Thursday, June 6, 2013

Vacation Time

The best part of summer is being
able to travel.

Pack up the station wagon,
  get a new coloring book and crayons,
and stop by the Five & Dime
and get a couple of tea towels to embroidery.
That's what I did
as my family headed up north in Michigan
 in the 50's and 60's.

 With that tradition deeply ingrained,
I still think of vacation and embroidery going hand in hand.

With some travel plan ahead,
I got some stitching ready.

This pattern has been on my to do list 
for quite awhile, actually
ever since I saw the design had
both rick rack and dingle ball pom poms.
What could be more vintage.



Tracing the pattern onto the fabric
always takes more time than I plan on,
but it's one of those steps
that's important for a good finish.
  

So I always remind myself to take my time.

I've had the fabric for quite awhile.
The base fabric is a Sweetwater print
 by Moda. It's a very narrow
grey and white stripe.

The directions on the pattern 
call for tons of french knots and
X's to acts as fillers in parts of the design.

I didn't want to take that much
time and effort for this project,
so instead
I matched floss and crayons


and decided to color in the areas
and add some X's and knots to
add texture, but not be the source of the color.


It's the same crayon technique that I used
when I stitched this
springtime pillow,
Sweet Violette.

This is going to be fun design to stitch.
It's fun and bright and even kind of silly,
just like a summer vacation should be.

Until Next Time-

5 comments:

  1. I love the pic of the station wagon! I have fond memories of sitting in the back seats with my cousins! This stitchery is fantastic - have never heard of the crayon idea before. You may have convinced me to put more stitcheries into my list of projects!

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  2. What a fun project you'll be making Kyle - but you didn't tell us WHERE you're going on your summer vacation! Inquiring minds want to know! LOL

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  3. I used to vacation in something like that, too! : )
    And it looks like you did get a new box of crayons for your trip. Smart shortcut on the stitchery--it will look great! A very fun quilt design.

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  4. Beautiful summer projects! I, too, remember buying embroidery patterns and floss at the dime store (and penny candy). My practice piece was a tracing from a Little Kiddles coloring book & I still have it. Do you remember those?!
    Enjoy your vacation time!

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  5. Oh my goodness, I love that photo of the floss and the crayons! I love what you are doing with your embroidery, and that station wagon is so classic! We had those road trips when I was a kid also. Have a blast!

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