Wonderful Wednesday #76: Wild Olive Stitch Club

While doing some research on incorporating embroidery in English Paper Piecing, I found the perfect way to bring both together - Mollie Johanson of Wild Olive is doing a FREE Jam a Month Stitch Club this year using EPP!

Download the patterns

Mollie has already made the first 6 patterns available on her blog:
January: Orange Marmalade
February: Cherry Preserves
March: Raspberry Jam
April: Grapefruit Jam
May: Blueberry Jelly
June: Pineapple Marmalade

You can try your hand at embroidery and EPP using these patterns or there is also an option for cross-stitch too!

Mollie's Jam of the Month Quilt

This weekend I carefully cut out all the EPP shapes Mollie provided for the mini EPP quilt, so I could try to visualize the size and how it fits together:

Ok, I am almost convinced that I should try to make this mini quilt... but I admit I'm intimidated because I've never made a quilt before! But a small one does seem like a good way to start...

Fun with Half Hexagons

In the meantime, I started playing with half hexagons in a nice orange, to match my cute jam embroidery:

When you cut hexagons in half, there are so many possibilities for framing a central hexagon! The arrangement above is one way...

Here is another:

And here is yet another possibility!

Please note my edges don't exactly match up because I forgot to include the seam allowance in my half hexagons - if you cut your half hexagons properly, they should line up perfectly!

If Only Quilting Was Taught in School

I admit I had a hard time in geometry (they always said in school that you would either be good at geometry OR algebra but not both) algebra was a bit more my thing as it was more like writing sentences and learning a language.

As much as I love shapes and color, drawing them out in geometry and the very dry way they were discussed bored me to death. But sliding these colorful shapes around taught me more about angles and shapes than I ever learned as a child. Maybe basic quilting would be a good subject for school, as it teaches you so much more than how to make a blanket!

Ok, so I've really traveled far afield in this post - suffice it to say EPP has changed my perspective on quilting and handmade items, and I thoroughly recommend it!

If you're looking for an easy, free way to start with English paper piecing, Mollie's Jam a Month Stitch Club is perfect!

Halloween goodies

If you're looking for something fun and cute to stitch, Danielle from Kitschy Digitals told me she's got oodles of cute patterns for sale on a Halloween theme...

Visit her holiday store if you're up for some spooky cuteness!

Orange Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

Little Tiger's Orangey Celebration embroidery, originally uploaded by Joey's Dream Garden (formerly Joey 7).

I think (hope!) that you realise how difficult it was to pick a winner - I'd really like to have picked a few!

Well, without further ado, here is the winner of the Orange category. I picked it because Joey has used a very limited number of colours to great effect. And the use of several different stitches gives great texture to the piece. A job very well done!

What inspired your entry?
My love of the colour orange! For me, it's the best colour because it's warm and makes me feel relaxed. It's one of the colours of a beautiful sunset and the colour of my favourite flower, the California poppy. It ranges from deep, rich rust, through the brightest, juiciest oranges, to pale pinky peach. It's a happy, bouncy colour!

What is your favourite stitch?
The french knot, partly because when I finally learnt it after years of not getting it, I felt a real sense of achievement! It was like discovering one of the deep mysteries of the universe... I love it because it's so versatile, you can use it to fill areas with one colour for a great texture, to achieve an effect like Seurat's pointillism or just add a few little dots on a tiny embroidery.

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
I love embroidery as a means to create pictures; I'm attracted to the beauty of threads of different colours skillfully worked into amazing stitches. Embroidery can be done by just about anyone; plenty of us have done embroidery at primary school. It's such a versatile art form and I love to see how far it can be pushed. I myself have a long way to go!

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
My mum taught me a few basic stitches like backstitch and chain stitch, when I was about 7 years old (which was partly to get me to help her darn socks) but it's only just in the last two years that I've come back to embroidery and started to extend my repertoire of stitches. I find online video libraries of stitches, like Mary Corbet's Needle N' Thread how-to videos really useful, because not only can you see the stitches being made, you can learn at your own pace.

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Yes! But I'll just talk briefly about three... I love how Palewildwoodflwr's Happy Little Tree shows beautifully what you can do with one stitch (chain stitch) and one colour, to create texture and the illusion of depth. I also really like Kajin's Hommage à Blossfeldt because it reflects the beauty of simple plant shapes which Karl Blossfeldt captured in his botanical photographs. What I like about Alli Coate's Transparency are the holes in the fabric, to show another layer behind. The embroidery is so simple, but it has so much potential for artistic experimentation.

Jump for joy

This cuteness comes from rectangel

Free ghosties

Free ghosties from the lovely Annie Oakleaves. She also has some dressed-up Halloween eenie patterns for sale in her shop.

Is anyone embroidering for Halloween yet?