Category Archives: Sewing

Beautiful Quilt With Dad’s Shirt Fabric…

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by in beautiful, Design, Father, Photography, Poetry, Sewing, Upcycling

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© Joan Currie – Our quilt in progress…

Grandad’s Quilt for You by Joan Currie

With needles keen, we stitch a quilt,
From Grandad’s shirts, worn soft with years,
The very ones you helped me choose,
Each shade of blue he held so dear.

The solid hues, the stripes, the checks,
Each fabric as familiar as he,
For birthday, Christmas, wrapped with care,
You’d place the gift upon his knee.

And oh, how he would smile so bright,
Holding aloft his cherished blue,
For all to see the color’s light,
That whispered of his love for you.

We measured then, with careful hand,
And cut the cloth in even squares,
Each stitch was placed with loving thread,
To weave together tender cares.

The backing soft, the lining pure,
Hand-quilted, tufted with delight.
This quilt now seems to you so sure,
A cloak that wraps you in the night.

You say it feels like his embrace,
His arms around you as you sleep,
And in the warmth, you find his grace,
In every seam his love runs deep.

My youngest daughter and I made the quilt shown above from my late Dad’s shirts. It was a wonderful project to do together and I am so glad that she suggested it! I know my Dad continues to be with her (and all of us) in spirit!

Beautiful Making Textile Art With What You Have…

11 Thursday Apr 2024

Posted by in Art, beautiful, Crafts, Flowers, Needlepoint, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Repurposing, Sewing, Upcycling

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© Joan Currie – My wreath needlepoint on a black background ready to sew into a pillow,

Needlepoint Wreath by Joan Currie

In a tapestry of threads once left astray,
Lies the beauty of a wreath in shades arrayed.
With remnants of wool, a canvas they adorn,
A masterpiece born from what others scorned.

Each stitch a story of resilience and grace,
From discarded strands, a new life takes place.
In every cross and turn, a tale is spun,
Of transformation from what was undone.

What once lay idle, now blooms with delight,
A wreath of colors, a symphony of light.
So, the joy of creating from what’s been cast away,
Turning leftovers into art, day by day.

I wanted to stitch a needlepoint project using leftover tapestry wool from past efforts. This wreath was worked using a combination of Appleton, Paternayan (two strands only), and Elizabeth Bradley yarns. I did not have all the color matches for the pattern so I had to create my own colorway. I plan to sew it into a pillow with rose velvet ribbon piping and a black velvet backing.

I really like creating something beautiful from scraps, be it a needlepoint canvas or a quilt. These end up being my favorite pieces!

© Joan Currie. My small wreath needlepoint sewn into a pillow.

Beautiful 365 Day Creative Challenge Completed…

21 Thursday Mar 2024

Posted by in Art, Autumn, beautiful, Crafts, Needlepoint, Sewing, Wool

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© Joan Currie – My last 16″ x 16″ needlepoint canvas finally made into a pillow.

All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.
by James Clear, Atomic Habits

I am happy to report that I have finally finished my last needlepoint project. It took me an entire year to stitch twelve canvases (and that included sewing them into pillows). I had intended to try another self-imposed creative challenge in another medium such as painting versus textiles, but the habit of picking up a needlepoint canvas is so ingrained in me, that I cannot and now do not want to give it up! Thank you, James Clear, for starting me on this creative challenge journey.

Beautiful Hedgerow Needlepoint…

14 Thursday Mar 2024

Posted by in Animals, beautiful, Birds, Crafts, Design, Nature, Needlepoint, Poetry, Sewing, Wool

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© Joan Currie – My completed 16″ x 16″ Hedgerow needlepoint pillow.

My Hedgerow Needlepoint Gift by Joan Currie

Six months of needlepointing, each day a steady hand,
With Victorian cross stitches, my large opus planned.
Thousands of small stitches, so meticulously placed,
And twenty hues of tapestry wool carefully spaced.

On this canvas, my heart is stitched in every row,
A gift to my daughter, a treasure on her bestowed.
I hope she will hold it close and feel the love it bears,
My offering of this hedgerow to cherish and to share.

This needlepoint pillow was planned as a gift for my daughter. So glad to have completed it! 🧡

Beautiful Alphabets, Teddy Bears, and more…

07 Thursday Mar 2024

Posted by in 10 Beautiful Things, Animals, Art, beautiful, Crafts, Design, Needlepoint, Poetry, Reindeer, Sewing, Ten Beautiful Things

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© Joan Currie – My needlepoint wreath and alphabet pillows.

My Needlepoint Pillow Gifts by Joan Currie

In stitches and threads, a year’s toil unfurled,
Ten needlepoint pillows, each a gem in the world.
With wool and with velvet, with silk piping so fine,
Crafted with love, each design to enshrine.

Alphabet treasures that children adore,
Alligators, elephants – snakes galore!
Gentle giraffes and bears wearing red bows,
Falcons, hedgehogs, and ducks with no toes.

