She’s Baaaack!!  Which makes me so happy.  This past year I didn’t do hardly anything project wise.  I complained a lot.  I cried a lot.  I grew a lot.  And I’m glad for it in the aftermath, but dang I did very little that made me HAPPY this past year.   Bring on the HAPPY!! Nothing says happy to me like textiles (and other assorted crafts).

I’ve been working on completing many projects. Some are Yule/Christmas/Birthday presents (my Dad’s bday is the 24th poor guy). Have two non-holiday projects that are winding down as well.  One is a tarot pouch for my hairstylist and the other is a skirt for the jeweler friend who is fixing my ring.

The finished box is for my sponsor.  I love how the varnish kind of distressed the colored pencil.  Makes it look a  bit vintage.

More after the cut… 

I plan on making January and February all about projects for me.  I won’t finish the projects on my list but I will make a good dent in getting started.  For me, the planning and the executing is the fun part.  The getting ready, washing and ironing the fabrics, cutting it out, sewing machine stuff, yuck.  So if I can get everything prepped and ready to go I’m ahead of the game and can then pick up anything at any time depending on my mood.  I tend to have several things going at once.  This summer I really lagged due to depression.  But I’m raring to go.

One of them is a Roumanian blouse very similiar to this one.  I am using the Folkwear pattern #103.  They have really fun stuff.  Not that I really need a pattern, especially not for something like this which I consider easy peasy,  but I wanted the cool embroidery patterns and their commentary. I’ve wanted one for years.  After pricing them this summer and being disappointed in the fabrics used even through they were from Roumania, I decided I wanted the real thing, linen, not some netting.  I didn’t save any money after buying all the supplies but I know I’ll be happier with the result.  The day I got my job I went to my favorite local needlework shop, Threadneedle Street, and got what I needed for the embroidery.  It is always a treat to go there.  100% linen which is luscious and soft after a good hot wash and dry.

This is a long project in the making.  Each linen fabric piece will be hand hemmed (not using hemstitch, there are limits to my patience).  Once each piece is hemmed it will be embroidered in red perl cotton. I am using DMC as it is colorfast.  Red dyes have a tendency to run so make sure you get colorfast for your projects if they will ever get wet. I am going to try using some of that removable counted cloth for the embroidery but will have to be careful not to catch its threads or I will have trouble removing it later. Having done a sample of counted work on the linen itself I discovered in no time at all that I’ll go blind for sure if I don’t cheat.  Once the embroidery is done, the individual pattern pieces will be sewn together using a faggoting stitch.  Then the edges of the sleeves and the neckline get a crochet edging.  Add a drawstring into the crochet edging, et voila!

Is that a sexy look or what?  Of course I will have to make a bolero jacket to wear with it.  I have one but it is turquoise and lime green and I want something a bit more dark, gothic.  So very dark red, blue, or black velvet…  With either a very short stand up collar or no collar.  I don’t care for the wide collar on the turq one as much when wearing it.  Corset? Just might have to for those special evenings.

The second project is a crocheted top for summer in a periwinkle blue cotton thread.  It’s a lot of row upon row of double crochet so fairly mindless as long as I count.

I plan on crocheting doilies this year for many of next years gifts.  As well as working on more pyrography.  I have a couple more blank boxes, one star and one round, plus I’m going to make some altar tools out of wood and burn the sigils etc…

And I don’t have a Yule stocking this year, it’s in storage along with so many other things.  Made me sad but I simply didn’t have time to make one.  I’ve wanted to make a new one for years actually so this might be the catalyst.  White wool with holly and berries and well, we’ll see what delights the mind at the time.  Might make that at some point too.  There are a lot of little felt projects I’d like to do this year too, ornaments and the like.  Perhaps a felt table runner.

Perhaps, just perhaps, I’ll finish the Wheel of the Year Project.  ooooh.