Pretty New : :

Happy September 1st!

This week I enjoyed folding and photographing my newly stashed Lambkin collection by fellow AGF designer, Bonnie Christine. Bonnie has such a such a beautiful, sweet style that I really admire. Each print had me sighing and wishing my kiddos were small again. Lambkin is the first collection that would have been perfect to sew with for all three of my children when they were littles!



For Haila -- Pretty Twiggy, Keeping Watch Mist, and My Darlings in these soft peachy pinks would have matched her little girl room perfectly!



Jacob, my camping and forest loving boy would have loved Valley View Echo and Keeping Watch Dim! And for Kaiden, who loves birds and used to LOVE bugs and beetles just as much, Wind Observer and Little Entomologist!



These were also the days when for a little while I would knit just as much as I sewed and would have loved a little knitting bag in Lambkin Sir Wooly. It would have made the most perfect bag for carrying around my wool hat projects!



If you think these are as perfect and pretty as I do, you can find Lambkin newly available at Lady Belle Fabrics, Fat Quarter Shop and Fabric.com! I'm sure I'll have a Lambkin project or three to share soon, as well. I think I'll surprise my ten, thirteen, and fourteen year olds with pillowcases to remind them of those years when we still held hands when we crossed the street, and spent our days picking wildflower bouquets and looking under rocks. I'm sure they will tease me when they discover them on their beds, but I guarantee they'll use and love them!



This week I also added a Dahlia and Brown Eyed Susan to my collection of sunflower family pencil sketches. I can't begin to describe just how much I'm enjoying drawing like this again! There was a time when it was all I did, every chance I had. Those were the days before parenting, knitting, sewing, blogging and designing. I didn't realize how much I've missed it. It's become such a nice addition to my creative time and I'm really hoping to stick with it. Perhaps these will be available on future fabric designs or maybe in some other form. Either way, it feels worthwhile to give drawing some time again during my work days.



And since I have a preference for even numbers, I'll have to add at least one more to my collection. Any suggestions?



xo Maureen

Sketches & Strike Offs : :

Hi there! I hope Summer is treating you well. Today is our last official day of break and after taking a little time for myself once the Sewcial Bee Sampler wrapped, all of us Cracknells are very much ready for the return of a schedule. For me, that means having the time to sew more and to share more right here, which I'm very much looking forward to! August is certainly flying by. It's always such a busy month that I find myself at this computer quite a bit less, which is truly good. However, I miss my daily stop here and I feel like I've missed a lot of news-sharing this Summer. I do try to keep up daily with my Instagram, but it's just not the same. I could never give up blogging!

This ending of summer break, a lovely and cool day, has me ready for Fall. I'm so, so glad it's almost here. This morning I've been making plans for the weeks ahead, even writing those plans down in an effort to fit in everything I'd like to get done. One daily practice that I hope to embrace once again is drawing with pencil. For the past few years my fabric designing process has included mostly simple pen & ink line drawings and a few watercolor florals, and I'm excited to explore and experiment with how hand-drawn pencil sketches will translate to fabric design. I decided to begin with a simple study of my favorite August flowers beginning with the Sunflower and Zinnia..





I'm feeling a bit clumsy still and am hoping as I work may way through my favorite botanicals in the sunflower family I'll rediscover some finesse. Pencil has always been my favorite medium and it feels so good to be making time for this again. I hope you'll follow along on my Instagram, where I plan to share process videos often in my IG Stories!

In other news, my Fall collection Love Story strike offs arrived recently! This collection is so dear to my heart, I love it so much. I will absolutely share more of this range, it's story and my Love Story projects in the weeks ahead. It's a November release and I still have a Soulful blog tour planned for next month, so I don't want to jump too far ahead before I get deep into creating with Soulful. I hope you'll join me!



The return of school will always be bittersweet but there's no doubt that this time of year is a beautiful one for new beginnings. Happy to back!

xx Maureen

Sketch Finishing & Beginning : :

On Saturday morning, even though Friday night my children all promised me we would sleep in if I would just let them stay up a little later than they have been on school nights, we were all up just after 7. I woke up thinking that my plan had backfired - BIG time! They needed more sleep, I was promised more sleep! But we started our day, ate breakfast, and decided we would spend the morning drawing together while we wait for the sunshine.

I was wrong. It was perfect. And, although I wasn't sleeping, I looked around at my children creating next to me and down at the paper in front of me, and it truly felt like a dream world!

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Cocoon Sketching : :

Just as soon as the rest of my fabric arrives, I plan a fabric parade post! Hooray!! The only reason I asked about sharing it is because I went a bit over-board this last month, yes I'm feeling a tad guilty and even a little embarrassed about how much. Retail therapy at it's finest! 

Well, my gorgeous bundle of Valori Wells Cocoon has been patiently waiting for some action for a while now. Aren't they pretty?! 



When I placed my order with Sprightly Fabrics, I had this very specific idea in mind for a fussy cut mini quilt. Well, last night I finally got out my pencils and sketchbook, sat down, and sketched it out. Oh boy, it felt really, really good, to just sit and draw.

