Satin Stitch Cross

Churches are among some of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  In particular I love stained glass…the way light shines through it, the various colors.  My husband’s family parish has some of the most unique stained glass I’ve ever seen.  Entire portions of the wall are stained glass, only without the usual images or words.  It is simply various shapes of glass randomly arranged.  I think it is beautiful.

And inspiring.

Since I am a crazy person, I lugged all of my embroidery supplies to Pennsylvania for Easter (along with two kids under 2) and stitched this up one evening while my husband and I watched Les Miserable (Bravo Anne Hathaway!!).  Really, it can be stitched up in the time it takes to watch that movie.

Supplies:
Embroidery Thread (helps if you are a thread hoarder, like me!)
Embroidery Hoop
Sharpie
Ruler
Fabric (I used a thrifted napkin)
Interfacing

There are only a few steps to this project.

First of all, iron on the interfacing to your fabric.  This will give you a sturdier place to stitch.
Then, take the sharpie and draw out the outline of your cross.  Once you have your outline, grab the ruler and make various lines within the outline.  This will mark off where the various colors will be in your cross.

• Once you have your fabric marked, start stitching!  I stitched with three threads at once.  Simply, bring your needle up at one edge of the outline and down at the other end.  Continue to stitch with parallel stitches until the entire area is covered.  When I moved onto a neighboring section I tried to make sure that the stitches in that area where going in a different direction.
• Once the interior of the cross was filled, I went around the outside with a backstitch in black thread.
• Finally, I trimmed the outside and put it in a thrifted frame.