Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Finding Inspiration In Nature

An Embroidery Tutorial

Don't you love all the flowers coming up. The Peonies down the street make me swoon, my favorite tiger lilies bloomed at the church next to us, and maybe the best thing is that the Black Eyed Susan's have popped up in my yard. I just could not resist stitching them up.

I might have to take more pictures as their seeds come in and stitch them up with lots and lots of french knots in the middle.

For now I want to take you through the steps of what I did to make this necklace happen. By the way, it is my daughter's last day of school tomorrow, and this beautiful necklace is going to her teacher, who has called my daughter Sunshine a few times. I thought this would be the perfect gift to remind her of the sunshine in her life.

First I drew out the rough design of what I wanted with a heat sensitive pen


Then I added the center stitches. I went with straight stitches, starting in the middle and working my way outwards. Starting with the light color first.





I worked 1 layer of woven picot petals equally around the center.




After the 8 petals, I went back through and filled in 6 more woven picot petals between the first set of petals.




I made 2 more woven picot petals in green for leaves. Then I chose 3 colors of green and filled in the background with the fishtail stitch and long stitches at random. When I was happy with the back ground I tacked down some of the picot petals in the positions that I wanted then to stay.




I hope you have found some inspiration to get outside and find wonders to stitch and treasure.

 

More Embroidery Projects You Will Love

Morpho Butterfly

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Saturday, June 17, 2017

Frozen Pizza Crust



The other day I wanted to make some bread sticks to go along with our spaghetti dinner.  I made the dough and let it sit. After an hour I checked on it and it was as flat as could be. I was so disappointed. Instead of just throwing the dough out and wasting it I made it into pizza crust that I put in the freezer to pull out for a quick pizza meal later in the week.

I started with the dough.

1 cup of hot water ( this was my trouble i had my water too hot and it killed my yeast)
1 packet of yeast
a pinch of sugar and salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus some for the bowl
3 to 4 cups of flour

Mix all the ingredients in the order given. Slowly add the flour, kneading the dough for the last couple cups of flour. Pour extra oil in the bottom of the bowl and and turn your dough over in it. Let the dough sit covered for at least 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 3 and spread out one of the rounds into an iron skillet or pizza pan. Poke it with a fork.





Cook the dough in a oven preheated to 425°F for 6 to 10 minutes, until the dough is firm and slightly browned. Repeat for the other 2 rounds.
Take them off the pan and let them cool. When they are cooled wrap them in foil and put them in a Ziploc bag. Place them in the freezer.




When you are ready to use the crusts, preheat the oven to 425°F. Add your toppings and put the pizza in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and it is golden brown.


The dough will become a cracker crisp crust and oh so good.



More Recipes You Will Love: 

Homemade Biscuit mix

Banana Oatmeal Cookies



 

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Updated Lacy Japanese Lantern





I have always imagined these being strung about for a fancy garden party or outdoor wedding.  After 5 years and 3 moves I still have the lamp and it has held up well. I have it decorating my Mantel, especially at Christmas time where I add other smaller handmade ornaments and string them all along the large mirror perched on the mantel.

With this pattern I am half way through moving my patterns over from Crochetvolution. It is nice having all of my patterns in one location on my blog. 


Yarn: Size 10 crochet thread
Hook: Crochet steel hook size 7/1.65MM, 
Notions:

Where can I get the pattern?

This is a free pattern. Keep scrolling down to see it. If you would like to purchase an ad free and printer friendly PDF, you can buy one through my Ravelry Store. The pattern is $3.00 through paypal. Buy now

Copyright

Julia Schwartz. Do not reproduce, copy, distribute, or sell this pattern without permission of the designer. This pattern must not be translated, reproduced, or circulated in another language without prior consent. If you have questions about this pattern please contact me through e-mail.

Special stitches

Leaf stitch: 
Chain 5 {yo two times insert hook into 5th chain from hook yo and pull through (A), yo, pull through two loops twice [you should have 2 loops on the hook (B&C)]} repeat once (3 loops) (D,E,F),  yo and pull through 2 loops 2 times (G&H). 

Picot: Chain 4 slip stitch into tr just made.

Tr3tog: {yo two times insert hook into desired stitch, yo and pull through, yo pull through two loops twice} repeat {to} 2 more times. You should have four loops on the hook, yo and pull through all four loops.

First Large Motif

Round 1: Ch 6, slip stitch into beginning ch, ch 8, {Tr ch 4 in ring}  repeat {to}  6 more times, slip stitch into 4th ch at beginning. 8 Tr and 8 ch 4 spaces.

Round 2: Slip stitch into ch 4 space, ch 1, {5 sc in ch four space} repeat {to}  till end, slip stitch into first sc. 40 sc.

Round 3: Ch 1, sc in same stitch, {leaf stitch twice (one will be on top of the other) skip 4 sc, and sc in next stitch} repeat  {to}around to end, ending with 2 leaf stitches, slip stitch into beginning sc. 16 leaf stitches.

Round 4: Ch 5, {leaf stitch, tr between two leaf stitches of previous row, picot, leaf stitch, Dtr in sc,} repeat  {to} 6 times, end with leaf stitch, tr between two leaf stitches, picot, leaf stitch, slip stitch into 5th chain of beginning stitch.


