Struttin my stuff: Orange Peacocks

A coat I have had hanging around for a bit, my daughter is getting married and the theme is peacock and this coat just screamed having those feathers put on it.  The drama on the full flair of the coat says it all. I really enjoy working with the designs by Erich Campbell of http://www.theonlystitch.com when I get a design from him I can really push the boundaries! People ask me about how much time does a coat like this take, my answer is...I don't really pay attention about the time, it passes and I don't notice since I really get absorbed and into the project. If I were to calculate time, figure out the cost and then factor in the creativity then well...its a financial loss, but my soul? Priceless.

Baby Oh Baby...

Ohhh a long time we have waited and now we have been blessed with such a lovely little girl. This past year has been such a whirlwind of life events and experiences its just to much to explain. From opening up a store, to closing that store and then moving on in my embroidery business I just have not had time to create for the shear love of creating.

 With the arrival of Grace I have started to climb up and get my creative mojo back on track. I am so looking forward to making new things for her and getting back into some textile creations with some quality me time in a refreshed studio. Still working in the Embroidery profession but being very choosy with what I do in it.

Summer Time Slow Down...Dread or Thread.

      Ahhh Summer time retail life. When America goes on vacation its either boon or bust in retail. For me its a boon, not necessarily in the pocket book but for my creative side. Shop projects slow down and I get to pull out all the crazy "blank slate" clothes purchased over time that I see potential in and have hanging around my shop.I also get to really push my limits with thread counts not worrying about how much time this project is taking, in the embroidery shop world time is everything, the clock runs you from 8 am to 8 pm to get everything done on time for customers events.
      People ask where do you find the time to do this? I do these when you have those in between the jobs moments and when I am setting up another job or even when I am unpacking, trimming, folding then invoicing jobs, these are the opportune moments to put something on the machine and let it run.

Here are just a few of the things I put fun time in with so far!

Simple Diamonds 

Variegated thread that I found I love from EnMart called affinity. Design By Luiz of Vitor Digitizing.

Honey bee wontcha bee my baby

this one is my baby...its done in Paris Blue, Browns and Black thread the designs are from Urban Threads and Embroidery Library. Remember that time thing I mentioned, well this one was 16 hours and 30 hoopings I don't want to even think the about time on this one it was the pure joy of creating it and it was worth it.

Dinner with George Jones

and this one is my expansion of adding rhinestones with paisley prints. I have never really done Rhinestones on any of my work so it was a time consumer dropping all the bling onto each of the diamond embroidery patterns on the lower part of the dress. 

I have a few more times in my "pickin pile" August is coming up already and things start ramping up in the shop so July is the time to THREAD!!!!

Don't Poke the Bear...Holiday Aftermath

After the Holidays I get in such a funk, it gets worse the night before returning to the work week.
I've been trying to pin point it and I realized it's this:
Sugar...the Holidays are filled with the "carbs of the Gods" decidant, rich, gooey fun.
The wine, the cake, the bread the chips, the dip etc. etc. etc.
the list goes on.
I'm trying to learn not to "Poke the Bear" just don't start them but I have the willpower of a gnat for rotten fruit,  I'm human damn!
The poking starts the night before, Sunday Funday turns into Anxiety Monday.
Before bedtime it starts crawling into my cave and rummaging growling and complaining for more carbs.
On Anxiety Monday I know I have to clean up my system, its back to salad some fruit and fresh veggies and straight meat with tons of detox water. I get restless and edgy by afternoon so I have to get out of the shop, today I went for a bike ride, it helps me work off the energy trapped inside.
I'm so glad the weather is starting to turn the evening light works wonders...but with the Spring fever comming on strong I'm feeling that Bear Poke a bit more.

How do you handle the bear poke?
Excersize?
Diet?
Avoidance?
Meditation?
suffer it out?

Christmas for my mom

A Beautiful Gift from the Past for a Sewing Future

all the pieces

 How on earth do I say thank you for this absolutely lovely gift...no words to describe it. This was given to me by a co-worker who heard I wanted to go to school for fine sewing to learn pattern making and fine tune my skills. Life happens and things get in your way so that dream was not going to happen for some time, I enrolled then chose to not attend because of so many things on my plate and honestly financially it was not in the mix this year. My co-worker where I work came in and said "I have a gift for you...I learned how to make patterns from this and I want you to have it. You can study it and use it and most of all...love it, I know you wanted to go to school but you can learn a lot from this too, I did." OMG I cried, she cried I know it was a very emotional and special part of her life before we met. I almost hate to use it I want to preserve it and display it, its art in so many ways to me.

amazing original instructions this whole thing for .25

pristine condition

like new but well loved

look at those "adjusters" little brass sliders

I find this fascinating, these are for putting in the right amount of width for each panel of a dress.

