Boho Stitch Along

December 26, 2016January 1, 2017 | wildboho

You may recognize this hoop from several of my posts over the last year; it is my in-between big projects hoop. This hoop is something that I’m been stitching just for me. There are no due dates looming, no color choices to run past anyone….it is completely relaxing and one of my favorite pieces!

This year, I invite you to stitch along with me….Boho style!

What do you need?

How about we start with what you don’t need! You don’t need to have advanced embroidery skills. You don’t need a specific pattern. You don’t need to meet deadlines. This is a carefree Boho challenge!

So, what do you need?

The key item is a piece of fabric that you love. After all, you will be looking at this piece for a good deal of time. An embroidery hoop that works with your fabric…you determine the best size. A selection of thread/floss, embroidery needles, small scissors. And there you have it!

And what is the challenge?

With the fabric you have selected, you will gradually, throughout the year, embroider your piece. This is a great opportunity to practice new stitches and also work with stitches that you love. Sharing your progress with others will keep you motivated and you may even pick up some ideas from others! You may have only a few minutes a week, in between other things, but that is the most enjoyable part of a project like this. By the end of the year, working in little bits of time, you should have a project that is as complete as you want it to be!

I will post my first picture on Sunday, January 1st and I invite you to post with me! Use the hashtag #BohoSAL and I will post some of my favorites here every month. I will post my own progress every Sunday throughout the year, but you pick to post when it works for you. Again, this is a carefree challenge, so no deadlines!
If you have been following along with my page for awhile, and want to learn embroidery, this is the perfect project for you! I’m here to answer any questions, and oh, did I mention that I wrote an embroidery book?! In it, along with color and pattern inspiration, I show you how to stitch 16 embroidery stitches that work great with embellishing fabric.
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So, January 1st starts a very Boho sort of embroidery challenge! I’ll see you then!

Heartland Fabrics Blog Stop

November 17, 2016November 17, 2016 | wildboho

I was asked by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time to join in with a handful of other makers for the Heartland Fabrics Blog Tour. Have you checked out Amy’s Gilmore Girls coffee cup sew along yet? Pause here so you can go check out her character inspired coffee cups! Is anyone else as excited for the Netflix reboot as I am?!

But back to Heartland Fabrics! Designed by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics, these fabrics are a muted palette of Scandinavian inspired designs. I say muted, because I’m usually all about the color…the more saturated the better! It was a challenge that I welcomed to tone down my usual color palette and work with the palest shades of mint, ivory and pink!

Choosing my threads was easy, having picked up several shades of the newest Eleganza Perle Cotton thread colors at Quilt Market. The newest colors (available very soon!) are based on a more primitive color palette and were just the colors I needed for stitching on these Heartland Fabrics. For the delicate bit of sparkle, I used Cosmo Shabon-dama, which I also picked up at Quilt Market.

I chose to create a hoop art trio from my fabric selections.

Here is the full list of makers for this blog tour…be sure to check out what they created with this fabric too!

November 7 Debbie, A Quilter’s Table
November 8 Jess, Craftiness Is Not Optional and Charise, Charise Creates
November 9 Jade, Stitch Mischief
November 10 Amanda, Jedi Craft Girl
November 11 Kari, Craft Happy
November 14 Stephanie, Spontaneous Threads
November 15 Christopher, The Tattooed Quilter
November 16 Kerry, Kid Giddy
November 17 Nichole (that’s me!)
November 18 Krista, Poppyprint

And would you like the chance to stitch a hoop with this gorgeous fabric and thread palette? Leave a comment here for your chance to win!

All things sparkly and shiny

November 10, 2016November 10, 2016 | wildboho

If you like the look of a metallic thread but the thought of actually using a metallic thread makes you want to throw your scissors, needles and thread up in defeat, then keep reading!

These are my tried and true thread recommendations that won’t have you dealing with tangles and halted projects!

