speed stitching...

The other night when my young friends came over, I gave them each a little embroidery "kit". Basically a canvas tote bag (stitchable, of course) filled with some pieces of fabric, a plain towel, embroidery floss, a needle and a few print outs of my patterns. The 10yo loves crafting, so she dug right in. Her older sister gets bored with this sort of thing quickly, and wasn't quite so eager. But...I told her that the patterns stitch up pretty fast, so she could try if she wanted to. She did try, and before she left that night had stitched up a puppy Jordnöt.

There are times that I embroider something more complex, or take something simple and make it more complex (as in the Stewing Soup finger puppet). But most of the time I like fast and easy. It's how I make my patterns, and it's how I like to stitch. There's no time to get bored, because you've already finished the whole thing and you get to enjoy the fact that it's completed!

The chalkboard above (who still needs a name...any thoughts?) was a nice, quick project. The felt for the center was perfect. I got the effect of a fill, could add on my 1+1=2 text, and didn't have to deal with a single fill stitch! And as long as you don't look at the edges of the photo, you can hardly tell that I didn't iron it...



Another speedy project: On the Go Coffee. When I embroider on canvas, I usually stitch through paper, and never anything too big. This literally was on the go with me throughout the house. I kept it in my pocket and added stitches through the day as I had time. Silly, yes, but this is how it goes for us addicts! Later this week this little piece will become part six of "things to do with embroidery".

Both of these are from new patterns I've been working on. I'm hoping to update the shop either late this week or early next. So keep an eye out. I think there may just be a giveaway coming along too...