How about some Monday Morning Inspiration?

Vintage embroidered linens are an obsession of mine – I love to collect them, especially if I find beautiful ones that I can afford.

Sometimes, I wash them up and use them for gifts.

Sometimes, I use them in my home.

Sometimes, I just want the embroidery – I want to rescue it somehow, because it’s beautiful. But I don’t always have ideas on how to do that. So the linens end up being stowed away until inspiration strikes… and then, admittedly, they risk being forgotten all over again.

So sad!

Enter: Kelly Cline.

Last Friday, I left home on an unexpected whirlwind trip to the Deep South.

I live in Kansas, where Dorothy put it best: There’s no place like home. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just click my heels and arrive. It was a 15 hour drive to and fro, each direction taken in a day.

Not-so-surprisingly, since I was the driver, I didn’t accomplish a bit of stitching while on the road. I’ve not perfected the “stitch anywhere” approach to embroidery – I can’t quite do it behind the wheel. We have to draw the line somewhere, after all, don’t we?

Thanks for all your well-wishes last week. Now that I’m home, I’m chomping at the bit to get some major things accomplished!

Today, a little Stitch Fun!

Remember a couple weeks ago when we looked at adding beads to embroidery stitches?

Well, here’s a little follow up tutorial for a cute little line of beaded chain stitches that work up into little round blossoms.

This is a simple technique for embellishing a straight, curved, or undulating line. It’s fun, easy, and quick!

So, let’s get started – I’ll take you step-by-step through how to work a line of beaded chain stitch blossoms.

If you’ve ever set out to tackle an embroidery project that doesn’t come out of a book or a kit, you know what it’s like to mull over color choices.

For me, making good color decisions can be a fairly arduous task. Thankfully, there are some good books on the market that can help with this – Trish Burr’s Colour Confidence in Embroidery (which I reviewed a few years ago) is one of my favorites!

Besides books, though, there are myriad ways to find color ideas for embroidery projects. The most obvious way: take a look around you!

Recently, I found inspiration for a small embroidery project in a most unlikely place.

You know Sunday is Father’s Day, right?

My dad is a prolific reader. And he’s forever using any scrap of paper, any paperclip, perhaps a toothpick – whatever he has on hand! – to mark his place in books.

If your dad is anything like mine, you could always embroider a bookmark for him for Father’s Day.

Hand embroidered bookmarks make great gifts for anyone who reads, or should read. Maybe you’ve got a recent graduate in the family? Or maybe you have a children’s summer reading program at your local library that could benefit from some prizes?

The best thing about embroidered bookmarks is that they’re quick to make and easy to finish!

Late Harvest, an embroidery kit from Hazel Blomkamp that I reviewed here, was meant to be my carrot.

I like to have an embroidery carrot hanging about – an enticing project that I reward myself with when I meet a goal.

Lately, though, it’s been my Pondering Project. And it works well for that!

There are times throughout the work day when I find myself at a loss as to what step to take next. What approach should I take on this project? How should I tackle that project?

When I’m stumped like that, I find I can ponder The Next Thing and work out ideas while I’m stitching on Late Harvest.

I can’t always do that with every embroidery project, especially projects that I’ve designed and I’m working through for the first time. In such cases, my mind is normally occupied with what step to take next on that particular project.

But if I’m following someone else’s directions, it’s much easier to think about something other than the project I’m stitching on while I’m stitching on it. It’s a good time to work out little directional problems and develop ideas. And it’s nice to be able to do that while still making some progress on something.

Two things I love: floche and fabric. Specifically, cotton floche and linen fabric.

I’ve been dabbling with some little designs embroidered with floche – nothing large or extravagant or hugely time consuming – and using the opportunity, while dabbling, to try some fabrics I haven’t used before.