This hot little number has been on my design wall for months. It’s next in the Windy City series of quilts. And it is ready for hand embroidery.

When I add the hand embroidery I always start with the focal point. In this case, it’s the little house. My first step is to outline the house and roof using a blanket stitch and size 12 pearl cotton threads that contrast in color with the shapes. This way the shapes pop out, giving them importance like a focal point deserves.

Next I add a chain stitch around the door to highlight that shape. Little windows are made with lazy daisy stitches in blue with a straight stitch of yellow inside the loop.

And to really make the roof pop, I’ve whipped stitches around the edge of the blanket stitch with blue thread.  A yellow thread is slipped under the tines of the blanket stitch to give a neat little pattern.

Now that the focal point is stitched, I can plan other areas to stitch on this small fused art quilt. Can’t wait to see what happens!