When I launched the A Stitch a Day Interview Series, I was hoping to come across some really unique embroidery journals – I’ve seen some really fun and different embroidery journals which were all fantastic in their own way, but Lauren Nielsen is creating something truly unique that I couldn’t have imagined. She’s creating a small hexagonal embroidery journal for each month and plans to turn them into a quilt at the end of the year. Lauren may even continue to add to her quilt for years to come.
I hope you enjoy reading through her responses as much as I did. I think you’ll find yourself learning a lot!
Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a librarian by trade and a teacher at heart. I love nothing more than teaching crafts and empowering people to realize their potential. Someday I want to open a crafting library (think makerspace) where anyone can come to try out the craft they saw online without having to invest in all of the expensive tools to succeed. I also love reading and learning and pursuing new projects, so I’ve developed a bit of a crafting obsession. Some of my favorite creative pursuits include, working with clay, drawing, painting, beadworking, punch needle, lei making, bookbinding, sewing, quilting, crochet, and temari. You name it and I’ve either tried it or researched it at some point! Hahaha
What have been some of your favorite icons that you’ve embroidered this year?
I have so many icons that I absolutely adore! The hibiscus and betta fish from January, the shoe in February, the hippo head and jellyfish from March, Senshi from Delicious in Dungeon in April, the koi flag from May, and the FestPAC logo in June!
What supplies do you use for your embroidery journal
- 4 inch plastic locking lip embroidery hoop
- DMC embroidery floss
- Big eye quilting needles
- Mini scissors
- FriXion Ball Slim heat erase gel pens (pink and purple .38 size)
- White quilting cotton
- A stiff iron-on interfacing. (sorry I don’t remember the brand or the thickness)
- Sticky notes for sketching out the designs.
- Oh! I pack it around in a zipper pouch. 🙂 This also keeps it clean.
How did you learn how to embroider?
My first project was when I was a kid and I made this little kit that said “to be a friend, you have to bend!” It was cute and I remember that I liked making it, but then I didn’t know what to do with it and totally forgot about it for years. Then my mom surprised me with it a few years ago after she turned it into a miniature quilt for my kids to play with! I think we colored it in a little bit with colored pencils?
How have you managed to stay motivated throughout the year? Do you have a way of tracking your icons?
I’m combining these questions because they are 100% related. I actually have a secret… I attempted to do this exact same project (the hexagons, the rainbow blackwork/redwork idea) last year and only made it through January! There were a LOT of changes and things going on in my family and for me, so it was easy to lose steam. Despite these changes, the biggest reason for my downfall was because I didn’t have a good place to record what the icons represented and I lost absolutely all of my motivation.
This year, I came in with a plan and so far it’s working! For years I’ve wants to be someone who keeps a daily journal. I’d attempted many times, but was never successful and usually ave up after a few days. But here in the embroidery journal is a way that involves my love for creating and my desire to record my daily life. This year, I bought a book journal to use exclusively alongside my stitch a day journal! It’s one of those pretty 3 year journals where there’s only enough room for 2 or 3 sentences. So I’m not writing a daily novel, but it’s enough room to record the events of the day! I draw the icons in the margin next to the day’s entry. I also bought a pretty fountain pen and matching ink for writing exclusively in the journal. It’s archival and beautiful!
Another trick that I only realized at the end of May is that I actually have a second embroidery hoop of the exact same size! So I can totally get the new month hooped up while still finishing the stitching of the previous month! This way I can keep at least the drawing of the icons up to date even if my stitches aren’t. It has been difficult finding the time to stitch but easier for me to write and draw the icons, so this is a way I keep motivated!
I also think it’s worth mentioning that even though this might seem like a complicated approach to some, it’s exactly the kind of project that makes me joyful to create! I remember when I was first dreaming up this idea that it just kept building and building. It was like I was saying, “ooo, but what if I did…” and it just kept going until I came up with this! There’s enough challenge and variety to stay interesting. Also, since it’s broken into months I visibly have something finished every month, so I keep getting the satisfaction of a finished project on a monthly basis too!
What has been the most challenging aspect of creating this project for you?
