SAL in July

Needles have been flying here since the last Stitch Along check in. There's nothing like new materials to inspire new work! The hand dyed floss from The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe has been a joy to work with in my embroidery and needlepoint projects.

If you haven't visited since the last SAL you probably didn't see the friendship block I did in embroidery instead of applique, partly because I don't do applique but also because it was a good excuse to play with the new floss! For those who have been here to see that block take shape you'll note I added flower tips to the roof of the caravan. I think they fill in that gap nicely.

I've also completed the little needlepoint case you saw in my last SAL post. The focal "patches" are a commercially available floss (but not DMC). The background is done in one of Nancy's hand dyed flosses. It has a subtle variegation to it that reflects the more obvious variegation of the brighter colors.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. I was concerned there would be too much background relative to the triangles. The variegation in the purple floss creates just enough interest to keep that from being an issue I think. And now I need a new project...

That caravan/travel trailer block was so much fun to stitch that I was sad to have it come to an end. Several ideas for variations on the theme come to me while I was working on it too. In a bit of serendipity look what showed up in my mailbox in the last few days:

I'd forgotten that I'd signed up for The Sketchbook Project for 2018. I don't paint or draw but I'm always looking for a way to introduce folks to the idea of needle and thread as a way to express themselves. Mash these two things together and my new project for the SAL has come into being!

The Sketchbook Project's blank pages are 5" x 7" and have to remain that size. The original caravan block was a bit too big but it was a fairly simple matter to shrink it down some. I wanted to find some other trailer silhouettes I could use though, especially since I'm reluctant to draw my own. It didn't take long to find this on Amazon.com:

Most of them are just the right size to fit into this Sketchbook, which makes me very happy.  I'm planning to stitch on cotton as usual and then sew the embroideries onto the paper pages of the sketchbook. The books aren't supposed to be any thicker than an inch when filled so I probably won't use all of the pages. Nevertheless, this ought to keep me occupied for a while. :- )

There are many other wonderful things being created with needle and thread in this group. To take the tour, click on!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Catherine, Mary Margaret, Timothy