Stitch Journaling

For a few years now I've been noticing slow-stitch supply vendors on Etsy offering blank stitch journals made out of batted muslin, felt or felted wool. I was tempted a few times to buy one so I could journal by embroidery, but they seemed so simple that I thought I could make one of my own.

Fast forward to this spring, and the rapid deterioration on my one working hand due to arthritis has stolen the time I usually procrastinate about such ideas. I decided to invest in a book that would teach me about stitch journals and how to make them, which resulted in my purchase of Journal with Thread by Jessie Chorley.

This is a very neat book, chock full of advice and ideas for hand stitchers like me. Here you can see the indepth explanations and sample pics of two different embroidery stitches.

The author gives you step by step instructions on how to sew your own 8" X 8" stitch journal, and plenty of ideas on how to fill the pages with embroidery and appliques. Her sample is about the four seasons, but you can choose what you want to journal about in your own book.

The back of the book is filled with iron-on transfers so you can follow along with her stitching ideas, too. I think it will really help me as I make my own stitch journal. Highly recommend this book as an excellent guide if you'd like to do the same.

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Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Better than Fried

I cut some chives from the kitchen garden to make garlic-chive baked fries for dinner. This is a great side dish for veggie burgers. Click here for the recipe from Taste of Home.com.

The Mercantile

If you don't mind walking 33K square feet in retail space, The Mercantile may be the vintage/arts store you'd enjoy visiting if you're ever in Orlando. I certainly did. Because it was busy I didn't take any photos in the store, but it's absolutely amazing and chock full of antiques and artisan creations, most of which were pretty reasonably priced. For $21.00 I invested in a picture of sailboats for the guest bathroom I'm redoing, and a fairy mystery jar of cool stuff. The jaw was hand-painted and decorated, and utterly charming. I think I wanted the jar more than the contents. As you can see the contents were both generous and pretty cool, too. I finally have some vintage gloves to use for my art quilter bingo challenge!

Rayen

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