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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Pokemon Dice Bags 1

                       Beedrills and Mew

Pokemon Dice bags are fun to make! They're colorful, easy, and you can embellish them any way you like. They make great gifts! Here is one that I made for my son Sean for Christmas I used several patterns for the Beedrills and made a wrap-around picture.


For this bag I used a 14 count Aida cloth in pale blue, then used a cerulean blue acrylic paint to dry brush the darker streaks across the fabric before I started the cross stitch. Then I added water to the paint to thin it out and added more streaks. This not only makes the background more unique, it adds a sense of action for the Beedrills.









The bags range from about 5 1/2" wide and about 6" deep. The bags are good for holding card decks as well as gaming dice. I made this bag for my son Sean.





I did the cross stitch using cotton floss for the main bodies and heads, but the wings are filled in with an iridescent "Light Effects" DMC white floss that is a fiber core wrapped in plastic. It looks really good on the wings! I used a rayon thread for the drills which gives them a bit of a shine.














Even Baby Beedrill wants to 
       get in on the action!











I make the ties using either a fabric that matches the lining fabric or any color that will look good with the bag. Strips can be about 14" long and a about 1 1/4" wide. Fold the strip in half, stitch almost down the middle (you want a little less fabric at the cut edge), trim the cut edge a tiny bit to make sure it will fit inside, then turn inside out.







Now we have pretty little MEW. Mew looks good on a bale blue background with free form clouds of different kinds of white thread, such as the regular cotton, shiny rayon thread (which is a bit harder to work with), and the iridescent "Light Effects" plastic floss. I filled in the clouds with various blackwork stitch patterns so that each cloud is different.





















This is the backside. For some reason, when people look at embroidered pieces, they develop this irresistible urge to flip it over and look at the back.













Mew gets a nice pink satin ribbon to set her off. Those blue eyes of hers are complimented by the blue of the bag. This was a gift for Anna Bastis.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Project Board

                  I've decided to ORGANIZE!

So here is what I am using. This is a bulletin board that I made many years go. I got it out and I'm using the backs of my business cards to write down the projects. 

Notice the use of colors: Gules, Sable, Argent and Azure. Where have we seen those before?








Most cards just have one project on them. But if I have several projects that are related, and space left on the card, I'll write down two or three projects.

I I slip them under the grosgrain ribbon, again grouping them in groups of similar projects. If a project is more important or needs to be done first, I will place it by itself, so nothing else covers it up and hides it.



I haven't decided what to do with the cards once I have completed the project - put them in a small box and keep them as a reference?

Sunday, March 22, 2015

  Two For One Special!

Yesterday evening, specifically February 17, 2015, I decided that, since this 6" embroidery hoop was wood, I should do some wood burning on it. Rob did a great job of making this video for me while I was doing some Blackwork embroidery in the other room. Thank you, Rob! heart emoticon 




The Frog in the hoop is a Strawberry Poison Dart Frog done in chain stitch and satin stitch, and the leaf outline is done is stem stitch and running stitch. I still have some spots to go on the frog's back but I haven't decided on what stitch to use. This will be the cover of another "spindle" book that I'm making, like the Heart book.