Christmas turns into country

I decided it was time to make something "Christmasy" or at least with a little bit of Christmas color.

I completed this soft little wash cloth.......

and also played with more "black with a splash of color" embroidery.

When I put the two together, they came out more like "country kitchen", which I love the look of. I am going to make sets like these to sell at the farmer's market in July- October of this coming year. How about you? Do you see red and white a lot in kitchens.....or blue? What colors do you like kitchens do be in most? I would love to hear.

White Pillow Cases

Although this is the season that I should be stitching on Christmas things,

I worked on my white work pillowcases this week.
I have been working on different sets of white work pillowcases, in between my sewing orders. My plan is to have 3 sets finished to give to each one of my children......maybe when they marry. I would like to monogram them as well when the time comes. I have always loved the look of antique and vintage linens done in white and monogrammed with someones initials. I think it was such a wonderful thing for someone to work on such items and then to hand them down to some lucky recipient. My children, at their young stage in life at this time, will not appreciate any thing like this....so I am stitching and then placing them away for a later date. How about you? Have you had any linens made for you when you were married? Have you made anything for your children's wedded life? I would love to hear!

The Elegance Of Black And A Splash Of Color

On an out of town excursion, I noticed a set of machine embroidered towels. They had vegetable motifs on them embroidered in black thread. Only a portion of the vegetable was done in color. So eye catching, that it stuck in my mind throughout the day.

As soon as I returned home, I dug out my patterns and started to work embroidering on this pea design. Letting only the peas be embroidered in pea green, while the rest of the design is embroidered in black. This got me to thinking about what else would be wonderful with this kind of embroidery?
I have always been fond of this butterfly design with a different butterfly for each day of the week.

I decided on Burgundy's and mauve's for this butterfly.


Finishing the butterfly in full color with the surrounding design in black.



I just love the elegant way it looks? Don't you?




Now I have plans on finishing the sets this way. The corn in the vegetable patterns will have only the kernels in yellow,the carrots, only one done in orange, etc, and the rest of the butterflies in other colors like blues, purples, oranges, and yellows.
What other designs do you think would look great embroidered this way? I would love to hear.

The Meaning of "My Life's Work"

In an article I have just written for a magazine to premier in late November, I referred to the embroidery and design work I do as "my life's work". The questions stemmed from this has made me want to clarify what "life's work" means..... Do I earn a steady income to support myself with this "life's work"?.......no

While I do get paid well for the work I do....one piece can take from 6 weeks to months to a year to complete. The payment not being received until that piece is finished. One reason I do not have a website....I cannot handle more than 3 customers at a time.

Am I well known.....famous...for the work I do? No, and I am not worried about "fame" to be involved with my work. I am known for my work by only a handful of folks, who know me or who I have done work for. I do the work I do, because it's who I am, it's what makes me.....

me.

So how can I say this is my "life's work"? Well there is a difference is "life's work" and the term making a living. I have worn many hats in the work field....hanging them all up when I received the crown of motherhood, where I have spent over half of my life, devoted to the care of my family. This is what takes first place in my life. In the spare time.........

I have spent 40 years learning and working with embroidery and design .......my passion....what I would rather do if there were only one thing in the world left for me to do........"my life's work". It is how I express myself,..... my therapy....my happiness, in a world so full of rush and demand.

How about you? What are you passionate about when all work has been done? When all demands have been met? What inspires you and makes your hands want to create?

What is your "life's work"? I would love to hear.

A vintage cross stitch design

I remember the first time I found these little napkins. Only three in the set, tucked away inside of an antique dresser drawer at one of my favorite "antique hangouts". Small in size and the material yellowed with age, I still had to have them..................for the vintage design, still fresh and colorful as if it were stitched only yesterday. I placed these away and have had them for awhile...........
but have decided to make my own set of napkins with this design. So with pencil and paper in hand, I carefully marked each stitch.........

Even the hems are hand sewn. Someone, whoever she was, stitched away her spare time on these. Did she use them instantly at her table? I always wonder. From looking at the napkin, I think these might have been a stamped cross stitch set. Each one is perfectly stitched.
I now have a pattern for this vintage design.......a little piece of history preserved....for someone........someday.........

I have a set of vintage linen napkins that have never been used just waiting for a design like this to grace their surface.................I can't wait to begin stitching! Probably one day, mine also will be sitting in an antique shop waiting for someone to discover them.

Now, how about you? Do you have some charming little napkins from some other place and time? I would love to hear.

***Please note: I have often been asked if I sell the designs once I preserve them........

no.........I preserve them for my own reference in making new linens with a vintage charm for myself and for customers. The only thing I charge for is the embroidery work I do for a customer.

Embroidery Design To Share

I am in the middle of embroidery orders to finish and don't have much to post on this blog this week. However, I wanted this blog to be a spot to share the passion and love for hand embroidery, by also sharing website information on stitching and patterns. While going through my vintage stash of transfers, this lovely cottage design caught my eye and I decided to share it with those of you who like to embroider. I am not sure where this design originated from and I hope that no one minds I am sharing it with you. If you would like to copy this, just click onto the design and it should come up with a larger size to print for embroidery. Lazy Daisy stitch, outline stitch and french knots are the most common stitches used for this design. But let your creative side go wild and use the stitches you want.For those who aren't quite sure about how to stitch, the Internet is the most wonderful place for instruction, or the library offers wonderful how to books. I would love to see the colors you chose and the finished design if you decide to embroider this! Let me know! My best wishes for your best stitches!

A Basket Of Memories

In my "creative space" there is a vintage wire basket that was retrieved from a weathered falling down farm house, long forgotten and left by the ones who used to live there. It is filled with strips and scraps of the fabric that has passed through my life. Every time, I glance in it's direction, I am not only inspired to create something from it's contents, but I am reminded of the people I love and have known over the years. Some still with me...others who have gone on. There are pieces from a dear uncle's shirt, who celebrated our holidays with us. He had just celebrated my youngest child's 4th birthday, and we were planning on enjoying his visit again for Thanksgiving, just a few days away.......he unexpectedly passed away......

Then there is a pink gingham dress, that my sweet aunt loved to wear..... I remember her well, dressed in it while sitting out on the front porch quilting her blocks.....and I still cannot bring myself to cut it up for quilt scraps......

there are pieces of fabric with dinosaurs, cowboys and Indians, from making my kindergarten son shirts for school......which he cut with his scissors up and down the front, so he would not have to wear them again, because the kids at school laughed at him......a lesson for me to learn.

All of the pretty floral print fabric pieces are also there......from the dress I made for my daughter.....with matching bows.........one dress had 22 buttons down the front. Some of these pieces have already been cut and marked, waiting to be stitched into a double wedding ring quilt that I have always wanted to make. So I love this old basket sitting in my space. It gives me inspiration, and a sense of "home" and "family" .

Now......do you have scraps of material saved from the past? Grandmas favorite dress? Baby's first Easter dress perhaps? I would love to hear!