Wednesday, November 11, 2015

A Sweet Surprise and a Few Notes of Interest

How often does someone knock on your door, unexpected, with a gift for you just because they saw it and you immediately came to their mind? If your answer is not often, so was mine - until earlier this week.

A friend and her daughter stopped by to give me this darling tea towel. 



Just look at the delicate embroidery! If you look closely (clicking on the photo will enlarge the image), you may be able to tell that the green fabric is sheer.  I cannot even begin to explain how tiny the stitches are. I feel completely spoiled!



My friend pointed out that she had not seen anything like these pink sections in the stitching I have shared. Although I have learned a lot in the past 3 years, I am still a beginner in SO many aspects of embroidery. I have seen things like this on other works, but have no clue what they are called or how to make them. I assume these and this section in the photo below are a form of stump work? (I would love to know!)



It is just lovely!

On another note... I opted to give up my WIP Wednesday posts. I figured a recap near the end of the month might have more to share. 

These next few weeks I should have some fun finishes to show you! I am participating in a Christmas crazy quilt fabric postcard swap and with a Christmas blog hop. 

A few notes that may be of interest:


  • The Christmas is in My Heart Blog Hop hosted by Marian at Seams to be Sew begins tomorrow. The Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring the hop and is generously providing a giveaway each day of the hop!
  • Kathy Shaw has announced some changes with her free crazy quilt classes. You may read more about those changes at Shawkl Designs.
  • Kathy also has a new book coming out! Pre-orders are available at a discounted price through the end of November. Learn more about it here. (I am not affiliated with the book, but I am excited about it!)
  • Sharon B. at Pintangle has a second set of templates that are now available! If you are interested or curious, you can check them out here. (Again, I am not affiliated with these templates. However, I have heard loads of good things about the first set.)
  • Registration for Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2016 will be open from Friday, November 13th - Sunday, December 20th. You may learn more about CQJP 2016 here. (You may want to see what participants have been creating this year at the CQJP 2015 blog.)
If you decide to participate in CQJP 2016, please let me know! I will be joining the fun and am determined to finish on time next year. (I have a tendency to let projects for me to slip aside so I can focus on gifts for others... That being said, my completed blocks from CQJP 2013 will be finished into projects soon. And, almost all of my CQJP 2014 blocks have been embellished and most have been made into purses or totes. For CQJP 2016 I plan to make a real crazy quilt, just for me!)

9 comments:

lynn cockrell said...

That tea towel is so lovely! What a nice friend you must have!

Renee said...

Thank you, Lynn. She is very sweet. I am incredibly blessed. :)

Christine B said...

What a beautiful gift Renee! The stitches you pointed out are very interesting and I too would think they are stumpwork..... still so much to learn!! Glad that you are joining in on the CQJP 2016.... I am thinking about it... I have really enjoyed working on my blocks this year! Enjoy the rest of the week! Christine x

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

OMGosh the tea towel is a gift from the heart, given with a lot of love. I'm working on block 9 for CQJP 2015 but of course I will join the 2016 challenge. It's great inspiration and helps to focus on stitching everyday. Love the stitching, hate the piecing!!

xx, Carol

Katie said...

What a lovely gift!!! Beautiful indeed. Good luck with all your goals.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful gift and wonderful friend. That is an amazing piece. In the close-up, it almost looked like tiny pieces of stuffed fabric stitched down, but I imagine that's just from seeing a photograph, not the real thing. I would guess stumpwork, but I don't know a lot about that, never having been drawn to it. That's a lovely piece! I'm doing the 2016 project. It's the fifth year, so I can't drop out now! I've had a theme in mind for months ... actually since October 2014!

Anthea said...

Wow that embroidery is delicate indeed Renee!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

What an incredible piece of embroidery! All that work for something that is meant to dry the dishes - amazing. Of course there's no way it would ever touch a dish if it were mine (and I suspect the same holds true for you). Beautiful!

Brigitte said...

That's a very special gift with all the lovely stitches.