Embroidery, my new obsession

I was at the fabric store a couple of weeks ago and decided, while looking at the rainbow wall of thread, that I wanted, excuse me, needed to start embroidering. Immediately. (By the way... I do that with things, get an idea in my head and I don't sleep or eat until I have accomplished it. And after I have gone to bed and am just about to fall asleep, another idea pops up and I am awake for another hour.)

I bought a couple of skeins of thread, some needles, a couple of transfers and some muslin. Since my stitching knowledge goes as far as treading the needle I thought I may need some help, I found this website and her video tutorials were better than any class I could have taken. Quick, easy to understand and I was able to play it back again and again until I had it figured out. A few quick lessons and I was off.

This is my first project, I modified a piece of clip art and traced it on and later added the fabric around the edges to make it a full sized dish towel.

With this one I was hooked and have spent the last two weeks finding anything and everything I can to embroider, I warned my hubs that he may come home to a closet full of stitched jeans - wouldn't you just love a duck stitched on the side of your jeans?? He politely declined.

Here is project number 2 - another dishtowel, still getting the hang of the french knots.

There are several other works in progress.... stay tuned.

Good Intentions.... Gone Bad

Sometimes good intentions get the best of me. I am kinda a plan girl - as much as I would like to be a "fly by the seat of your pants type of gal" - I really need a concise plan of attack and I need to be armed with at least one list and perhaps a timeline in order to be most efficient and successful. Today was a prime example of that.

Today was my baby's 1st birthday party (sniff sniff) and what started as illusions of grandeur ended in disaster avoidance. One hour before the party I had a burned hand, not showered, the boys were not bathed and 12 little things that vaguely resembled cupcakes in my kitchen when I realized my intentions of having the "best 1st birthday party ever" had flown the coop so did my composure. A deep breath, a quick bath and 3 fights with the 3 year old over bath time later the party had begun (albeit with no actual food on the table).

What can I say, had I actually known what kind of cupcakes I was going to make when I entered the grocery store at 10 pm last night I may not have been irritated when I realized that I had just made plain cupcakes rather than the lemon ones I thought I was making and actually bought frosting so when the raspberry glaze I had intended failed miserably I would have had something to fall back on.

So this is what I had envisioned: (via Martha Stewart, (I think she just sets us up to fail, but that is a whole other post!))

And this is how it turned out (those are supposed to be R shaped cookies, at least I got the frosting color right.)

What I must remind myself is that in the end it doesn't matter, he won't remember that his cupcakes looked awful and weren't lemon, nor will he remember that his mama was a scatterbrained basket-case while preparing for the shindig. What does matter is that he is here, and everyone who loves him the most was here today too - that is what I want him to remember.

PS... The birthday crown and tee-shirt I made him earlier in the week turned out darling, so that obviously counts for something!