Zen with Jen

I didn't mean to. But as we were hopping in the car for a trip to the airport to pick up family yesterday, I grabbed my travel project bag, and threw in my hand-stitching supplies, and my Zen with Jen embroidery that I'd begun back in October.

I'd let a lot of hand-stitching supersede the Zen project - sashiko and Christmas ornaments and oven mitts - but after working on it just for 30 minutes on the road, I realized how close I was to finishing it. And so later that night, I did just that.

You may remember I started with a spool of variegated dark red perle cotton. And I stitched with that alone for quite a while. But as you can see, I added in some lighter reds, orange, and purple later in the process. I really enjoyed creating the mix.

The piece is square, but my hoop was not. So I chose to just stitch what I could easily reach within my hoop. If the need arises later for me to stitch out to the edge, I'll find a way to do that. For now, I don't have a further purpose for the 'finished' stitchery. Even Jen herself used hers more as a meditation/calming project than with any intention of a future use. So I'm good with that, and calling this project done for now. 

I confess I felt a little aimless not stitching a design per se. And the markings on the cloth were a little small and pale for my older eyes. But I did like the idea of stitching on fabric that wasn't necessarily designed for handwork. So all in all, it was a good exercise and I'm glad I did it. Now back to the tea towel.

The Start of Apple Picking Season

So I've been hand-stitching a new stitchery the last week or so, and it's from Stitch Along with Jen. Where I usually purchase a sampler separate from my other supplies, the zen with jen stitch kit included the embroidery fabric with backing (10" square), a 6" embroidery hoop, two needles, and a spool of variegated WonderFil size 8 perle cotton EZM1090 [Cranberry]. This kit was called 'apple picking season 002'.

From what I can tell, Jen is kind of known for stitching on preprinted fabric with no particular plan. IE. not a sampler per se. The focus is entirely on the stitching, one stitch at a time. In her words, "this is a mindful, meditation piece with no exact plan in mind."

So it's a bit of a different kind of stitching, but I'm up for it. Currently, I'm stitching wherever I'm moved to stitch in the moment, switching off with a single-thickness of thread and a double-thickness. I'm still mulling over whether to add in an additional red thread or not. Time will tell.