coloring inside the lines

Some days you need some lines to color around. No difficult decisions to make or creative juice to squeeze out of your tired little mind. And I always was one of those kids. You know, the ones who don't let half a crayon width stray outside the line. I can't help it; I've always found meticulousness very comforting.



This fabric was begging to be colored in. So for the past few evenings I have been embroidering away, thinking less about where to put the next stitch and more about my boy Andy whooping that little Aussie's ass.

Twin said it would look really great if I embroidered the whole thing. I told her if I had about 100 hours to spare, that would indeed look fantastic. But I kind of like the splash of color in one corner. I can always add more color later, if I am again taken with a coloring book urge.



And here's the happy sofa. This sofa has a desperate wish to be brown. Deep chocolate brown. He whispers to me that he'd look really snazzy in a brown slipcover. But I keep putting him off because I'm scared. Maybe some day soon.

p.s. Thanks everybody for all your kind compliments on my last post! jeepers, i'm feeling the love.

beachy embroidery

This was my sitting-on-the-beach project over vacation. I didn't even draw it out first, just started embroidering what I saw in front of me. I had intended to have more different blues in the waves, in an attempt to capture the green-blues I saw. I had a color all picked out, sitting in my lap, when a sand crab started scuttling suddenly and very purposefully toward my beach chair. At which point I found it absolutely necessary to jump up, shreiking like a little girl and scattering everything that was in my lap across the sand. I managed to rescue everything except the green-blue floss, which must have gotten buried in the commotion. Making me both an absolute wuss about crustaceans as well as a litterbug.

I added the beach ball when I got home because I felt it needed a bit more color. I found the frame in an adorable little gift shop in Corolla.



I am generally too hypercritical of my work, so I won't list all the ways I am dissatisfied with the way this turned out, and focus instead on one thing I am happy about. I love the way that I was able to capture the surf of the waves hitting the sand. It makes me happy.

note: I've got a new banner! It's a Michael Miller fabric from Reprodepot. I'm hoping to update the sidebar a bit too. fun fun.