The red pillowcases I use are wearing out. The material is thin with holes and the seams are coming unraveled. As someone with time on my hands, I figured I would mend them with big patches. The size of the patch indicates just how decrepit this pillowcase has become.
I finished one corner, then noticed a few more holes, so I needed to add a patch.
You can see the technique. Cut the patch, draw a swoopy line, then tack the patch to the pillowcase, then big running stitch.
And you can see how much of the pillowcase is becoming a patch.
I used variegated perle cotton thread, and also a blanket stitch for the edges.
The seams needed a lot of assistance, so they got this cavalcade of stitches.
Close inspection of the other pillowcase found similar problems. It was at this point that I looked up the cost of new sheets, decided I could afford them, and discarded this project.
That’s one of the best thing to come with my middle age. When I cry uncle, I get rid of the project. It doesn’t need to be hanging around reminding me I haven’t finished it.
It’s the time of finishing many things, including this sampler. This is the third of three Dropcloth Samplers I bought in October 2020 with an Etsy gift card from Linda Johnston. Here is the first one, and here is the second one.
I think this is the sampler that has a tutorial on Creativebug. I couldn’t find information about a few of the stitches, so I did all of the sampler but those stitches, then signed up for the free trial and learned those stitches, then watched the tutorial for the schoolhouse sampler.
This sampler came with printed color, which was a fun addition. I’m pleased with how it came together.
Some favorite things: the shag carpet look of the turkey work, how great the brown and red look against the yellow background, and that I was patient enough to even stitch over the printing with the name on it. You can see that I wasn’t really into the close herringbone.
Also fun? I ordered the wrong color of DMC floss, and so I had this hot pink salmon kicking around. It made a great frame using split stitch. I also enjoyed the Cretan stitch. I was not a fan of the Japanese darning stitch. I had to draw guiding lines on the sampler.
Finished! This one took a while. It had a lot going on.
Here’s the overview, and then a bunch of pictures of things that went well.
I think I did a great job with the color choices for this alphabet, and I was pleased with how the variegated cursive alphabet turned out, because I don’t love backstitch and also often variegated doesn’t look so good. But this did.
The different kind of arches around the edge were where I used up bits of thread.
You might not have guessed, but the name and date thing really held me up. I spent a lot of time sketching out what I wanted it to look like and that sketching involved rulers and a lot of math. Given all the prep, it looks a little wobbly. I do like my whipped backstitch frame, plus the chain stitch and green alphabet below it. The color contrast with the numbers turned out great. I don’t love that the number six was so small on the sampler. That makes me look like I couldn’t handle the six.
On the left side, are some fun variations. Given a chance to do this again, I would do all the right-side stuff before the left-side stuff. The left side involved a lot of thick thread and it made it hard to keep tension in the hoop once I got to the right side.
Good old French knots. Yet another way to use up bits of thread. I had to stop making them because the back was a tangled thicket I couldn’t get my needle through.
Having some fun with variegated perle cotton and that backstitch. Also the thick yarn and couching! Love it!
These wagon wheels were fun. Whipped backstitch. Those colors became the alphabet colors on the right-hand side.
The squares showed off different things to do with basic stitches. I liked how this zig zag ended up reminding me of a 70s sweater.
Variegated thread also worked out well here in this basket weave. And I thought I did a good job choosing the gray color to set off the colors. I also tried to do a different style border around all of the squares. This was an alternating running stitch.
Stripes! Another good use for bits and bobs.
Clouds was my favorite square and also rather thick when I finished it.
I like what I did with polka dots. French knots surrounded by different variegated thread in chain stitch. What I don’t like is that this square is not square. It’s not me! It’s designed that way.
Who doesn’t love a good chain stitch rainbow?
My pink/purple color palette came in handy for this one
I also thought I did a nice job choosing colors for the plaid box. Very 90s.
And here’s the back, for those who are interested.
I have a new sheet set and that means new monogramming. It occurs to me that with monogramming, I can track how long I have each sheet set. The bottom sheets seem to fall apart somewhat quickly.
Anyway, this was the monogram that I designed. I’m happy with the results. You can see that I had originally sketched some fun curlicues, but decided to quit while I was ahead.
I bought eight different handkerchiefs from Etsy. They all had different designs, but all were of the flower variety.
With that starting point, I monogrammed each one a little differently. This was my favorite.
The lines reminded me of guidelines on paper when we were learning cursive.
This was a late birthday present, but it turned out well. Though I should have ponied up a bit more money for the handkerchiefs. They were scratchy, overall.
Photo fail. Tilt your head to the side to see what I completed with the final 2023 YOS sampler.
There are some things that went very well with this sampler, but I didn’t love the color of that bird and gave up on the whole thing. The bird is done in raised chain. The branches are in twisted chain. The flower that is filled in is done with reverse fly and square palestina.
What slowed me down was this twisted chain. I liked the effect, but I think my usual MO of stacking thread closer than it needs to be made this take forever.
I also thought the herringbone ladder filling went well aside from that point where they join.
Here’s the back view for those who are interested. It’s also oriented in the proper direction.
I wrote my usual yearly letters to myself and took this photo to include with them. I had a cold, and I can tell by my expression in the photo.
On my week off from work, I went to soak at Common Ground and really liked this Turkish towel, so I bought it. First order of business: monogramming. My favorite chain stitch with a variegated embroidery floss.
I’ve fallen behind on the August Year of Stitch sampler, and I am throwing in the towel. Honestly, it was the four rows of block shading that killed my progress. Block shading is essentially satin stitch, a stitch I don’t love. I also wasn’t pleased as to how the colors were coming along. Though the top ones were great.
Before I quit, I did turkey rug stitch (the sun, and the stitch I would probably do last if doing this again), sorbello stitch (the sky), cloud filling (the mountains), block shading (the tiny bit below the mountains), and a combo of Chinese knots and figure eight knots because I didn’t like how the Chinese knots were filling the space.
This was a fun design. Had I continued, I would have done brick couching that would have fallen off the picture in a fun and dramatic way. But sometimes it’s just good to call it and move on.
If you are interested, you can find this pattern at Maydel, and the colors are already chosen. (Or you can choose your own.)
When I started embroidering, I swore it was going to be a low-cost hobby. After all you only need some material, floss, needle, and a hoop, right?
Oh, but there are so many other things one could also “need.”
I’ve been a DMC floss girl my whole life, but today, I branch out to perle cotton. These are from Dropcloth Samplers. I also got some yarn-type stuff that will be great for couching.
I like to make some mark in one corner of my flat sheets so that I don’t have to try the sheet in a few directions in order to make length and width match the bed.
I went all out with this monogram, part of a download that includes four different treatments of the alphabet.
I learned that it’s tough to keep those outer lines straight. I think in the original they are straight stitches, but I switched them to backstitch because I thought straight stitches would catch on things in an active-use object. I also switched the French knots to figure-eight knots, as I prefer them.
Sometimes this color combo doesn’t work for me, but I like how it turned out this time.
The downside of fancy sheet monograms is that the back is very visible—it’s different if things are in a hoop. Maybe in the future, I could cut a square or circle to cover the back and tack it down so only back stitch or running stitch show. But maybe this is just fine.