From left to right, I have pictured my favorite sparkly and shiny threads:

Eleganza Dazzle by Sue Spargo/Wonderfil Specialty Threads in Bistro
Eleganza Razzle by Sue Spargo/Wonderfil Specialty Threads in Coconut Kiss
nishikiito by Cosmo Lucien in no. 29
Shabon-dama by Cosmo Lucien in col. 6 (not sure this one is in stores yet)

In the above picture, you can get a sense of how thick these threads are. The Razzle and Dazzle on the left are comparable to 3 strands of a 6-strand skein of floss and the nishikiito and Shabon-dama are comparable to 1-2 strands of a 6-strand skein of floss.

The Dazzle on the far left has one metallic strand running through (there’s the metallic part!) and the Razzle next to it is a Rayon blend, which gives it a silk-like feel and finish (there’s the shine part!) I find when I use either of these threads, I need to use a needle with a slightly larger eye than I’m used to using…it makes it easier to thread the needle.

The nishikiito and Shabon-dama are both metallic and shimmery and I love to use them along with regular Eleganza perle cotton for little bits of sparkle throughout my stitching.

With all four of these varieties, I’ve never had to deal with tangles…the work-slowing kind that you may be thinking of when you hear “metallic thread”!! I also like that they all come on a spool, which further reduces tangles in your work bin!

If you end up giving any of these a try, let me know! I would love to her what you think of them too!

Quilt market recap

November 2, 2016November 3, 2016 | wildboho

Last week was my first time at Quilt Market in Houston, TX and it was also where I saw my book, Boho Embroidery, for the first time! So it was a pretty special few days…which went by in a whirlwind of amazing fabrics and threads. I’ve been sharing a few of my favorite highlights on Instagram, but here’s my full recap! Prepare yourself for a photo heavy post, because, Quilt Market!

First up, the Lucky Spool schoolhouses.

Jacquie Gering wowed the crowd with several of her quilts from her upcoming book, Walk.

Amy Friend of @duringquiettime presented several projects from her upcoming book, Improv Paper Piecing, which were just awesome.

And then I presented and had a giveaway of 2 books while there!

The next day, bright and early, I was able to check out the Lucky Spool booth, which was filled with projects from several of the upcoming books.

And there’s my wall o’ hoops! These are all hoops that made it into the book and braved the flight to TX from PA in my carry on!

Book signing with my book and a mini hoop and embroidery pattern giveaway. Both of these went crazy fast!

And now, prepare for a picture overload with some of my favorites from Quilt Market:

The Alison Glass Booth….always a favorite!

The Andover Fabrics booth with several of my hoops and other gorgeousness!

The colors of Tula Pink’s booth…swoon!

You know I’m all about Sue Spargo and Wonderfil Specialty Threads, so seeing all of these colors in one place!!! And then finally meeting Sue Spargo and her daughters, Kelly and Aimee was so great!

The Alexander Henry booth…

Anna Maria Horner, who I was so excited to meet and was just as sweet as I thought she would be…

Emily Martin aka The Black Apple, one of my favorite artists…

Jennifer Sampou and her Black & White line…

Heather Givans…a true book fan with her new Literary line… and I snagged one of her Anne of Green Gables stickers!!!

There was so much more, but my first quilt market was a really great experience. And then, because Waco is only about 3-ish hours from Houston and we have family there, we had to squeeze in a trip to Magnolia!!!

And I’ll leave you with those sunny Texas skies and silo views!

Mighty Lucky Quilting Club

October 4, 2016October 4, 2016 | wildboho

I’m excited to have created the October challenge for the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club for Lucky Spool: Create Your Own Embroidery Pattern. Here’s a preview and if you haven’t signed up to try this challenge yet, this month would be a great time to start! I’ll be checking out the progress shots this month on Instagram using this hashtag: #mightylucky . So be sure to follow along! I can’t wait to see what embroidery projects you take on during this challenge!

Boho Embroidery

August 24, 2016October 4, 2016 | wildboho

If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you probably caught my super exciting book announcement awhile back. If not, check out the book that I wrote with Lucky Spool, Boho Embroidery. It is scheduled to be released this fall/winter and I can’t wait to share more about it here!

In the meantime, let’s just see that pretty cover!

