having problems with your Sulky Printable Sticky Fabri-Solvy?

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD POST FROM 2017 and the issue described here no longer exists. If you are having trouble rinsing away Sulky stabilizer please review this current post. Thanks!

Hello, guys! This is a Sulky PSA. You folks know how much I love their Printable Sticky Fabri-Solvy. I can't live without it! It's an integral part of my Twelve Days ornament series. However, I've heard from several heartbroken crafters just lately who can't get the Sulky stabilizer washed off of their embroidered ornament pieces even though they have followed all the directions and are doing everything right. If this is YOU, you are not crazy. You have some faulty stabilizer!

I've just spoken to Patty Lee at Sulky. She was so helpful and apologetic! She tells me the manufacturer who makes the glue for the stabilizer reformulated the glue without informing Sulky. While the reformulated glue worked for some industrial applications it did not work for Sticky Fabri-Solvy. Sulky was not aware of the problem until some of the faulty stabilizer had already been distributed to resellers.

Have they fixed the problem?
YES! There are no batch numbers to check, so you will need to test your product before using if you have the old packaging and name. The stabilizer has now been renamed and repackaged, so the new stuff should be fine. New name: Sulky Printable Stick 'n Stitch.

Questions? She will be very happy to help:
Patty Lee
(800) 874-4115, extension 173
(If you are outside the US you might need to visit the website to get the correct phone number)

How do I know if my stabilizer is the bad batch?
If you are breaking open a new pack of the old packaging/name (see above), test it first! Go ahead and print the pattern on the stabilizer just in case it's good. Then cut out a blank corner or strip of the page, peel the backing off and stick it on a piece of scrap fabric. If it doesn't soak away in cold water after a few minutes, you may have the bad stuff. This is what it looked like for me. The bad stuff is on the left (turns clear and gooey), the good stuff is on the right (turns white and dissolves away):

I have the bad stuff. What do I do?
Sulky will gladly replace your faulty stabilizer. Please contact:
Patty Lee
(800) 874-4115, extension 173
(If you are outside the US you might need to visit the website to get the correct phone number)

OK, but how do I fix my current project?
There are some things to try! Patty has a list of suggestions that will hopefully fix the problem and she even offered to foot the bill for dry cleaning for your project if that would help. Please contact her.

Thanks very much to the crafters who let me know about this problem! I'm so sorry you ran into it and I hope you will be willing to try another project with the REAL stabilizer (with the new name!) so that you can discover just how wonderful it is!

what I'm up to

Well, hey there! It's me. Can we talk hair color?
See my nice silver sideburns growing in? This photo was taken at the end of December after about three weeks of no color. It's hard to tell but there was about 1/2 inch of gray all over my head at my roots. Creative combing.

I've been covering my gray since I was about 23. Which means I've been coloring my hair for more than 20 YEARS. Almost 25! I can't tell you how tired I am of it. And the last few years in order to keep the brunette illusion I've had to intervene with either all-over color or touching up roots every two weeks. Dumping smelly chemicals on my head every two weeks doesn't seem like a great idea.

So I made a big decision in December (a big decision in Frivolous Beautyland at least). My silver hair wins. I'm going to embrace it. No more squeezy tubes of color and plastic gloves for me. I'm going gray! This decision feels so right. I can't tell you how happy I am to never have to purchase a box of Espresso brown EVER AGAIN.

On the other hand. I feel like I'm violating some universal female pledge to do what I must to look younger at all costs. My wonderful, diplomatic, seldom negative mom says I won't like it. She may well be right. Gray hair might be a large blow to my vanity. I'm going to have to look at myself in a whole new way. My big sister is also very skeptical. But she kindly went with me to get some highlights to help with the transition right after Christmas.

Because. Y'all. I'm not getting a pixie cut. And I can't just let it grow in cold turkey and have a skunk stripe for months. I DRAW THE LINE THERE.

Post highlight picture! OK, so I asked for gray highlights. Hmmmmm. These look blonde to me.

Right? However, it has softened the effect of the gray growing in very nicely, I think. So far. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks. Next time I go for a touch up I'm going to ask if it's possible to get truly gray/silver looking highlights with a glaze or something. That certainly seems to be possible, judging by the number of twenty-somethings on Pinterest sporting 'granny hair'.

