Well, here at the studio in Kansas, summer has officially begun – with a crazy-cold and rainy weekend. I even had the heat on yesterday!
Not summer-summer, mind you, as in the season, which commences on the summer solstice some time around the third week of June. I mean the summer that (since my childhood, anyway) always seemed to kick off with Memorial Day weekend. That’s when school was officially out back in the day. I know it doesn’t happen that way anymore – school terms often extend well into June now – but when I was growing up so many eons ago, that blissful no-school season of summer was sandwiched with anticipated regularity between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Between those two holiday weekends, we enjoyed glorious days of kid-freedom. Blueberry picking in the woods is what I remember in summer. Strawberry picking in fields. Walking to the library, stopping at a small gas station called Richardson’s on MA-111 in Massachusetts, to buy penny candy on the way home, driving poor Mr. and Mrs. Richardson nuts while we labored over the grave selection of a dime’s worth (or a quarter, if we were rich!) of candy. (Sixlets, anyone?)
Life is not quite as simple now. Now, I have to figure out how things are going to progress against a series of deadline during these summer months, so that we accomplish everything we need to accomplish at Needle ‘n Thread.
But at the same time, I think it is important to have some R & R at some point during summer, and to go along with that, I usually have a project in mind.
I think this is a fun summer project. Anna and I are both inveterate tea drinkers, and we have long been dabbling with a set of ready-to-stitch towels that involve a tea theme. Oh sure, there are lots of tea-related embroidery designs out there, but we just wanted our own, because… well, why not?
Our tea themed set that’s in progress right now (we have to stitch the samples first, you see) features typical tea cups and saucers and the one above has a pretty tea pot, too.
It’s funny, though. I don’t really drink tea this way.
As far as tea goes, I’m a fan of Yorkshire Gold and of Glenghetti teas, both black teas, one slightly stronger than the other. I invariably use tea bags – rarely do I use a pot. I drink my tea from a (gasp!) mug. Sometimes, from a mug large enough to bathe in.
And while I like the idea of using a beautiful tea pot and beautiful cups, I don’t really have the time for the ritual part involved in those accoutrements. (And if I did have the time, would I? Mmmmmm…. probably not!)
When Anna started stitching this sample (remember, I’m working on these appliqué letters that need to be finished by Friday, so I don’t get to do the Fun Stuff right now), I only had a couple criteria for her: keep the colors / threads accessible (ie., just stick with DMC cotton in common colors) and keep the stitches simple.
And she did. She likes to blend shades in the needle – like on the green fishbone leaves and the purple daisy stitch florals.
Like me, she likes stem stitch.
I appreciate the fact that she likes to add the extra touch that makes a design a little more interesting. I probably wouldn’t have shaded the lattice on the design. I would have been lazy and left it flat. But this ends up looking great, especially from a distance, and it doesn’t require any complicated approach.
I’m hoping I get to stitch the third sample for this upcoming ready-to-stitch towel set, but if not, that’s ok! I have this felt pouch to occupy some of my fun stitching time for the summer – even if it doesn’t exactly scream “Summer” to me.
What’s Your Summer Project?
In the summer, I like transportable, easy, relaxing, and fun projects. I tend to like stitching with bright colors, on lighter fabrics, using cottons that are easy to work with and easy to clean. Of course, it doesn’t always work this way (because I do this stuff for my job, so the seasons can’t always dictate my projects), but when it comes to the hobby side of stitching, that’s about the way I wiggle when it comes to summer projects.
Do you have a particular project you’re working on for the summer? What’s your ideal “Rest & Relaxation” project? Do you have specific preferences for the mode of life dictated by the seasons?
Here’s hoping you had a terrific weekend – preferably one with a little sunshine!
And here’s to the first week of summer!
(Non-season-official, northern hemisphere summer, that is…)
My summer projects include very little stitching. As I approach 80 with a pretty bad back and large flower gardens my time is spent digging, moving flowers, and snipping spent blooms as well as the hundreds of other tasks to keep everything neat. Stitching is for winter at my house. I do miss it but this summer I am spending available moments reading and devouring the books of Jennifer Clousten. Some day maybe I will put my framed embroidered crazy quilt squares together into a beautiful quilt.
So pretty! I am recovering from illness so to while away the warm summer days I am embroidering little felt objects for the Christmas tree! (Nothing like being prepared). Corienne Lapierre’s Twelve Days of Christmas (not all, I’ve done two sets!) are lovely mix of quick and impressive as well as Inspirations Christmas objects. I can’t manage more at the moment but naturally have ideas stacked up in my head for better days. Happy summer.
The tea towels look great Mary! As it happens I have a set of 2 Irish linen tea towels looking at me from a shelf waiting to be embroidered. I lost my dearest friend and tea drinking demon last summer. She also loved to bake, as do I, although I generally drink tea in the winter now. Anyway, to get to the point….how about a baked goods third towel? Generally when I bake anything except cookies it generally spends time under a tea towel until it cools. Hence this suggestion and if you were to ask me what my favorites are they would be sticky buns, Chelsea bums or a fruited (or Irish Mist) cake. In fact I must run now to bake something..
Fond regards.
Margaret
Yum!!! Baked goods are my one weakness.
My greatest difficulty with baked goods as embroidery designs is that they don’t leave a lot of scope for color and for interesting design elements (short of, say, cupcakes with swirly tops in colorful paper cups). Every time I’ve tried to embroider a bun or a chocolate chip cookie or anything similar, they usually end up looking rather brown and blobby and a bit … well… suspicious.
The third design in this set is a line of tea cups across the lower center edge of the towel. So, we have a single tea cup, a teapot and cup, and a line of tea cups. They’re pretty fun!
Hi again Mary. I forgot to mention this. My dear friend Dr. Franny also taught me that while life is often fraught with very busy times and unforeseen complications the little ritual of making a pot of tea offers a respite, a time for contemplation or appreciation of nature – however short and gives us the courage to soldier on..
Regards again
Margaret
I’ve been working on a slow stitching piece.
When it is finished I’ll line it any make a drawstring hand bag out of it.