Obsessed with the DMC

 That's Double Mercerized Cotton floss, in case you're wondering.

Last year when we were in Arizona, sister-in-law and I spent some time in Crate and Barrel where I picked up some dish towels to embroider.  While we were in Tennessee, I decided to get busy on some projects.  About mid-September, I became obsessed with embroidery to the exclusion of all other hobbies.  I don't have pictures of everything I've stitched, many have already been given away, but today I decided to post pictures of those I have retained.

The topmost picture isn't great.  I did a panoramic and it's a little wobbly; also, the finished piece has been folded up in a drawer for a while.  This one started out as a dish towel, but after working on it for a couple of months, I believe it is frame-worthy.

These are two of four corners on a large, muslin dish towel; variations on hands.

Two of four sides on an Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven, themed dish towel.

These kitties are on a cat-themed muslin dish towel.  

The entire towel is covered in different outlines of cats.  These three are my favorite.  

(The above stitching was done during my let's-only-use-black-floss phase.)

A set of pre-stamped pillowcases for a friend here at 4 Seasons who LOVES red trucks.

Another set of pre-stamped pillowcases done for consort and me.  Obviously, they're currently in use!  I purchased the pillowcases over ten years ago and brought them with me when we moved into the trailer.  I thought that one day I might be ambitious enough to stitch them up.

The antique crocheted trim was made by my great-grandmother.

Raindrops and puddles on a dish towel.  The crocheted trim is my first attempt at duplicating the delicate lace my great-grandmother was famous for.  I was pleased with the result!

It's kind of hard to see, but there is an iridescent floss called Innocence

that is stitched into each puddle and flows down each set of raindrops.

The puddles are a simple outline stitch, the raindrops are a split stitch.

The two dish towels above, and the one below, are all from Hobby Lobby.  They're great towels, 100% cotton, made in India.  The corners on the above towel are stitched in a pearl white floss, which was a little tricky to use.  I crocheted the white trim across the bottom with a thin crochet thread.

And, finally, this is what I'm currently working on.  I love trees and birds.  I may still add a sketch of a bird to this one.  All of those dots you see -- hundreds of them! -- are French knots.

This is one of the dish towels from Crate and Barrel, again, already in use.

This colorful towel was completed before I started my black-only phase.

I regularly gift these towels and am always sad to hear the recipients simply put them away in a drawer to "save."  (My daughter is the exception to this rule because she knows she has a steady supply.)  The towels are very sturdy and 

the embroidery holds up through numerous washings without fading.

I have several towels that were put into service a decade ago that still look almost new as you can see by the examples below. 

No story today, nope, nothing but stitchery!