In conjunction with the release of the book, I am also excited to be presenting the October challenge of the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club also with Lucky Spool. Each month a feature designer creates a challenge to help inspire new ideas. I’m finishing up the last of my projects to go along with that!

Thanks for following along and being patient with my lack of fresh content here! I think all of that writing took a lot out of me and I’m finally gathering speed for some new projects!!

Enjoy the last few weeks of your summer…it probably went as fast as mine did!

Cosmo vs DMC vs Eleganza

October 21, 2015February 9, 2017 | wildboho

As a stitcher who has used, almost exclusively, DMC floss for years now, i’ve been excited to recently add some other floss and thread brands into my stitching arsenal. If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you already know how much I love the Sue Spargo Eleganza perle cotton…if you haven’t tried that yet, I definitely recommend it. It comes in a saturated color palette and adds extra shine and texture to your stitching.

Here you can see pictured from left to right: Cosmo, DMC and Eleganza.

Cosmo floss is not as easy to find in the US. In fact, there are not any stores local to me that sell it. It would be nice to actually see the colors in person before deciding what to buy, but, alas…. Fortunately, there are online shops that carry Cosmo floss. DMC floss is stocked at every craft store, from Joann Fabrics, to Michaels, A.C. Moore and Hobby Lobby.

Pricing is a factor that you may want to consider also. DMC Floss costs $0.40-0.50 a skein. Cosmo is around $1.30-1.60 a skein. And Eleganza is about $5 for a (70-yard) spool. With DMC and Cosmo, you are able to separate the 6-strands into however many you like to stitch with. Eleganza Perle cotton does not separate into strands; it is about the thickness of three stands of the other varieties of floss.

As far as stitching difference, I would say the most noticeable difference is the feel of the threads. Cosmo has a silkier feel when compared with DMC. It is also slightly easier to separate the strands and there are fewer tangles. When stitching with all 6 strands, Cosmo provides a slightly thicker line of stitching than DMC. Eleganza rarely tangles and also has a silky feel. DMC comes in more colors and is easier to find, but Cosmo and Eleganza are well worth shopping online to find.

If I had to rate them in which order I would choose a thread to stitch with, I would start with Eleganza first, Cosmo second and DMC third. All are excellent threads, though, and I certainly won’t be giving up DMC when I need a quick floss fix!

Let me know what other differences you’ve noticed between these threads or if you have another favorite that I didn’t mention here!

Secret Tool Stash

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 | wildboho

I have a secret tool stash. There, my secret is out. Just don’t tell my husband, because he doesn’t know about them. Well, he kind of does, but he doesn’t know where I stash them.

I move things around a lot, hang things and then change my mind and hang them again. I staple fabric to things, then change my mind, pull out staples and re-staple different fabric. I do a lot of this hanging, re-hanging, stapling and re-stapling when he is at work. I can only do this when I have my tools and the aforementioned husband might not be the best at putting tools back where they belong. Hence, my secret tool stash.

I have a very old chair (and extremely comfortable) chair in my studio that I recovered once when I bought it about 4 years ago. I decided on a whim that it needed freshening and after a quick trip to JoAnn, I had a yard of navy fabric that screamed “new chair cover!”

This was one of the easier chair recovers I’ve done. It was simply undoing staples, removing the old fabric and stapling new fabric onto the seat.

15 minutes later and I had a new seat! And some re-stashed tools, safe until next time.

Made In Japan

September 17, 2015September 28, 2015 | wildboho

I have an affinity for any drawing and/or stitching book that is from Japan…whether it is a book that has been translated to English or it is in Japanese and I cannot read a word. I’ll take them all! The simplicity of the designs appeals to me because most of my work is bursting with color and pattern. Something simple is welcome to contrast to that. Japanese sewing notions are another love: Tulip embroidery needles, tiny little scissors…it doesn’t matter, I love them. And speaking of “made in japan,” another love of mine is vintage ceramic figurines and stoneware. In a house of boys, these can be a nerve wracking addition to my decor, but I just. can’t. resist. Like these two little Indians in moccasins. I mean, really, Indians in moccasins? I snatched these up quicker than you could say $3 for the pair!