A Little Embroidery Change

We ended up getting about an inch of snow from the storm that was supposed to miss us, but at least it is up to 16* today. (grin)  Still calling for a nice weekend. I am looking forward to that.

Last night, I dug through my tote bin that has prepped embroidery blocks ready to do. I found this snowman and snowlady block and decided it would be nice to do this week since Valentine's Day is so close. I wanted to do it a little differently, though. So I did it in black instead of red. I also used Perle cotton #8. What do you think?

I think I got this pattern from Sandi. I printed it off and prepped it over a year ago, so can't really be sure. That hat on the lady took quite a while. LOL

Yesterday, Pat asked how I use fleece in my embroidery.  I don't use the fusible, just plain fleece. I cut  a piece of fleece the same size as my embroidery piece. Then I pin it to the back of the project and embroider through it. It keeps the thread from showing through to the front. Here is  another project with the fleece fastened to the back of it.

Here is the fleece on the back.

This is the back of the snowman and snowlady.

You can see where I carried the floss over in places. The fleece helps to hide that, plus it makes it easier to end when you need to rethread. I use a knot at the end of my floss when I start a new thread. It may not be the correct way to do it, but that is the way I do it. Sometimes I use scrap batting on the back of my embroidery instead of fleece. I kind of use whatever I have. I always use something on the back of embroidery, though. It is just easier for me. Here are my basic embroidery tools.

My little dog, Buddy found my Thread Heaven and kind of did a number on the lid. LOL I had just opened a new one, so was glad I heard him chewing on something and went to investigate. (grin) I always use Thread Heaven to run my floss through, and also my thread when I am hand quilting, I love this stuff.  I have five different reds that I like for doing redwork. I need to decide which one I like best and just stick with it. LOL I use DMC #304, #398, #321, #815, and #115. I will show you tomorrow what a downer it is to use so many different kinds. LOL Let's just say a booboo can occur when you pick up a project that you have not worked on in a while and can't remember which color you were using. LOL

I hope I explained all this to where you can understand it. I have only been doing redwork for the past couple of years. I did counted cross stitch for many years, but never any other kind of embroidery. This seems to be my year of embroidery. I am loving it. It is so relaxing for me. Thank you for visiting. Please come again. Have a great evening.

Happy April!

Can you believe this is the first day of April already? This year is just flying by. It is still cold here today. The weather people say we have a couple more weeks of up and down weather. Supposed to be lots more rain coming in. I can handle the rain, just not more snow. Looks like the garden will be late in getting planted this year. I will eventually get it planted.

I worked on several projects yesterday. I got another block quilted on my Peter Rabbit Challenge. I got all of the square in a square blocks done for the froggy quilt and the first step of the pinwheels done. I finished the borders on the disappearing nine patch for Amy. I even started the embroidery on Kevin's beagle quilt. I decided that I would machine applique the beagle and running dogs. After about 4 inches on one of the running dogs, I just felt it wasn't working for me. Oh goodness, have you ever had to rip out a machine blanket stitch? It is not something I would want to ever do again. Took me about 30 minutes for 4 inches. Then last night while watching Biggest Loser, I started doing a hand blanket stitch around the main beagle, only to figure out after another 4 inches that I was doing it backwards. Yep, the thread that is supposed to go along the edge of the fabric was about an eighth an inch inside the fabric. Ok, more ripping. Lets just say my ripper and I were very close yesterday. LOL I am using black DMC floss to do the blanket stitch. Then I second guessed myself and thought I should have used floss to match each piece, but you know what? I was not ripping out again, so black it is. (grin) Here is what the center looks like so far.

It isn't like I don't have lots of floss to choose from. I have 3 cases full, plus a bunch in a sack that won't fit in my trays. I guess I need to get back into counted cross stitch, but I keep telling myself the floss will keep. I have most of them neatly wrapped around bobbins and stored in cases. (grin) I started out making counted cross stitch samplers that had the names and marriage dates of our kids. Well, I have 3 daughters married and am 2 samplers behind. I also started out making birth announcements for the grandkids in counted cross stitch. I have 4 grandkids and I'm 2 behind on those. (embarrassed sigh) Maybe I should concentrate on cross stitch this summer while it is too hot to have a quilt in my lap. Hmmm, probably not, since I enjoy quilting more. LOL Plus cross stitch projects just move so slowly. I get bored before I can get them finished. Well, on to important stuff. (grin) I finished the borders on the disappearing nine patch for Amy. I know you are dying to know which fabric I picked. I took some leftover pink fabric and made little 4-patches for the corners. I hope I have enough of the green for the binding. It turned out 57 inches by 67 inches. That should be big enough for Amy to curl up under. Here is a closeup of one of the corners. This is all of the pink and pink paisley fabric that I have left. Is this cutting it close or what? LOL
Well, I think I will get back to work on the beagle quilt. I can only work on it while Kevin is at work. I also know myself well enough that I need to get it done while I am in the mood. If another project pops into my head, I will be off and running with it. LOL That is why I have so many projects going at once. If I decided Ihad to finish everything I had started before I could start another project, I wouldn't be able to work on anything new for a couple of years. LOL Everyone have a great day. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.