Tag Archives: 12 wt thread

One Year of Stitches: April

May 15, 2017 kittywilkin 3 Comments

Whoa! May is trucking along at quite a rate! Now that we are halfway through May, I thought it might be a nice time to share my April update for my 1 year of stitches embroidery project. I also share some of the embroidery resources I find myself visiting again and again.

For those who are new to this project, my 1 year of stitches project is a personal challenge to stitch at least one stitch every single day. I am working with no set plan, I don’t mark the fabric before stitching; I simply stitch whatever wherever whenever. I’ve been using my stash of 12wt Aurifil thread and loving it! It’s quite fun!! You can follow along with my daily stitches at @NQ1yearofstitches on Instagram.

Here’s a refresher of the monthly progress so far:

…after January’s stitching…

…after February’s stitching…

…after March’s stitching…

…and finally, here it is after April’s stitching!

I realized when looking at the photos that in April, I worked entirely in that center “coastline” section. It was not really intentional, but I suppose it just kept asking for more!

I think it all began with some rocks, and then some little critter footprints, and then took off from there.

I mostly stitch whatever comes to mind each day, without much influence from my everyday happenings. A couple stitches this month had some subtle meaning, however. I stitched a large rock on Good Friday and a lily flower sprouting out of the rock on Easter. Sometimes it just sneaks in.

On one particularly uninspired day, I showed my hoop to my husband and prompted, “Where should I stitch? Tell me a color and point to a spot.” He pointed to a spot and said “A piece of driftwood here.” Thus originated the couched stitch driftwood, which was followed by some 12wt Aurifil 2600-Dove sand and a few tufts of beach grass. Some days inspiration strikes; some, not so much.

I also added another wild and crazy layered flower consisting of long tailed lazy daisy stitches, lazy daisy, and pistil stitch. There might be a few french knots in there, too.

The boldness of the flower begged for some offsetting feature, so another woven picot appeared in the form of a big green leaf. I love the little 3-dimensional elements on this hoop!

I’ve had a few people ask about the embroidery books and resources I use, so I thought it would be helpful to compile a short list of some of my oft-visited resources.

Boho Embroidery by Nichole Vogelsinger
Sublime Stitching (https://sublimestitching.com/pages/tutorials)
Indian Parents Forum–currently down for maintenance, but a great resource when it’s up (https://indianparentsforum.com/embroidery-stitch-gallery/)
Molli Makes (http://www.molliemakes.com/craft-2/library-embroidery-stitches/)
Sarah’s Hand Embroidery Tutorials at RockSea (http://www.embroidery.rocksea.org/)

What are your favorite embroidery resources??

Hand Stitching, Quilting

Rainbow Hex Star {Sizzix Inspired Project}

May 20, 2016 kittywilkin 6 Comments

Last night kicked off the International Quilt Market, spring edition, which is in Salt Lake City this year. Much of my Instagram feed is flowing with pictures of sample spree booty, gorgeous booths, and peeks at new fabric lines and products. One product that is being introduced at Quilt Market as we speak is a new Sizzix die called Hex Star designed by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

I got to play with this die in advance and I’m sharing the project I made with it over on the Sizzix blog today! It included my very first y-seams, rainbow hand quilting with 12 wt Aurifil thread, and a fun go at embroidery quilting (I may have invented that term myself–is it such a thing!?) I share a close look at my hand quilting, a tip for even stitches, and many more photos of the full project here.

Although the mini quilt is bound and finished, I am 99.9% sure I am going to do more embroidery-quilting on the Alison Glass Endpaper outer border. I was debating whether to stick with the colors extending from each arm of the star or to mix it up in the outer border, but I think I’m going to stick with the same colors as the center. I shared more detail photos of the quilting and embroidery in my Sizzix post, so head over to see more!

Here are the 12 wt Aurifil colors I used, just in case you want to try some rainbow hand quilting, too:

5002 – Medium Red
1154 – Orange
2120 – Canary
1147 – Light Leaf Green
4140 – Wedgewood
2540 – Medium Lavender

I’ll be sure to show you when I finally decide it’s really finished. For now, I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts since this mini is technically finished (although is anything ever really fully finished when you have thread in your hand?)

english paper piecing, Hand Stitching, Quilting

September Goal {ALYoF}

September 7, 2015 kittywilkin 5 Comments

I completely missed August for A Lovely Year of Finishes (ALYoF), so I’ll just call it summer break. The ALYoF link up is one of the most successful ones at getting me to finally finish projects, though, so I want to be sure to sneak in September’s goal setting post before it’s too late (in other words, before midnight tonight). I’m choosing a quick and easy goal for this month, since there are a lot of behind-the-scenes projects going on, too.

