What’s Stitching? Where to Start?

windycity18aThis 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.

windycity18bWhen 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!