Remember when I mentioned that I'm a member of the 2015 Aurfil Design Team? Well, it's time for the thread fun to begin! I plan to try out all of the different Aurifil threads this year, not just the 50wt that I have been using for piecing and quilting. I'll be sharing a little project that I've made each month.I had fun trying out the Aurifloss on a tea towel yesterday. The floss is smooth and doesn't shred or fray like other floss brands I've tried. The spools help keep the floss neat and without fold lines or creases in the thread. It is also easy to wrap unused floss strands back around the spool of the same color floss. Anything that helps keep the floss neat and free of tangles is a win in my book. And who doesn't want their floss on cute little wooden spools? It really takes embroidery to a new level.This flower design came from 5000 Flower and Plant Motifs - a Sourcebook by Graham Leslie McCallum.
I love the rich colors in Lynn Krawczyk's collection. Thanks, Lynn, for sending a box for me to try. I know I'll be using more Aurifloss in the future. I'm eager to try some fancy stitches with it.
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Three Kitchen Fairies
We have had some lovely weather this week in Michigan. I've been taking advantage of the cooler drier air by spending time outside reading and even doing a little hand stitching. It's been like a vacation without the hassle of packing and driving.Paloma, of Three Kitchen Fairies, sent me some of her hexie papers to try and I finally got around to making a project with them. These are one inch on each side. The paper is thinner than the papers I had been using and I love that you can get a thin crisp turned edge with these papers. They are also easier to pop out after stitching. The papers in the photo have been used and are in great condition for using again. If you want to try them yourself you can get the papers here in Paloma's etsy shop. She also has some sweet instant download embroidery patterns. I especially like this one.A few scraps, aurifil 50 wt thread, and hexie papers are the perfect ingredients for relaxing afternoon and a pretty transformation for a tea towel.
Now, I think I need to get some more of these bright tea towels to decorate.
Holiday Sewing
I've been busy with some holiday sewing. I made another Flashback Skinny Tee for miss P and then added a bit of embroidery from Aneela Hoey's Little Stitches. The shirt is made from a thrift store woman's top and I was able to save the neckline and sleeve hems. Yay for quick sewing projects.
The design was one that P had marked in the book so I'm pretty sure she'll like it. Since this is a knit fabric, I left the interior of the bird free of stitching. I didn't want the fabric to become stiff from the extra stitching.
Miss P has been doing a little holiday sewing of her own.
Now, I must get back to Santa's workshop...Are you working on any special holiday projects? I'd love to hear about them.
Little Stitches - Aneela Hoey
While at Quilt Market, I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely and talented Aneela Hoey and also picked up a copy of her book, Little Stitches: 100+ Sweet Embroidery Designs 12 Projects
Aneela's book is full of sweet designs to dress up existing clothes or home dec items or add to just about any sewing project. There's even a pull out section with iron on tranfers of the designs included in the book. So many cute little animals, delightful girls, and fun every day objects to stitch.I know Miss P wants more of these designs embriodered on some of her other clothes. Just look at all those book marks! I think I'll let her do some of the embroidery though.
She loves the spruced up top!
Cloud 9
Today I am happy to share the finished embroidery project, a laptop sleeve!
First, I embroidered some yardage of Nethercote, a fabric from the Miscellany line from Cloud9 fabrics . Cloud 9 fabrics are all organic cotton and printed with low impact dyes. They are beautiful and great to work with.
I quilted a piece of solid purple fabric for the back of the bag.The quilting lines run horizontally on the finished bag to help the flap stay folded closed.
I sent the bag off to Michelle Engel Bencsko of Cloud9 Fabrics for her booth at Quilt Market. I hope she likes it.I used the laptop sleeve pattern by Keyka Lou. I shortened the flap so that more of the embroidery shows and also omitted the velcro closures. I think the horizontal quilting lines help the flap lay closed.
Wordless Wednesday
Now I've Sewn My A B Cs
I finally finished the flowery goodness on this Daisy Chain Sampler. The pattern is by Alicia Paulson.
I've stitched the letters from A to Z in the crewel wool that came with the kit. I had never embroidered with wool yarn and I really like the results. My satin stitch looks a lot better with the wool. The fluffiness of the yarn hides mistakes well.
This was a fun summer stitching project! 
Now we just need to fix and finish the walls in my sewing room so I can have a place to hang it when it is framed.
Daisy Chain
I fell hard for this sampler when I saw it on Alicia's blog. I immediately submitted my preorder for the kit and have been having a lot of fun stitching it since it arrived. There are quite a variety of stitches to try.
I had a little trouble with tension being a bit tight at first but then I switched to a small hoop as recommended; it worked like a charm.This is really a great summer stitching project.Also, if you need a refresher or are wanting to learn some new embroidery stitches, check out this site for some excellent tutorials. All of those beautiful pictures of interesting embroidery stitches make me want to embroider on everything in the house!
Anthropomorphic Embroidery
I picked up a really cute vintage tea towel a while back and had to duplicate it.
I found another fun pattern in Doe-c-Doe's vintage transfer pattern collection on flickr.These were the perfect project for the bus ride to Grandfather Mountain.
I have a real weakness for linens with happy, animated, kitchen items.
These cuties now live in my sister's kitchen. I think her granddaughter will want to dry dishes with them.After I had copied my vintage towel design I found the orginal Aunt Martha's pattern for the plates!
I see more embroidered kitchen items in my future. Aren't they cute! I think they might make time in the kitchen more fun, don't you?
My Little Angel
P an I were looking through this Christmas book and really liked some of the simple and classic decorations that were described. We decided to try making the angel shown in the book but to use felt instead of paper. P was able to practice some stitching. She couched the rick rack, did some spectacular beading, learned to stitch X's, and even learned how to make French Knots.
I think they turned out pretty cute. I do wish I could have gotten the face and head on mine to look a bit more like the picture in the book. P really likes her angel because it has such a happy smile.
I hope you have a happy smile on your face today too.
Patterns from Nature
P and I cleared out all of the waxed leaves to make room for our Christmas decorations. Before tossing them in the compost I traced some to use as embroidery patterns.
