Does my house look a little drab to you?

I mean, it could be any house on the block! So ordinary and plain.

Time to add some pizazz!

I’ve always wanted a rooftop garden. However, climbing a ladder to water the plants at my age is not a pretty sight. So stitching a garden on the rooftop saves my dignity and your eyesight.

Rooftop garden plants are stitched with those same variegated size 12 threads: Lime Frappe and Lettuce used for the grass. Next, Lazy Daisy stitches make the leaves, and French Knot flowers (using a Size 12 Wisteria) dot the roofline. Later, I fill in the Lazy Daisy loop with a straight stitch and Red Hots thread.

As for the tree growing out of the chimney, I can’t explain it.

Ever build a house? I’m no architect, but I do know you want siding on your home. Otherwise, it will be very drafty.

My next adventure in rethinking this step-out from the Yellow House project in Joyful Stitching is to finish the house.

Landscaping around the house is necessary too. (Please note that my hands never touch a shovel, and my back thanks me.) But there is some heavy lifting to complete the landscaping. Filling in the area with long and short stitches for the grassy area takes time. The good news is that I’m using a variegated size 12 thread called Lime Frappe, so I don’t have to change thread colors as I stitch.

And those trees along the horizon line? Sets of bullion knots using a size 12 Lettuce, only mildly variegated. Don’t you love how the trees pop off the background fabric? I should have been an arborist!

How do you rethink or reinvent an embroidery project? Yellow House Landscape is a project for my book Joyful Stitching. And I still have all the step-outs (stages of making the piece) created for the book photos. So I can’t just let those partially made embroideries hide in a closet! Time to air them out and rethink a new design using a step-out as the canvas.

Compare the completed Yellow House (top) with a step-out released from the closet (bottom). Both are stitched on silk fabric using size 12 pearl cotton threads. The silk is fused to wool batting using Misty Fuse fusible web.

See the lines drawn on the silk? These simple lines are drawn with a very fine Staedtler (.3mm or .5mm acid-free) micro pen and to help with the placement of elements in the design. Later, I’ll cover the lines with stitching.

Challenge accepted. I shall now reinvent the Yellow House design! Wish me luck!