Flowers, Ladybug and a clock

So these three pages I thought were going to be the death of me. They're not HARD per se, but let's just remember that I'm still (re)learning to sew. And apparently embroider.


Clock
Let's start with the clock. It was all going so well until I realized what I did wrong with the numbers. I had done 12, 1, 2, 3 and then started thinking ahead. Uh Oh! Do you see it? Take a second if you don't right away.



I had started facing my numbers to the centre. Had I continued in this fashion my 6 would have looked like a 9. I'm not good, or fast at embroidery so instead of pulling it all out, I cheated and turned the bottom half of the clock's numbers. Then I Googled to see if there were any real clocks that are done this way. There aren't. Just so you know.

I used real clock hands (I got mine from Lee Valley Tools) and layered them on the felt that had a tiny grommet (used for scrap booking) through the centre. I couldn't find a brad big enough so I used a scrap booking one as well. The prongs of the brad were getting caught on the felt of the clock (but not the background) so I cut a piece of plastic from a yogurt container lid and inserted the brad through that after going through the grommet on the clock face. Then I stitched the whole thing to the page.

The pocket below the clock is going to hold cards with digital times on them (and then an analog clock on the back showing the correct way to show the time). This was my sister's idea (Thanks Jenna!) so that kids will learn the fluent "conversion" of how to read both times. I found a free font on dafont.com called Digital-7 that looks like a digital clock that I'm making the cards with. I'm starting with times on the "15" increments and as she masters them I will add/switch them for more difficult times.



Ladybug
The Ladybug wasn't a hard page except I'm using a machine that was my Grandma's. She never showed me how to use it. So I had to figure out which was the zipper foot (which involved multiple phone calls to my mom and a Google search for the machine's manual) and then the new presser-foot messed up my tension (or a certain 2 year old!) and it just made for a long afternoon. Once that was all sorted out, it went pretty quick. The spots just snap onto the body of the bug and are stored inside. I found the picture on-line months ago. Sadly I don't have the site to credit, but I have the image if you want it as a template, so let me know.





Flower Vase
Oh the grief of this page! The vase, stems and buttons were easy. Even the flowers weren't hard to make. Just those button holes! And my machine's tension was acting up, so that didn't help (turns out it needed oiling and there was some user error involved too). I have a button-holer attachment that makes it really easy to make the holes. Once you get the crazy thing on! And then I had to switch the colours 5 times. I was more than slightly annoyed by the end of it. But I got it to work and I'm quite pleased with the result. I love the vase. I found the spotted felt at a dollar store (along with the pink leopard print used on my phone). I think it just adds a bit of fun to the page.

Just a tip if you do this page. Use interfacing in your flowers so they don't overstretch!






So those are my latest pages. 3 more to post and the book is done!