Round 5: Ch 8, {(tr3tog, chain 3 in picot of previous row), repeat  (to) 2 times. Dtr in dtr of previous row, chain 3}  repeat {to}  6 times, tr3tog, chain 3 three times, slip stitch into fifth chain at beginning. 24 tr3tog.

Round 6: Ch 8, (tr in tr3tog of last round, ch 4,) repeat (to) 2 more times, {tr in dtr of last round, (ch 4, tr in next tr3tog)  3 times, ch 4} repeat {to} to end. Slip st. into forth ch of beginning stitch. 


Round 7: Ch 1, slip st into ch space, *3 sc, 4 ch, 3 sc in each ch 4 space* repeat around. Slip st into beginning st. Finish off.

Second and Third Large Motif


Rounds 1- 6: Follow directions from first motif.
Round 7: Ch 1, slip stitch into ch space  {3 sc in ch space, ch 2 take needle out of loop insert needle into corresponding loop of next motif, and back onto the ch 2, draw through, ch 2, 3 sc in same ch 4 space as previous 3 sc.} repeat  {to} 3 more times. {3 sc, ch 4, 3 sc in next ch 4 space} repeat  {to} around. Slip st into beginning st. Finish off. 32 picots altogether, 28 free, 4 connected to first motif.


Fourth Motif

Rounds 1- 6: Follow directions from first motif.
Round 7: Ch 1, slip st into ch space, space {(3 sc in ch space, ch 2 take needle out of loop insert needle into corresponding loop of next motif, and back onto the ch 2, draw through, ch 2, 3 sc in same ch 4 space as previous 3 sc.) repeat (to) 3more times. (3 sc, ch 4, 3 sc) in next ch 4 space repeat (to) 12 times} Repeat starting back to the first repeat. Slip stitch into beginning st. Finish off.

After the fourth motif is made you should have the motifs connected in a circle. Fifth and sixth motifs will go on the top and the bottom.

Fifth and sixth Motif:

Rounds 1-6:
Round 7: Ch 1, slip st into ch space, space {(3 sc in ch space, ch 2 take needle out of loop insert needle into corresponding loop of 1st motif, and back onto the ch 2, draw through, ch 2, 3 sc in same ch 4 space as previous 3 sc.) repeat (to) 3 more times. (3 sc, ch 4, 3 sc in next ch 4 space) repeat  (to) 3 more times} Repeat {to} 3 more times starting back to the first repeat, slip stitch into beginning st. Finish off.  

Before adding the small motifs, decide which holes will be used for the lamp. One hole will be left completely open, and the hole opposite of this will have the motif that the wiring will go through. Mark these with some string.

Lamp motif

Round 1: Ch 36, join together to form a ring, ch 1, {4 sc in ring, ch 2, take needle out of loop insert needle into the second right loop of one of the large motifs, draw through, ch 2, 4 sc in ring, ch 4}  repeat {to}  around. Slip st into beginning st.  48 sc and six connecting loops and six free loops

Small Motif: Make 6

Round 1: Make an adjustable ring, (ch 4, tr, ch 4, slip st into adjustable ring) 5 times. Ch 4, tr2 tog. Six petals made.

Round 2: Ch 1, sc in same space, ch 6, {sc in next tr, ch 6} repeat around. 6 sc and six 6 ch spaces.

Round 3: Slip st into ch space, ch 1, {4 sc, ch 2, take needle out of loop insert needle into the second right loop of one of the large motifs, draw through, ch 2, 4 sc in same ch 6 space. Ch 4, 4 sc, ch 2, take needle out of loop insert needle into the next loop of same large motif, ch 2, 4 sc in next ch 6 space.ch 4} repeat 2 more times. Slip st into beginning st. Finish off. Six connecting loops, six free loops.


Now it is time to starch the globe

To create the sugar starch required to harden the globe: Combine 1 cup of sugar with ½ cup of water. Heat the mixture on the stove until all of the sugar is dissolved. This will occur prior to the boiling point.

Carefully (due to the heat) soak the globe in the starch. Pull out the globe with tongs and squeeze out any extra starch with the tongs and your fingers (being careful not to burn your fingers). 

Insert the punch ball inside the globe and make sure that the rubber band (which is attached to the punch ball) is “sticking out” of the lamp motif. Blow up the punch ball so that the globe is slightly stretched. Tie a knot in the punch ball. 

Hang the globe up by the rubber band of the punch ball so that it will dry. Place wax paper or something under the globe to catch the dripping water. Air-drying will take approximately three days. 

When the globe is completely hardened, slowly release the air from the punch ball (I used scissors to cut the knot and then slowly pushed my fingers on the balloon so that it would peel off the starched thread. The balloon will be stuck to the thread, due to the hardened starch. Then I pulled the balloon out of the large hole of the globe). Make sure you do this slowly so the globe does not become misshapen.

Follow the manufacturing instructions when putting together the lamp. For fire safety, never use a bulb that is over 15 watts, and do not keep the lamp light “on” for long periods of time.    

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