Honestly the most challenging thing has been finding a space and time to maintain it daily. When I started the project in January I had a dedicated space and time that worked! For the past few months though, my routine and spacing has changed and it has been more difficult to get that time and space daily. Instead I make do with what’s turning into weekly updates instead of daily.
Another challenge is obviously coming up with the icons, but I use thenounproject.com as inspiration! On days when I can’t picture how to draw it out, I’ll type key words in and look at the images for inspiration! Other times I’ve turned to the group and asked how they would represent the idea. That second approach was really helpful when I ran out of ideas for representing yet another sick day. Hahaha! I keep a sticky note with my journals so I can sketch out the ideas until I get something I’m satisfied with. I keep telling myself to keep it simple, but I love adding details!
How do you go about spacing out your icons?
The outline is a light red micron permanent pen. All of the inner lines are the frixion heat erase pens. Due to the hexagon shape and where I draw my lines, I end up with 36 spaces. I obviously don’t keep strictly to these spaces, but it helps me visualize how much space I’ve taken up and about how much room I have left. Especially as I get towards the middle of the month, I’ll start counting how many spaces are left and how many days I have to make icons for.
What have you learned from starting an embroidery journal?
I’ve found that I really like this monthly approach! It keeps the stakes low and doesn’t look overwhelming when I pull it out to work on since it’s only a month of days. I also have found that I’m not as worried about icons repeating between months which is nice. There are a few things that I do every month that are significant enough to me that I want to record it in both of my journals every time. 🙂
I also really love the look of a single strand. It feels more like drawing lineart and I really love that! Also, getting the spacing nailed down has been incredible! If you compare my two January’s, I definitely feel like there’s been a glow up!
What do you plan to do with your embroidery journal once you’ve finished it?
It’s going to be a quilt! I haven’t decided the layout quite yet, but it’ll definitely include other fabrics in a rainbow so that it can grow in size a little bit. The nature of this pattern is that I’ll be able to keep adding to it once I’ve got the initial base finished. Basically, I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to have a finished quilt, but I’m looking forward to it!
How did you decide on the Hexagon nature of your project?
The answer to this one is kind of a long story. The short answer (tldr) is that I love making pretty things but only if it can serve a function too, so I decided to make it into a quilt. Hexagons are a fun shape, and I have enjoyed English paper piecing before.
The long version is that quilting, sewing, and embroidery is kind of a generational thing. Years ago when my mom became interested in quilting (after she hobby hopped all over), she found a quilt from her great grandmother where everyone in the family had done an embroidered flower and signature in the different quilt blocks. My mom had us do something similar and we took our flower patterns from that quilt by my great great grandmother. In this picture you can see the original quilt on the left and our version on the right! The colors from their flowers definitely faded after so many years!
So the idea of quilting and embroidery working together is something that I’ve already seen and done!
More recently, I’ve played around with English Paper Piecing and really enjoyed the meditation that came with putting the pieces together.
I’d been contemplating making a purse or bag but wanted to elevate the design with embroidery or a unique paper piece pattern. These daydreams never came to fruition, but I had the groundwork for piecing hexagons together.
When I first decided to turn this project into a hexagon quilt, I innitialy thought I’d piece them together as I go, but have decided instead to piece them at the end of the year instead! This way I can see how they look together and try all sorts of configurations before finishing it. In fact, I’ve decided that I want this to be a long term (maybe lifetime) project, so by making it a hexagon quilt like this, I can easily keep adding to the quilt as the years go by!
I also knew that I liked the look of blackwork/redwork after helping my mom clean up some “days of the week Sunbonnet Sue” embroidery designs a few years ago. We called her Penny. 🙂
I figured that by limiting my color pallet, I could focus on the daily icons without having to pack around a whole arsenal of colors. But then…I decided to take it even further by making it a rainbow! Every month is a different color and I’m playing with the idea of shifting the colors each year, so that even as the months are lined up, the colors will kind of ripple over the years.
Where can we find you online?
I haven’t been very active lately (algorithm and ai blues) but I am on Instagram @thimblechaser I mostly post about other projects and crafts, but this embroidery journal will occasionally pop up too. 🙂
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