Hello, stitchy friends. I’m afraid my stitchy bug has rather wandered off the last few weeks. It’s not that I don’t want to stitch, but I never seem to have the time. So, I only have slight progress to share on my stumpwork embroidery project.

I finished a second flower petal, and I did a better job with the buttonhole stitch this time around. I realized I couldn’t be as lazy I was about where my needle came up and made an effort to keep the stitches as close to the wire and as close together as possible.

I know the white stitching on white muslin fabric does not make for exciting photography, but I think you can see the difference in the buttonhole stitches between the two petals. With the first one I stitched, on the left, you can see some gaps between the stitches where the metal wire peeks through. In the second petal, on the bottom, the stitches are much closer together and there are no gaps.

The second petal went faster than the first. Now that I am more confident, I may whip through the remaining three petals. Then we can start seeing some real progress on this project!

I also want to share a gift I received this week. There’s a long back story, but the super short version is that a friend gave me this wonderful stitched bookmark, just because:

I happened to receive it during a rather stressful morning at work, so I may have shed some happy tears when I got it. When you spend time making things with your hands yourself, I think you have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the time and care and thoughtfulness that goes into a handmade gift. I love this bookmark so much. :)