Stitching Friends Forever

July Post Two
Styling with Stitches/ Patriotic trays
Freebie
SAL update

July is always such a fun month...picnics, cookouts, the beach and fireworks!!! Hope you are all enjoying lots of great times with your family and friends.   We have two new stitches to share.   We made two patriotic trays that we hope you will enjoy.

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Styling with Stitches

RJ's patriotic tray

Where my Home is there lies my Heart by Shepherds Bush is the pattern I chose.   I loved the saying on it and thought it would be neat to use with all the places we lived and where we left a part of our hearts!  This was my first larger kit by Shepherds Bush and it was a fun one.   I got to learn a few new embroidery stitches and enjoyed working with the beautiful hand dyed linen and silk threads that are included. The kit also contains a really cute flower button and a white star button to add to the finish.

To put it together, I cut two pieces of mat board (one 11 by 14 and the other 8 by 10).   For the first time I had a pretty easy time cutting it because of a tip I got from Jackie of Jackie's Stitches. She said to use a rotary cutter and go over it a couple of times.   It worked like a charm!   THANKS Jackie.  After that I attached quilters smooth batting to each piece of mat board and then covered the bigger one with the star fabric and the smaller one with the stitch.   I attached the stitch to the left side.  And then added the list of places we lived to the right of the stitch and put a small ticking yo yo with a heart flag button on top.  Big thanks to my husband, George for putting those handles on the sides to turn it into a tray.  The whole board can be pulled out easily so that I can change stitches for different holidays and seasons.

Here is the finished tray!

Closeup of the list of places we have lived with a yo yo and flag button at top.

Here the framed box is open

Closeup of the stitch.   Can you see the little white star button on the right and the purple flower button in the basket?

Where my home is there dwells my heart
by Shepherds Bush
Linen, thread and buttons in kit
handles from Lowes

                 
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Mary's Patriotic tray

The design I chose for my patriotic tray is Liberty for All by Brenda Gervais. She is my favorite designer and anything with a bird attracts my eye.

I found the frame that looks like a drawer in the picture frame section at Hobby Lobby. It had a black finish, so, out came my chalk paint, and after a little distressing and waxing I was happy with the result.

I was stitching on a piece of linen that would cover the entire tray. Well, that plan backfired as I was well into the stitch when I realized I was stitching vertically on the linen when I should have been stitching horizontally.  So, my next plan was to add fabric to either side of the stitch so it would fit the tray, but I could not find any fabric to my liking. So, edging the stitch with trim and sewing it onto the burlap that came with the photo frame was my solution.

I am now glad I made the mistake because I think I made lemonade out of lemons. 

My one tip for stitching this is to be careful using the Parchment and Eggshell, as I accidently substituted one for the other and had to do a lot of frogging. 

My finished tray!

Love this sweet bird! 

Tray painted with Rustic Red Dixie Belle Chalk Paint

Liberty for All
 by Brenda Gervais
36 count Country Mocha Linen 
 called for threads

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Freebie

Our freebie pattern this month can be found on the Nebby Needle site. It's cute and should stitch up quickly.  You will find it here


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SAL update

Well we are really loving out newest SAL called Quaker Handework by Brenda Gervais.   We used the called for Espresso linen 36 ct. and the called for overdyed threads.  The colors are soft and pretty. It is moving quite well and we should be done a lot quicker this time.  This is how far we have come in 10 hours of stitching.

RJ's SAL

Mary's SAL

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Hope you are all enjoying your summer and finding time to stitch.   We will be visiting you to see what you have been up to and all of your beautiful new stitches.  Don't forget to sign up for our big give away...there is still time. Details are here   Next post we will be sharing our challenges.   Hope to see you then.