Take It Out On The Lawn

Okay, so as I mentioned here, I got these awesome embroidery patterns from WildOlive. Unique and witty art deserves an unusual execution. Not execution as in "off with her head" but execution as in use of.

Basically, I wanted to do something different with these--different from the usual embroidered napkins, tea towel or pillowcase.

One of the three patterns I ordered from Wildolive is called The Stuff of Fairy Tales. This pattern pays tribute to the stuff that never gets it's moment in the spotlight, that same stuff that makes the fairy tale. I'm talking about the beans from Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella's shoe, the Three Bear's porridge bowl, Aladdin's lamp, the Emperor and His New Clothes' clothes hanger, Red Riding Hood's picnic basket, the pea and mattress featured in The Princess and the Pea. Isn't that hysterical? And unique? I knew this was where I was starting.

At the same time Head Honcho has asked that we refrain from fast-fooding so much. Yes, that is a verb. Yes, I did coin it. Yes, I do expect fame and fortune--or maybe just a few emails from irate school teachers and Prince Charles. We (our family, not Prince Charles) make a lot of road trips to doctors' appointments and to see my family down in Louisville. Fast-fooding expends cash resources while increasing both fat deposits in the adult family members and plastic junk hording in the juvenile family members. Fat and junk are not good.

He suggested we should take our own picnic more often. Hahahahaha. Oh yes. I did laugh. My girls...picnicking. Well, Head Honcho was serious and picnicking is also good for the environment, especially if we had our very own picnic kit.

Voila! The "Stuff of Fairy Tales" embroidery patterns made their way onto a picnic blanket. I thought it was fitting. I found some super cute vintage looking material for the coordinating fabric. And I discovered that the whole thing had even more zing when I added some buttons in funky citrus colours. I bought some inexpensive plastic dishes to fill the coordinating tote bag. All I need is a waterproof drop cloth and the kit is complete.

As far as the embroidery, I used number three thread--that really big, thick stuff that I swear could be used for ship rope. I thought it would show up better and wear longer on this hardworking blanket. It was hard going, especially for this fair maiden who is used to the ease of regular embroidery thread. I used a running stitch on everything. And I swore a little.

I think the whole thing turned out great. So no more fast-fooding for us. From now on, it's lunch on the lawn using our super cool, very unique, incredibly witty picnic kit.