Progress

I thought I'd share some progress from the embroidery/quilt project I recently started. I got this idea when I discovered sashiko embroidery a few months ago on Pinterest. Sashiko is traditional form of Japanese embroidery involving a simple running stitch. The simplicity of style and color combined with beautiful repeating patterns appealed to me right away. I've wanted to start a project that would be creative, but not involved my usual work, and not be on the computer. I used to embroider a lot actually, some pretty complicated pictures, but that's not what I'm drawn to anymore and I just wanted something that involved less planning that I could just do meditatively.
Anyway, I guess what I'm doing with this project isn't traditionally sashiko, which is done in white thread on indigo died cloth. I chose to do an ecru white on plain linen, because I'm all about neutral colors right now, and I love linen. I also decided to make a small blanket because I wanted to make something useful to me. Just making a sampler seemed kind of pointless to me, and when I start something new I like to try something possibly overly ambitious.
I've never made a blanket before, so I kind of just muddled my way though, but I think it turned out okay. I ended up getting two pieces of fabric, cutting one slightly small than the other and then making a sandwich with cotton batting in the middle. Then I used the larger bottom fabric to come up over the top to make the binding. I ended up having to sew it together by hand because my old sewing machine couldn't handle all the layers. It took probably twice as long and is pretty messy, but I'm trying to just go with it, who needs perfection anyway? I don't want to make it too perfect, in fact I've noticed that the sashiko I like the most is the kind that's uneven and more freeform. That said I picked a fairly complicated repeating pattern and sketched it out in pencil and I am trying to be neat. I'm just not going to make myself crazy over it.
I've got just about 1/4 of the embroidery done but so far I'm really proud of just making the blanket part. Now I have all these ideas for more blankets and quilts I want to make! Well, we'll see, I'll try not to get too carried away until I actually finish this one.

I'll be sure to check back in with a progress report later on!