Hoop Dee Dah

The essence of the Modern Quilt movement is that it takes old concepts and updates them with contemporary colors and fabric.  Instead of turning its back on Log Cabin, Churn Dash, Half-Square Triangles, etc., it plays with them in a new way.  It makes them fun again.  And you know what fun does - it inspires you and gets you going.

I particularly like what's happening with hand embroidery lately.  For those of us that like to color inside the lines, and who cut out their paper dolls exactly on the lines, embroidery has a strong appeal.  I'm not talking about the stitching done in crazy quilting, which is more free-spirited.  I'm talking about transferring a pattern to fabric, then stitching on the lines.  This might be a little bit paint-by-the-numbers for some, but for others there is calmness in the method.

 

One of the things that attracted me to this Madeline dress form pattern was the chance to stitch the words "hand made" by hand.

Last month I found this hand-embroidered dinner napkin at an antique store.  I think it's most likely from the 1950s, maybe earlier.  The whimsical style is not unusual for embroidery patterns and it really appeals to me.

Sublime Stitching is a site that has lots of modern embroidery.  It lit a fire under me, inspiration-wise, so this past weekend I got charged up and decided to do something about it.

 So I bought this book ...

 ... and this book ...

 ... and this pattern.  The pattern has iron-on transfers, but with the books I need to transfer by tracing.  Between the two books and this pattern, I have a choice of motifs in all sizes - some are as small as one inch, some are nine inches.  I think the hardest part will be in deciding which colors, and how many, to use.  Too few and it will look flat, too many and it will look crummy.  Hopefully, paging through all the color photographs in the Doodle Stitching book will be like taking lessons. 

Look what's happened to embroidery hoops --- HOOP DEE DAH!!!!  Aren't they gorgeous?!?!?!  I love plastic!  Since I'm not sure what to do with my embroidered goodies (I'm not into tea towels or pillowcases), I think a good share of them will remain in one of these colored hoops which will make a nice frame to hang on the wall.