A New Crewel Pillow for My Sister's New Condo

I've been meaning to share a project I just finished. It is a hot pink crewel work pillow for my sister Lynn who just moved into a new condo. Lynn is a real color lover and artist in her own right. I wanted to make something punchy and happy for her new home. 

I used a Hot Pink Linen Fabric Square that I sell on my website - links at end of post to purchase. I made a foam stamp in the shape of an ogee with pointy ends and printed the fabric all over with dark brown Jacquard Textile Paint. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the linen before I started stitching. Oooooops. 

For stitching, I used the Crewel Wool that I sell on my website. I always travel with an assortment of colors so that I can pick and choose as I go. My process is very improvisational. With an assortment of colors, I just pick and choose as I go. I keep my PDF pattern - The Circles Sampler - on my phone so that I can refer to the 26 stitches that are included in case I want to try a new stitch. That pattern is available for download on website here. 

My first step was to outline all the ogees with yellow stem stitch. Above you can see that in progress. 

After getting that bit of mindless stitching done - which I personally love doing - I worked on each ogee separately. Some were more complicated than others. I love improvising like this with needle and thread - it is so free and easy and totally fun. 

Below I am sharing each ogee with the stitches I used. All stitches are taught by illustration in the Circles Sampler PDF Download. 

French Knots • Palestrina Stitch • Straight Stitch • Fly Stitch

French Knots • Laid Stitch • Cross Stitch

French Knots • Chain Stitch Packed very close

French Knots • Fly Stitch to create diamond grid • Chain Stitch up middle • 

Running Stitch on top of Chain Stitch

French Knots • Chain Stitch Stripes with Running Stitch up each stripe •

Diagonal Straight Stitches with Couching to anchor them to fabric in between Stripes

French Knots • Fly Stitch worked in Stripes leaning opposite each row. The Fly Stitches were worked in 3 colors. 

French Knots • Chain Stitch Stripes with Running Stitch up each stripe

Lazy Daisy Stitches worked perpendicular to each stripe

Here is the pillow top before I sewed it. 

Here is the back side of the work. 

And below is the pillow finished. 

To make the pillow, I use a technique that makes a easily removable pillowcase with no zipper. You can find a tutorial on the Blog HERE for that. 

On the right of the photo, you can see my Hexagon Afghan. There are Free Instructions for that project HERE on the blog. 

The super fun thing about a project like this is - 

It travels well!

Each little ogee can become its own bit of experimentation.

You never get bored because the combination of stitches is endles..

Here are the items that you can purchase from my web shop. The linen comes in many colors - including new shades of off white, flaxen, sunflower, coral, fawn, and grass green. 

The Circles Sampler PDF Download Pattern - $13.00

The Circles Sampler Kit - includes thread, yarn and a chenille needle - If you would like an alternate color from the Turquoise linen featured, leave a note on the order. - $46.00

Hot Pink Linen Fabric Square - $7.00

Set of 24 colors of Wool Crewel Thread - $48.00

You can take a Crewel Embroidery Class with me over on Bluprint (formerly Craftsy)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Paisley Crewel Embroidered Pillow Project

I want to share a project I have been working on for a while...... a Crewel Embroidered Paisley Pillow. This was a super fun project to make. 

Here is a close-up.

It is a variation on a different Paisley Crewelwork Project that I shared here and here. 

I used a royal blue fabric paint and the cornflower blue linen fabric I sell on my website here. To begin, I printed the paisley shapes following instructions in my new book Crafting A Patterned Home. 

Then I collected some odds and ends of blues and green crewel wool colors. I designed the pillow to go on my sister's new screened in porch. I also made a second pillow - in a bit simpler design that I will share soon. 

I used embroidery stitches that are found in my PDF downloadable pattern Circles Sampler Pillow Pattern. You can purchase that here. You can also find many of the stitches in my book Colorful Stitchery. 

I love the free-form quality of Crewel Embroidery. Each paisley motif can be treated differently - a small experiment in color and design and stitch combinations. Here are some close-ups of the different paisley motifs that I stitched. 

Hope you try some Crewel Embroidery too this fall. I have many Crewel Wool Embroidery supplies available on my website and you can taken an on-line class called Stitch It with Wool on the BluPrint and Craftsy websites. Getting into Crewel Embroidery is very reasonable - all you need is some linen fabric, wool thread, needle and a hoop. And it will bring you hours of enjoyable time creating. 

Craftsy Changes? + Beautiful New Colors Of Linen in The Shop Now

I'm not sure if you all have heard this news - rather old by now...... But Craftsy - the on-line teaching website where I teach an on-line Crewel Embroidery Class called Stitch It With Wool was sold to NBCUniversal for 230 Million $ in 2017. That's a big chunk of change. There has been a lot of on-line chatter from the many different teachers who have classes on the on-line platform. I know that many teachers made a huge portion of their income from their on-line classes (from what I surmise). My class has never been really popular - just a steady seller. The Craftsy model has changed a bit (they have gone to a subscription model and a pay for a single class). If you bought a class, you still own it and have access to it. This summer NBCUniversal changed the name of Craftsy to BluPrint and redesigned the website. NBCUniversal is a huge company and I assumed there would be many changes. That is what happens when big companies buy smaller companies. Life moves on for all of us little people. 

