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| My first matrioshka |
In October I organized a Sewing Sunday at my place. Three of my friends came to my house on a Sunday afternoon and together we spent the day sewing a Buttercup Bag each. Sewing Sunday was a lot of fun and an overall success so I wanted to organize more events like this.
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| The beginnings of a colorful unicorn and rainbows and unicorns on a t-shirt |
Last Sunday I invited a couple of people over for an Embroidery Sunday. Let me tell you it is difficult to find people who don't give you a funny look when you invite them for an Embroidery Sunday. The usual answer was "Embroidery?!" with a raised eyebrow followed by a politely hesitant "No, thank you" -- still not sure whether I was joking or not.
So I had to enlist the help of my best friend and so far most faithtful attendee of the needle-and-thread Sundays to find some more sewing and hand-made enthusiasts in her wide network of friends and facebookers. With her help we managed to get a "crowd" of five people together, two of whom I'd never met before but was assured were very nice (yes, indeed they were!).
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| A flowery cushion cover |
We had a lovely afternoon of embroidery with copious amounts of tea an coffee consumed and everyone seemed to have seriously fallen for this ancient granny needlework, not being able to put down the needle and ending up staying in my house until way past ten o'clock.
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| Our stitching table |
We used two Sublime Stitching patterns, which are very easy to use and a lot of fun to embroider. I mean who wants to embroider boring flowers and leaves and flowers and leaves in the same old colors when you can embroider unicorns and matrioshkas.
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| Our fastest 'embroideress' made this unicorn dancing on a rainbow |
Although I have embroidered a little here and there previous to last Sunday -- all taught to me by my grandmother, an expert embroiderer -- I have never considered picking it up as a hobby. But I have to say I really liked spending a whole day embroidering and am hatching more embroidery plans as well as more Embroidery Sundays in the new year.
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| My finished matrioshka pillow case |
Embroidery is very meditative and calming. Sewing is a much more full-on activity where you have to cut and iron and fit and iron again and and cut more and fit again and operate heavy machinery and sometimes really get sweating. Of course, that's also what I like about sewing but if you are in need of a calm, relaxing activity every now and then to unwind from a tiring day, try embroidery. It works.
What about you? Have you ever embroidered before? What patterns do you use? Are there any other fun patterns online for embroidery enthusiasts or is Sublime Stitching the only mecca?