Embroidered Towels

My friend just finished her basement and she has a new, beautiful kitchen. I decided to embroider some towels for her as a birthday gift. I had purchased the iron-on images some time ago.

I've decided that iron-on transfers are the only way to go. There are some adorable embroidery patterns out there but most all of them require you to use those ink transfer sheets. No matter how hard I press, I CANNOT get the image to transfer over well enough for me to see the image. I end up making some of it up as I go and it isn't pretty. Yup, I'm sold on the iron-ons!

More Embroidered Towels

I have mentioned how much I love all things Hillary Lang. She has an adorable line of Gnome embroidery towels. Ever since we saw Gnomeo and Juliet, I've fallen in love with gnomes. I can't wait to gift these towels!

For the Love of Embroidery

M y favorite kitchen towels are the ones I've embroidered. I decided I need a few more when I found these cute iron-ons from Stitchers Revolution.

Handmade Holidays

I FINALLY found a frame for my embroidered flowers! I embroideed the flowers for my grandma as her Christmas present. I think (hope!) she will like them. My great fear is that the frame will break en route. Please no, please no.

Finished Pillow

I posted images of my embroidered elves as they were in progress. I considered framing them but then changed my mind and made them into a pillow instead. I love the way they came out!

Elves

Most recently Brian was in Japan for 10 days (on another post I'll tell you all about the fabric he brought back. I have the best husband ever!). The evenings are BORING without him around so I would embroider to pass the time. Aren't these two little elves adorable? The elves are Jenny B's inspiration. So cute!

I've got big plans for these two. Stay tuned!

Project Raqua

I love red and aqua--together. Rockwa, Raqua, Rockua, whatever you call it, I love it. Stay tuned to see what I'm creating here.

Towel #2

I'm trying to finish up embroidering towel #2. Here is a post about towel #1. It's slow going. Summer is such a busy time that I have very little time for projects lately. I'm not the only one, right?

I love these sunbonnet belles. They take me back to my Holly Hobby days.

Embroidered Towel

Since I took up reading this book, I've been inspired to embroider a towel. Here is my progress on this little lady. She's cute. I used to have a Holly Hobby bedspread. I so loved HH. This takes me back....

Cute Book

I have been slow with my project progress lately, hence the inconsistent blogging. I have knit three new pairs of socks but can't post any pictures of them because of the rules listed in the Blue Moon Sock Club. It's hard to spend time on a project and not be able to blog about it. Oh well.

But I wanted to post a quick note about my newest book purchase. B and I had a date night and wandered around Barnes and Noble one night. He went his way and I went mine. Ha ha. I bought this linens book. B's response was, "a whole entire book about kitchen towels?" I guess that is kind of a strange topic. But EllynAnne Geisel wrote The Apron Book so I knew the Linens book would be good.

I don't have any old linens. All of my towels are from Target or PierOne. I love the idea of having a collection of old linens. Like quilts, old linens have a story to tell. Growing up I recall one particular towel my mom used that was embroidered on. I wish I had that towel because I have a memory assiciated with it. I remember my mom draping it on her shoulder while she busied herself around the kitchen.

I don't have any grandmothers who are going to leave me any vintage linens. So, I'm on the hunt for some vintage linens. I am glad I discovered the book just to help me identify the timeperiods. I love the idea that during the Depression, women used flour sacks as towels and embroidered them to make them pretty. We just don't appreciate those little things anymore. Like I said, these linens have a story behind them!

Finished Embroidery

I finally finished my flower patch embroidery project. It took me longer than I thought it would. My plan is to get this framed and matted for my home office.

I had a really hard time finding an embroidery project to begin with. I went to my library, Barnes & Noble, Jo-Anns, and looked online. I found this project here. I just opened a Word doc and inserted the picture as a graphic image. Then I resized it to make it larger. I then had to use DMC Embroidery Tracing Paper to get the image on my linen. If you have an embroidery book you love, please let me know! I heard that Alicia is writing an embroidery book. She wrote about it here. I can't wait!

Embroidery WIPs

When I was a little girl, my mom bought me a cross-stitch kit. I remember that I kept having to ask for her help to undo some of the knots I created when stringing the embroidery floss through the fabric. She was patient and would show me how to be more careful and go more slowly so as to avoid the knotting. Now here I am an adult woman and I still have the same problem! But that aside, I have rediscovered my love of embroidery! My knowledge of stitches isn't much, but what I know, I stick to. I am comfortable with split stitch and satin stitch and can even make a somewhat perfect French knot! So, I get by.

You probably recognize the Wee Wonderfuls Hillary Lang pattern. The flower pattern is a free download from the Needlecrafter site.

For you other knitters on a budget, purchasing embroidery floss is almost as fun and fulfilling as buying yarn. And much cheaper too! The color selection is vast so I'm nowhere near bored of my collection yet. But as newbie embroiderer, here are my issues and questions:

1. The back of my patterns aren't very pretty. Are yours? Unlike knitting, the backside isn't nearly so interesting or attractive. Maybe it shouldn't be, I don't know.

2. Why do most craft stores only sell cross-stitch stuff? Maybe I just don't know where to look but finding a flower pattern to embroider took me a long time. Of course, all of Hillary's stuff is great so I am lucky there.

3. How do you store your thread? I've just been wrapping mine around those white plastic holders. Sometimes I have to scoop around my box to find a color. I figure there is probably a better system.

Please do send me links or ideas that you've come across that you think I can benefit from. I really appreciate it!