embroidery work in use

For the most part, I never get to see my embroidery work in use after I gift it. Every once in awhile I'll see a baby in a stitched up onesie. But mostly I just assume the recipients of my work are happy with it.

For my mom's birthday in January, I stitched up this tea towel for her:


A couple weeks, she sent me this photo:


Doesn't it just look lovely there? I'm just so pleased it works so well in her kitchen.

pretty sweet

For those of you wondering, "Hey Dinah, whatever happened with all those embroidery projects you were doing?" (and I know this has been weighing heavily on your mind), never fear! Here's what I've been up to.

First, I OD'd on baby stuff. So many babies, so little time. And onesies and bibs are surprisingly hard to work with, and my hands got tired. I didn't get pictures of everything (I did a robot on a bib for our new nephew Rusty that I foolishly gifted before documenting). But here are some of the highlights.

For my friend Jer's son Mason. The More Cowbell! bib was a big hit.


I love these tattoo patterns and I'm super pleased with how these came out.

I also did a big tote bag project for Christmas, as a way of encouraging the use of re-usable bags for shopping, and giving my family members something thoughtful and handmade. Again, I didn't get pictures of everything (my brother got a bag with a super-cute Flying V guitar on it), but I'm pleased with how these came out. I've started filling in the designs a lot more than I used to, and the results are looking pretty sweet.

For my sister-in-law Sarah. Such a cute monkey pattern.


For my sister Matti, the prof at UT, home of the Rockets. One of my favorite things I've ever stitched.


The six shooters I did for my sister Amy came out rather awesome.


For my Aunt Teedle. The P was drawn freehand. I like knowing I can bust out more traditional patterns, if need be.

The rest of my recent work can be found here. All patterns are from Sublime Stitching, unless otherwise noted.

where I'm living

I was looking up something in my blog for someone and got sidetracked by some of my older entries. Remember when I didn't just post videos and recaps of silly dance competition shows? Good times.

This is where I'm living these days:
- Work is going pretty well, but just when I think I've figured out how to run things and my To Do list is fairly under control, all this other stuff crops up. Like, hey genius, you need to write copy for your website and finish your budget, and what about those reports, and those case studies, and and and.... I finally bought a new chair yesterday so I'm not working all day hunched over in my cute-but-uncomfortable Ikea chair, but I also need a new desk with some proper leg room. And a new keyboard. Basically, I'd like to finish out a work day in my new home office without the pain I've started to learn to live with. I'd also like to finish a work day and feel like at least a few things are finished. Maybe I should stop blogging. Just a few more quick updates while I eat, and it's back to it.

- Some of my friends are falling in love and getting engaged and getting married and buying houses these days. It's fun to be the one they can turn to for a change, instead of the freaked out one that was all, "If these are good things why am I so STRESSED OUT!?!?" A nice change indeed.

- I'm still embroidering and really need to upload photos. My friends have also been repopulating the earth a lot lately, so there's a lot of baby stuff in the mix. Wait 'til you see baby Aiden in his cute embroidered "Rock Star" cap, though.

- I'm considering bringing the Mix of the Month back to life. I'm working on one for July that's a lot of fun for summer. We'll see. It's nice to be fired up about music again, I'd gotten a little burned out lately.

- I watch a lot of Food Network and read a lot of cookbooks, but still don't cook as much as I should. I've been studying Alton Brown's textbook-like "I'm Just Here for the Food" like I'm going to be quizzed on it. I want to try out some more of the recipes my brother in law gave me for Christmas, and I'd like to learn to make more pies. I mean, who doesn't love pie? Specifically, I want to learn some savory pies, or quiches, if you will. And I will, because, hi: YUM.

- When my parents visited in May they brought several boxes of stuff I've been saving since childhood. There's at least one whole blog entry waiting to happen, from my old journals alone.

