Tag: embroidery

A Return and an Embroidery Sampler

My 100 Days Embroidery Sampler

My last post in March 2020 appears to be a strange artifact from the time before we really knew. I hope you’ve stayed healthy, that the trauma from the last two years has been minimal.

As always, one thing that keeps my mental health strong is attending to a project. My most recent project, started on 23 September, 2021, is an embroidery sampler. I decided to take the last 100 days of the year to explore embroidery. I’ve been embroidering for a long, long time, but I default to the same ol’ stitches and wanted some new faves.

You can look through the entire 100 days on Insta. I’ve had a few requests for the resources I used, so here’s a list:

Mary Corbet’s NeedlenThread: Mary has created a ton of excellent videos.

The Embroidery Stitch Lexicon by Pumora: I printed out a copy, and I found it useful for understanding different families of stitches.

The Stitches of Creative Embroidery by Jacqueline Enthoven: an oldie and a goodie!

Embroidery Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden: I borrowed this from my library and may get a copy for my fiber arts bookshelf (let’s be honest: shelves!)

Royal School of Needlework: you may get lost for days on this site. Excellent videos in their Stitch Bank.

If you’re new to embroidery, I highly recommend taking a class. Rebecca Ringquist’s classes on CreativeBug are terrific, and if you can take a live class with Cal Patch, I know you’ll get lots of new skills! I’ve taught embroidery at my LYS, in private lessons, and for a local young woman’s group. It’s always a blast to get folx excited about this low-cost, easy-entry skill.

Three on Thursday: Habit or Ritual or a Little of Both

A stitch a day keeps the doctor away…

Two years ago, Neal bought me a t-shirt that really made me feel seen. It reads “Steady Habits USA”and is from Hartford Prints. Connecticut, if you don’t know, is nicknamed “Land of Steady Habits”. As a person who believes deeply in the Flaubert quote “[b]e regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work,” I have cultivated many habits. Some stick for a long time, others develop and shift. Today I’ll share three of my current faves.

  1. Yoga. I practice some days for 10 minutes, some days for 90. Most days I do a home practice with Yoga with Adriene videos. I invested a few years ago in a membership to her site, and I’m so happy to support her work. I have practiced every day for over 1,500 days. I know my chain will one day break, but I love and crave time on my mat every day.
  2. Five-year journal. With the nice round number at the start of the year, I figured I’d keep a little record of how the decade unfolds. It’s been fun to jot down thoughts about the day before I go to bed every night. Since the journal is pretty big, when I go away, I just write my entry in whatever notebook I have with me and transfer to the “official” journal when I get home. I think this will be pretty cool to review in 2025! (ok, can I just say typing that number seems SOOO futuristic?!?)
  3. Morning Pages. Over the last 20 years, I’ve done this practice, habit, ritual–it is a bit of them all– on and off, primarily on. It’s a great brain dump on waking up and a helpful way to work out problems in my writing, teaching, relationships–any part of my life, really. After a different morning writing practice for about 18 months, this year I’m back at the morning pages and enjoying them.
  4. Ok, this is one more than three (and it’s Thursday, not Friday, which would alliterate with four and be far more clever than, say, Four on Thursday), but I’ve got the picture up there, so I have to connect to it, right? Hand stitching. I’ve been embroidering every day since the start of the year, but I have also been trying to add in some other daily stitching–knitting, crochet, hand sewing…anything to give me a moment of creative peace as I finish out my day.

How about you? What rituals, habits, practices do you find yourself enjoying?

Three on Thursday: Stitchy Edition

I made yarn on a spindle!

I can’t resist the fun that is Three on Thursday! Here’s my Getting Stitchy edition:

  1. I took a spindle spinning class with Marce Smith at VK Live in NYC last month. Even though I started out spinning on a spindle at my first class at Village Wools (RIP) ca. 2005, and despite having a very small and lovely collection of Bosworth and Golding spindles, I never really took to spindle spinning. Now, though, I think it’s finally taken! Kirsten advised me to spin 10 minutes a day, and while I’ve missed a few days, that consistent practice really makes a difference.
  2. I’m taking a class at my LYS, Marji’s Yarncrafts, on the Cocoknits method. I’m making a lopi Emma pullover at the same gauge as my Stopover. I had to rip out my first start, but I’m knitting away on the yoke now! I can’t wait to try her on and see how those shoulders fit!
  3. I have my second year-long embroidery project going. Every day I do a little stitching. You can follow my progress on Insta!

What’s new in your stitching world?

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