I Danced!...

Brynwood Needleworks - Original Turtle Stool and Embroidered Cover

 

When I was a woman in my twenties, I stitched a piece exactly like this one. Not this exact one, but one just like it. I gave it away years later, and lost track of it.

One day while we were still in Florida, I came across this one in a shop and immediately purchased it. You know how nostalgia grabs you once in a while? This piece fairly demanded I bring it home. But it was in awful shape. I took the embroidery off the little turtle stool, tossed the deteriorating foam, and cleaned up the embroidery to use as a pattern. I wanted to stitch a piece of my own again. I originally wrote a blog post about it HERE.

 

Brynwood Needleworks - Preparing Cover For Tracing

 

I pulled it out of the closet yesterday and began by taping the embroidery to my light box (It pays to have a husband who is a retired photographer. He gave his awesome light table to me!). I then placed paper on top to trace the design for my pattern.

Brynwood Needleworks - Cover Secured To My Lightbox

This is my tracing in progress.
 

Brynwood Needleworks - Tracing In Progress

 

I'll keep the original embroidery handy for reference, so I marked the embroidery and the templace with a "v" so I can keep the orientation correct.

 

Brynwood Needleworks - Design Transferred To Linen

 

I used my wax marker to transfer the design onto the linen. This will just iron away and disappear if I have any marks showing after I'm finish stitching.

Brynwood Needleworks - Linen Mounted Onto Scroll Frames

 

I was getting ready to choose my colors, when I had the idea to embroider the design onto my linen fabric using only white thread instead. 

Brynwood Needleworks - Embroidery Has Begun

Of course, I had to start working on it right away, so before my day was finished, I was needle dancing...and smiling. I'm really looking forward to doing the embroideries on this piece. I'll be personalizing the designs with my own specialty stitches. 

I may not mount it back on the turtle stool...or I may paint the turtle stool first...or I may make it into a pillow...I just don't know. I do know I can wait to decide. For now, all I have to do is blissfully embroider and enjoy every moment.