- Summer movies have been a mixed bag so far. I enjoyed Transformers, Ratatouille, Waitress, Knocked Up, Hot Fuzz, Live Free or Die Hard, Ocean's 13, and the surprising Mr. Brooks. I did NOT enjoy Spiderman 3 or the Fantastic Four. If I haven't mentioned it, I haven't seen it. I'm still ridiculously excited for Harry Potter, the Bourne Supremacy, Talk to Me, and Hairspray even though John Travolta as Edna is already making my skin crawl because his voice is terrible and his makeup makes him look like Miss Piggy. I will see it anyway though, because I love that Amanda Bynes, I'm curious about Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken is always entertaining, and I think Michelle Pfeiffer is going to OWN this movie at the end of the day. Plus the music is truly fabulous, as anyone who's seen the stage musical will tell you. Finally: Becoming Jane, please don't disappoint me. I really want to love you, I have very high hopes. Be my new comfort movie, won't you please?

stitchin' fool

I know I haven't blogged much lately, and y'all are probably tired of looking at my sushi embroidery pictures. The solution, of course, is MORE embroidery pictures! That's right, in the last few weeks, I've been a stitchin' fool. I've been experimenting with different patterns, fabrics and threads with mostly good results. Check it out:

Kitchen towels for Amanda & Eyad.

From 2007In Stitches

Amanda loves owls; Eyad is a record collector and DJ. They enjoy cooking together, so I created the most literal gift ever. The headphones and records are a Sublime Stitching pattern ("Rock & Roll"). The owl was photocopied from a Fossil watch tin, blown up on my computer, printed out, and transferred on with white transfer paper. The transfer for both of these designs came out really light, so there was a lot of eyeballing and free-hand work in these endeavors. Also, I tried out a couple new stitches on these as well (stem stitch and back stitch).

From 2007In Stitches

From 2007In Stitches

Kitchen towels for Erica & Jeff.

From 2007In Stitches

I haven't sent these yet, so if they're reading this they probably just got really excited about their present. Yes, it's the same towel set (I was totally enamoured with the oversized houndstooth pattern). The flaming martini is from the Sublime Stitching "Las Vegas" pattern.

From 2007In Stitches

Silver Surfer boxer shorts for Eyad.

From 2007In Stitches

Why? Why Silver Surfer? Why boxers? It's kind of a long story so I'll shorten it by offering, simply: we thought it would be funny. mAc and I hunted down Silver Sufer images until we found one we liked.

I converted it to a black & white image on the computer and resized it, printed it out, and transferred it onto the shorts with white transfer paper. I used about 5 different silver or metallic threads on this design. Metallic thread, by the way, can bite me. My hands hurt by the time I finished, but I feel like the end result is pretty much awesome.

From 2007In Stitches

Current projects: baby onesies for my baby momma friends. Stretchy knit fabric is almost as fun as metallic thread!

I have become a woman obsessed.

So I have a new hobby. I've just started, and I'm not all that great at it yet, but I really enjoy it and can't wait for all the other patterns & books I ordered to arrive. Plus, there are all these rad vintage patterns you can find on eBay? And you know I'm going to figure out how to trace every other design that strikes my fancy onto fabric so I can stitch it.

For my first project, I used the sushi pattern my dear friend Amanda gave me for Christmas, and some old cloth napkins--I wasn't sure how they'd turn out, you know? Next up: tea towels, baby theengs for all the new baby mommas in my life, pillow cases, and pretty much anything else I think up or get my hands on. And I'm going to HAVE to learn how to sew now, if only so I can make my own bags and stuffed animals and blankets to stitch on.

I have become a woman obsessed.

Anyway, here's the start! I can do a split stitch (aka chain stitch?), a bad satin stitch, and what I believe is called a French knot (I just called 'em "knots.") Let me know what you think.

The complete set of 8 Sushi Napkins.


My very first attempt. I'm not thrilled with the stitching on the heart, but wasn't sure what else to do.


The easiest one by far.


This simple design used four different stitches.


The darling patterns help my fledgling stitches look good.


Okay, now I'm just hungry.



These were SO HARD. The chopsticks took forever, and trying to stitch the hands so the back didn't look like a ridiculous mess was near impossible.


I love how these turned out, especially the bits where I combined the orange and white floss.