Jan 21, 2020

This zenbroidery thing is really fun! I am so excited to play with the colours and to see where the colour combinations take me. What I am finding is that I start each flower with a colour and add in the other colours as the section takes shape. The final bouquet is going to be kaleidoscope of colour and I like it! 

I took a trip to Michaels today to get a fabric marker so that I can trace out a design for a friend who is moving on from Ottawa. That is all that I can say about that project just yet. A unicorn silicone mold was an exciting find for the soap I plan on making for my dear friend, Lilly. There were a few other molds of interest that I may go back for. Amazon has quite a selection of ones that will work well for some gag gifts that I am planning. **wicked grin**

With this return to stitching, there is a return of my ort jar. This zenbroidery pattern is making my ort jar so colourful and lovely as I stitch during these cold winter nights here in Ottawa. The fella' is upstairs in bed with the flu so I am downstairs stitching on my day off today, in between chucking food and medications at him in his germ infested room.

Happy stitching!

Jan 12, 2020

Happiest of New Year wishes to you all from wintry Ottawa. We had freezing rain all night and now we are in a snow flurry so it is a most awesome weekend to stay home and stitch! For me, it was a perfect way to recharge after a hectic month of kids visiting, family events, Christmas, work and life.

With the start of a new year, what is old is new again for me. Embroidery was a love of mine as a child, well before I discovered cross stitch. There are a few pieces stashed away upstairs that I stitched as a 10 or 11 year old from stamped embroidery that somehow made its way into our house. I have not done much embroidery since I was a teenager so it was a surprise to me to see how much my interest was captured by it recently. As part of my trying to continually learn and grow, I joined a facebook group Millenial Needlecrafts so that I can see what the kids are up to, as it were. What an amazing and dynamic group. For years, I have heard that the needle arts were dying out, but let me tell you, there is an amazing group of people who are doing some really neat things. The artistic expression and experimentation that is shared with the group is so inspiring. While I am not a huge fan of the profanity (odd, as I swear like a sailor in real life), I love the new avenues of design and ideas and have been inspired to pick up my non-blunt needles and thread to embroider again.

One idea that captivated me was zenbroidery, a stitching version of the adult colouring book. A quick search of Amazon came up with this kit:

It came with a stamped cloth and a needle as well as an instruction sheet that shows the needleworker how to do stitches like the chain stitch and satin stitch. I pulled out my hoop and this mess of threads that are leftovers from kits that I have completed.

While the freezing rain tapped against the windows all afternoon and evening, I stitched away at this piece and played with colours. Thanks to all of my years of cross stitch, I still have nice and even satin stitches. I love pulling out different colours to start on a section and then changing my mind as I stitch because the piece will speak to me differently by the time I go to add a colour. The beauty of this piece is that there are no rules.

Happy stitching!