Toadstool tutorial

Did you notice this sweet toadstool that sprang up in the Embroidery Pool? Well, there's a tutorial on LucyKate Crafts - so now you can make your very own cute toadstool. This would make a fabulous pincushion and be a great place to try out some new stitches...

Beautiful Birds

I love birds - they are so sweet and beautiful. I found many lovely embroidered birds done by some very talented ladies in the Flickr Embroidery Pool - here are a few of them...Enjoy!



1. Singing bird embroidery, 2. Bird stitching, 3. Birds & Branches Onesie - 3 to 6 Months, 4. Spring bird, 5. Love Bird Pillow, 6. sweet bird!, 7. Bird iPhone cozy, 8. bird detail bottom, 9. bird_girlstitching, 10. Felt Bird Pouch, 11. free as a bird - mini quilt, 12. a box of birds

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

celestial bodies in orbit

Have you seen this sweetness from Emily (aka flossbox in Flickr) yet? Better yet, you can attempt this adorable-ness yourself by buying a downloadable PDF pattern from her Etsy store. Very sweet and educational, to boot! :)

And thanks to Craftzine, for featuring Jessie's interview of doe-c-doe yesterday!

Refrigerator Art

Stop. Don't scroll down. Let me explain. You'll spoil the surprise if you peek......let me start this way:

In the United States, in Wisconsin, in some small city, on my street, in my home, there is a little known art gallery known as the "refrigerator door". It's the very first art gallery for my children's creations. I have five children, so not everyone's pictures got to be on the refrigerator at once, but it was surely an honor to have one's creations displayed for all to see who came to visit.

Now, my children's children have been proudly displaying their works of art. If you want to know what a big deal this is, know/remember what I am talking about, it's a little like when you open this page and see your creation on the page for all the visitors to see.....that "little person" in you lights up with glee.......


What I have for you today is how to transform those wonderful art pieces into embroidery. First, I made an inkjet transfer of the artwork and put it on muslin. Make sure that you make the transfer reversed if there is lettering, so that when you apply it, it is legible. Then, because I am not schooled in embroidery, I wanted to have the quilt batting to hide my embroidery trail, so I sewed on a border and tacked the quilt batting to it.


Then, I began a wonderful experience of embroidery. I cannot tell you the pleasure it gave me to trace those little crayon strokes of my granddaughter's. I was quite surprised.


The only two rules I gave myself were to try to mimic the colors as much as possible, and to embroider in the direction of the crayon stroke. I think this gave credibility to making the crayon drawing into the embroidery piece. I used a chain stitch most often because it filled in easily and I could blend other colors if I wanted to. Being an embellisher at heart, I really had to resist adding things like extra design, or beading.......I used self-control and stayed true to the drawing....lol. Now I will show you some detail of the work.





After much deliberation, I decided to make the piece a wall-hanging, though the possibilites included a tote panel, doll quilt or framed in picture style. I used DMC number 8 cotton perle embroidery thread. I like the ease of not having to separate strands, but the colors are much more limited. I am not a quilter, so I must admit I put this together without that knowledge, but I am fairly happy with it. I wished I was a quilter after I sewed it. However, I cannot wait to see Gabby's face when I give it to her for her birthday today. Truly, it would even be a great "Gramma" gift! Hope you enjoyed it!

Stitchy Woman

An Interview with Gina from Doe-C-Doe

Hi Gina! Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I went to school for graphic design, I met my guy while there and every since we’ve been together moving around, collecting more stuff and caring for our pets. Right now we live in the Midwest but we’re both originally from the East coast.

How did you come up with the name of your blog?
There are so many great names out there – I knew what I wanted to evoke but I couldn’t come up with something that felt right. I was watching an old movie on TMC, with Danny Kaye I think and they were talking about square dancing I guess…I liked the bounciness of it but wanted to make it feel less literal so I played with the words/sound and came up with doe-c-doe.

What’s one thing we probably don’t know about you?
I love to get a spoonful of peanut butter & then dip/scoop pieces of Hershey’s chocolate in it – try it, you’ll like it!



When did you first start stitching?
I started about 3 or 4 years ago – I used it as a creative outlet beyond the computer, which I spend a great deal of time on. Also, I find it relaxing and something I can do while watching tv which used to just be wasted time.

Do you do other crafty things as well?
Not really. I’d like to do more but I don’t have enough energy…

Stitching is very creative, yet also very detail oriented and precise. Does it reflect your personality?
It does reflect my personality because I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I try to make my stitches really even but am constantly humbled by other people’s work.

