Leading up to the holiday season I saw lots of gift posts for fans of THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION: quote T-shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, and tote bags. Which are awesome, and fun–but my sister got me an Emma shirt for my birthday and I didn’t want to just return the favor… I needed something different and personal.
And when I thought to myself, “What would Emma do?” there was only one answer: she would embodier a cushion with the perfect Latin phrase.
If you’ve seen my DIY post on creating your own LATIN PHRASES FOR THE UNREPENTANT you know that I:
1. find Latin phrases wonderful,
2. have gotten everyone I know on the Emma bandwagon, and
3. am not afraid of a large amount of work for something small and joyful.
Therefore, it was time for me to learn to embroider cushions.
I started with one for my teenage son, who finds Emma as hilarious as I do… and who I also wouldn’t be judgmental of my handiwork skills, which are–I must admit–nonexistent (don’t judge me too harshly, having not attended Fortitude: A Preparatory School For Girls, I was never educated in needlepoint).
First I had to pick the perfect phrase. For my son, the obvious choice was a funny insult. We have an inside joke about pumpkins, so I went with, “You pumpkin!” an actual Latin insult (that you’ll see in my edition of LATIN PHRASES). In Latin its, “Cucurbita!”
I started with a plain white cross-stitch Aida cloth like this and a hoop, and a sketched out my phrase and a cute little pumpkin doodle. Seasoned embroiderers might suggest otherwise, but I essentially backstitched the words (with three strands) because I knew how to do that. I used a fistful of embroidery floss (like this set). The mistake I made was doing the pumpkin first, because I (like Emma) quickly realized that it was a ton of work. I would make it smaller next time understanding my lack of calluses, and start with the words so I can feel like it’s progressing faster. But, after several nights of numb-finger labor this is what I came up with:
Happy Christmas Dude!
For my sister’s birthday in January, I just couldn’t find the right phrase in the book. She’s the middle child in our family–a point she reminds us of regularly, and an identity she whole-heartedly embraces. I google searched, “Latin Phrase about the middle” and found this perfect gem: “Medio stat virtus” or “Virtue stands in the middle” (a reference to the golden mean).
This time I focused on the words first, and then looked for some youtube tutorials for simple flowers. Then I sewed it into a basic cushion–this time topstitching the edge to make it a little fancier. I wish I had done the words a little bigger but overall I’m quite pleased with how it turned out:
Take aways: First, it’s not rocket science, and I didn’t have to go to school for it. Second, both recipients thought it was so wonderful and funny that the flaws were not even noticed.
Seriously, just put on your best day dress and make it happen. Virtus apprime!
Kimberly Horch 