Covering Paint Stains

Simple daisy flower embroidery can cover paint stains on fleece. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Covering Paint Stains

When I learned to embroider at age 8, it did not cross my mind that I would be using that skill decades later to save a favorite fleece jacket from a close encounter with paint. Whether it is paint, a food stain or any other mark you didn’t mean to have on fabric, the simple daisy embroidery design can easily cover the mark so you can continue to use the item.

Actually it doesn’t have to be just the daisy design. You can use butterflies, bees or other garden-inspired embroidery represented in this Buzzing Garden Baby Crib Quilt as your inspiration. The daisy design has become my go to design because it’s easy to do and can nicely cover a variety of stains.

In this example, I ended up with yellow paint on a sleeve of this favorite beige fleece gardening jacket. Since I like to wear it also shopping and not only in my garden, I set it aside for a little rehab work.

Start by choosing embroidery floss that most closely matches the color of the basic item. Matching colors will help the spot blend in.

I could have also selected an embroidery floss that matches the yellow paint. That color selection would have made the spot more prominent.

Match the embroidery floss color to the fabric. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once I had the matching embroidery floss, I just started the embroidery process, covering the yellow paint with the daisy flowers sewn very close together.

As you embroider, see how the matching floss color covers the paint. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As I covered the paint, a design shaped itself over the paint.

To make the embroidery look more deliberate, I also embroidered several other patches on the jacket so that it appears to be part of the jacket look.

In addition, I used thread snips to carefully and gently cut off some of the remaining paint since paint solvent would not remove it.

The grouping of daisy embroidery now covers most of the pain. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I took the embellished jacket out for a spin earlier this week. It was nice to have it back and to be able to continue to use it!

Charlotte

Pantone 2017 Color

Some "greenery" items already around my house, so odd to be on the cutting edge!

Pantone 2017 Color "Greenery"

For those of you who like to be on the cutting edge of cool, the provider of professional color standards for the design industries has declared the 2017 "it" color as "greenery." My newspaper editor background tends to fume just a tad with the proliferation of non-words in our current vocabulary but I like this new word. I would have been fine with just "green" but "greenery" has extra panache.

Pantone defines "greenery" as "fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature's greens revive, restore and renew." If you know me, you are undoubtedly not surprised that this is a favorite color of mine. A visiting friend recently noted how nice my furniture looks in my sea of wintering over inside plants. I do, and will continue to contend, that adding something living and green will spice up any room and home decor, any time of any year.

Leatrice Eiseman, Pantone Color Institute executive director, put their color choice in context. While the colors last year - baby blue and baby pink - "expressed the need for harmony in a chaotic world, Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the hope we collectively year for amid a complex social and political landscape.

"Satisfying our growing desire to rejuvenate, revitalize and unite, Greenery symbolizes the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose. The tangy yellow-green speaks to our desire to express, explore, experiment and reinvent, importing a sense of buoyancy. Through its reassuring yet assertive vibrancy, Greenery offers us self-assurance and boldness to live life on our own terms, during a time when we are redefining what makes us successful and happy."

Pantone calls this color "nature's neutral," noting it compliments a wide range of color palettes. Adding Greenery to interior furnishings can "created the illusion of bringing the outdoors inside and provide a sense of respite."

I love green, from the living kind to greens in quilts, this green sleeping cats throw is a personal favorite.

The last time a shade of green was designated as an official Pantone color was 2013, when the darker emerald green was featured.

For those of you wanting the exact color match, Greenery is Pantone 15-0343. 

"Greenery" has always been "in" at my house, whether inside or outside.

Live plants that can easily add that color to your home decor include geraniums, herbs, philodendrons...oh, anything live and growing looks wonderful.

How about that, I am finally in style!

Charlotte

Making Mug Rugs

I saw several versions of "mug rugs" at Christmas parties this year and can't wait to come up with my own version. I'm thinking I could make a little pouch on the right where a favorite spoon could fit in!

One of the ladies who made this one said they were very popular this year at quilt guilds. She also said they are "very easy" to make so you still have time if you want to make some for Christmas gifts.

Mug rugs are quilted 8x10 inch miniature quilts so that a mug can be placed on one side and a muffin, or cookie, on the other.

This one was made out a printed Christmas fabric and finished with binding, just as you would a quilt.

 Machine quilting to make a little design can be seen on the back. This picture is a little out of focus but it still gives you the idea:

I also saw another version where a little 3x3 inch flat cotton envelope with cinammon was stitched inside on the mug side. Once heat hits the spice, the aroma is released.

If you make some, remember to add a little card to explain just what this is:

 Sweet little gift idea any day of the year!

Charlotte

Personalized Christmas cards

Last year, one of our artists tossed out a card with a gift check inside so I decided I needed to make my cards stand out this year.

I thought about making my own cards but time escaped me. I was going to make something inspired by our ribbon garden quilt, reminiscent of cards I remember making when I was a kid.

Seeing a ribbon on a handmade card a friend sent me, ribbons were still on my mind. I took some of our organza blue ribbon and added it to ready made Christmas cards.

Inside, I tucked the check into the ribbon so that it wouldn't be lost once the card was opened.

This card will be a little harder to loose, don't you think?

Charlotte

How to Dry Rose Buds

While you are shopping for your white ceramic pieces, pick up a basket with perforations around the sides and a solid bottom. It will come in handy when it's time to dry the gift rose buds.

I start by saving all those decadent bags in shoes in a jar so I can add those when I need to dry something. Once I have the basket, I add a paper towel, then the items I want to dry: rose buds, either from a florist or from my garden. I place the basket on top of my refrigerator, where the hot air from the back of the motor helps dry out the buds faster. It also keeps the flowers safe from admiring cat paws. I check once a week, until the buds are dried and ready to arrange in the white ceramic bowl.

If you just want to have the flowers still around, you can also dry them on stems with leaves. Just shape them the way you want them in the end so you don't break the brittle stems once they are dry.

Have you dried rose buds before?

Charlotte

How to Make Magnetic Book Marks

How to Make Magnetic Book Marks

Handmade magnetic bookmarks are a nice way to combine a gift card with something practical. Magnetic bookmarks slip easily over a book page and help mark where a reader left off reading without damaging the page corners. Nice addition to a gift book, such a set of Sesame Street books.

You will need

Cardboard, either new stock or re-use holiday and birthday cards. Magnet strips, available at most craft stores. You can also re-use magnet strips from other projects. Different-colored marking pens. Magazine cut-outs, copies of favorite photos, stickers. Paper glue. Paper scissors.

To make

Cut cardboard into 4x1.5 inch cardboard strips. You can make them bigger or smaller as long as it is a rectangle.

Fold so one side is slightly smaller than the other. Decide whether to attach at the top of the page or to the right side.

Decorate the smaller size with a photo or design.

Decorate the larger side with a dedication and signature.

Cut magnet strip into two pieces. Remove backing.

Glue magnet inside the shorter size; glue the other magnet to the first piece, then fold cardboard to the second magnet so both magnet pieces match.

Allow to dry for 15 minutes.

Apply to a book, or a gift book, as page markers or give all by themselves as handmade gifts.

Charlotte