Embroidery Samplers

I have been doing embroidery since I was about 9 years old.  It is always my go-to needlework when I am traveling or just want to relax.  But the one thing I have never done is an embroidery sampler.

Embroidery samplers were a type of needlework young girls did back in the 1700 and 1800s to show off the needlework skills.  Remember there were no machines back then, so girls and women had to know how to sew to provide clothes and bedding for their family.

The samplers usually had the alphabet, occasionally a bible verse, some flowers, people or animals stitched on it. Often times different stitches were used to create the design but much of the time it was just cross stitched.  If you ever find a finished sampler, you have a prize, especially if the creator put their name and date it was made on it.

Samplers seemed boring to me which is why I never did any.  But lately I have wanted to make a sampler of sorts.  Not the kind I just described but some picture to show off different stitches.  You can still find sampler designs that are printed on fabric in shops or on line (that was another thing, the designs of samplers from long ago were not printed on fabric, the young girls and women created the design from scratch).  But I wanted to create one uniquely my own.

So I started looking for ideas.  I found one sampler set up to look like a color wheel with different stitches in different colors in concentric circles.  I found another one as a quilt with 4 inch blocks each holding a different stitch.   I liked the color wheel idea but it just wasn’t what I was looking for.  And I certainly didn’t need another quilt.

So looking around the room to get some ideas, I then saw my logo at the top of this page.  I would make a sampler with the Heartfully Cheryl 3 heart logo.  I even decided to do the stitching just in the pink colors of the logo (well, except for the tiny heart which is white in the logo.  If I put this on white fabric I didn’t think I would be able to see any stitching with white thread so I am using a very light pink).

I first enlarged the logo and traced it on a piece of white cotton.

Design on cotton

And then I did the outline of each heart in a stem stitch.  That was my first challenge since the stem stitch is one stitch I always have trouble with.  It never looked very stem-y but almost like a lopsided one sided cross stitch.  But this time the embroidery fairies were with me and I think the stitch turned out pretty nice.

Embroidered outline

I decided to do just one stitch in the little heart.  Even on this enlarged version of the logo it is only 1 ¼ inches wide.  So I used a wonderful filler stitch called the seed stitch.  It is just little straight stitches randomly put all over the design in various directions.  It is easy to do and does fill up an area rather quickly and nicely.  If you haven’t tried it, do so sometime.

Small heart embroidered

I am still in the process of stitching it so I will post some more next week.  


©  2019- Cheryl E. Fillion

The Healing Power of No

The word no is probably the first word any child learns.  With that word they learn choice.  No, they don't want that toy. No, they don't want that spinach.  No, they don't want to go to bed.   The parent uses that word to keep the child safe.  No, you can't run into traffic.  No, you can’t play with matches.  No, you can't run with scissors.  As much as a person relished saying the word no as a child, they may find it difficult to say no as an adult.

When we say no, we run the risk of disappointing or hurting others.  They then in turn may reject us or be angry with us.  So to avoid hurting others and being rejected ourselves, we say yes - even to those things we don't want to do.  What actually happens is we give up our choices, and a little bit of our self-esteem diminishes. 

Being able to say no is a choice and actually saying no improves our health.  If we continue to say yes to habits that affect our health (saying yes to a smoke or a drink) or to roles that no longer fit us (a parent who continues to take care of adult children), it distracts us from our own life and from our creativity.   Saying no allows us to take a stand for what is important in our life

There will always be someone to whom saying no is considered an insult.  They will feel that in some way you have rejected them. You have in fact disappointed them. Remember that when doing what you need for yourself, it will require disappointing others.  But by saying no to them, you have shown them that in fact they also have the choice of yes and no and that they can follow their own path to a healthy life.

You can help yourself and others by making a list of what is important in your life, how you want to spend your time.  If you know where yes is needed in your life, it is easier to say no to others. 

Saying no is powerful.  It allows us a choice in our lives; we are able to take a stand for what we truly need.  And it keeps us safe, just as when we were children, from doing something that is harmful to our minds, bodies or spirits.

© 2019 – Cheryl Fillion

 

The Same but Different – Part 2

I wrote a while back about a quilting project I have been working on where I have the same pattern repeated but with a slightly different twist to each individual block.  I wanted to see if I could create the same embellishment design but using different techniques. 


The block is a simple 4 – 4inch half square triangle blocks next to an 8 inch half square triangle block.  Each block has gray fabric along with a solid color which pretty much uses the color wheel. 

Basic Block

The embellishment design is a flower cookie cutter.  The first two blocks I finished were a couched fancy yarn and then an  spoolknitted cord.

Cookie Cutter

The next three were appliqué in different techniques.  My favorite appliqué technique is with the button hole stitch.   You draw your design on a fusible mesh (the paper side of course.  A fusible mesh is a layer of glue on a sheet of paper.).  Cut out the design and iron it on the wrong side of the fabric.  Cut out the fabric, peel off the paper and then iron that fabric on to a base fabric. 

Buttonhole Applique

So with this block I ironed the flower shaped mesh on the back of the green fabric, cut it out and ironed it on the red.  Then to secure it even more I embroidered a buttonhole stitch around the edge.  You can use other stitches as well. You can even use stitches from your machine to secure it down (that is not one of my skills).  By the way, it will stay on the base fabric without stitching it down if the quilted item is a wall hanging and not likely to be washed.  I used matching embroidery floss but you could use whatever color thread or floss you want.

Needle Turned Applique

The second appliqué block I did was using the needle turn appliqué.  This time you want to draw the design on the front of the fabric, cut it out with an 1/8 -1/4 seam allowance and as you stitch it down, turn (with the needle) the seam allowance underneath the appliqué piece.  

 I can teach a lot of techniques as you know from my tutorials, but in the case of appliqué and embroidery I am not very experienced.  Your best bet is to find some YouTube videos or take a class at your local quilt shop.

Needlefelted

The third block is only an appliqué of sorts.  I needle felted the flower with some of my fancier dyed wool batting and then tacked it or you could say appliquéd it down to the block.  I showed how to do this in my tutorial, Needle Felting in Cookie Cutters.

I like how this is turing out. Each technique gives a slightly different view of the flower shape.  So as I named it, it looks the same but different.  Hopefully soon I will have part 3 done

©2019 – Cheryl Fillion