After finishing my State Fair matzah cover (still waiting for results!), I had to decompress by working with bigger needles. I have been knitting blankets for all of the upcoming babies that are befalling my friends, and I finally wove in the ends of a finished blanket and mailed it off to a new, happy mother.
Once I felt rested up to go back to embroidery, I finished Drop Cloth's Sampler of the Month for July. Before I get to that, I realized that I hadn't posted a picture of June's.
These are filling stitches--the kinds of stitches that you use to banish empty space. Used judiciously, they can really add a nice pop to your pattern. I was surprised at how nice the simple seed stitch, made of one or two parallel straight stitches, looked when done with different colors. The battlement couching was the trickiest because it required some exact work, but it produces an effect that looks like 3D plaid. It also got the most compliments.
July was chain stitches. These also presented a challenge, because these are based on making intersecting loops. When I made a mistake, I would end up needing to start all over. A few of the more complicated stitches, like Cable Chain and Checkered Chain, required looking at instructions from several different sources before I found ones that made sense to me. Still, this sampler gives me a lot of great ideas for the future. I liked the way the basic Chain Stitch looks as an outline for the flower stems. My friend Cassie uses a type of Chain Stitch for lettering on her projects, and I can see that it makes a solid-looking outline for when you want something different from typical backstitch.
According to Instagram, the sampler for August features Satin Stitch. I'm going to be honest--Satin Stitch is my least favorite stitch to work on. I trust that Rebecca's innovative samplers will convince me otherwise!
I am sure those baby blankets are very much appreciated, and will make great keepsakes later. Maybe real family heirlooms, passed on between generations.
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