 

Original owner customers measurements (1900's) 

Commit to 200 miles of biking and learn something about yourself.

I did this, I committed to 200 miles to be ridden in 30 days...and I did it.

It was the best exercise both for my self and for my business.

The Great Cycle Challenge

These were just one of my open canvas of ideas paths.

This is what my butt looks like now.

This pretty much sums up everything.

What I learned On My Rides:

You can make time for yourself its all about scheduling and it works with anything.

No music, no earbuds, you see more you hear more I would have missed some awesome

wildlife and scenery if I was "plugged in"

No matter how brightly clothed you are, nobody sees you unless you make eye contact,

keep this in mind when you are working with a potential customer or even a family member, or most of all the person on the phone at a right hand turn lane.

Say good morning to every person you can, it makes every persons day.

Rest, pace yourself.

On the day you strongly do not want to get up and do it, do it.

 It will be worth it.

Celebrate your success, we tend to forget we need to reward ourselves for the hard work.

Thanks for visiting!

What can I make for you?

Whatever I want Wednesday: Silent Scream for Spring time in Paris!

 Whatever I want Wednesday: Silent Scream for Spring time in Paris.
Long long long long Winter this year, but as I get older I believe they are getting longer perhaps? This thrift shop find is one of my favorite silhouettes the classic swing coat, a lovely winter white wool unlined and perfect for a shot of Spring feeling on a bright cold day.

 The design inspiration came for another of my friendly talented digitizers Luiz he had this Eiffel Tower gem up for grabs one day and I pounced on it here is his website where you can purchase some very nice designs for your own inspiration. http://www.vitordigitizing.net/ the little poodles are stock designs from Embroidery Library Luiz did design a poodle for me but my thrift shop 50's poodle broach needed to be brought into the concept along with some double needle standard sewing machine embellishment. Tried to keep it simple and clean so show off the beautiful Parisian Blue thread and its simple satin stitch embroidery. Please go check out Luiz's website he does some very beautiful work and he can turn your art into thread for you also!

what does this say in French: "let's get back to our sheep" or basically lets get back on track to what we were doing...we all know how a shiny object makes my day so it seemed PERFECT for me!

Thanks for visiting.

What can I make for you?

Carolyn

Good Afternoon! Today is the day before the big race for kids pro snowmobile racing...they had me make these jerseys for them and I think they turned out pretty awesome!
This is a great example of how you can incorporate race wear for your snowmobiling crowd and team wear for the supporters of your cause.

Thanks for Visiting!

What can I make for you?

Carolyn

Make something for the Halibut: Whatever I Want Wednesday

Make Something For the Halibut on Whatever I Want Wednesday!
Hey Long Time No POST!!!
The shop is hopping busy and I really really like it.
Working on widgets and custom embroidery for a huge fishing benefit prompted me to stop and just make something for the house.

  I get an urge to create when I get really stressed out I guess its like working out at the gym only I work out my creative side.

 

This is why I love working for myself....just so I can stop and create something for the hell of it.

Yep Old Miss Mable will be all over this by the end of the day loosening up those stitches and snuffling on it.

Thanks for Visiting

What can I make for you?

Thursday Thoughts: Loss, Heavy Metal and Mom's Love

  There are some projects that are more than just an embroidery job, this is one of those projects that made its own path.
 These T shirts were brought to me by a dear customer of mine and I was really honored that she wanted me to work on this for her.
 I can't imagine the pain of losing a child let alone deciding what items that were the most dear to them and honor their life, loves and hobbies.
  Her son was a lover of some pretty heavy metal music and his mom brought to me his most beloved t shirts that he wore daily. She admitted that these not her favorite images but they were his and he loved the music and it was the one thing that made him happy.
  This was a long thinking process for me over the last four month (yep...4 months) I started out many times trying to put them into neat squares or lining them up in some kind of order step by step and it just was not happening, that's when I just let it go and did what the shirts compelled me to do. So I let every wrinkle every thread break and every skip happen, embroidery wasn't backed to keep the rough look and colors were randomly choose from the spools on the machine. The center image was the only one that received special interest as it was the most thread bear to the point of disintegrating and probably his most prized so the collar and the image were kept together.
 The wings on the center image are a story in itself, three times I tried to do this and it came out of the hoop twice and I lined them back up in the computer program but still ended up uneven, so I said dang it, you deserve wings and then let it be and after this it ran the rest of it just fine.
 I will roll this up, give it to his mom and let her look at it in private at her home on Saturday.
I don't know if this is what she was thinking but I hope that her son is represented in my interpretation of his life. I do know his life was not perfect and there is beauty in that in its own way just like this piece...not perfect but creative and hopefully sentimental.

Thanks for visiting....

Carolyn

embroidery designs by Urban Threads