One cool thing is that NBC is now doing a tv show called Making It. I'm assuming this new show is part of their plan for "craftertainment." The judges of the show are a woman from Etsy and Simon Doonan (of Barney's window decoration fame). It is hosted by Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler. Season One is just done. I watched a few times. Funny story was - I was approached by the producers to interview to be a contestant on the first season a couple summers ago. I wasn't interested in the contest type format and so I said no - much to Julia's disappointment. (She is a huge Amy Poehler fan.) The show was  cute. I picked the winner after watching it a couple times. The guy was super talented. 

When I originally taped my Craftsy class Stitch It With Wool, I decided to add a section to my website for crewel embroidery supplies. It isn't a big business but it is a steady one. It is very difficult to find these supplies now as so many needlework stores have disappeared. Crewel embroidery and embroidery seems to be making a bit of a comeback in general. My little store chugs along. 

Today I want to introduce to you all 6 new colors of LINEN for Crewel Embroidery. Here they are:

You all are going to pretty amused by the next part...... I have been teaching Crewel Embroidery here at the farm for several years. Each year, I ask the students what color fabric they want to stitch on. One year, Lee said to me - don't you have any neutrals? You see - as you would guess -- my original 10 colors were all COLOR, not neutral. 

Here are the original 10 colors:

I never even thought to stock off-white, flax, and brown shades of linen. Never occurred to me! So now, by popular demand, I now have FLAX (natural color of linen fiber), OFF-WHITE, and a pretty brown called FAWN. 

In addition - I have added a gorgeous CORAL color, a pretty GRASS GREEN, and a stunning SUNFLOWER shade.  

Hop on over to my website to order some linen fabric and crewel wool for a embroidery project in your future. 

I'll be sharing a new project that I just stitched in an upcoming post. 

Creative Retreat #1 of 2018 - Fabric Printing, Crewel Embroidery - Day One

This past weekend I had the first creative retreat of 2018 here at Leyden Glen Farm. If you read yesterday’s post, you know that The Farmer had his hip replaced a couple weeks ago. The surgery came up rather quickly — his hip was in such bad shape and he was in such pain that they worked him into the surgery schedule earlier than they normally do. This of course was after I had scheduled the 2018 retreats so I had no clue that I would be dealing with an ailing husband, trying to run the sheep farm, and holding creative retreats all at the same time. Luckily I have had a lot of help from friends, family and neighbors and somehow most of the sheep have survived (darn coyotes), the house and studio were cleaned and polished, and the students had a good time. 

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The first day of the Creative Retreat, we did Fabric Stamping and Crewel Embroidery. I don’t have a lot of photos from the day - unfortunately. I think I was just so exhausted that I forgot to take step by steps of everyone working. There were five students but unfortunately I forgot to snap a photo of Maureen's printing. 

In the afternoon, we added Crewel Embroidery to the printed fabrics. I forgot to take photos so I will share my most recent project that I have been working on...... I am adding Crewel Embroidery to this handprinted fabric.

More photos tomorrow. 

Printed Linen + Crewel Embroidery Project

This summer I am teaching 3 different weekend Creative Retreats here at our farm. You can read about the retreats here. This year I have made the option of coming for only one day - not two days - as an experiment. I already have several people signed up for the Two Day Retreats but there is still room for more students.

On July 29th, I am teaching a class called Fabric Printing and Decorative Embroidery. I've been working on a project to share with the class while I am at the Farmers Markets. It is exactly what the students will be doing. 

First I printed the linen fabric with different sizes of circles in brown fabric paint. 

I am treated each circle differently adding different embroidery stitches to the fabric. It is a fun project to do and something that is easily totable and easy to pick up and put down if interruptions happen. 

Here are the different circles I have stitched. 

At the class this summer on July 29th, we will be printing our own fabric design in the morning. In the afternoon, we will be adding embroidery to our designs. You can see what students did last year here. More info about all the classes I am teaching is here. 

Each of my stitched circles is a little different. They are small and it is easy to experiment with different stitches. I love this kind of stitching because it is improvisational and free and easy. It's also a great way to play with color. 

I use my linen fabric (available on my website here) and 100% crewel wool which is also available on my website. 

I also have a similar PATTERN AND KIT available on my website here. Check it out. The pattern is available as a PDF download for $13 here. The kit is available for $46 here. Makes a great project for summer stitching. Crewel is the perfect project to take with you anywhere this summer. 

Hope to see some of you here at the farm this summer! Have a great weekend. 

I'll be at Webs Tent Sale today from 10 to 5. 

Cheryl's Sunflower + A Question for You All?

I've been trying to figure out how I can have a place on the web where people who are inspired by me, my books, farm, garden, art, or something I write here on the blog and other things could live. I know that if folks knit or crochet, they can post their projects made from my patterns to Ravelry. But Ravelry is finite - nothing but knit and crochet - no embroidery, no painting, no art, no food. 

