Ok – so yesterday while doing a few errands I asked Monsieur Purl to stop back at the Needle and I for some thread to embroider my mittens. I’m not sure if this is a yarn or thread purchase, but technically this is wool thread – 2ply. I picked out two reds and 1 green to keep things simple.

When I got home I decided to add the finishing detail to the mittens. Well the first two roses I did looked like garbage – to get this one right it was a third attempt and I finally figured out less was more – so each mitten has two little rosebuds on it. Well, I hope they look like rosebuds, until I put the green stems and little leaves on Monsieur Purl wasn’t sure what they were at all. Anyway too late to take them off as while the thread was colorfast, it left little fuzzies behind. I had thought later – maybe I should got the thicker thread and then thought probably not, as I wouldn’t have been able to get the detail. Decisions, decisions.

Anyway here is the close-up of the embroidery.

Also, I decided I really needed to do something with my thread painting that turned out really well. Voila – a pincushion. Well, there was a long line of thoughts and ideas that turned it into a pincushion – so it wasn’t exactly – voila.

I have been reading my books and totally love Bunnies in My Garden by Jenny McWhinney – well to my delight she has a website where you can buy kits of her patterns – well while browsing it I noticed this delightful little pincushion stool. I love it but have held off ordering it because this isn’t the only thing I would love from the site and I have to be wary of the of budget for the time being as I seriously think I could over do it quick. But it got me thinking that I could use a little pincushion to rest my pin between stitching – I was even browsing them at the Needle and I. Then I thought why couldn’t my little thread painting be a pincushion? So without much planning I set off – that’s how it ended up with a bit of a funky border – the blanket stitch is done with Nature Spun Sport – it was all after thought. So I’m thinking cute idea to make some more as I stitch the samples – maybe with a complementary backing and a little more thought on finishing. All in all though I’m pleased and thought it turned out really cute.

~ Madame Purl