Jenny Doh

Evolution of Stitch Along Book Cover

How the cover of a book comes together is different from book to book. For my latest book, how the cover came together is especially interesting and so I thought I'd share the story with you. At one point, we were all thinking about white back stitches with sans serif lettering on red fabric. But then somewhere during the process, we decided to change it to white satin stitches with slightly different lettering on coral fabric.

Even before that, my first attempt was making red back stitches on white fabric.

We all knew that the other cover images would fall in place like this ... and we were going back and forth as I tried all of these different stitches and fabrics. It took a lot of time but it was really fun and exciting.

Once it was decided that it would be white satin stitches on coral fabric, they asked me to not stitch the letter O in the word ALONG so that the designer could place a piece of embroidered work right there at the O. SUCH a cute idea!

I worked during daylight and well into the night for several days to get all these variations stitched.

And Scout watched me stitching for those days.

And once the cover came together, we all knew we had a winner.

And that's the story of how the cover of Stitch Along came to be. :)

Free Motion Stitched Log Cabin Square

Here's a little free motion sttiched work I did on a vintage log cabin quilt square. As much as I like the way it looks on the right side ...

I also love the way it looks on the back side. So cool.

And with a little metal clip, I can enjoy either side.

 

She swallowed the past whole

진미 became Jenny
서울 became Seoul
as she swallowed the past whole.

left-handed became right-handed
faith became formula
as she swallowed the past whole

mother became stranger
brother became ashes
as the whole past swelled deep inside her

the past became present
as light moved from left and right
and the past could no longer remain whole

We've Still Got Time

The Boat.
Deadicated to Jinil

The boat.
My brother who must have felt he was sinking.
The boat.
My memory of him that I fight to hold onto.

The boat. The plane. The boat. The plane.
The vessel that our family boarded together.
The boat.
The vessel that our family boarded to carry him back.
Brilliant and tortured brother of mine.

The boat.
That didn't know.
That we still had time.

Falling Slowly
by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

I don't know you but I want you all the more for that
Words fall through me and always fool me and I can't react
And games that never amount to more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly eyes that know me and I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me and I'm painted black
You have suffered enough and warred with yourself
It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had the choice
You've made it now

Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along

Free Motion Stitched Love Pillows and Patches

Oh my goodness. More free motion stitching for me. My obsession continues. And this time, it's love pillows and patches. Up on my little Etsy shop. :)

 

Free motion stitched doll pillows up on Etsy

My obsession with free motion stitching continues.
Just thought I'd share with you a few things I've made and also loaded onto my little Etsy shop. 

Save the date if you want to: Saturday, Feb 1, 2014.
I will aim to have displayed some more cool free motion stitched people. And more demos on the spot in Studio Crescendoh for Art Walk. 7-9 pm.

Evolution of a Free Motion Stitched Pocket Doll

I love how one thing leads to another. Here's a little pocket doll resting in a glass in my studio. Here are some shots below to show you how she looked as she was coming together.

Free Motion Stitched LOVE in a Jar

The evolution of LOVED in a jar.

 

 

 

 

 

Waves of Obsession and Some Free Motion Stitched Explorations

I've been doing lots of explorations in the studio. During these last few days, for some unknown reason, I've been doing a whole lot of free motion stitching. Not sure how long this obsession will last. For me, obsessions come in little waves. And I've learned it's a good thing to just ride them out and see where they take me.

So this free motion stitched face is my latest exploration. Before it looked like this ...

it looked like this. And before I started this, I used ...

this earlier sketch as a point of reference. And this sketch was being made while listening to Cat Steven's beautiful version of Morning has Broken.

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird ...

Here are a few additional pieces I've free motion stitched.




This last one actually sold recently and so it's no longer with me. Sort of sad but happy that it's going to someone who adores it.

So I've been asked are all my works for sale? Well, some are and some aren't. One of these days, it's my goal to try and upload some of my originals onto my etsy shop (which has been vacant for a long long time ... just not enough time in the day) ... but in the meantime, what usually happens is that when a person likes what they see on my IG or FB feed, they let me know. And then we go from there. So if there's something that speaks to you, by all means, feel free to write me at [email protected]. I'll let you know if it's available or not. And one of these days, like I said, I'll load a bunch up in more of an official manner on etsy or something like that.

Stitched Blooms Blog Tour + Giveaway!

Hello, hello, hello!
I'm very happy to be included in this Blog Tour to let you know about a really fantastic book titled Stitched Blooms, authored by the talented Carina Envoldsen-Harris. The book features 20 fresh and fun sewing projects, each with one of Carina's colorful embroidery designs. The book also contains more than 300 floral motifs that you can use to embroider designs onto practically anything ... a hankie, a napkin, a dress, a tote ... really anything that you want to embellish and elevate with a touch of embroidery.

For this blog tour, I am hosting a giveaway where one lucky winner will receive a copy of Stitched Blooms, along with ... drumroll please ...

This super cute sewing kit that Carina made for the book!

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this blog post by Sunday, September 29th, 5PM PST, with one of your favorite memories that involves stitching of some sort. A random number generator will select the winner and the winner will be announced by way of an edit on this blog post. Please check back to this post after the 29th to see if you are the winner so that we can coordinate shipping of the book and sewing kit.

Happy stitching. :)

Order your copy of Stitched Blooms here on Amazon.

Visit all others on this Stitched Blooms blog tour here:
 Sept. 16th – Amanda Carestio - www.larkcrafts.com  
 Sept. 16th - Shannon Cook - www.luvinthemommyhood.com  
 Sept. 17th - Lynne - lilysquilts.blogspot.com  
 Sept. 17th - Sara Lawson - www.sewsweetness.com  
 Sept. 18th - Alicia Rosello - www.elblogdedmc.com  
 Sept. 19th - Jessica Crapo - www.running-w-scissors.com  
 Sept. 19th - Diane Gilleland - www.craftypod.com  
 Sept. 20th - Mollie Johanson - wildolive.blogspot.com  
 Sept. 21st - Aina Crescimbeni - www.casandersen.blogspot.it  
 Sept. 21st  - Beth Wilson - www.sewmamasew.com  
 Sept. 22nd  - APL Creations - http://aplcreations.com  
 Sept. 23rd  - Jo Stafferton & Floresita - www.feelingstitchy.com  
 Sept. 23rd - Rachel Hobson - averagejanecrafter.blogspot.com/  
 Sept. 24th - John Adams - www.quiltdad.com  
 Sept. 24th - Aimee Ray - www.littledeartracks.blogspot.com  
 Sept. 25th - Jenny Doh - www.crescendoh.com  
 Sept. 26th - Hanna Andersson - www.ihanna.nu  
 Sept. 26th - Abby Glassenberg - www.whileshenaps.typepad.com  
 Sept. 27th – Susie Stubbs - www.flowerpress.blogspot.com

EDIT: The winner of this Giveaway is Commenter #23: "Gill"
Congratulations, Gill. Please email us at [email protected] with your snail mail address so we can get the book and sewing kit sent to you! Thanks.