Little Stabs (it's been a while!)

I've not blogged in a while and I've struggled to find my sewjo over the years since I was married and made that beautiful wedding dress. It's fitting then that my first post in a while is about short bursts of sewing energy; no mountainous projects, just little stabs.

 I'm new to sashiko stitching, but I love the idea of mending clothes in a beautiful and obvious manner.  If you're new to sashiko, too, here's an internet description:  Sashiko, which translates to "little stabs," is a traditional Japanese folk embroidery technique used for mending, reinforcing, and decorating clothing and fabrics. 

My first two sashiko projects (and I hope there's more) were to fix a hole in one of the husband's flannel shirts, near the elbow, and a hole that developed on the kangaroo pouch of my favorite sweatshirt. 

I went it alone on the husband's flannel, but I relied on a water soluble template for my heart shaped sashiko on my sweatshirt. What do you think? Have you tried this?