I had been gathering crafting supplies for a couple weeks, so I set out arranging everything on our dinner table. Each guest was to select a square of fabric and a contrasting color of thread. They also got a 5” embroidery hoop, a couple crewel needles, and a set of stitch instructions. I set out several of the embroidery books I got from the library as additional reference/inspiration material.
I had asked everyone to bring a dish to share and we had quite an array of delicious snacks! I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of our buffet. We had bean dip, hummus and pita, chips with salsa and guacamole, caprese skewers, crackers and baguette with cheese and homemade hot pepper-peach jam, and caramel apples. Nearly all the non-pregnant people enjoyed wine while the rest of us stuck to fruit juice. My guests were even kind enough to leave me leftovers since our fridge was utterly empty!After we dined, I had everyone practice some basic stitches on their piece of scrap fabric. Basic stitches like the backstitch, stem stitch, and split stitch are incredibly useful and take just a little practice to get perfect. After the ladies had gained some confidence in their stitching skills, we got to work transferring simple images onto the items they had brought (cloth napkins, dish towels, baby shirts, etc.). We spent the rest of the time working on those projects and chatting.
I have a tendency to be awfully anti-social, but it was wonderful to have such a great group of women over for the evening! I should really do this more often.
That evening I finally got the chance to bestow upon my friend April the handbound book I’d made for her eons ago for a giveaway on this blog. I still owe several more people books as well, but I figured I may as well get started on the delivery. I made April a blue robot-themed book in which to write down her son Hunter’s funny comments. I wish I had done a better job doing this with Chloe, who continues to make Jesse and I laugh with hysterical, out-of-nowhere quips.
After transferring Quinn’s big owl embroidery project onto fabric during the week, I finally began stitching on Saturday evening. So far I’ve only finished two letters of Quinn’s name (which involved outlining in backstitch and some filling in with satin stitch) and I can tell that this project is going to take forrrrevvvvver. It’s a fun challenge though, and one that will definitely strengthen my embroidery skills. I’ll post periodic updates of that piece once I get an initial portion finished.
