As usual, I'm playing catch up. The good news is that despite my absence online, I've actually been finishing up some projects.
We've had a busy couple of months. We have a horrible drainage problem in our back yard. We put in a french drain a year or so ago but that provided little help. Unfortunately our yard doesn't slope towards the drain so it continues to pool in the center of the back lawn. So, we ripped out the grass, built a small retaining wall, brought in 20 cubic yards of soil and created a slope towards the drain. (whew!) We also relocated the vegetable gardens on to the back patio so that we could get the dirt delivered as close to the back yard as possible. It was a much more laborious and expensive undertaking than we anticipated. Isn't that always the case though? The grass is finally coming in (albeit a bit unevenly), and we under-planted with crocus bulbs so it should look pretty in the Spring. In the mean time, Autumn is in full swing here and everything is just gorgeous at the moment!
But back on topic... Chicken Scratch Embroidery
I loved the Chicken Scratch Shelf Edging in Alicia Paulson's "Embroidery Companion". Unfortunately I'm not lucky enough to have open shelves that I can show them off on, so I opted instead to make a table cloth for my pre-schooler's little table.
I knew that I wasn't going to have a lot hanging over the edge so I made the table cloth as wide as the fabric. I just counted the squares across, and then counted the same number across the other way and trimmed my fabric, making sure that I had a white square in the center. I worked from the center out and stopped when I got close to the edge. What I then noticed was that I couldn't line the motifs up perfectly in the corner. (sigh). I ended up stitching a simple, smaller motif where the sides lined up and I'm pleased with how it turned out.
I liked working with the gingham fabric, and loved that I didn't have to transfer a pattern. This was also a very affordable project. DMC floss is less than 50 cents, and I used my Joann's coupon to purchase the fabric. Anya was excited to see it finished but it is rarely on her table. She's decided it makes a much better "princess cape".
So, there you go.
We've had a busy couple of months. We have a horrible drainage problem in our back yard. We put in a french drain a year or so ago but that provided little help. Unfortunately our yard doesn't slope towards the drain so it continues to pool in the center of the back lawn. So, we ripped out the grass, built a small retaining wall, brought in 20 cubic yards of soil and created a slope towards the drain. (whew!) We also relocated the vegetable gardens on to the back patio so that we could get the dirt delivered as close to the back yard as possible. It was a much more laborious and expensive undertaking than we anticipated. Isn't that always the case though? The grass is finally coming in (albeit a bit unevenly), and we under-planted with crocus bulbs so it should look pretty in the Spring. In the mean time, Autumn is in full swing here and everything is just gorgeous at the moment!
But back on topic... Chicken Scratch Embroidery
I liked working with the gingham fabric, and loved that I didn't have to transfer a pattern. This was also a very affordable project. DMC floss is less than 50 cents, and I used my Joann's coupon to purchase the fabric. Anya was excited to see it finished but it is rarely on her table. She's decided it makes a much better "princess cape".
So, there you go.
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