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-