My plan is to keep going every couple of months for probably the next year or two for these highlight touch ups so that my new gray hair blends with my old colored-to-death hair, and then at some point I'm going to chop off the colored ends and be left with my au naturel hair. I'm pretty curious just how much gray I do have. It's hard to tell until it grows in more. But I think it's a lot.

I have a Going Gray Pinterest board under construction if you'd like to be inspired! This lovely young lady is a great encourager. Wish me luck. It's going to be a rough hair year. I keep telling myself when my silver streaks are grown in I can try occasionally dyeing some of them lavender and be really hip and cool*. Can't do that with brunette hair.

*Possibly using the old school words 'hip' and 'cool' make me inherently unhip and uncool but you know what I mean.

curated felt color collection/felt & floss color guides for Maid a-Milking

Happy 2017! What a crazy December I had. January life is a little dismal in comparison and sadly lacks twinkle lights, eggnog and sausage balls. Whose dumb idea was it for Christmas to end? I say keep it alive by making ornaments all year round!

All three of these^ Twelve Days Series Maid a-Milking ornaments shown were made with the same Benzie Design wool-blend felt color collection as the Turtle Dove ornament.

Photos courtesy of Benzie Design.

If you would like to make ornaments that match my samples shown above you'll need to purchase the Turtle Dove/Maid a-Milking wool felt bundle from Benzie, and you can also add the optional matching floss shown. Having the matching floss is really handy to sew the ornament parts together!*

*Note: you'll need to purchase additional floss colors for the decorative embroidery. Some of the matching floss colors might also be used for decorative embroidery.

This No. 2 Benzie felt collection (Turtle Dove + Maid a-Milking) includes these felt colors:
1) Peacock
2) Aqua
3) Swan
4) Magenta
5) Burgundy
6) Orange
7) Mustard
8) Ochre
9) Silver
10) Graphite

Here are the color and floss keys for each sample ornament:

OK! First up is this yellow/blue/gray maid above. 

Felt colors:
Body: Peacock for bodice, Graphite for legs.
Skirt: Mustard
Sleeves: Silver
Apron: Graphite
Buckets: Swan
Hat: Ochre

Decorative embroidery:
DMC B5200 (bright white)
DMC 413 (charcoal gray)
DMC 3801 (light red)
DMC 782 (dark mustard)
DMC 3844 (dark turquoise blue knots)
DMC 3846 (light turquoise blue veins)

Now for this maroon/magenta/blue maid:

Felt colors:
Body: Mustard for bodice, Graphite for legs.
Skirt: Burgundy
Sleeves: Swan
Apron: Magenta
Buckets: Silver
Hat: Silver

Decorative embroidery:
DMC B5200 (bright white)
DMC 154 (burgundy)
DMC 3804 (magenta)
DMC 3852 (gold)
DMC 3844 (dark turquoise blue knots on sleeves)
DMC 3846 (light turquoise blue)

Aaaand lastly this blue/yellow/orange maid:

Felt colors:
Body: Graphite
Skirt: Peacock
Sleeves: Orange
Apron: Ochre
Buckets: Silver
Hat: Aqua

Decorative embroidery:
DMC B5200 (bright white)
DMC 413 (charcoal gray)
DMC 3805 (magenta)
DMC 608 (orange)
DMC 3821 (yellow knots on sleeves)
DMC 3845 (medium turquoise blue)

Did you notice there is now a button on the sidebar at the top left for the Twelve Days ornaments resource page? Just an easy way for you to locate all the info about the series, including all the color keys for the samples.

handmade Christmas gifts 2016 - angel ornaments for Lesley and Paula

I made a similar angel ornament last year for my sweet niece, Erin, who had lost a baby boy. This year Erin helped me make this one for her sister-in-law after they suffered a loss. I hope it's a special way to remember their baby who flew straight to God.

At the same time we made the one above for Lesley I also made this gold trimmed angel for my in-laws. It's to remember their little girl from long ago, Jennifer, born to them in the early 70s. Jennifer only lived a few days. I think it's a sweet way to remember her little life. She's still missed and loved.