Do you ever rip out stitches to re-do them in a different color or type of stitch?
I’ve done that a couple time because I wasn’t happy with the color I originally choose. I’ve learned that if I’m not happy with the way something is looking I need to just bite the bullet and fix it because I’ll never be really happy with it. So much time goes into a piece, in the end, it needs to be as close as possible to what I envisioned.

Where do you find the patterns you use?
I use vintage transfers from my collection, books, clip-art, free patterns others post and coloring books.



Do you have an all-time favorite pattern you’ve used again and again?
I haven’t repeated anything I’ve done yet – I tend to do something and then want to move on to something new.

What kinds of things do you embroider on (towels, pillowcases, etc)?
I’ve done a couple pillows & towels as gifts but I think my favorite formats are shadow-boxes & wall-hangings:

(I was inspired by a painting on flickr to create this piece)

This is my most recent finished project (using a free pattern provided by badbird):

Do you ever make anything for yourself?
Yes, but mostly I like to give embroidery as gifts because I know the people I’m giving it to really appreciate what goes into it.

Where do you find inspiration?
All over, the internet, vintage craft books, magazines, nature – the list goes on & on… If the embroidery is a gift for someone I definitely am inspired by them – that’s the best, when you get it just right!
I also find inspiration in my mom – not only because she makes beautiful things but because she gets so much joy out of what I make & I love making her smile!

Are there any websites or blogs you visit regularly for creative inspiration?
Just like everyone else I visit so many it’s hard to try to pick just a few {I list many on my blog}. However, I would say the blog that was the first one I read regularly and which has been such an overall inspiration to me is posie gets cozy.

Do you sell the items you make?
I don’t sell the items I make, although I’m very flattered when people say they wish I would! I’m thinking about opening an etsy shop & have considered selling digital copies of some of my vintage transfers there, but don’t know yet what I’m going to do.

If you could listen to anything while you worked on a project, what would it be?
When I’m stitching it’s the tv, ideally a movie I’ve seen many times before so I don’t have to look up too often! But when I’m preparing a project to start and am in my office its NPR. Since it’s the weekend usually its one of the “fun” shows like This American Life or Car Talk.

Can you show me a few projects and tell me about them?
This is an example of a gift inspired by the recipient’s interest. My guy loves to photograph bugs & I’ve never been big on the real bug specimen box thing so I thought this was a fun way to create my own version.


My dear friend suggested I try embroidering on a lampshade & this was the result, which I in turn gave to her for her baby’s nursery:


My sister loves Lucy & so I wanted to make her something related to that. I referenced Jenny Hart’s portraits to gain confidence and ended up being really happy with the results:


What three movies are next on your Netflix Queue?
Yikes, we don’t have Netflix! But here are 3 movies I always watch when they are on cable:
1. Amelie
2. My Favorite Wife
3. The Princess Bride

Where can we find more of you?
The thrift store! {Or here on Flickr}

Gina makes so many beautiful things and has all sorts of fun and wonderful collections. Make sure to visit her blog, Doe-C-Doe to check it all out for yourself!

Thank you, Gina!

xoxo

Sashiko Embroidery

Hi everyone! This is my first post on Feeling Stitchy! Thanks so much to Floresita for asking me to contribute. I have two blogs of my own, the Sublime Stitching Blog and Embroidery As Art. I haven't seen anything posted here yet about the traditional Japanese embroidery of sashiko (did I miss it?), which I first learned about last summer. We all love our pretty colors and fancy stitches, but it's the quiet simplicity and humbleness of sashiko that lends its beauty. Sashiko reminds me why I started stitching in the first place: to meditate. Something tells me this style of embroidery is going to grow in popularity... There is a wonderful tutorial on sashiko at the purl bee that covers the history and the tools (check out the crazy thimble!).

Special thanks to water-fall on Flickr for granting permission to share her lovely photo.

Flowers, flowers everywhere

Spring has sprung and there are beautiful blooms everywhere - even in the Flickr Embroidery Pool. This mosaic is only part one - there are so many lovely examples that this is only the beginning!! So grab those spring colored flosses and stitch a bouquet for yourself - I know you'll be inspired once you see what other stitchers have done - enjoy!!



1. Three flower Beret/Hat Pins, 2. I like these flowers, 3. Flower, 4. Little Flower Baby Bib, 5. There will be flowers..., 6. Embroidered flower close up, 7. Flowers and felt, 8. flowers, 9. flower_heart01, 10. stylized flower embroidery, 11. group flower pins, 12. IMG_0049, 13. Three Seed Heads - thread on felt drawing - mounted, 14. ragged edge tapestry, 15. brownflower2, 16. floral 16

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Etsy spotlight - Peapies

I'm always looking for a good embroidery design and Peapie delivers in that area.

