Going to the Dogs: Embroidering with granddaughter

 

   I believe I am entering a second childhood, going back to some of my first crafts as a beginner, in this case, embroidery. Never humble enough to take beginning lessons, I usually plunged in to figure out how to do something as I went. Now I am intriqued by more depth. I love to draw and that is what embroidery is. The portrait possibilities are exciting me...the textures and embellishment.

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   Six-year-old Hannah dove right into her Christmas embroidery sewing materials, drawing her own designs or going free form; whereas I was timid and copied a dog pattern and technique from Craft-In, a compilation of 12 craft projects I read about at CraftyPod.com. Hannah liked perle cotton and I used two strands of embroidery floss, mostly backstitches or split stitches. We used 5" hoops. Whereas I was on cotton, my granddaughter had linen of course! We can go beyond these pieces, using both familiar, new and invented stitches to decorate clothing, add fireworks in the back ground, finish with beads to add whatever lines come into our minds.

   Santa also gave Hannah a Klutz book, Simple Embroidery that she has used at home to create projects which I am eager to see. Her Kid's Embroidery by Nicholas has even more projects for us kids of all ages!
    Note: What I learned from the practice effort above, was to to take smaller more careful stitches when I get to portraits. I am also wanting to make a contemporary linen sampler for Hannah should she be interested, and have been looking at the old ones in our history. Besides an alphabet, there is usually a picture and a line of poetry or a wise saying. I love what my grandmother wrote in my wedding Bible: "May your life be a blessing."