I had to look back through my archives to see when or if I ever shared a drawing here, and all I found was this post from March of 2010! How funny that the next post was the first time I started sewing, which of course explains why that was the one and only drawing shared!



Drawing was my whole life before I had kids. Since I was a small child I wanted to be an illustrator. For Disney when I was really little, then for Top Cow when I was a young teenager, and then for myself when I was a bit older. For the last couple of years before I had Kaiden, I was really into portrait work. Then I become a Mama and I just stopped. For the most part, all the drawing I have done since has been for my kiddos and their cousins and their friends.



I knew the day would come when I would just feel like drawing again. Honestly, I was sure it would be when my littles were all in school. I was right!



I'm a little rusty, but boy did it feel good! I've had this idea since I hung that swatch from Julie up on my wall.  Finally getting it out on paper felt really good, too. It's such a meaningful drawing for me right now, with what I'm going through. Drawing brought such comfort, just as it always did before.



I stashed a little more of my favorite Cocoon print from the Intrepid Thread, and have plans to turn this idea into something sewn today. Well, just as soon as I fix my botched tote bag from yesterday! Yes, I ended up going with a tote after all. I decided on something I could finish and hopefully sell. Then I messed up the lining at the very end. In my scatter-brained state, I must have measured wrong and so I need to re-do it. So much for a quick finish, right?!



As for my Cocoon sketch, I plan to finish it when my drawing partner is home and ready, but this is how I left it for now. I'm excited to begin to share this side of myself here and to see what happens when I start combining my love for sewing with my drawing. I hope you'll enjoy it, too!



Today I'll leave you with a sweet and fitting quote from Hans Christian Andersen -- "Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."  

And wish a happy Thursday to all!!  ♥  Maureen 

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Stuck : :

I've been hanging out with my sketch stitch wips for a while now and still haven't decided on a plan for any of them just yet. I have several different ideas, but nothing solid? Above is what both the back (left) and the front (right) look like in print form, you can see how making a copy picks up both the wrinkles and the fibers of the fabric. So, I'm not sure that turning these into prints, like I had hoped, is going to work? I want to be able to see that they are stitched, rather than drawn, but I want them to look nice enough to put in a frame to hang as artwork.

So...I'm asking for your thoughts today! What would you like to see these thread sketches become -- continue on with prints? a mini quilt? keep as a focal (or make more) for a large quilt? applique for pillows, bags, etc??

I'd love your help!!  ♥ Maureen

News & A Favor : :

I have some great news and a HUGE favor to ask, but first I wanted to share a little progress I made on my most recent sketch stitching project.

I started adding color with a little of my Urban Cowgirl winnings for the collar and dress-band, and some of a Bryant Park print for the rest of her dress. I had planned to make this a mini for my girl, but now I'm dreaming of making a large quilt combining these special sketch-y blocks with patchwork. I do have a plan!



And now on to the BIG news and favor! I'm hoping that you all might take a second to vote for this years Handmade Olympics happening over at the rikrak studio blog. I was nominated by a couple of my regular followers here and now I've been chosen as a finalist!! I'm in event 7 : :  

Favorite Blog with a Hand-making Focus!

The judge for this event was Dana from Made, who won the gold medal last year, and had to narrow all the nominations down to the top 10 shortlist. I am just thrilled to be listed amongst these other blogs!

Again today, I thank you all for supporting my blog the way you do! I said it in my Handmade Giveaway post and I want to mention it again -- It's you all who keep me motivated to keep on creating and who are making so many of my crafty dreams come true! So many blessing keep emerging for this little blog, especially this week, and I'll have some very exciting news to share in the weeks ahead! I Thank You for visiting, nominating, sharing, and for the sweet, encouraging words you leave me here each day!

Thank you in advance for voting (you can click here to do so)! I wish you all a beautiful day!!

♥ Maureen

Sketch Stitching -- Part Two : :

Last night once the kids went to bed I decided to try another machine sketch stitching idea. The last one was for my son, who has it taped up on his bedroom wall with his other special posters and drawings. Mothers, you can imagine just how special that made me feel!! For this one, I have a very specific plan that is going to involve a few different stages. Last night I stitched away and finished stage one -- Black & White. I tried to remember to take photos as I went, so I could better share how this part came together. Want to see?







First, please forgive my dark photos! Hopefully, you can see that the first thing I do is stitch in a basic outline, next her face, and then add the details. The first photo shows me stitching on the felt side, which is what I use as my stabilizer. I've never done any machine embroidery, although my machine is capable. From playing around with this type of free motion sewing, I know it's important to have a stabilizer to support the fabric your stitching on during all that multi-directional machine stitching, to hold the fabric as flat and inflexibly as possible. Since I am just palying around right now, and these pieces won't be something I need to wash, the felt works just fine for me. I certainly have enough of it! If this is something I decide to keep doing, I definitely plan to pick up real stabilizers to have on hand that will either tear, cut, wash, or heat away. Do any of you have a recomendation?

