Sewing our Sanity: Burlap embroidered pictures

Dear Emily,

When I wrote the other day about the peanut butter "s'mores," I meant to add that saltines can be substituted for Ritz crackers. You are right, it is the combination of the sweet and salty that makes them extra tasty.

I promised I'd write you about some projects I did last week with the kids so I am sending one today. Not long ago I pinned this idea on one of my Pinterest boards.

Source

It is a coffee table with the top removed so that what is left is a frame on legs. Burlap is stapled on the frame and it becomes a giant sewing hoop. Genius! While it would be neat to have one of these, I definitely don't have the room. Seeing this sparked an idea for a smaller version.

I had a couple of unfinished Ikea frames and some burlap on hand. I bought a $5 package of embroidery floss in a bunch of colors. While I do have lots of DMC floss in several boxes, they are neatly arranged in numerical order and I did not want the kids rummaging through the boxes. I wanted them to choose and cut their own colors (and I wanted them to work somewhat independently). So, the list of supplies is...floss or yarn, burlap - any color will do, an empty picture frame - any size, and plastic needles.

I stapled a piece of burlap to the inside of the back of each frame. The kids each came up with an idea for their image. I showed them how to stitch and off they went. Anthony mastered threading a needle and starting and ending a thread. Caroline needed help with that but she did a fantastic job with her sewing.

Caroline has been drawing cars lately for Gabe so that was her subject. She did great for an almost 5 year old. She was patient and stuck with it until she was finished.