Take A Stitch Tuesday (Weeks 1 & 2)

Last week I started the Take A Stitch Tuesday stitchers challenge. The TAST challenge started in January 2012 and I am going back to the beginning. So even though I will be behind (as of this posting the challenge is at stitch #58) I am still excited for this encouragement to keep me regularly stitching. I love doing embroidery and it is always a good day when I get/make time to do it. So why not aim for everyday! (*aim* being the key word here)

Since the challenge is only once per week, I plan to make each week's stitch a kind of daily meditation through the week. My goal is to create a body of work that is just for me. Inspired by Million Little Stitches, I intend to turn my sampler into a fiber book. It all feels very ambitious for me, but here goes...

Week #1 (beginning last week):

fly stitch

I linked each stitch together to create a forest of tall ferns. I experiemented with some silk thread I had which has irregular thicknesses. It was frustrating to work with and I am not super impressed with how it turned out. But the practice of learning the stitch was fun, and overall I'm pleased with the design.

And since I started last week, I began this week doing stitch #2: buttonhole stitch

Here you can see the stitches from both weeks featured.

And in addition to bordering the page with buttonhole stitch (currently researching the difference between blanket stitch and buttonhole stitch), I used what I think is buttonhole stitch to embroider a spiral in the center of this grateful heart.

This page in my fiber book is still a work in progress, but here it is so far. Incorporating Weeks 1 & 2 of the Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge.

 

Evolution of a Hanky

A dear friend of mine just lost her father suddenly and she has been thrown into an ocean of deep grief. As a way to hold her in my heart and to feel close to her, I started working on embroidering my first handkerchief. A gift for her. A labor of love.

One beautiful sunny day my husband took the kids sledding in the mountains, and I had the house to myself for almost an entire day. It was glorious!

I am fairly new to this art form and find myself falling more and more in love with the process with each piece I create.

From deciding on a design and choosing the colors...

to transferring the design to the chosen fabric...

 

 

and starting to place the stitches...

 

I love it all! 



And this day, I got to spread everything out on the kitchen table.
With Pandora playing on my iPhone, a mug of delicious tea, and no interruptions...it was incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

Then, as the days passed and I was able to steal a moment here and a moment there, I finished it.

 

 

 

It went off in a care package last Friday.

With love from Bellingham to Seattle.

 

 

Gratitude & Abundance

• When I close my eyes, I see images that inspire me to create. I am in a flow of creativity in my life right now that feels incredible! There are more ideas than I could ever have time to produce.

• My back is on the mend. I have accessed a gift inside all of this pain. And I hope it will last beyond when the pain is gone. (Be gentle with yourself Kerry.)

• Turns out communicating clearly pays off. Even with a 5 year old! I underestimate her sometimes. The capacity of my daughter's heart astounds me.

• A friend is buying some of my work. 3 embroidered prayer pockets. I had a huge multi-day process over creating a price for them. She didn't blink an eye when I finally landed on something.

• I vacuumed the living room rug today. I won't even say how long it's been. Then me and my son lied down on our bellies and read "Little Blue Truck Leads the Way".

Priorities

I am confined to my bed. It has been a weekend of self-imposed bed rest. After a week of horrendous back pain it became clear that I needed to stop trying to push through.

I am taking time to listen...to trust...to breathe deep. And receive the lessons and the gifts in this.

It is all too easy to put my needs last in a house full of the *loud* needs of others. Well, forget it! I matter and my well-being is a priority. Certainly not at the expense of anybody elses. But a priority nonetheless. This is the tricky part that I have yet to figure out. How to make everyone's needs a priority, including my own.

It is now Sunday evening, and all in all the weekend went fine. My husband stepped up and took over running the house and entertaining the children. I got time to rest and I hope my back will be up the tasks of the week ahead.

In the meantime, I got to work on some embroidery.