Sewing for me!

Wow! Busy week!

After all the sewing I've been doing for various obligations I decided it was about time to do some things just for me.

Starting with getting my scraps a little more under control:

I keep my really small scraps in two plastic shoe boxes but I have pieces that are less than a FQ, so they don't get folded on the shelf with all my other fabric. Look! Apparently I only have 1 large scrap of orange...hmm...

I bought an over-the-door shoe rack and put it in the closet of my sewing room. The scraps are sorted by color, voile scraps, interfacing, holiday, and orphan quilt blocks.

And now I feel much better about my sewing space. We will see if it works. If not, I'm sure I can find other stuff to store in there :)

Next up on the list of things for me has been working to get some Harry Potter embroidery patterns written up. I am a die-hard Harry Potter fan [as I know I've mentioned! But seriously, I'm sad to be a Muggle] so I've been slowly stitching up some spells and other little graphics. The picture above is of some of the drawings that I made the patterns from :)

This is where you come in: I need some pattern testers!  I got 7 awesome people [actually 8, because I had another pattern up my sleeve] who volunteered to test patterns and I couldn't be more excited. Thanks everyone! :)

If you couldn't be a tester but want the patterns, look for them for purchase at the beginning of August!

I have 6 spell patterns  and a set of 3 Quidditch-themed mini patterns. So I need 7 pattern testers. You can be a brand-new embroiderer or someone who can stitch in their sleep. I will let you pick the pattern you'd like to test on a first-come, first-serve basis. I would really like if you could get it stitched up within 2 weeks of receiving the pattern from me [which will be Sunday night or Monday because I'm having problems getting them to print to scale], as they are small designs so they shouldn't take you too long.

If you'd like to be a tester, just send me an email by clicking the Gmail button on the right sidebar. Please include what level embroiderer you are. I'll reply with the pertinent information!

Note: It's not certain yet whether or not I can release these. I'm still looking into it and waiting for some responses back from people. The artwork in these patterns is my own, but the spells are obviously part of the books. I would not be claiming the spells as my own, but they did inspire my drawings that were then turned into the embroidery. This is a very murky and confusing topic, and I don't want to overstep any boundaries, so I'm proceeding with caution. So hey, if you pattern test you could get a pattern even if they never get released! Win for you! :) 

And finally, I got some Lecien fabric that is PERFECT for more hand-stitching, so I worked on that while I watched Friends last night. If I could have somehow eaten ice cream at the same time then life would have been perfect.

I have absolutely no idea what the finished product might be, but I want to make a conscious effort to be more consistent in my stitching. I can do French Knots and a lazy daisy stitch just fine, but I'd like to get to the point where they're all the same size! Kind of like my very own back-to-basics camp?

*Linked to the Handmade Parade at There and Back - go link up if you've got some handwork!