If you live in Utah or near by and get the TV station ABC4, check out Good Things Utah today at 10:00 am.  I am giving away my flouncy little apron and ribbon flower pin from Give Away Today to an audience member.  On Friday I will be giving away a half apron at Give Away Today…  all you have to do is leave a comment to be registered to win.

Rainy days in June are usually a rare occurrence for Utah… but the last few days have been overcast and this afternoon we had a wonderful downpour.  My darling neighbor girls were over to play and since we were stuck inside… we decided to try our hand at a bit of embroidery.

I’d like to tell you I had the whole project planned and I had everything I needed, but that wasn’t the case.  Oh well, I am a “Make it Do” kind of gal.  I scrounged around to find hoops, needles, left over embroidery floss, and some muslin… I was in business.

One Pretty Thing published some darling free patterns today that I printed off.  (I love free and darling in the same sentence.)  But I didn’t have a transfer paper or anything fancy like that… I simply taped the pattern to my window. Then centered the fabric and taped it to the pattern.  Using a fine point Mark B-Gone Pen I traced the pattern onto the fabric.  (I was wishing I had a fine point brown pigma pen, but oh well).

I taught the girls one simple stitch today… a back stitch.  It’s easy to learn and since I am not an expert, it’s easy to teach.  It is the same first stitch my mom taught me many years ago.  Here is a wonderful “how to” resource for embroidery stitches from the Embroiderers’ Guild.

This is how we got started:

1. I traced their pattern onto the fabric.
2. Then I placed the fabric into an embroidery hoop.
3. I cut the embroidery floss about 18 inches long.  That is a good length for children to work with.
4. I split the floss in half so I had three strands.
5. Tie a knot at the end of the floss and thread the needle.
6. I sat next to each child individually and taught them by making the first few stitches.
7. Then I turned them loose.  Maybe I am easily impressed but I think they took to it like ducks to water….

Here is Lily’s handiwork.  It’s wonderful for a seven year old on her first try. (Did I mention that I’m her mother?)

Emma is going to keep me busy setting up new projects for her… she has about ten things planned after she finishes her owl.  I think she takes after my Mom… her Nan.

Here’s my favorite old time embroidery story.  A little girl sat down and dutifully stitched her embroidery…. when she stood up her lovely stitchery was completely attached to her skirt.  I guess the moral of the story is stitch in pants.

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