Autumn is my favorite season of the year, hands down! And I especially love autumn when it is particularly autumn-ish.
In Kansas, we often have autumns that are very, very slow to arrive – summer just wants to linger – and then, bammo! Fall is gone. And winter is here.
But sometimes, we enjoy nice, lingering, lovely autumns, replete with a beautiful color change, crisp blue skies, chilly nights, and all the other quiet attractions that make the winding-down of the seasonal year so very pleasant.
This year, we had summer through the last part of September and most of October, despite the cool-weather tease that we had in August. So I haven’t had a chance to get in a fall frame of mind. I feel like I’m careening towards winter at break-neck speed, and next time I look up, it’ll be time to prune my hydrangeas.
One of my favorite fall stitching projects I’ve ever worked is this set of towels called Autumn Variety.
And in the set, the one above is my favorite design. It has all the little elements that I particularly associate with autumn: colorful leaves, bright pumpkins, dark acorns. And they’re all in a nice, pleasing arrangement that’s bold and fun.
I was pretty happy to pull this particular stitched sample out and look at it again, realizing that’s its held up pretty well to the Test of Time. And Laundry. And Life. Granted, it hasn’t been used to dry dishes – but it still looks pretty darned good for its occasional seasonal use!
I’ve decided to adopt this particular towel into a ready-to-stitch kit, like this Holly and Evergreen kit. It’ll come with its own set of instructions, all the threads, needles – everything you need to stitch the towel (and then some – you’ll have enough threads to stitch the whole Autumn Variety set if you want to).
Of course, I wanted to have this ready for you this autumn, but we’re not there yet.
On the one hand, I’m always surprised about how challenging it is to order threads. Generally, we hope all the colors we need will arrive at the same time. But it hardly ever happens. Some of my favorite DMC threads are pretty slow in materializing these days (specifically, some of the Variations).
And on the other hand, I’m flummoxed over the printing industry (or lack thereof) out in this area of Kansas. I’ve yet to find a good, reliable, reasonably affordable, relatively-local printer who can produce what we want for printed instructions. This is an ongoing struggle. And it can be frustrating.
And on the third hand (oh, come on – you know we all want one!), the end of October has come upon us with incredible alacrity. All of a sudden, we’re facing all our pre-holiday, pre-winter deadlines.
As soon as the kit is ready, we’ll have it in stock, whether it’s autumn outside or not. After all, many people stitch ahead of the season – which is a very reasonable practice!
In the meantime, if you’re still itching to stitch something autumnal (perhaps for your Thanksgiving table?), we do have autumn ready-to-stitch towels available, including Autumn Variety (the design we’re looking at here comes from the Autumn Variety set) and Festive Fall.
If you’re looking for instructions, I prepared this extensive PDF called “Festive Fall,” that has all the step-by-step instructions, as well as stitch and color guides, for embroidering that particular design. Of course, the tips, techniques, stitches, and colors would work out just as well for Autumn Variety, too.
And there’s also this Octoberfest kaleidoscope project, available as a PDF download.
Other Autumn Embroidery
You can find a fun line-up of other hand embroidery designs (and tutorials) that are particularly suited for autumn in this article.
Sometimes, the available tutorials and free patterns here on Needle ‘n Thread get lost in the extensive archives, so if you’re looking for some autumnal embroidery ideas, feel free to peruse that line-up!
And there it is. I have duly paid tribute to autumn – and of course, the ubiquitous pumpkin, considering that Halloween is day after tomorrow – before the end of October.
I’ve almost tricked myself into believing I’m on top of things.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Happy Wednesday!
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