The Seed Stitch

 

I have been doing embroidery since I was a child.  And in all that time I have used lots of different stitches.  But recently I learned about and have tried a new stitch: the seed stitch.

 

It is a very simple stitch.  It essentially is a small straight stitch. I make mine about 1/4-1/3 inches long.   What makes this stitch a little different is instead of stitching it along a line, you do the one stitch scattered over an area like you were scattering seeds on the ground. Seed stitches are used as fillers, a stitch that covers a large area.  

 

 

 

Now I noticed in some of my embroidery books that often it is stitched in pairs and the pair of stitches were scattered.  It gives it a slightly different look than the single seed stitch.  I like using the single stitch, you might like the double.  Try both and see.

 

What I like about the seed stitch is it can be used to emphasize one part of your design like the star in the heart

 

Or it can be used to give the illusion of a solid as it does with the stripes of the heart.

 

It is a simple stitch to do and it gives an interesting look to your embroidery.  Try it yourself.

 

 

© 2021 Cheryl E. Fillion

 

 

Naptime

It has been cold and snowy all week where I live.  Cold weather always tempts me to do one of two things:  crawl under a quilt and read or crawl under a quilt and nap.

 

Napping is becoming more and more essential in today's world of tablets and smart phones and overbooked schedules.  Books are being written on how to nap, the benefits of naps, and the enjoyment of naps.  Businesses are encouraging naps as a way to increase productivity.  Clinics are being created to study sleep deprivation and its effect on our health.

 

While daily naps have not been accepted in America, medical research is finding that lack of sleep is actually a danger to our health.  Sleep deprivation increases our stress which can lead to high blood pressure.  According to the National Sleep Association, 100,000 highway accidents a year leading to 1,500 deaths are due to fatigue. Not getting enough sleep can stop your immune system from functioning properly which leads to more frequent and longer lasting illnesses.

 

Now a nap here and there is certainly not going to take care of all the sleep deprivation that America suffers from.  But it can't hurt either.  Naps tend to refresh us.  They allow our minds and bodies to relax.  This increases our ability to accomplish things and to make fewer mistakes.  We are more likely to be sociable when we are rested. Our anxiety and depression will lessen.  It is even thought that if you think of a problem before you go to sleep, the solution will come while you're sleeping.

 

Naps are good for our creativity.  They counterbalance the busyness of our lives that doesn't leave any room, energy or ideas left for our art.  It gives us that extra boost our souls need to do something fulfilling for us.  How many of you want to do anything but be a couch potato when we are tired.

 

How long a nap last varies from person to person.  Some people feel refreshed after 15 minutes; some need an hour or more to feel any rest.  Some need dark and quiet while others doze just as well in a crowded room.  (I had an uncle who slept through every family gathering for as long as I remember and we had pictures to prove it.)

 

So if you find yourself overwhelmed this week, frustrated that you can't accomplish what you want and not wanting to be around anyone, take a nap.  It will do you and the world, a universe of good.  Nighty-night.

 

© 2018, 2021 – Cheryl Fillion

 

Filling the Well

I have been in need of ideas for my blog and after looking over what I have already written, this blog helped me and I thought it might help you so I am reposting it here.

 

If you are just starting your creative life or have been in it a while, you will find there are times when you come up empty.  You have nothing to create, no ideas whatsoever.  It is almost like putting a bucket in a well and coming up with dust.  Your well is dry.

 

The well is that part of us that collects all the drops of ideas, inspirations, dreams, joys, every little part that goes into our creativity.  It is not a matter of just picking up a brush and painting we must have something inside to paint.  It does not mean putting down one word and the rest follow, there must be a thought and emotion behind that one word for all the rest to come. 

 

This well can be fed by anything: working in the garden, going to a movie you want to see, reading a book, wandering through a flea market, listening to your favorite music without interruptions, smelling a lovely bouquet of roses, doing needlework or even cooking. How you fill your well may differ from how someone else fills theirs.  The variety is endless.  And the choice is yours.

 

You may find that ideas come when you are not even searching.   How many of you have come up with ideas while in the shower?  I occasionally get entire poems while soaking in a bath.  I hated that because I would have to get out of the tub to write down the poem before I forgot it.  (My brother has helped with this by finding some water soluble crayons for me to use in the tub.  Now you are just as likely to find poems on my bathroom tile as on paper.)

   

Where ever and what ever you do to fill your well, the important part is that you fill it.  Don't wait until the well is dry and you're scooping up dust, continually fill the well.  Make sure that you include on a regular basis those things you enjoy, that fill your soul.  Don't worry about what any one else thinks, this is important to your creativity, so it is important for you to do.

 

You might want to keep a notebook of the ideas you come up with.  If you record it somewhere, just a word or a brief description, you then have it for safekeeping and your mind can move on to gathering more drops for your well.  (If you are one who gets ideas in the car, take a recorder - don't try to write it down while driving.)

 

 So now go out and gather your drops and get that well over flowing.  

 

© 2019, 2021 – Cheryl Fillion

 

Mittens for Lunch

Mittens for Lunch

 

 

So many things changed in 2020 with the pandemic.  But so many new things happened.

 

I had one small thing change which turned out to be fun.  Usually in December our quilt guild has a potluck luncheon.  But of course we had to change that.  So instead we had a socially distanced lunch.  We were able to be together but instead of bringing a dish to share, we just brought our own lunch. (I had a ham on rye sandwich.)

 

But the fun new thing we did for the lunch was to decorate our place setting.  I have a snowman plate so I thought I would decorate with a snowy theme.  I thought this would be easy but finding a snowy fabric for placemats and napkin actually turned out a bit challenging.  There was no Christmas fabric left at the big box fabric store (I guess everyone was sewing for Christmas) but at a favorite quilt store I did find some white dots (and what looked like tiny metallic silver dots) on navy.  

 

I then took my mitten cookie cutter and traced it on to some fusible webbing and then ironed it on white and red fabric and appliquéd 3 sets of mittens on to the navy dotted ‘snow’ fabric.  I used a hand sewn buttonhole stitch to sew them down.  I then quilted the placemat with diagonal lines and with the addition of some snowflake sequins, my place mat was done.

 

 

I decided to make a napkin ring (I did make a napkin with the same navy fabric) but I wanted to do something different.  So I took the mitten cookie cutter and with some red roving wool and needle felted a mitten and added a snowflake sequin to that as well.

 

 

  I wasn’t sure how to make the ring part.  I didn’t like how a fabric loop looked as the ring and I didn’t have any elastic to make a ring.  So with some white fuzzy yarn, my ring turned out to be a tie.  I just folded the napkin and tied the yarn around it.  It probably wasn’t very fancy but I didn’t care I liked it and I was ready for the lunch.

 

 

 

 

We had a nice lunch.  I didn’t win a prize for my place setting but that was OK because I liked what I made.  I did win 12 fat quarters playing bingo after the lunch.  So I can’t complain.

 

 

While a lot of things changed in 2020, a lot of new things came about. Some of those things were challenging, some disappointing but in the case of our luncheon, some were fun and creative.

 

©2020 Cheryl Fillion