My goal is to finish my Summer EPP Table Runner. I have a small bit of hand quilting remaining, and then I need to bind it. Easy peasey.

We spent a lovely relaxing family day at the beach today, so I decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. I always carry a couple of hand-sewing projects with me, either a small hand quilting project like this one, some English Paper Piecing, or both! The strong cool breeze of the ocean made the 90 degree day feel absolutely perfect, but it made it a bit tricky to photograph this light weight runner. I took a few photos in full sun, which is typically a photography no-no, but with the gorgeous view and glittering water, how could I resist?

Then I decided that the trek over to the shady half of the beach was worth it. This is just a tiny little lesson in quilt photography. Photographs in full sun result in washed out colors and highly emphasized wrinkles due to resulting shadows (above). Shady photos, however, provide much richer, truer, and almost more gentle colors and a more forgiving look at the quilt despite the lack of an iron’s smoothing touch (below).

I decided to back this table runner in Bee Sweet in the Morning colorway from Bonnie Christine’s Sweet as Honey fabric line. The bees in the table runner top are from the Bee Sweet in the Sunset colorway, so it coordinates fabulously.

I have only a bit more hand quilting to do, and then I MIGHT do a little bit of machine quilting to make sure all stays nice and securely despite the many inescapable washes that surely await anything that will live on our table.

I’m using 12 wt Aurifil thread #4140 Wedgewood, which is a perfect match. I love the subtle effect of the large quilting stitches in a coordinating color, and I’m very much looking forward to having this table runner finished and on our table. It can be a lingering reminder of our fun and beautiful summer. And it WILL be finished by the end of September!

I’m linking up with the September Goal Setting Party for ALYoF at Fiber of All Sorts and Sew Bittersweet Designs, then going to bed (with a couple hours to spare).

Hand Stitching, Stash Building

Nesting with Embroidery

May 4, 2015 kittywilkin 19 Comments

Some people experience nesting before a baby by feeling the urge to clean and reorganize everything. I wish I felt that way, honestly. It would be wonderful to have that “nesting” drive all the time and to effortlessly have a pristine and organized home. Not being the most enthusiastic cleaner, though, I have been nesting by thinking about small stitching projects I can do a tiny bit at a time for once our little bundle of joy makes his appearance.

I’ve been wanting to try embroidery and figure this may be the perfect time! I am hoping that by having some embroidery floss or thread and a ready-to-go hoop sitting on the table next to the glider, I will have a little creative outlet while nursing and rocking and nursing and rocking (with plenty of breaks to gaze in wonderment at my little boy).

Yes, I’ve been nesting. I bought the Color Wheel Sampler by Rebecca Ringquist of Dropcloth, and a couple of adorable needle minders made by Amanda from What the Bobbin (the little house is one of them!). Alex from Aurifil was kind enough to send me a collection of 12wt embroidery thread–the Splendor 1920 collection by Bari J–to get me started in my embroidery adventures. I’m already in love with the smooth, gorgeous thread and am looking forward to expanding my collection (and it just may encourage me to do some more hand quilting, or even try using 12wt thread with 50wt in the bobbin for machine quilting!).

I’ve been slowly learning the stitches and so far I’ve completed the herringbone stitch section on the color wheel. Embroidery is awfully fun, and quite relaxing.

The Bari J Splendor 1920 collection of 12wt Aurifil thread is such a gorgeous rainbow of silky thread. After using embroidery thread and perle cotton for my initial embroidery attempts, using this 12wt thread is a dream. I love that it doesn’t separate into strands, and it is silky smooth without being twisty like perle cotton. At first, I thought I might need to use two strands, but one strand ended up being ample to cover the guiding lines. I’m definitely looking forward to working 12wt thread into my quilting projects, too.

For those of you who are seasoned embroiderers, do you have any tips to share with a newbie?

I’m linking up with Monday Makers, Design Wall, and Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, since these are all gorgeous additions to my stash that have not yet been shared, and it seems like this week’s stash theme is thread! As an added fun little tidbit, my baby boy has a good chance of sharing a birthday with Mr. Molli!!