March 18, 2015

Tiny Buds on a Vine – A Stitch Fun Tutorial

Here in Kansas, the rapid onset of spring in the last week is forcing out the buds on flowers, trees and shrubs.

Yeeeehaw! That’s exciting!

To celebrate, I thought I’d share a little Stitch Fun tutorial with you, to show you a simple way to embroider a pretty little floral vine speckled with tiny buds.

This is one of the many combinations in my Stitch Sampler Alphabet (ebook coming soon!), and it’s one of my favorites. It’s quick to work, simple, and very adaptable – think crazy quilt seam treatments, borders, sampler bands, or a floral element in embroidered gardens and landscapes. The combination could also be reasonably adapted into crewel work for wide vines. There are lots and lots of possibilities!

Ready? Here it is – a Stitch Fun tutorial for a floral vine with tiny buds, using up and down buttonhole stitch.

How to embroider a floral vine with tiny buds - Stitch Fun tutorial

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March 17, 2015

Embroidered Stories: The Prestonpans Tapestry

Lately, I’ve been exploring embroidered tapestries and other needlework projects that tell stories.

And there are oh, so many of them out there!

Embroidery has been used to tell stories for a long, long time. We’re probably all familiar with the Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot long embroidered cloth that relates the tale of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (If you haven’t seen it, this video animating the Bayeux Tapestry is fun!)

But the Bayeux Tapestry, while certainly the most famous, is not the only embroidered tale worthy of attention.

In recent years, many fascinating tapestry projects that focus on retelling an important story have been undertaken and completed. For example, the Ros Tapestry, which I wrote about previously, retells a snippet of the history of Ireland.

Despite the fact that it’s St. Patrick’s Day and everyone’s thinking Irish, here’s a modern Scottish tapestry that relates a snippet of Scottish history and is definitely worth exploring!

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March 16, 2015

Celtic Cross in Tambour Embroidery

Tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day, a great reason to celebrate All Things Irish-ish!

To celebrate a day early, I thought I’d show you a wee bit of Irish Inspiration, in the form of a lovely piece of tambour embroidery worked by a reader.

I really love what she did with the this embroidery pattern!

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March 14, 2015

Favorite Embroidery Tools – Your Input, Please!

The essential tools for hand embroidery are pretty simple: needle, scissors, and a hoop or frame pretty much cover it.

When considering those essential tools, though, no doubt we all have our favorites. We like a certain type of hoop or frame; we have our favorite pair of scissors; and there are certain brands of needles that we gravitate towards, because we know they’re reliable.

Chances are, along our different needlework journeys, we’ve also acquired other tools that we’ve become attached to – tools that go beyond the basics, but that make our stitching lives a bit easier or perhaps just more pleasurable.

So that we can collectively help each other – and especially help stitchers new the art and craft of embroidery – I’d like to find out what your favorite tools are and why. I’ll recap some of mine below, and then ask you to tell us about yours.

Hand Embroidery Books

March 13, 2015

The Embroideries at Liverpool Cathedral

Last weekend, I enjoyed a delightful spurt of Weekend Reading.

Accompanied by a fascinating booklet on embroidery (thank you, Janice!), I took myself to the front porch and sat in the sun and read away. It was a delightful, quiet couple hours of really good reading, with some note-taking scattered in for good measure.

Stitchers with an interest in historical embroidery (especially from the Victorian through Edwardian ages) and in ecclesiastical embroidery will probably find the booklet equally as enticing.

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March 12, 2015

Stitching Commitments and How They Really Work

Stitching commitments do work! Making a commitment with a specific plan is a great catalyst for finishing an embroidery project.

The other day, we talked about my new determination to finish the Secret Garden Hummingbirds by committing myself.

Er… by committing myself to stitching One Feather a Day.

Now I find myself super-duper motivated to finishing the hummingbirds altogether. I’m encouraged, because I know that One Feather a Day is manageable. And I’m encouraged because – well, let me tell you how the first few days went.