Slow Sunday Stitching - personalizing a journal cover

This week I had an opportunity to enjoy some hand stitching - it's been a while since I did any embroidery and I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece!

The gold lettering is hard to photograph, but it says "Kitty and Jerome's Amazing Recipes"  Since the journal was already complete I had to make sure I didn't catch the flap on the back in the stitching, but it wasn't really to bad.  The gold thread was a bit difficult to work with, but it was so pretty that it was worth the effort.

I had to really stretch out of my comfort zone and write the letters out on the cover myself - I printed out the font as large as I could on a piece of paper, then practiced on that before writing on the journal.  My chalk pencil wouldn't show up, so I took a deep breath and used a very fine point pink gel pen....but it went just fine, and I figure a little imperfection on a hand-made item is to be expected, right?

I really enjoyed working on this, it makes me eager to think of some more hand stitching projects!  I do have a quilt that is basted and ready to start quilting that I should get to working on - I think I'll pull that out this evening and challenge myself to get that finished.  Cooler nights are coming and this quilt has a lovely wool batting that will be super nice to snuggle under!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching - stop by and see who else is linking up this week!