Sweet, original, and relatively inexpensive for an original design. Chose delivery via email as a PDF to start immediately!

The Problem Is......

Picasso is quoted as saying: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." My interpretation of that is: Most of what makes good art is "courage." I say this because I struggle with my own idea of what something is "supposed" to look like, instead of just letting my imagination go.........

As an embroiderer, I am most attracted to the things that are out of the box....or, that do not follow the "rules". I love things like crazy-quilting, and free-form crochet, I love mixed media where all the things bump together, doing their own thing, but coming together as one piece. But for the most part, I do not have the courage to step out of the norm.....I am working on that.

One of the things as an embroiderer that would give you freedom is to be able to make your own patterns. I am constantly looking at things as input for my idea box. I keep a spiral notebook that I paste and glue photos, and sketches. I know some people can just come up with things out of their imagination, but sometimes I need that little object to give me "courage" to even try it.


I found this picture in a Sunday newspaper and thought it was a great reference if I needed an illustration for shoes. I was thinking all week about blogging for today , and I decided to make it a project for you.


You can trace the shoes on a seperate piece of paper, and then trace that drawing on a piece of muslin with a water soluable pen, or if you are a really good embroiderer, a fine black marker. This piece is 8X10 inches. The muslin is 5 inches by 8 inches. After tracing the pattern, I bond the pieces together with heat and bond light.


I usually pick out first the colors I am sure about and decide as I go along. I knew I wanted the border to be red, but I wasn't sure about the shoes. I used a herringbone stitch, but you can use any stitch you like. You can see faintly the tracings of the shoes with the water soluable pen. I use number 8 DMC embroidery thread. It's easy to work with, although the colors are much more limited. I also think I just read that DMC does not sell out of the US. I don't know why.


After much looking at it, I decided to just let the shoes be black. At this point I thought of many ways to bring some design to them, but left them simple for this demonstration. You can fill them in with fabric markers, or you could have cut little appliques, and this morning while looking at them, I thought you could introduce some beading in them. I decided that the lettering should be red, for color balance. I free-handed the verse, but there are lots of books with the lettering done that can be traced in your scrapbooking stores. The sky is the limit!, is the saying.


At this point you can decide if it's a mini-quilt, a pillow, a small hanging, or frame it. Just go confidently in the direction of your dreams!


This pattern is absolutely yours to do with as you like and have fun with it! Now maybe when reading the Sunday flyers in your paper, you will get other ideas! Please post pictures on the Flickr Embroidery Group if you make anything with it, I would love to see what you do! Take courage and step out of the norm!

A way with stitched words

Hey gals (and guys?). I've been on a wee bit of an internet break, so this will be a very trim post. There's a pretty big wall in the contemporary embroidery gallery that belongs to stitched (cross or other) messages with an ironic or sarcastic message.

I think that is really interesting. And fun! After being viewed as rather dusty by a lot of people for many years, embroidery has become a medium and method of expression, not suppression. These messages are comparable to the samplers which were a stable of many young girls' lives, showing the stitches they knew how to make. Usually they would also include the alphabet or moral maxims.

But unlike the samplers of yore, there are no moral messages in the contemporary 'sampler'. Quite the opposite, in a lot of cases. They are turning this medium upside down, but with a great deal of love, if not so much with respect. Or rather, respectfully irreverent.

And now I think I'll go find something to embroider 'eat my shorts' on...

Image links: I sublimate my rage and Eat cake.

Redwork

I love redwork. I've done some (though I don't seem to have any pictures of it). I took a class in it years ago and love the simplicity of just using the one color thread. There is a lot of history around redwork also. I found this source online which explains some of it.

Around Flickr, there are many wonderful redwork examples - there are so many it was hard to choose, so I just chose some from the Embroidery pool to show as inspirations. I love the many ways you ladies have used redwork!



1. Redwork blocks flowers, 2. Redwork for a penny square swap, 3. Lois Lenski illustration done in redwork, 4. 130pres_quilt, 5. environment friendly giftwrap, 6. Birds for Kleas' ATC swap, 7. Stickmustertuch, 8. VintageFrenchRedwork02.jpg, 9. Invasion 2, 10. Stitchette, 11. Elf Stitchette, 12. Jenny Stocker Tea Cozy redwork, 13. Redwork Flour Sack Towel, 14. Redwork Embroidery, 15. redwork rabbit, 16. redwork Embroidery tea towels

Softie Awards, anyone?

