Make it your own embroidery class -- show your work

[Karla W.]

Alex, I took a break from Make It Your Own Embroidery to give my granddaughter, Kayleigh, 5, her first sewing lesson! I was inspired by your video from August 5, 2017, when you had Lennox, 2, on your lap sewing with her. I pictured doing this with my toddler granddaughter, but due to the pandemic, I had not seen my Sweet Kayleigh in person in 2 years--until Christmas Eve. We had so much fun sewing together! Sewing is a great bonding activity! On Jan. 1st, Kayleigh leaves Maryland to return to Minnesota with new the doll blanket that she made with her grammie and lots of new sewing-related vocabulary! I'm so glad that I have my embroidery project to distract me after she leaves. And thanks to you, I am also signed up for Joanne Sharpe's 2022 Artfully Inspired Life "Crushing It." Alex, with much gratitude, thank you for all that you do to support the arts and to help us get through the long years of the pandemic. Happy New Year and Wishing You, Your Family, and all at the Quilt Show, the Best in 2022!!! Karla from Burtonsville, Maryland

[kemopuzzle]

I too had trouble. My problem was I didn't know how to get the picture from my photos on the computer to a place that I could retrieve it. My son had me go to the picture and download it to my computer and then I could retrieve it from my download folder and put it into the forum.

[kemopuzzle]

Great idea about the embroidered mandalas. I like how you did your background in stripes

[kemopuzzle]

I've done a lot of stitching on Sue Spargo designs and on Ariana Zurcher designs. I used the #5 DMC on quite a few different stitches. It gives the circles more dimension to vary the thread weights.

[kemopuzzle]

Yes Ariana is amazing. Her videos are so helpful

[Carole B.]

Today I was able to add 4 more of my 1 inch circles. This was really enjoyable, as I used several new-to-me stitches with the help of Sue Spargo’s Creative Stitching book. I want to know who comes up with these stitches!

[Helen W.]

Having soooo much fun. Best class ever.

Joanne B, What a great looking background. The choice of colors is so warm and inviting. The thread color is has great
contrast. Love have you have combined the various stitches it really makes it interesting to look at. HelenW

[Peg]

really interesting stitches. I like how you used the floral pattern on the fabric and enhanced with embroidery. Well done!!

[Sue R.]

My sister Christmas gifted these vintage fabrics from a website known as “Forage”. The owner, Lisa, travels the world looking for unique pieces to be repurposed. Since I don’t have access to silk where I live, I thought I’d go down this avenue. Who knows where it’ll end up but I’m hooked!

[KWinks13]

Great idea! I love the butterfly.

[KWinks13]

I finally jumped in over the holidays between being overwhelmed with other stuff. Our family is in the midst of a COVID outbreak, so my husband and I spent Christmas with our dogs. It turned out to be a relaxing day (all day in my jammies!), but we missed being with our family. It was a good time to start stitching as I had already prepped my fabric made of mostly silk samples I was gifted with a couple of years ago. I'm having fun making it up as I go! The color is a little off in the photos - more fall-like in person and I have much more stitching to do, but I feel pretty good about the start. Looking forward to learning more and more stitches. And you were right, Alex, I did NOT like it in the beginning, but it's growing on me!

[Joanne B.]

Karla - Thank you so much. I’ve never done this before - soooo far out of my comfort zone - but loving every minute.

[Joanne B.]

Helen W. - I’m using some Perle cotton as well as DMC floss. Trying to stay in the same color range as background.

[Joanne B.]

Having soooo much fun. Best class ever.

[Jamie K.]

Here’s my progress as of today! Lost track of time last night and looked up from this it was 1am!!!