I'm really excited for stage two -- Color! But I have many crown orders to get back to this morning! Happy Wednesday, freinds!!

Machine Sketch Stitching : :

Well, I had a talk with my oldest son the other day about my sewing, I was working on my scraps quilt when I asked him, "what would you like to see me make?" He answered by telling me how much he misses me drawing. I used to draw with him all the time, it's true. I would sit with the kids several times a week and draw up things at their request. I'll be the first to admit, now a days anytime we're crafting I always choose to sit behind my machine. I do miss drawing sometimes, but not very often, since we've never stopped doing crafts together. The times when I do miss drawing, is when I've experimented with "sketch stitching" in the form of appliques like the one I added to my artist roll-up or with my owl pillows. I mentioned those owl pillows to him, and he responded by telling me that those are his most favorite things I've sewn and that they actually looked like "me" -- as in his idea of who I am as his artsy Mama. Later that afternoon when I sat down at my machine to start stitching, I was inspired by his feelings and had an idea to make a new applique for a fabric sketchbook cover. After a short while and one bobbin winding, I finished what is now his new favorite drawing-sewn-thing I've ever stitched up. Ah, compromise! Wanna see?



Other than the eyes, nose, and mouth, these were the only threads I had to trim away. For whatever reason I always try to use just one continuous stitch just like a line drawing, although I have yet to succeed at that!



This is the reverse side. A friend on my facebook page was curious what the back of this looks like. For this one I may like the back even better than the front?



You know how I like to hang my blocks in the window light!



I'm still not sure what to do with her? I mentioned that I had planned on a sketchbook cover and for that I liked the idea of black and white. But now that I look at all these photos I feel like she needs some color and that maybe she should be the beginnings of something more? I guess I'll leave her hanging around a while until I figure it out. Ideas?



Yes, another wip... just what I need!!

p.s. My Stubby Pencil Studio Easter Giveaway ends tomorrow morning, enter here and I have a Fat Quarter Shop fabric giveaway beginning in the morning, so be sure to stop back for a chance to win!!

Colorful Christmas Dresden Pillow : :

With this last Christmas pillow, phew, I am done! And I can happily say that Christmas-y goodness can be found in nearly every corner of our house this year.



For this pillow I made a large colorful dresden using a few new fabrics, but it's actually made up mostly of the large scraps that were left from several projects I have finished and shared here these last few months.



When I look at it, my eyes wonder around each fabric piece that make up the circle and I think of all of them -- my bottled rainbow quilt blocks, my daughter's Little Red costume, the apron I made for my sister in law, the stockings I just finished, and scraps left from my other Christmas pillows.



I fussy cut the center medallion, that to me looks like a colorful, lovely snowflake and went with an aqua snowflake fabric to finish off the back.



I think the scalloped shape of the center mimics our other favorite holiday pillow quite nicely!



Tomorrow I'll be hosting a four day giveaway for some brand new gorgeous fabrics, sponsored by The Intrepid Thread! You can take a peek here at the bundle!

And with that, I want to wish everyone the Merriest of Christmas's and a wonderful holiday weekend!!!

Portraits from the Past : :

I am going WAY back with this one ---Can you guess who this is? Well, long before I was a wife, a mother, a knitter, a toy maker, a sewer...I was a drawer. I loved drawing and always thought that I would be an illustrator of sorts when I grew up. While I was in high school I worked on a comic book and when I was 16-17, I started a little portrait business. It all happened by accident when I drew this portrait of Jewel. It was the late 90's, her Pieces of You album was super popular, and I suppose I was moved to draw her after listening to Who Will Save Your Soul, You Were Meant for Me, and Foolish Games on repeat. : ) I did a few others for school art assignments and several of my high school teachers kindly hired me to do portraits for them, word spread a little, and even after I moved away for a while, I continued to do commissioned portraits.I've always loved the look of pencil portraits and really enjoyed doing them. I worked to make my portraits capture all the features, shading, personality and light of a black and white photo, but to me, they are timeless and capture something different and more special than a photograph.... I am really missing it lately. I did my last portrait about 7 years ago, when Kaiden was just a baby. All I have to remember how much I loved doing them, are these two that I did in high school --- This one of Jewel, who I don't listen to anymore and Ani DiFranco, who I listen to often, but never finished. It kind of makes me sad.
And in some ways, embarrassed, but I am sharing here because I plan on starting up again and undoubtedly will be sharing those efforts here, as well. This post will be the beginning of a new time of portrait making for me. I already decided the first new portrait I want to start is going to be in honor of my friend Leslie, for her family and church. And of course I have big plans for the three beautiful subjects that I have now, that I didn't have way back when.

Thanks for visiting --- Maureen

Morning Sketches : :

One of Kaiden's and one of my own.

I can't believe how creative he is already, and he's only seven!



Ah, I always need a little pause after that -- I still can not believe he is SEVEN!