Finding Joy

If you’re like me, then the end of the year is a time of reflection and planning. I’ve actually found a bit of joy in thinking about all that I have accomplished this year in the midst of a pandemic and a lot of political turmoil in the US. I’m going to start my planning and dreaming for a better 2021 by stitching on this tea towel calendar found in our shop at Spoonflower.

This tea towel design is for sale at Spoonflower. This design is available in English, French, German and Spanish.

First step was to figure out how to enjoy the calendar on display while it is also a work in progress. I quickly cut a dowel rod to the right length. Then I sewed on a few tabs with bias tape scraps. This will allow me to stitch a little each day but, then hang it up again to enjoy. It’s really easy to slide it off of the dowel rod, then slip it back on when I’m done stitching. This door is near my exercise space, and through the winter especially, I will need that sunshine and dreams of mountains to brighten my workout.

A little scrap of bias tape makes a perfect tab. You can also use fabric scraps. You do not need a lot of fabric to make these tabs.

Next step is to choose the embroidery floss! Given the pandemic and a tight December budget, I went through my stash to find what I needed. Thankfully, I found a zipper bag of floss from ReCraft in Indianapolis with many options inside. These are the colors I chose: DMC 762, DMC 168, DMC 414, DMC 318, DMC 341, DMC 317, DMC 415, DMC 3747, DMC 3042, DMC 3740 and DMC 26. You can pick your own color palette and the number of colors you want to use.

Here are the colors I selected from my stash. You can choose whatever feels right to you.

The next step is to figure out how to fill in the mountains. I plan to use local temperatures, which will likely go from just below 0° Fahrenheit to just over 100° Fahrenheit. I grouped below 0° and above 100° into one group as there will hopefully be just a few of them. Then I divided the rest into groups of 10 degrees. Colors were randomly assigned. You can make your list based on the number of colors you want to use and what the temperature range is where you live. If you live in an area that doesn’t have huge temperature fluctuations, you can make your ranges pretty small, so you can use all of the colors.

My tea towel is hanging in my exercise space. These happy colors will make my workouts a little more enjoyable.

There are so many places to stitch on this calendar before the mountains begin. Look closely at the little trees and the sun. Little waves can be added to the river. And there are X’s all over the background, too. While stitching these details, I plan to give some thought to the next year. How can I make this a good year despite living in quarantine? That’s the big question for all of us. Head on over to Spoonflower to pick up a 2021 tea towel calendar so we can mull it over and stitch together. We would love to see how you’ll be stitching up yours – tag us on Instagram @BostonandYork. We’ll be posting progress on ours throughout the year, too.

Here are my floss choices for stitching the background details.