Gryphon-y goodness.

I know you've all been waiting very patiently for me to post a bit of my work instead of snaps of my horse or links to other people's endeavors, so here you go: the embroidery on Dave's bag. 

There's some dark brown that will fill in the body, and then I'll work in the horizontal stitching and do the outlines and details. I really like the way this is looking. Originally I was going to stitch the body in a light blue, thinking it would looks more "heraldic", but as it gets closer, I think it will just look cartoon-y and weird. Dark brown it is.

I plan on lining the bag with a gold linen, and using some soft leather to make the channel for the drawstring. I think a motto is a must to frame the gryphon, so I'm playing with words and phrases to come up with something good and manly. Dave is gonna have one spectacular bag when I'm done. 

'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good...'

I know you're probably just sitting around this afternoon, idly clicking through page after page of the internet, wishing that something exciting would happen. (The good kind of exciting, not the "Oh my stars, the cat got ahold of my flamethrower!" kind of exciting. No one wants to see that.)

Alas, I can hear you say, If only I had something mildly engaging and creative to do...

Well! Here is a link to something fun. All you need is a needle and thread, and a square of evenweave cloth, and you can learn all kinds of new embroidery stitches! Next thing you know, you'll be embellishing your jeans or that linen blouse you picked up on sale. All your friends will ask where you are getting these cute new clothes, and will be so impressed when you lower your eyes modestly and tell them it is the work of your own clever hands!

Bargains!

Today was our annual neighborhood garage sale event. As a rule, the offerings were pretty standard stuff: last year's bestsellers in paperback next to stacks of self-help and old romance novels, piles of tiny pastel baby clothes, culls from toyboxes and closets (who wants to buy old sweaters in July? not me!), and enough sets of mismatched drinking glasses to help slake the thirst of an army on the move.

Dave and I walked from street to street, surveying every driveway's collection with mild interest. It was past noon and the best things had probably already been sold hours ago. There was a faint note of desperation as homeowners pointed out the things they truly did not want to have to haul back into the house at the end of the day.

Imagine my surprise and delight when at the second to last yard sale I found a pile of Pendleton wool with a $20 price tag for the whole lot. I didn't even dicker, I just gathered it into my arms and sighed happily.

None of the pieces are terribly large. The plaid at the bottom is maybe four yards and all the rest are a yard or less. But that's enough for a pair of stockings, or a hood, or half of a parti-colored tunic or coat. There's enough to make a bag, or a hat, or -- well, all sorts of things! And it's all lovely, soft, 100% wool. I am pleased.

Catch up!

The other day at thrift, I found an old linen tablecloth made of very sheer lightweight linen. It caught my eye because there was a joining seam down the middle that looked exactly like my Elizabethan seams. I had to look very closely in bright light to see that it was machine stitched. The price was only five dollars, so of course I got it. It's huge-- banquet sized -- and I am pleased that there will be enough to make myself a new smock. It's so hard to find lightweight linen (at thrift) in enough quantity to make one, and I've been wanting one for a few months. I have no idea why it was priced so inexpensively; other tablecloths of its size usually go for seven to ten dollars. I wondered if maybe there was a stain, but I didn't see one. If I find one later, it can't have been very noticeable for me to miss it first time around, and besides, it's an undergarment I'm making -- who will see?

I have scrapped the bag I was making for Dave -- the one with the scribe holding a mouse -- because when I transferred the pattern to the fabric, I didn't consider how the framing border would square with the fabric's evenweave, and I started with the gold accent inner corner bits, and then when I did the blue-- well, details, details -- let's just say I wasn't happy with the way it was turning out. I've got enough of the fabric to simply cut away that bit and start fresh with a new idea that doesn't involve Euclidean geometry: a gryphon. Here's the pattern I'm going to be working from.

I will NOT be embroidering the explanatory "Griffin" caption as I think the icon speaks for itself.

Here's hoping it's agreeable for working, and looks awesome. I'm using shades of pale blue, gold, and white.On the dark red background, I think it will be very attractive.

In other Dave news, I did a little more embroidery on his tunic. I used a new stitch called "Crown of Thorns" and it was easy, fast to work, and I like the way it looks.  It seems a little lightweight on its own, though, so maybe I'll work in a little something more later on.

We've also been remodeling our guest bathroom, so there's not been much stitching time. Once we get that done, there will be more frequent updates, I promise!

Wanna see something pretty?

The thrift shop comes through again! When I saw this, I knew it was silk. When I saw the pattern, I knew it was a saree. When I saw the price of seven bucks, I figured it was only a piece. I've seen people buy whole sarees, cut them into fat quarters, and sell the pieces for amazing prices to quilters and such. I bought it anyway, because the color and pattern was very attractive and it was a big enough piece to line a cloak or jacket, or make a dress from. 

When I got it home and unfolded it to really take a look at it, I was happy to discover that it was the full measure. So now I have another saree to dish about the house in, feeling sassy and glamorous.  

Is it weird that I'm kind of sad that I won't be using this to line a cloak or jacket, or make a dress? 

*yawn*

I have been experiencing a lull in my sewing enthusiasm this week, so I don't have any exciting progess or new projects to show you all. Sorry 'bout that! To make up for it, here is a picture of my horse. Enjoy!

Brave.

Have you seen it yet? It was not what I expected at all, in surprising and wonderful ways. I'll not spoil it for you by going on about it here -- other than to say I was eyeballing Merida and Elinor's dresses so much that my fingers were itching for a sketchpad.  Pixar does such an excellent job of making the fabrics look real -- I could feel the weight and hand of Elinor's green layered outfit, and the pale blue outfit they put on Merida for meeting her prospective suitors --- the one with the wide gold band with jewels?-- "Wowzers Mctavish!" as Greg Proops would say.

Now, you guys have been so nice to come check out my blog. I really appreciate your interest in my projects. So I have a little present for y'all. After you've seen Brave, and you are itching to make Merida's dress for yourself, you can scoot to this page and scroll about halfway down and there you will find -- TA-DAH! *cymbal crash*-- the actual pattern for the dress. It will need some adjustments to fit a real person -- you know, unless you have a skinny little waist, a super long torso, and a back porch to make Sir Mix-a-Lot sing-- but seriously: the fact that the Pixar people needed to make a pattern in order to computer-animate the dress to look right simply astounds me. And and and if you know a person who wonders what they can be when they grow up, you can always mention that Pixar needs seamstresses to help with their animated costume department -- and I know that sounds like I'm joking but I'm not.

Okay, there's your treat for the weekend. Now I gotta go. I need to go see if any of my thrift stores have a couple yards of heavy blue silk.