First off, I'm wondering if anyone has an idea of an easy place for such a "page." I've been thinking about having a Facebook Group called "Inspired by Kristin Nicholas." I thought that might be kind of easy. But then, in my last "Getting Stitched on the Farm" Retreat, I mentioned it and NONE of the four students "did" Facebook. 

I often get emails with photos from people and do not always have time or space to write a blog post about each nice note or project. An open group might work because you all could just post it yourself? 

Do any of you have an idea for me? I don't think many people do Flickr anymore - goodness knows I could never figure it out. The biggest thing is -- it has to be easy for everyone to do - me and you.

Now, onto the subject of today's post called Cheryl's Sunflower. This past summer, I had a student at one of my retreats named Cheryl. She lives locally and signed up early for the Crewel Retreat. Cheryl really got into stitching. On Day Two, she printed some fabric to be stitched this winter. She also traced an outline of another student's - Cynthia - sunflower project. Here is the beginning of the stitching. 

Cheryl kept sending me progress of the pillow. 

She ran out of yarn and met me at the farmers market for extra supplies. 

What I loved about Cheryl's interpretation of her sunflower was the play and experimentation she did. She used so many different stitches. It really is so pretty. Best of all, she had a great time stitching it. 

She finished the pillow and sent me a photo. What a great job Cheryl. Thanks for sharing it with me and all of us. 

If you want to learn Crewel Embroidery, you can take my class Stitch It with Wool: Crewel Embroidery. Here is the link to get the class at $20 off the regular price of $39.99
www.craftsy.com/ext/KristinNicholas_3938_H
You can purchase supplies  - linen, wool crewel thread, needles and hoops on my website here.  

Advanced Crewel Embroidery Farm Retreat Wrap-Up

Two weekends ago, I hosted a fantastic group of students for an Advanced Crewel Embroidery Retreat at our Leyden Glen Farm. It was a gorgeous weekend - we lucked out once again. Clear, sunny days with no humidity. What a treat. The group spent two days learning about Crewel Embroidery in my naturally lit, sunny studio. We sat around the giant table which was covered in small skeins of wool thread and linen fabrics. A whole big pile of creative chaos. 

On Day One, I taught a whole bunch of new stitches - many of them were even new to me. That is what I truly love about embroidery - there are so many stitches to learn. Most of them are easy to grab onto and have success with. Unlike knitting, a stitch can be mastered in 15 to 30 minutes and then you move onto the next one. I guess it is a bit of instant gratification.

Here are some of the students samplers as they were building upon each little bit of knowledge they gained. 

I love a good sampler. They are little bits of knowledge that everyone takes away. Hopefully each student will continue to stitch on their own. 

On Day Two, I helped everyone work on what they wanted to. I like to combine embroidery with fabric printing. I gave a quick demo of how to print on the linen fabric I like to stitch on. Each student then decided upon what they wanted to spend Day Two on. 

Here are Cheryl's hand-printed pillow tops drying on my line in the studio window. She plans to stitch these this winter and turn them into pillows for her home.

Lee began my Circles Sampler. She worked so hard on it all day Sunday and left with a nice chunk begun and confidence to stitch on her own. Lee is one of the owners of Yarnspot in Silver Spring, Maryland and has been to the farm before for a knitting class. Her mom was one of the founders of Yarns International - one of the first importers of Jamieson and Smith Shetland Wools to the US.  It was fun to spend time with Lee again. 

Nancy was beginning a long car trip and needed something to stitch on the way home. Everyone was crazy over the Caspari fish napkins I used at teatime. Nancy has a beach house and wanted to use the fish design on a Crewel Pillow. I helped her sketch it out and plan it. After she began stitching, I suggested she apply some paint to mimic the spots on the fish so she would not have to stitch them all. Here are the handpainted spots on the blue linen. Cannot wait to see this project done. 

Cynthia brought some black and white ticking fabric to print on. I love how it turned out. I wonder what she will use the fabric for. 

  

Once again, I didn't do a great job with the photos - no group shot after Day One. Bummer. It is hard for me to remember to take photos while I am teaching as I am trying to do a good job teaching - not documenting. I did snap this photo of Lee and Cheryl before they left on Day Two. 

Cheryl is holding the bag she has made out of her Circles Sampler Project. The cool thing about this bag is that when she isn't carrying it, it is designed to cover up her Kitchen Aid Mixer in her kitchen. How clever is that? A KitchenAid Cozy! You can see Lee's progress on her Circles Sampler. She chose to keep the circles in a grid. It will be fun to see how it turns out. 

Thanks everyone for coming to the farm. It was a great weekend full of fun, new friendships, food, stitching and creativity. And thank you to my good friends Cathy and Cynthia who came and helped out with the cooking and food. 

If you couldn't get to the farm, you can purchase the Circles Sampler Kit on my website here. And don't forget about my Craftsy Crewel Embroidery Class. Copy and use this code to receive $20 off the price of the class:

 

www.craftsy.com/ext/KristinNicholas_3938_H