2nd wedding anniversary gifts!

Two years ago on August 11th, Steven and I got married!

8/11/2008

Last year was our "paper" anniversary, when Steven gave me a gorgeous book that he made for me, and I gave him some bird prints from the very talented Josh Brill of Lumadessa.

The second anniversary is for cotton. We have a cotton-themed collaborative art project in the works but in the meantime, we gave eachother a couple of little cottony gifts to hold us over until that's done. 

Steven picked my gifts up at the marvelous Clay, Wood and Cotton, right here on Beacon's Main Street. We *love*love*love* letterpress, so I wasn't surprised that he chose this sweet card from Ink & Wit:

And this adorable pillow, made by Diane Patmos (you can check out her etsy shop, called snowdrop, here!):

As you may have read in earlier posts (here and here), Steven and I are a little crazy about owls. So I decided to give him an owl card from the Natural History Museum:

...and an owl plushie that I picked up from one of my other favorite Beacon shops, the echo boutique and toystore:

Happy second anniversary, honey!

Embroidery class

I went to embroidery class at Clay, Wood and Cotton this morning taught by the very talented Cal Patch. I was hoping that I could learn a few new stitches to spice up my cross-stitch-- and I was not disappointed! We each made a little sampler of stitches. We started with the running stitch:

Then we practiced the backstitch:

Then we learned the outline stitch. It was a bit of work, but I love the way it looks.

Cross-stitch was next. I picked that up pretty quick. :)

Then blanket stitch:

Chain stitch:

Daisy chain:

French knot:

Bullion stitch. This was a hard one, and I'm a little grossed out by its resemblance to an inch worm:

Satin stitch. This is a really handy filler stitch.

Applique using blanket stitch. I heart this one.

And here they are all together!

Free-hand embroidery

Don't get me wrong; I am not a cheater.

I *love* my cross-stitch, but I keep finding myself day-dreaming about other needlecrafts. I've decided to try my hand at some other forms of embroidery, and see how I like them. Any new skills that I learn can only make me a better cross-stitcher, right?

I'll be checking out an embroidery class this weekend at our town's amazing local craft shop, Clay, Wood and Cotton. I'll be sure to post about the class afterwards!

And if I really like it, maybe I'll treat myself to a book about embroidery. Doodle Stitching has caught my eye and has gotten some great reviews:

Maybe my valentine will see this post and hook me up. :)