What We’re Stitching

Would you like to follow along with the class I’m teaching for the Asociación Española de Patchwork called Mi Casa es Su Casa? In this class, students free-cut shapes from felt fabrics and add intense hand embroidery. I’ve made up kits using Commonwealth Felt. They are suppliers of beautiful bright colors. I recommend felt with at least 20% wool content.

The process for creating their little felt casa begins with a background fabric. I picked this wine colored felt as a challenge to myself. It’s so dark and moody!

But I cheered myself up by placing a large billowing cloud on it. The cloud shape is free-cut to shape and held in place with large running stitches. Around the edge, I’m adding blanket stitches using a size 8 Ocean thread.

Although you’ve seen the finished product above, trust me. This design is completely improvised. Which is what I’ll be asking of my students. Improvisation makes the design unique to each person.

The Gift of Birds for You

I’m a bird lover. They are delightful to watch and so cheerful to have in my garden with their colorful feathers and busy lives. And I want you to enjoy them as much as I do!

So from now until the end of December I’m giving away these jolly fellows. Receive a free bird ornament like these on orders of $20 or more when purchasing from the Artfabrik store.

Or, you could make your own bird ornament. I call them New Birds from Old Favorites and your can see the directions on how to make your bird here. In any case, enjoy your bird!

An Easy Autumn Stitch Project

It’s autumn in my neighborhood. And that means trees with colorful leaves and chilly days. And chilly days means it’s time to sit down with an cozy stitch project like the Leaf on Wool free tutorial.

My Leaf on Wool free tutorial is an exploration of stitch combinations using only 2 variegated threads and one piece of fabric. This version is hand embroidered on wool using techniques from my book Joyful Stitching: Transform Fabric with Improvisational Embroidery.

The written and illustrated directions for Leaf on Wool, are also found in Free-Form Hand Embroidery on Wool along with 4 other projects stitched on wool. But you can join your completely free tutorial online by clicking here.