The finish I’m sharing today measures only 4″ across, but probably took more hours of work and provided more peaceful moments than most of my other projects. I’m relatively new to embroidery, with really only my Dropcloth Color Wheel sampler and the embroidery stitching I did on a mini quilt a while back as projects under my belt, but when Alison Glass sent me some of her Stitched fabric, part of her new Seventy Six fabric line for Andover Fabrics, it begged to be… well, stitched.
I’m so happy I obliged, because I just love this little hoop!
When the Stitched fabric arrived, I had just completed my Ocean Path quilt for our big Quilt Theory debut, and I was in the final push stage of finishing a quilt that will be in the February issue of Love, Patchwork and Quilting magazine, so picking up a small, no pressure, no purpose, no pattern hoop of Stitched and my 12wt Aurifil thread stash was the perfect brain palate cleanser.
This was back in September, according to my good ole’ Instagram feed, and since that time, ending just a couple of days ago, I’ve picked this little hoop up for 1-20 minute intervals (and 20 minutes might be leaning on the long end) every here and there: a quiet moment when the kids were all playing nicely together, a few seconds here while having a minute lax time while cooking dinner, or just because I needed to MAKE and had not yet had a chance that particular day.
I stitched whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted, and tried many different stitches.
I used Aurifil 12wt thread from my stash, in colors (left to right from photo above): 2530-Blossom Pink, 2435-Peachy Pink, mystery orange–the only Aurifil tag that has ever fallen off a spool!, 2120-Canary, 1147-Light Leaf Green, 2884-Green Yellow, 5005-Medium Turquoise, 2540-Medium Lavender, and 2515-Light Orchid. I used a single strand for all except the turquoise x’s, for which I use two strands. If I were to do it again, I would probably stick with a single strand since I love the crisp aesthetic that results.
Toward the end, I went a little crazy with french knots, but I do love them so and they make a great “filler” around the edges.
Since the pattern is printed on the fabric, there was no actual end, so it was up to me to decide how close to the edges to stitch. At first I thought I’d leave a bit open, but I just couldn’t stop stitching. As it is, most stitches extend to the absolute edge of the hoop. I kind of love it.
I finished it using the methods (minus the plan-ahead phase, since I didn’t plan ahead lol) shared in this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew. I stitched the running stitch around the excess fabric, pulled it tight, knotted and tied it, then trimmed off the extra fabric. Next I cut a 4″ wool felt circle using my Sizzix machine and stitched it onto the back with coordinating 12wt Aurifil thread and a blanket stitch. I’m quite happy with the finish, and definitely plan to make more. In fact, I very well might aim to always have a free-form brain palate cleanser embroidery hoop laying around, since it really worked wonders for helping me get back into a better mental place during especially hectic, crazy kid, too many (mostly self-imposed) expectations-filled days. Making works magic, doesn’t it?
I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and then sending this hoop off to a friend!
Night Quilter 
Hand embroidery is meditative…even in a short time frame. Your piece is beautiful!
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Very nice. I love embroidery too. But, alas, I get really tired of it always being “framed” in a hoop. I know this is an inexpensive way to do it, but I prefer to have them wrapped on oil canvas or traditionally framed. I don’t think the hoops do it justice.
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Hi Sandra! I will certainly keep that in mind for next time! This is such a tiny piece, I really like the small confined border of the simple hoop. I’ll look into other finishing methods, too–do you know of any tutorials or resources for us embroidery brand-newbies? Thank you in advance!
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This is such a beautiful little jewel, Kitty! I love every tiny stitch–and the way you finished it off is perfect. You are an expert at finding those spare minutes to be productive, and I’m sure they are few and far between.
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Simply stunning!
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wow! fantastic work! thanks for sharing & happy holidays! 🙂
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Kitty – this is fabulous!!!! (remember when you were afraid of french knots? 😉 I *knew* you would love them!!)
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Love this Kitty. And I love your phrase brain palate cleanser – I wish I had had a few of these over the years!! Thanks for sharing the tutorial I never knew how to finish hoops of nicely so they have always been done rather badly before ……
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Absolutely gorgeous!
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Stunning – just love the colours – it reminds me of the adult colouring books that I enjoy.
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Absolutely beautiful!!! What a wonderful way to enhance Alison’s amazing fabric. Laura
Sent from my iPhone
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Absolutely beautiful! So vibrant!
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You can never have too many French knots, Kitty! Lovely work. It sounds like you had fun making it in those snippets of time.
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Gorgeous! So fun to look at – great job!
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I’ve never seen this fabric before. The embroidery looks lovely
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Gorgeous! Lucky friend:)
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The bright coloured flosses on the dark background are just perfect. I agree, there is such satisfaction in adding a few stitches here or there –making — inbetween crazy daily life.
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It is lovely! Such a pretty colors and hand stitches 🙂
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Love, love, love! So pretty Kitty!
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I saw this over on Aurifil’s feed on IG and fell in love with it and was so excited to see that you made it. It is so fabulous Kitty!!
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This is an amazing project. I hope you keep it for yourself.
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It is so fun and colorful, Kitty. I also love how the gray contrasts perfectly as the background. Do you have your next embroidery project picked out?
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It’s gorgeous, Kitty! All those bright colours really sing against the dark background. I agree that having a little something quick and simple to pick up can brighten up a busy day.
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this is soooo gorgeous
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So glad I’ve found your blog, I’ve just got into cross stitching and embroidery. I love what you’ve done with the fabric, it looks beautiful! 🙂
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This is absolutely stunning. I bet you felt very chuffed upon completion!
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This looks amazing. I love that you used dark fabric. What did you use to draw out your pattern? It looks like maybe some kind of white pencil?
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Your project is stunning! Thanks also for the link to finish the back.
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