very serious crafts // live in chicago

About a month ago, for the very first time, Heidi of Hands Occupied, Haley of Red-Handled Scissors, and I met up in the same place at the same time. We record the Very Serious Crafts Podcast together, but we're usually in our separate homes in separate cities.

But on this occasion, we got to hang out and then head to the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. We recorded Season 2, Episode 4 of the Very Serious Crafts Podcast with a live audience and it was so fun!




Okay, so the truth is that in addition to it being fun, it was also a little scary and awkward at times. This is what happens when you work at home with minimal real human contact. Haha!



But anyway, if you'd like to listen to this live recording, it's available to download now at VerySeriousCrafts.com or on your favorite Podcast app. Be sure to check the show notes too, so you can see the resources and fun vintage items we shared.

After the recording stopped, that wasn't the end of our day. Nope! The second half of the program we hosted was a crafty make and take!





Our project was a felt coffee cuff, embellishing them with three different techniques. I worked with folks on embroidery, Heidi demonstrated latch hook (yes, on a coffee cuff!), and Haley showed how to add English paper piecing.

My cuff looks like this:



I started with just the Serious Crafter text and the little border. In fact, I brought in Serious Crafter patterns for everyone! But then I decided to add some flowers. And I'm still adding them, filling in a rainbow of simple lazy daisies.

And I thought, maybe you'd like to make a Serious Crafter coffee cuff, or at least an embroidered patch of some kind!

DOWNLOAD THE SERIOUS CRAFTER COFFEE CUFF PATTERN

To make the cuff, cut the template shape out of thick felt. Fold the ends together and sew straight across.

Print or trace the Serious Crafter pattern onto Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy. You can also use tracing paper for this, then tear it away after.

Embroider through the felt and pattern. I used three strands of embroidery floss throughout the design. When securing the thread on the back of the felt, you should be able to turn it partially inside out to make it easier to work.

When you're finished, soak away the Fabri-Solvy and let the cuff dry.

Now you can let the world know that you're a very serious crafter just like us!



I mean, we're mostly very serious.

Note: The coffee cuff pattern is based on a Martha Stewart pattern with some slight adjustments. All photos (except the pic of the library and my coffee cuff pics) were taken by Heidi Gustad and her sweet husband!

pattern // february's jar of cherry preserves

Are you ready for more Jam of the Month Club stitching? Becuase it's time for the Cherry Preserves embroidery pattern!

This little jar has the same cherries that were on the jar cover that I shared, and you may notice that the ruffled top looks a little familiar too. Do I have a pattern of a project or a project of a pattern? It's probably both.

As a reminder, all these jam jars are designed to fit on 2-inch hexagons to make a mini quilt. But you can use them on their own too! Also, I'm just gonna be up front and say that the scale of these jars to each other might be a little strange along the way. Hopefully nothing too terrible!

DOWNLOAD THE CHERRY PRESERVES EMBROIDERY PATTERN PDF

If you're a cross stitcher, I shared the first two matching charts the other day, but I have an update for you. I mentioned that they would look great stitched as one large design with stitched shelves. More than one person said they wanted to do this, so I'm going to make that shelf chart so you can work on that and add in the little jars one by one.

Sorry to delay the start of stitching for that! But it will come soon, and I think we'll all be happier.

Finally, I LOVE sharing my patterns and projects for free here on my blog. Like seriously love sharing them (you may notice I have more freebies that just regular blog post like things). That said, if you ever want to say thank you in a tangible way (although your likes and shares do that too!), I drink a lot of coffee, and you can help support that habit below. (And MANY THANKS to all who have already done so!!!)

pattern // cross stitch marmalade and preserves

If you like the kawaii Wild Olive style, but you do cross stitch instead of embroidery, I'm here for you! Today I have two free counted cross stitch Jam of the Month Club patterns!

A few years back Cross Stitch Crazy Magazine asked me to design some cross stitch charts for them, and my first response was "you know I design embroidery right?" They said if I'd be willing to try designing for cross stitch, they still wanted to work with me. Fast forward a few years and I've now contributed to the magazine a few times a year, and I love working in this different (but similar) medium.

So when someone asked if there might be Jam of the Month cross stitch patterns, I couldn't resist!

I'm a crazy slow cross stitcher, so these ones you only get in chart form. I was also apparently slow on even getting the first pattern finished, so you TWO this month. Hooray!

