Retro Stitchery

Well hello!  I've been working on something just a little different (for me) this past week and I have a fun new book to share with you today.

My friend Bev McCullough (a.k.a. Flamingo Toes) has written a great new book called Retro Stitchery.  

**This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) when purchases are made through links found in this post. Thank you!

It's filled with creative and inspiring embroidery patterns + plenty of great projects to go with them. Bev has such a great style and it was fun to put my own twist on her pillow project, called There's No Place Like Home.  

Here's Bev's version:

As you can see above, the original pattern uses embroidery for the letters as well as the flower, but since I'm still so new to embroidery I decided to use some raw edge applique for the letters and embroider that pretty flower. I mean...it really IS the star of the show, isn't it?

I first embroidered the flower on my background fabric (Moda Grunge in Fog). 

Then for the letters, I traced a mirror image of the "H" "M" and "E" onto some Heat n Bond Lite, and fused it to the wrong side of a gray print I had in my stash. I then fused those letters to the background fabric on either side of the embroidered flower. To stitch the letters down, I used a straight stitch in gray thread around the edges of each letter. And I LOVE how it turned out!

Bev's book is full of so many great ideas and projects - I have "This is My Happy Place" on my want-to-make list, as well as the "Choose Joy" hoop pictured below. 

One thing I love about this book is that the patterns are not just for the embroidery designs - she also steps you through how to make the whole project...whether that's a pillow, a mug wrap, zipper bag, or a wrapped canvas art.

For the next several weeks Bev is hosting a book tour for Retro Stitchery. You can find the full schedule for the book tour here on Bev's website. 

Want to get your own copy of the book? Find one here on Amazon, and here from the Fat Quarter Shop, and here from Martingale. 

For more embroidery, cross stitch, and quilting inspiration, be sure to follow Bev on Instagram (@flamingotoes) and she has a fabulous facebook group as well!