I Love Lucy {Inspired} Mystery Challenge - Lucille Ball Quote Embroidery

I love the I Love Lucy show - who doesn't?!  So the opportunity to create something inspired by Lucille Ball or the I Love Lucy Show sounded easy, fun and exciting.  And, while things for this project certainly did not go smoothly, the final result is a helpful reminder both in sewing and every day life!  I am a complete novice when it comes to hand embroidery, but I created a design using a quote I found "One of the things I have learned the hard way is that it doesn't pay to get discouraged." ~Lucille Ball    If you happen to like my design, you can find it below for your own use!

I am participating for the first time in Mystery Challenge - a group of women sewing bloggers who choose a theme, then are randomly assigned a partner from the group to give a specific prompt based on the theme.  The May 2015 theme is Moments and People Throughout History and I was given the prompt Lucille Ball or I Love Lucy. (Be sure to check out the complete list of participants and topics - each is hyperlinked and will take you to their project once it is posted on their assigned date)

I'm not sure if the show and reruns are as popular worldwide as they are in the US, but who doesn't immediately picture Lucy and Ethel stomping on grapes in Italy, Viteamitavegamin, the Chocolate Factory, the fur coat episode, and so many other iconic scenes and episodes from the show?  She also starred in Yours, Mine and Ours which is a new favorite movie I recently watched with my kids.  So it should be easy, right?

In the show, Lucy is constantly dreaming up grand schemes and then while trying to execute them she encounters unanticipated roadblocks and comical errors that usually keep her from achieving her plan.  My project certainly held true to that inspiration!  I had grand plans for a completely different project (projects) and things didn't go as planned.  Even when I decided to scale down and just embroider this quote, two days before my deadline I realized I had made a couple errors (particularly in size and font selection on the original design) and lost another day's work.  Then when I got that squared away, I found that one of the threads I had chosen to use was too soft and it kept pulling apart as I stitched. Discouraged?  Yes.  Some days (a lot of days lately) I am tempted to sell all my sewing supplies and quit.

In the end, my project (although still unfinished - I do plan to complete the satin stitch all the way around the heart frame) was not only fun to do, it is a good reminder for me and a great opportunity to work on one of my resolutions for the year.  Learning to hand embroider is one of my goals for 2015, and this is my first completed project.

The reason I chose to embroider is that embroidery projects are portable and easy to pick up and take a break from without leaving a huge mess.  I do not have a dedicated sewing room, and I do have five kids - so delving in to sewing projects has become more of a luxury than a habit the past few months.  Embroidery, although I know very little about it, gives me the freedom to be creative without requiring so much space and time commitment.

Supplies and Design Image:

Here is the design I created.  I had originally planned to have the heart incomplete - then decided to finish it when I was embroidering it. You are welcome to print this for your own use - please refer others to this post for their own copy.  Thank you!  (click here to go to the full size image file)

And don't miss the other Mystery Challenge Posts!

Participant list

5/25│ The Berry Bunch - Frank Lloyd Wright │ Sew Not Perfect - Lucille Ball, I Love Lucy

5/26│ Friends Stitched Together - Prohibition/Roaring 20's │ HaCunha Matata - Jane Austin

5/27│ Zoe and Ted - Suffragetes

5/28│ House of Estrella - Woodstock/Fall of the Berlin Wall  │ Pen Seb Rox - Piet Mondriaan

5/29│ Friends Stitched Together - Impressionist Movement │ Wining Wife - Judgement of Paris

5/30│ Super Stay at Home Mommy - Madame Tussaud │ Keep Calm and Carrion - Jackie Kennedy  │ Gloria June - Florence Nightingale

5/31│ Sofilantjes - Andy Warhol │ Busy Little Bee - Marie Antoinette │ Amanda Rose - March 9, 1959 Barbie

6/1│ Pienkel - Bianca Jagger │ Huisje Boompje Boefjes - Anne Frank

6/2│ Taking it Up a Notch - Queen Victoria │ Amazing Adventures with Bubba and Bug - 1964 New York World Fair │  Kelly's Sewing Creations - Steampunk Mary Queen of Scots

6/3│ Mae & K - Tesla │ Pretty Little Blog - Moon Landing │ Knot Sew Normal - Lutie Eugenia Sterns

6/4│ Sew Starly - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II │ Hibbadoray - Amelia Earhart │ Sew Far North - Countess Markievicz (1868-1927)

6/5│ Made By Sara - John Dillinger/Roaring 20's │ Create 3.5 - George Sand

6/6│ Country Bella - 1900's World's Fair/Art Nouveau │ Lulu and Celeste - Rosie the Riveter

6/7│Sew Domesticated - 1960's/Civil Rights Movement │ Rebel and Malice - French Revolution/Joan of Arch │ The Fabric Hoarder - Gypsies

This post is also linked with: