With an infant sleeping and nursing much of the day, and still the help of my husband around the house, I’ve been making good progress on my Dropcloth Color Wheel embroidery sampler. Over the weekend, I received some new colors of 12wt Aurifil (thank you, Alex!) so I now have all of the necessary colors to complete this sampler. I’m already thinking about what I’m going to embroider next, and can’t wait to use the thread for hand–or even machine–quilting, too!
This is my first time trying embroidery, so I’m learning the stitches as I go. YouTube is an amazing resource, isn’t it!? So far, blanket stitch is still the trickiest for me. My favorites are Algerian Eyes, Coral Knots, and Backstitch. In browsing other embroidery samplers, I’m noticing that there seems to be an endless list of stitches to try, but I want to try them all! Admittedly, I’m a bit frightened by French Knots, but will tackle them next. I chuckled at the fact that I was sewing the couched stitch while sitting on the couch (is there a couch-related reason for the name?).
The more I use the 12wt Aurifil, the more impressed I am. I’m a complete beginner at embroidery, so there may be benefits of using a floss or perle cotton thread that are unknown to me, but the smoothness of the Aurifil makes it a dream to stitch with. There’s no unraveling or splitting, and the thread is thick enough to make an impact with only one strand. The colors, of course, speak for themselves: vibrant, bold, and shiny.
I have only a few sections remaining, and then comes the fun of deciding what to do with this once it’s finished. My initial instinct is to finish it in the hoop, but I’m tempted to stitch it into a larger mini quilt for a more finished display.
If you stitch embroidery samplers, how do you finish them?
I’m linking up with Freshly Pieced’s Work in Progress Wednesday and Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash (hello, shiny new Aurifil!).
