You know those friends you click with effortlessly? Artist and embroidery designer Megan Eckman and I were in the same fifth grade class back in Fargo, ND. We graduated high school together, our little brothers played sports and graduated together themselves and our moms are friends. We’ve known each other almost 20 years, so when Megan set up the blog book tour for her new embroidery book West Coast Love, I was immediately on board.
You don’t have to be from the west coast to appreciate this coffee cup pattern!
From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Seattle Space Needle, this 100+ page digital pattern book gives you a tour of the seaside states. In addition to man-made landmarks, you can stitch up iconic birds, alternative state flags, and national park monuments. West Coast Love is the first pattern book by Megan Eckman, the designer behind Studio MME. Her patterns are simple to sew but intricate in their design, letting you curl up on the couch with a beer while you stitch something beautiful.
Free embroidery pattern – Steller’s Jay
To give you a taste of what to expect from West Coast Love, here’s a pattern from the book for you to try. It features a lovely bird native to the Northwest called the steller’s jay. It’s a really gorgeous bird similar to the blue jay, but features some black in its coloring that’s really gorgeous, especially in embroidered form! Get the free pattern here.
I have a distinct memory of Megan sitting at my parents’ kitchen counter drawing fantastic illustrations on post it notes at age 10. Even then, she was a talented illustrator, and today, she’s expanded her design talents to embroidery. Her new book is full of 20 adorable designs designed to be sewn on pennant style flags and embroidery hoops, complete with instructions on preparing your hoops and flags for display after completing the embroidery part of your projects. Even Midwesterners like myself can appreciate how fun these designs are – I’m hoping she does a book of Midwest patterns and comes for a visit to Chicago for inspiration! :)
what a cool collection of embroidery patterns !I love embroidery, I return to it every so often, it’s always so satisfying.