March 21, 2022
Hold That Thought!!
Oh wow. I made a Big Mistake this morning and published the wrong article for today. Read on…
March 21, 2022
Bee-Jeweled Pincushion, Finishing 3: The Palestrina Stitch Edge
It’s time to bring the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion project to a close!
If you have not had a chance to stitch the pincushion yet but you still want to, you can find all the articles, with design, materials lists, and step-by-step instructions, here in the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion Project Index.
I’ll continue to stock the pincushion kits in my shop, so if you decide you want one, I can help you with that! They are out of stock right now, but I’m taking a waiting list via email, so if you drop me a line, I’ll add you to it. It’s an affordable way to gather all the materials you need from one source.
Today, we’re adding the Palestrina stitch edges to the pincushion. We’re going to embroider the bottom edge first and then the top.
Please read through the instructions before you begin!
March 18, 2022
Bee-Jeweled Pincushion, Finishing 2: Side to Base Construction
Today, we’re going to continue with the finishing instructions for the Bee-Jeweled Pincushion project, and we’ll just jump right into it!
If you want the backstory, or the previous step in finishing and constructing the pincushion, check out this article, where we started the finishing process by preparing the embroidered fabric, cutting it, and preparing the base of the pincushion.
Today, we’re going to prepare the side strip and sew it to the base.
It is important to read all the way through the instructions, making sure you understand the sequence of steps, before you start. Please read and don’t rely solely on the photos. Some steps are not shown in the photos because they are easily explained (and there’s simply not space for every move), so you have to read the instructions to follow all the steps.
March 16, 2022
Bee-Jeweled Pincushion Finishing, Part 1
This morning, we’re going to head into the final stretch on creating your own Bee-Jeweled Pincushion – the finish work! This is where we construct the pincushion into something beautiful and serviceable.
Now, this is The Thing about finishing: it is a multi-step process. To make it as clear as I can, I’m including a lot of photos in the process. In order to accommodate the whole process here on the blog, it will be broken into multiple parts, which I’ll publish over the next several articles.
If this is the first time you’ve built a pincushion or something similar and you are hesitant or a little worried about the finishing process, I recommend waiting until all the articles on finishing the pincushion are published before you start finishing your project into a pincushion. There are some steps below that you can do ahead of time, though, to prepare your work.
If you’ve finished embroidery projects into things like pincushions before and you’re confident about what you’re doing, then you can probably guess where I’m going with each step of the process and you can most likely move ahead and finish your pincushion with techniques that you’re already familiar with.
March 14, 2022
Monday Musings, News, and Interrupted Programming
Yeeeeegads. I’m a morning person. And I don’t mind getting up at what is naturally 4:30AM for me.
But 3:30AM is pushing it! The spring time change is not my favorite, no siree bob!
But I promise I’ll try not to be a grump!
Speaking of being a grump, I have some not-so-great news (well, in the scheme of Major Things in Life, is it bad news? not really!) and some great news for you.
Come along. Let’s have a calm, quiet, sensible chat to ease us into the day as we await the sunrise (which is a riffemrackemfrickemfrackem hour later than it should be. Uhhh…that’s my grumpy side coming out.)
March 11, 2022
Pet Portrait Embroidery – a Fabulous Book!
When it comes to embroidery books, there’s nothing better than a systematic, logically-presented instructional book on a niche subject.
If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of a particular type or style of embroidery, or a particular subject for embroidery, you’re really lucky when you can find a book on specifically what you want to stitch.
Pet Portrait Embroidery by Michelle Staub is just such a book. It’s a niche subject matter – not embroidery in general, but specifically the embroidery of dogs and cats. It is a meticulous instructional book laid out in a logical and systematic way. It’s a fabulous book for those who have ever wanted to capture their pets in needle and thread – or anyone who wants to learn to stitch realistic animals.
I thought I’d show to book to you up close. It’s hard not to love it, if you love animals!
March 9, 2022
The Forest & the Trees: Lessons from Whitework
Recently, I had a conversation about embroidery with a friend who was obsessing about stitch length and stitch spacing.
She found herself using a ruler to measure the exact length of her stitches, marking 1/8″ on her fabric along her design line so that she achieved Mega-Precise stitch length and spacing.
She was frustrated on two accounts: it was taking her a long to stitch and she felt like she wasn’t getting the hang of stitch length and spacing like she thought she would if she meticulously marked out her stitch lengths.
So we had a long discussion about things we sometimes obsess about – in needlework and other things – and why it’s important to step back.
The whitework altar cloth that I’ve been showing you lately is a really good example of what we were talking about. It illustrates well why it’s important to step back from your embroidery now and then.