I am amazed at the talented entries I've been seeing for the 2nd Annual Softie Awards - just check out the gorgeous detail on Mimi K's Fairy Grandmother Doll:

fairy grandmother detail
Originally uploaded by Mimi K

And this incredible handmade classic typewriter - so beautifully and meticulously embroidered:

front
Originally uploaded by blueblythemonster

Hey, don't let the words "Embroidered to Death" scare you off - a softie can be small, too, like this gorgeous bacteria brooch:

embroidered bacteria brooch
Originally uploaded by paynedesign

I hereby challenge all of you talented Feeling Stitchy readers and Flickr Embroidery group members - there's only 5 more days to enter and I'd love to see something from all of you (pssst! I'm a judge in this category)! More embroidered softies please! There are many categories to enter - read the details and add your entries to the Flickr group!

Aunt Pearl's Drawers

Hi everybody! I was thinking about Mother's Day coming up and something I could give that I made....For my birthday a friend of mine gave me some drawer sachets and I liked them very much. They were commercial and paper packets, and though I love opening my sock drawer and being greeted by such a lovely fragrance, I thought an embroidered set would make a lovely gift. So, I made a pattern just for the blog to share with you. You can use them how you like and even sell if you want. I would love to see what you do with them, so email me if you Flickr them or put them in your blog or shop.


I am only posting the pattern on this blog, but I have written out the whole tutorial on my craft blog .


I was worried that the post would be too long if I did the whole tutorial here. I am new to blogger, so I don't quite understand all the posting options or ways of doing things.....


I don't know how these will print out, but hopefully you will get good copies. I embroidered on a 3" x 4" square of muslin which after tracing the pattern I bonded to the fabric with heat and bond lite. Then, I began my embroidery. If you do it this way, you don't have to "quilt" the pieces, which I like because I can get on with the embroidery, which I love.



I was looking at the Flickr pics last nite trying to get familiar with things you do and I realized that I am an amateur embroiderer at best. I do not know the rules.....lol....are there rules? I started embroidering when I was ten. I was given some floss and some printed towels and left to my own. I realize when I am working sometimes that there is probably an easier or better way, but I somehow manage to get to my goal regardless. I use a simple backstitch for outlining and the border is an official stitch, but I don't know what it's called. I found the stitch I use for the border, it's called Herringbone, it can be found here.


I went to my Aunt's house yesterday and asked if I could photograph my sock sachet in her sock drawer. My Aunt is 79. She agreed, but lit up when she saw my "underwear sachet" and offered to let me use it in her underwear drawer............




I hope you find some lovely drawers for your new sachets. Enjoy the patterns and until we talk again, I hope your "Feeling Stitchy!"

Stitchy Woman

Yay! I'm so excited to be posting my very first interview here on Feeling Stitchy! Please grab a cup of tea and sit with me as I share my interview with Heather from Heather Hales Designs.

Heather, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a 30 year old mother of a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl living in a suburb of Phoenix, AZ with my handsome husband. The fact that it gets so hot here in the summer (110+ for 30 straight days) really lends itself well to indoor activities…like stitching!

When I am not parenting or crafting I really enjoy reading. My husband and I have enough books to start our own library and the kids are well on their way to their own library too! I love classic literature (Steinbeck, Miller, James) and Spanish literature (Garcia-Marquez, Allende) - even though I don’t speak a lick of Spanish! I also enjoy baking; I make a pretty mean chocolate truffle cake if you are ever in these parts!



Were you interested in arts and crafts as a kid? What’s the first thing you remember creating?
Yes, I was interested in crafts a as child!! While I was really young my mother was working on her BA in textile art so she was always doing fun creative projects with my sister and I.

My very first sewing project (by hand) was a doll quilt I made for a first grade class assignment. I chose my very favorite prints from my mother’s fabric collection and pieced it by hand. Secretly, after I went to bed my mom stitched over my hand stitching on her sewing machine and I think she bound it for me too:
Cross stitching was also big in our house. I was always working on some cross stitch project, but now that I think about it I don’t know that I ever finished anything. I remember first learning about embroidery when we were in the middle of loading the moving truck for a move (one of MANY), I must have been about 8. My mom had put on a cotton blouse that she felt was a little too low, so she disappeared for 15 min and came back out with the same shirt only the front wasn’t so low and it was adorned with beautiful flowers. I was amazed and made her tell me how she did it! I tried for many years to embroider and I just could not get the stitches even and nice so I stopped trying. I took it up again shortly after my son was born and somehow it clicked and my stitches were straight and even.

