Bluebonnet: Embroidery 101

A few weeks ago I took Embroidery 101 with Kelly at her shop Bluebonnet. What I didn't know then is it would be the last time I stepped foot into her enchanting little corner of Ivanhoe Village. More on that later.

I was the first to arrive because of course I was. You know how I do.  Kelly and I shot the shit until my classmates filtered in. One of my fellow painting classmates was also in this class. Kelly had each little spot organized with all of the supplies we'd need. This is something I've been wanting to learn for a long time and I'm so happy that it finally came to fruition. We first learned how to put the fabric into our hoops which is basic AF but I didn't know how to do it so I welcomed every little bit of knowledge she had to give. We started easy with the running stitch and then worked our way through harder stitches like the split stitch and satin stitch. Kelly would show us how to do it and then we'd all practice on our hoops. If we ran into trouble she was sure to come help. I'm glad I didn't go into the class thinking I had a leg up (from my sewing background) because I really would've felt like an idiot. I mean, even threading the embroidery threads was so different than I was used to. Also those french knots were no joke and took a little while to get my head around. I had a blast chit chatting with the other girls while filling my brain with all things embroidery. She also gave out some templates to take with us. I am currently working on one right now. I'll post it once I'm done. It's certainly not perfect but so far I'm doing pretty well. There is really something about working with your hands in a focused manner that can be so therapeutic. It can also hurt if you don't pay attention to where that needle is going. Ha! I'm excited to make all kinds of hoops for all my people. I have way more ideas in my brain than my hands can keep up with right now so I'm just taking it one hoop at a time. 

 

As I type up this blog Kelly is teaching her last Embroidery 101 class because her shop is closing this week. When she announced the news I was so shocked. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision to make but I know it was the best for her. I hope she is proud of all she has accomplished with Bluebonnet because I'm certainly proud of her. I always told friends about her place and even better is I would take friends to see it in person. I consigned clothing with her and I bought clothing of others. My favorite necklace that I wear almost daily was bought there. Dustin's (and everyone elses) favorite candles were sold there and it was because of her shop we found out they existed. This year she started offering crafting classes and I thought it was the coolest. I'm so happy I got to make it to two of them before her closing. Not only that but my former classmate got to become my teacher. How cool is that? I'm going to miss dropping by her shop when I'm in the area but I know she's on to bigger and better. Sometimes the hardest decisions we have to make are the best ones for us. 

Thank you for teaching me a new craft. 

Good luck with everything. 

I'll see you around friend. 

Thank you to everyone who has shown support over the last four and a half years. Our last day will be July 14th.

A post shared by Bluebonnet 💙🎁 (@bluebonnetorlando) on Jul 3, 2018 at 9:08am PDT

Kelly and I go way back and I hope we go way forward too. Here's to the good ol' days and the good times that haven't happened just yet. 

Here I am in Geometry with my study partner Jason. Kelly was usually a part of that group too but she didn't want her photo taken. Ha!

Here's we are again with our fellow interior design classmates. That was one of my favorite classes ever. I would skip almost any other class but I made sure to never miss this one.