Simply Stitched with Applique, Book Review and Giveaway!

My friends over at Zakka Workshop sent me their beautiful new book Simply Stitched with Applique and they also sent one for me to share! Do you follow Yumiko Higuchi over on Instagram? If you don’t, you are missing out on some beautifully inspiring embroidery work!

I always say a good sign of a great book is the one that has all the pages marked and papers sticking out everywhere. I had such a hard time choosing what to make first, so I just started putting papers in the ones I loved most (that cover motif is at the top of my list!).

This Leaf Sampler is so striking in black with all the green shades. Each design comes with multiple options for colors or layouts, you could make these really modern or much more traditional, something for everyone!

This one is up next on my to-sew list, in these purples and greens, maybe just a small pin cushion with a few leaves on it. Also what a beautiful way to bring nature into our homes for those of us who tend to kill actual nature, just whip one of these beautiful botanical scenes up! This design is also shown in rich Fall colors, perfect as Thanksgiving home decor!

I fell in love with this tiny strawberry pin cushion and wanted to make one exactly like it to share with one of you. I remembered that my local antique store had some vintage linen towels with embroidery on them so I went in search of this minty green color and found one. Yay! And don’t worry, the original vintage embroidery will be going in a small hoop for my wall soon.

Yumiko also has a wonderful embroidery guide in this book which I kept flipping back to. I don’t embroider often enough to have anything more than basic stitches memorized, so a picture guide is always a helpful tool.

Something so sweet and little makes me happy, and what a joy to work on bits here and there while watching Wives and Daughters (it seemed very fitting to do a small embroidery to go with the time period of that show).

I used a green wool thread from Aurifil for the leaves and other thread weights of Aurifil in yellow and red that I had on hand. The wool felt is from Benzie Design, they have a beautiful selection of quality felt at a very good price (just don’t get carried away with the felt balls for Christmas garland like I did! hehe!). And of course the linen is vintage which I think gives this whole project just a bit more charm.

I just love giveaways and I am so happy to send this little pin cushion along with a copy of the beautiful Simply Stitched with Applique book from Zakka Workshop. This book is also available HERE on Amazon and would make a wonderful addition to your embroidery library. To enter the giveaway, find my post over on Instagram and enter for your chance to win. Giveaway will run from Monday October 30 till Friday November 3. Best of luck and thanks for stopping by!