As gifts were given, joy filled the air,
Tears of delight, expressions so rare.
But scarcely had they nestled in hand,
The chorus erupted, a unanimous demand.

“We want more!” they cried, their voices a cheer,
For the beautiful stitching, oh so dear!
So back to the needles, with passion and grace,
More pillows to make for their hearts’ embrace.

I have two large needlepoint canvases almost finished, and had planned to take a break from needlepoint to concentrate on my animal and bird watercolor paintings. But now, we shall see!

© Joan Currie – More of my small needlepoint pillows. Elizabeth Bradley design.
© Joan Currie – My floral needlepoint pillows. The smaller pillow was worked in embroidery floss – not wool.

Beautiful Toil…

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Flowers, Needlepoint, Poetry, Reflections, Sewing, Sheep, Wool

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© Joan Currie – Detail of A Bunch of Spring Flowers Needlepoint

The toughest wood with brightest blaze will greet:
The hardest nut contains the sweetest meat;
So wisdom, gained by light of midnight oil,
Gives richest recompense to patient toil.
From Industry By Charles Eugene Banks

I came across a half-finished needlepoint canvas while looking through my tapestry wool stash. I began it over a decade ago and decided at the time that I just didn’t have it in me to finish it – much like when I started reading the 1,072-page classic, Don Quixote, and decided enough was enough and put it back on the shelf.

After examining the needlepoint canvas further and determining that I had just enough wool to complete it, I resolved to push through and finish it. It took me just over a month of incessant work. It is, hands down, my favorite needlepoint piece to date. I sewed it into a pillow using silk fabric backing and velvet piping from Chennai and wool stuffing from a sheep farm in Pennsylvania. I love it and it was well worth the effort!

Beautiful Atomic Habits and Needlepoint Projects…

16 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by in Crafts, Design, Needlepoint, Sewing

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Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound and turn into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years. – James Clear

I began the needlepoint project, pictured above, in October. It is entitled Hedgerow, from Elizabeth Bradley’s Natural History Collection. After I started working on it, I realized that it would take me about a year to complete due to the size of the canvas, the number of color changes (24 different colors of tapestry wool!), and the amount of time I had to devote to it – typically on a catch-as-catch-can approach. It usually takes me about three months to finish a needlepoint, so this one was a bit daunting by comparison. I knew I had to just get on with it. The needlepoint wasn’t going to get done by itself, but I wasn’t sure how to speed up the process.

However, last month I read James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, after which I decided to make some changes to my morning routine. I now get up an hour earlier every morning to work on my needlepoint. The needlepoint canvas and wool are laid out on the sofa ready for me to pick up in the morning so I am able to start working right away – no set-up time is required. This activity may or may not be accompanied by a podcast or new music stream or just thinking about how I am going to structure my day to get the tasks done on my to do list.

Although it is still early with my new habit formation, I have to report that I am thrilled with my progress! I only complete a tiny square of stitches each day but I can see that over the last few weeks these tiny squares are accumulating nicely and the textile will, indeed, be completed by the summer – probably four months earlier than my projected finish date! Yay! (I will still have to sew it into a pillow, but that is another story.)

I have so many textile, studio art, and home improvement projects in the works that I have been somewhat frustrated (more like overwhelmed) wondering how I am going to get them all done. This needlepoint project is only one positive data point, but I plan to apply this process to the other projects and I am looking forward to the results!

Five Beautiful Tips on how to Upcycle Clothing…

29 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by in Crafts, Design, Fashion, Sewing, Tips, Upcycling

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© Joan Currie – From blouse to bag. Simplicity pattern #2685, style D.

Upcycle definition: reuse discarded objects or material in such as way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original.

Last summer, I made a last minute purchase of a blouse to wear at a family celebration. Although I liked the fabric, it never really fit me properly despite my best tailoring efforts to salvage it. Yesterday, when I needed a black bag to go with an outfit, I thought it was time to put the blouse to a better use. I am happy with the result and thought I would share some upcycling and sewing tips:

  1. Source the fabric for your project from your clothes or family and friends’ donation boxes, garage sales, and thrift stores. Look for the largest sizes to yield the most fabric yardage.
  2. Be resourceful and don’t limit yourself to just clothing: wraps, and even sheets. drapes, and tablecloths can work well.
  3. Find a simple sewing pattern that will be easy to modify. I had found Simplicity pattern #2685 on Etsy. It required more fabric than what I could harvest from the blouse, so I decided to use a different, but complementary, fabric from my quilt stash for the lining. The lining fabric I selected wasn’t quite wide enough, but by decreasing the size of the lining pleats by a little, I got it to fit.
  4. Be creative by adding embellishments such as buttons and piping on the outside placard to make the bag truly your own. In this case, the fabric was so busy, I decided to eliminate the decorative placard all together.
  5. Don’t be afraid to mix and match pattern pieces from the various styles within the pattern package to meet your needs. I usually lengthen the straps, add an interior pocket for my phone, and attach a carabiner for my car and house keys.

There you have it. Happy Upcycling! xo

Simplicity pattern #2685 D.