DOWNLOAD THE ORANGE MARMALADE CROSS STITCH PDF

DOWNLOAD THE CHERRY PRESERVES CROSS STITCH PDF

I've never incorporated cross stitch into english paper piecing, but in theory, you could use these with the mini quilt project. But I think these would also be cute as one large cross stitch with stitched "shelves". OR, work them up individually, frame them in hoops, and hang them in your kitchen!

UPDATE: A large chart with shelves is coming soon!

No matter how you use these, I'd love to see your stitching. Tag your pics with #wildolivestitchingclub on Instagram!

project // embroidered cherry jar topper

Need a last-minute gift to give someone sweet? You can stitch this embroidered jar topper while watching a few episodes of your favorite show! Fill the jar with some treats and you have a gift that shows you care...even if you are working down to the wire...

I'm posting this on February 12th, which isn't ideal for Valentine's Day making. But I really did make this last night and take the pictures today. Just to show you that you really can make this in a hurry. And if you find this after Valentine's Day, you can still give this as a gift for someone sweet anytime. Think teacher or thank you gifts, or you could even save it for Sweethearts day.

At any rate, it's fast and fun, and you can fill it with lots of cherry goodness!

You will need:

Fabric (at least 7 inches square)
Embroidery floss (I used DMC 598, 472, 351, and 310)
Basic Embroidery Supplies
Circle Template (I used a lid)
Pencil
Pinking Shears
Jar with Canning Lid
Something to Go in the Jar

DOWNLOAD THE YOU'RE CHERRY SWEET PATTERN PDF



Transfer the embroidery pattern on your fabric and stitch the design. I used 3 strands of floss throughout. I used back stitch for all the outlines, french knots for the regular eyes, and scallop stitch for the smiles and smiling eyes.

The pattern is sized to fit a wide-mouth canning jar lid, but if you want to use a standard size lid, print the pattern out at 75%.



Find something that can work as a round template. You want the circle to be a few inches larger than the lid of your canning jar. For mine, I used a lid that's about 7" in diameter.

Trace around the template with the embroidered in the center.



Cut out the circle with pinking shears.



Fill the jar with something sweet. If it's cherry-flavored, that's even better. Here are some ideas:

Cherry Hershey's Kisses
Cherry Gummy Candy
Cherry M&Ms
Sour Cherry Candy
Cherry Jelly Bellies

...You get the idea! If you don't want to give candy, you could also fill the jar with notes. Because what's sweeter than kind (or romantic!) words?



Place the solid lid on the jar, then cover it with your embroidered circle. Hold the fabric in place with the embroidery centered on the lid. You do need to hold it as you screw the ring on the jar, because it will shift otherwise.



Once the ring is in place, you're ready to give this cherry sweet gift!



Of course, you could use this pattern to make other items, like cards or little pins. I even think you could use cherry-scented air freshener beads in this jar, and just leave out the solid jar lid. What do you think?

Oh, and for my Jam of the Month Stitching Club friends, this ISN'T the monthly pattern for the EPP project. That's still coming, but I wanted to use part of the design to make something else fun!



What will you fill your jar with and who are you going to gift it to?

printable // jam of the month valentines

I love a good Valentine's Day pun, and I chose a few to go along with some jars of jam! (Because apparently, I can only think about jam things this year...) And hoping that you or your kids are as excited about this sort of thing as I am, I made them into printables!

At one point these were only going to be orange marmalade. Then only cherry preserves. But finally I was like, why am I trying to choose? So you get two Jam of the Month features in one set of cards!




Yes, they're cheesy and maybe overdone, but that's part of the charm of Valentine's Day. In the download, you'll find two more designs not shown here (thanks, printer for running out of ink!). But my favorite is probably "We were marmalade for each other".

DOWNLOAD THE JAM VALENTINES PDF

I'm sure you can think of some fun ways to give things along with Cutie oranges or cherry candies. If all goes to plan, I might even have a fun project to share that would pair well with these!

calendar // february cherry preserves wallpapers

When it was time to choose a jam for the month of February, I HAD to go with cherries for these wallpapers (and the other goodies I'll share soon). Cherries are pink and red like Valentine's Day and they remind me of George Washington, who's birthday was this month. So here we have some February cherry preserves!

It's probably also appropriate that they are preserves, as I seem to desperately want to preserve time these days. And with a short month like February, that gets difficult. So I guess we'll just be holding onto cherries in a jar instead of time in a bottle.

Okay, so how about some shelves filled with jam for your digital devices?

Add these calendar wallpapers to your computer, phone, or tablet for a cherry sweet February!

Download the Desktop Wallpaper

Download the iPhone Wallpaper

Download the iPad Wallpaper