DIY Embroidery Wall Art

In Vancouver last year, we were in a gift store, and I saw a cushion with the following message printed on it, "you are my bucket list"... And I just thought, wow, that is beautiful. In a world where we see bucket lists as places and experiences, how beautiful is it to think that when it boils down to it, the ones you love, really are the most important thing.

And it kind of stuck with me. Especially as our wee one was growing and getting ready to be born, it kind of became truer and truer.

I had been looking for a phrase or lyric for Sophie's wall. I had so many I loved, but I decided I really loved that bucket list. I took a look at Etsy, but thought rather than buying a print I would prefer the personal touch of embroidering it. 

Here is how I went about it.

I must say at this point, that I have done heaps of cross stitch in my life. But really not a lot of embroidery. What I have done has been playing about, so this is a wee experiment..

In order to get the text a little tidier than my normal stitching, I typed out the phrase and created an image of it on my laptop. I then printed it off to use as a template. This could totally be skipped and just drawn on to your fabric. But as I said, this is a bit special to me, so I thought I would prefer a tidier font. 

After placing my fabric in the embroidery hoop, I placed the template behind the fabric, and traced on the phrase.

And then I started stitching! I chose a turpuoise thread for the phrase. I have a bunch of spare threads from old cross stitch projects, so I used some of that.

I'm not the best stitcher, but it only took 10-15 minutes to stitch the phrase.

When the phrase was all done, I figured.. It was a little empty. I considered flowers or hearts or.... hmmm I couldn't decide. In the end I decided on a wreath kind of design with some wee heart-esque flowers. I used a cd to trace a circle around the phrase.

And then at even-ish intervals I drew little wee heart things.

And again, started stitching.

After the circle was stitched, I finshed with the wee heart flowers.

And I am so, so, so happy with it! What do you think? Do you like the phrase?

A Tradition of Collecting

I have been thinking a lot lately about all the collections my family had when I was young.

My Dad had a cabinet full of fire engines. Mum had a cabinet of elephant knick knacks. It was cool, because when we travelled Dad would always visit the local fire station, and we always had something neat we could buy Mum for birthdays. When I was a wee thing, I collected whale and dolphin ornaments. I'm not sure, they may or may not be in a box somewhere in Mum and Dad's attic. My sister collected cat knick knacks. My Nana collected so many things. When she passed she had an amazing vintage salt and pepper shaker collection. Teaspoons too. As children we loved looking through them all.

I wonder if things like that are kind of going out of fashion. It's so popular to have minimalist decorations in houses now. Well, I think I am keen to keep the tradition going. 

I have been considering starting something up for awhile. It can be tricky being an expat, I have a natural tendency to horde (thanks genetics), and it can be difficult to keep things  with the need to move every few years. 

When we were buying "vintagey" things for our wedding, I realized there is something kind of quirky that I really love. 

I love vintage embroidery and needle point. I guess it makes sense, I have been doing cross stitch since I was 8 and have always loved how it looks. I bought so quite a few neat old embroidered pieces to decorate our wedding space, and I think it has stuck. I love how detailed the pieces are. And it makes me sad to think they are sitting on a shelf at a second hand store when so much love went into making them!

So in the last month I have officially started my collection. Here are the first two pieces. I have seen so many I have wanted but am trying to take it slow. At the moment these pieces are decorating my walk in wardrobe. 

I love this owly! I love the stitching that makes up his breast. So detailed!

I saw this battered piece and thought it was so pretty.

Sarah xo

What do you think? Do you have any favorite collections?

I am looking forward to one day being in a big house where I have a big gallery wall for all the pieces!