Like a hole in the head

I need a new project/hobby like I need a hole in the head.

Not that that ever stopped me. Recently I have been itching to learn to embroidery, inspired by sites like this. So last night, I found some instructions for period stitches and suggestions for motifs here. I dug out my hand-dyed wool using plant dyes, wool so itchy that I would never knit it into a garment, found some old white fabric that was cut out for some long-forgotten quilt I will never make and got started.

The motif I am using is the small faces from the Mammen Cloak. Of course, I am not doing the small, cause I am a rebel like that. So here is my start.

There are three faces on the cloth and I am thinking of doing each one is a different stitch - stem, chain, and either split stitch or couching. I started with stem stitch.

So I am probably using the wrong fabric and the wrong needles and the wrong thread in the wrong colors, but I am charging ahead.


I also put together my work basket to keep me on task so I actually finish something. I can only work on projects in the work basket, and I must finish one before I start another.

In here is some mending, my embroidery, a veil I need to hem, the back gusset I want to put in my new blue dress, my attempt at refitting my first dress I made (I don't have a photo of that), and yes, there is a hat project represented in there, by a couple skeins of yarn. The rest of the hat is over here, waiting to be untangled and re-worked.