Stitch Sampler

We stopped into Barnes and Noble this evening to look through some travel books, and on impulse I grabbed a copy of Lucinda Ganderton's Stitch Sampler:

I really didn't think I needed another embroidery book, but the second I picked this up, I knew I had to have it. It has beautiful, full-color, step-by-step instructions for about a gazillion stitches. I can't wait to start experimenting with them!

French Knot Letter B!

Finally! I've finished the project I've been working on for the last couple of weeks, exclusively made up of french knots. Would you like to see it?

I was excited to work on this fabric, which I found at a tag sale earlier this year, because it picks up on the yellows and greys we have in our house. 

Here it is, all framed up in its hoop:

I'm even liking how the back turned out:

This piece was a great way to perfect my french knot technique, but I think I've had my fill of them for awhile!

Summer Blooms

I've been away from the blog for quite a while! I've been busy stitching up a really fun piece, using french knots exclusively. It's nearly done, and I can't wait to show it to you! In the meantime, here are the first summer blooms from our yard for your enjoyment.


Echinacea (also known as purple cone flower):

Pink hydrangea:

Happy summer!

Dancing crane

In keeping with my practice of embroidering birds (previously blogged here, here, here, and here), I recently decided to stitch up a tribute to the beautiful crane. 

I was inspired to create a piece with a crane on it for my AMAZING acupuncturist, Jackie, who runs Dancing Crane Acupuncture here in Beacon. 


Revered in many cultures, cranes are a symbol of wisdom and longevity in China. Folklore says that they mate for life, and who could blame them with a fabulous mating dance like this? 

And here's the stitched crane, sewn up in a little pocket:

I went with red stitching, as Jackie is an Aries, and that's an Aries color. I can't wait to give this to her next weekend!

Floss porn

Last weekend when we stopped by Steven's parents' place, in addition to giving me some fabulous embroidery scissors, Lisa hooked me up with a whole bunch of pretty embroidery floss, too. Here's the lot of it:

There's a lot of wool floss there, which I'm excited about because I have never stitched with wool floss before. I'm really loving this group of green cotton skeins, too:

I can't wait to figure what to make with all of these!

Groundhog visit!

We've got a very cute groundhog living in our neighborhood. Today he paid a visit to our house and I was quick enough with the zoom lens to grab a decent shot of him:

I was too slow on the draw to capture the even cuter chipmunk who was enjoying a snack while sitting on the top of our redbud tree today, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled and my camera ready for next time!

Solvy's in!

Woo hoo! My long-awaited Solvy water-soluble stabilizer has come in!

I have never worked with this stuff, but from the way people rave about it, I am very excited to try. I think this is going to make it a lot easier for me to get my designs onto fabric, especially onto felt. I'll be sure to share some results soon!

Crane/stork scissors

I have pretty much always wanted a pair of those beautiful, gold- and silver-colored bird scissors used by embroiderers, but I never got around to tracking down a pair. 


You can imagine my delight when we stopped by my in-laws' place for a quick visit this weekend, and my wonderful mother-in-law hooked me up with these beauties:

Aren't they gorgeous? I'm not sure if they are meant to represent a crane or a stork -- perhaps I'll have to do a little internet research later on to see what I can learn about their history. Either way, I will be looking forward to using these every day!

Goodness!

This weekend I was very excited to finish up our quotation from Henry David Thoreau: Goodness is the only investment that never fails.


First, Steven came up with a design for me:

That type is Rockwell, and though I couldn't translate it perfectly into a cross-stitch pattern, I think it provided the proper inspiration. Here's how the stitching came out:

And I was even ambitious enough to stick it in a frame! Here it is framed:

Now we just have to find a good spot for it in our house!

Thanks, whipup!

Tonight I was very excited when my lovely friend Kristy from the fabulous Beacon craft shop Clay, Wood & Cotton told me that my booby was all over the internet. 


Ok, so it's not *my* booby. It's my cross-stitched blue-footed booby, and it's not *all* over the internet, but it was included in this cool round-up of blue images from the whip up flickr pool:

That's our booby, second from right in the top row. You may remember him from when I first introduced him to you here.

If you like what you see in this pretty sampler of images, go ahead and have a gander at whipup here or the whipup flickr pool here. Enjoy!

Goodness WIP

I was so excited to work with Steven to design a new pattern this weekend! Here is a sneak peek of what I've stitched so far:

It will be a Henry David Thoreau quote when done; I can't wait to show you the finished product in all its goodness!