching.  You can always just draw your own design.  Might be fun to have your little one draw something and then you can help them add the floss.  Keep it simple!

I had a wonderful weekend of some quilt shop visiting, creative time to myself, and early nights to bed with a good book.  My kind of weekend!  Here are some pictures of the makings…

Baby booties #2!  My little boy is going to be well stocked for booties.  Actually they are a good size knitting project that isn’t too intimidating for me…maybe next I’ll move on to mittens.  One new bootie down, second one started.  (Pattern is a free one from Susan B. Anderson.)

I’ve had this little wool mitten kit in my stash for a couple years so I whipped it up.  A good fall hand project.  Not sure what I’ll do with it yet…Christmas gift topper…ornament…door hanger…

(Oh yes Christmas is approaching for all of you that make homemade gifts.  I should maybe start thinking in that direction.)

I was inspired by all the stitcheries I saw in the quilt shops so I bought some dyed muslin and made my own little pattern up.  I drew a picture, transferred it on the fabric, and now I’m using black embroidery floss on all my lines.  I am going to fill the center area with all the fall words that I love like apple cider, campfires, falling leaves…

Hope you had a great weekend.