Jennie's Threads

Sometimes when I'm scrolling through Instagram or browsing Pinterest I come across something that totally grabs me and I know I'm going to have to make it. That's what happened with this project. I've long-followed Natalie Lymer of Cinderberry Stitches - one of the first large projects I bought was one of her patterns combining embroidery and patchwork - we'll skate over the fact I still haven't started it! So knowing my daughter loves cats, this little embroidery pattern was a no-brainer. But of course, whilst I may know I'm going to stitch it, finding the time is another thing. It took me a year to buy the pattern, and then another few months to actually start it. And you know what - it only took a few evenings' work! I've embroidered it on some linen, using DMC threads, mostly in two strands. I really struggled with the leaf on the bottom left - I wanted bigger gaps between the straight stitches (rather than a solid appearance) and I was...

My first finish of 2018 is creeping in as a 2017 Finish Along finish, as the link-up is open for a few more days! It's a Triceratops embroidery and she has to be the cutest Triceratops out there. I planned this back in September, and picked out bright pink fabric, but it wasn't until December that I transferred the design and made a start. And the delay was fortuitous. I had planned to stitch her out in purple, but in mid-December, I ended up in a little sewing shop in Morpeth and spotted the DMC Coloris threads just as we were leaving - and the blue, aqua and pink variegated thread was perfect! The pattern is from Wild Olive. I stitched Miss Triceratops in stem stitch using three strands of thread. The tree and ground are in back-stitch using two strands of the thread and the stars are French knots in two strands. This will remain in the embroidery hoop and is for Jessica's bedroom wall. It's also a first tick off the list to create a hoop for both girls every m...

Over the last few weeks I've been doing a fair amount of hand stitching, including raw-edge applique using blanket stitch for a few of the Splendid Sampler blocks. I was looking for a more interesting blanket stitch on Pinterest, when I came across a pin , as you do, and I had to drop everything and make one. I used Finca #16 perle threads in warms - all the warms. I changed thread colour when the length I was using ran out. I drew the "circles" free hand with a Frixion pen, changing the width between the lines randomly. It's mounted in a 6" embroidery hoop and will hand in Jessica's nursery. Then I was doing another Splendid Sampler block and had a bit of a play with a flower motif. I wanted to have more of a play than that specific block would allow, so prepared myself a little 4" hoop. That was an unexpected diversion!

I've been doing quite a lot of embroidery since Jessica arrived. It started with one of those dangerous hours where I was cuddling the baby with one hand and browsing Pinterest with the other. I don't know how I found it now, as is the way with Pinterest, but I came across an embroidery designer I'd never heard of before: Kelly Fletcher. I followed the links through to her pattern store and was blown away. There were so, so many patterns I could have started right away. I pinned quite a lot, and then picked my favourite, an alphabet sampler, paid my money and printed it off. This is my progress so far: A-D but no wheels! I've now received the threads I was missing, so there's no excuse for the wheels to still be missing. I'm loving the challenge of this piece. Because Kelly's designs are rooted in Jacobean crewel-work, she uses a lot of raised stitches in her designs - no backstitch here! I'm getting happier with my stem stitch and I think I'v...

I'm still working on these nursery hoops for Mia and I've got a few more finished since I last shared... in March! And I've got them on the wall. Brolly girl: this is a pattern by Tartan Kiwi and I just love it. I reduced it to 70% and used up every last piece of the light blue fabric to make it big enough to fit in the hoop!  I made a second one for me which turned out to be a mini mini mini quilt and now hangs on my quilt wall. The umbrella theme continued with a small Forever Friends cross stitch - I complete this years ago (maybe 7 or 8 years) and it has sat in a box with other unloved cross stitch all this time. I finally mounted it in a hoop and it fits right in! The next two were very hard work - honest. Isn't this Art Gallery print pretty? And it fits perfectly inside the hoop. I added interfacing to give it a bid more body and that was it! And this uses some Heather Ross fabric which @sleepinsarah sent me - I believe Moo has a matc...

I introduced you to this little project a couple of weeks ago. I prepared and stitched three or four in a relatively short space of time, then I started on the French knot hoop and progress slowed. Here's the current state of that particular monster: This little hoop seemed to be a bit of a roadblock, so rather than waiting to finish it before starting some more, yesterday I started another one: I've loved this foundation pieced design since Juliet released it and this was the perfect excuse to have a try. I reduced the pattern to 70% so it fit in a hoop and used some Kona solids and a new purple fabric. It seemed to take forever to work out the size of the pieces of fabric I needed, cut the fabric, and trace the pattern (I use freezer paper for my foundation patterns and can't be bothered to work out how to print on it, so I trace the patterns and it doesn't really take too long). But by bedtime yesterday I had my finished girl with a brolly. I cut two lot...

We are moving house. Just five minutes round the corner. It seems like there is tonnes to do, so of course I'm focussing on the important stuff... in the new house, Mia will have a much (much) larger nursery and a bigger room means more wall space. I've decided I'd like to fill it with embroidery hoops, much like this pin. And Michael is happy to go along with it. http://www.purlbee.com/2007/03/02/liberty-of-london-swatch-portraits/ I've spent far too long on Pinterest gathering ideas - you can find my inspiration board here , and this week I've finally started. The plan is that a lot of the hoops will have embroidery, or applique or even small piecing, but I'm also on the look out for some pretty fabrics which would be a focal in themselves, unadulterated by me. This isn't the type of fabric I tend to stash, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled as I go fabric shopping - any excuse! This was the first hoop I completed: no particular reason or special ...