friday = misc.

Friday already?! This week went fast…for me at least. I love the promise the weekend holds when you’re looking at it from Friday evening!

Thank you for all the nice comments here and on flickr on the wall hanging. I get so excited to read your notes – please feel free to leave more! I’m pretty needy that way…

I did look for the book the image was from, its “Chimney Corner Fairy Tales” {cozy!} by Veronica S. Hutchinson. Illustrated by Lois Lenski. {Claire this info is for you ;) & Kristin I’d love to see your L.L. embroidery!} Published by Minton, Balch & Co. Copyright 1926. Here are some beautiful flowers that would look amazing embroidered:


My dear friend suggested {repeatedly – its takes awhile for things to sink in} that I should embroider a lampshade. I finally gave it a shot & I’m pretty happy with the results. This is the before-mentioned experiment… {The photos would probably be a lot cuter if the setting was the baby’s room this shade was meant for – sorry!}

I used a plain white pre-made shade from the store. I measured the circumference then typed out the alphabet on the computer to fit. I was careful what typeface I choose; I kept it bold and simple. I printed the letters out, cut them out and taped them on the inside of the shade. I happened to do this at night and found that was the perfect time since the dark room and single desk lamp was perfect for seeing the letters through the shade so I could draw them on with a transfer pen.

Now this is when I should have thought things through a little bit more. I used a Water Erasable Fine Tip Marking pen in blue since I knew I was going to be using blue floss. In hindsight I could have left the letters taped on and used a disappearing pen and drawn them on as I did them so the lines would fade away. Now, in my defense I had planned to use a stem stitch so they would have been covered up. However, once I started I realized I was going to have to use a plain stitch since the backing on this mother was plastic and not easy to push a needle through. {The day after I did the first letter my fingers were numb – seriously}

But being clever {& very lazy} I remembered this little gadget which saved my life, well, my fingers at least. I punched through the shape of each letter then just ran my floss through – so much easier! However, it meant that the transfer pen would show – but I like the way it looks actually, I think it gives a little extra dimension.


I still need to go through and clean up the inside so that when light shows through it looks tidy. I think I’m going to use a little glue to secure each end in line with the letter shape – that should work I think.

So J. if you’re reading this your lampshade is done – I’ll deliver it soon, hope you like it and you’re okay with it not being a surprise!

p.s. I’m planning a weekend post, nothing special – just a list of neat stuff I saw in blogland this week.