Do you do other crafty things as well?
Oh I dabble a little in Photography, I’m not very good and I don’t have an SLR so mostly it is just for fun. I also like to pretend that I can design web pages and make graphics.

It takes so much time to complete an embroidery project. How much time do you usually spend on a project, and where do you find the time?
It depends. If it is a project that I am really excited about then I will take it with me everywhere and I usually get it done in a day or two. On the flip side I remember a kitchen towel I made a few months ago that took me a whole week to finish!
I really do take my projects with me everywhere. I’ll stitch in the parking lot of my son’s school while I wait for him to come out. This time of year so I also spend a lot of time stitching at the park while my kids play. Since my youngest is still at home I stitch while she naps or in the evenings after the kids are in bed.

Stitching is very creative, yet also very detail oriented and precise. Does it reflect your personality?
Sadly, no. I am certainly a type A personality but I tend to be lax on details. My mother was always telling me stop rushing through things and pay attention to what I was doing. I have to discipline myself to be detail oriented with the crafts and stitching that I do, but it does not come naturally to me.

Do you ever rip out stitches to re-do them in a different color or type of stitch?
Not very often. I usually think through a project pretty thoroughly before I start. I select colors and lay them all together to make sure the coordinate and balance and then I plan what stitch I will use for each area.

Which stitch do you use most often?
Stem stitch, although, the chain stitch is growing on me.

Where do you find the patterns you use?
I really like vintage patterns, something about the bygone era appeals to me. I wonder about the women who purchased them new- what were they like and what did they make? I find most of my patterns at a local antique mall, the flickr Hoop Love group and some on ebay. I also have started collecting vintage coloring books- they are great for patterns.

Do you have an all-time favorite pattern you’ve used again and again?
After I make something once I am usually bored with it and want to move on to something new. I’ve used the vintage lollipop (from an old coloring book) more than a few times. It was a towel that people really liked and I got a lot of requests for it:


Did you collect anything as a kid? Do you collect anything now as an adult?
As a teenager I collected lip balm, not just any lip balm it either had to do something cool for your lips or come in a cute container. Now I am working on my collection of vintage embroidery patterns! Vogart’s are great, but I really like finding a McCall or Simplicity as they are harder to come by.

What kinds of things do you like to embroider on?
I like to embroider flannel blankets the most, and my second choice would be kitchen towels. I do stitch onesies, but I have yet to find a stabilizer that I like, so it is always a tricky process.

Do you ever make anything for yourself?
Rarely! I love what I make and wish that I had some of the things for myself. I just have such a hard time justifying using the time for myself rather than for a client or my family.

Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere! I love looking at the packaging of things in bath and soap shops (can I just say that Lollia has some of the neatest designs on their packages!). I also love craft and home dec. magazines, they provide tons of eye candy for me. I am also prone to wasting large amounts of time late at night surfing through flickr.

Who encourages you in your artistic pursuits? Are there any blogs or websites you frequent?
My family encourages me, especially my sister-in-law Sarah she is my biggest cheerleader. My step-mother Kathleen is one of my best customers, it means so much to me that she likes my work enough to buy it for her friends! I love reading crafty blogs, I have a whole page (please link to my inspiration page) on my blog devoted to the artists that inspire me. Here is a short version of a really long list!

Jessie, you are one- I remember hunting you down after I found your adorable book plates at Mahar Drygoods. You always use such bold colors and I love the modern feel of your products.

I’m really liking the work of Julia of Symbiosis; her designs are so fresh with such clean lines.

I love the soft color pallet and classic look of everything that Kelly of My Happy Little Life creates.

The Mayfly is another blog I frequent. Her creations are so cute and practical! One day I am going to make her awesome car organizer.

Do you have a special food or drink you like to have while creating?
No, I try really hard to keep food away from the projects, although an occasional peanut M&M might slip in. I do like to watch movies while I stitch though- I love Netflix!

What are the next three movies in your Netflix que?
Cinderella (for my daughter), The Heiress, Howards End

If you could listen to anything while you worked on a project, what would it be?
I’m an ‘80’s junkie. I love the Cure, DepecheMode, Erasure, Yaz etc.

Can you show me a few projects and tell me about them?


1. This is a free hand embroidery I created for a fun small sized tote bag. It was a real stretch for me to not use a pattern; I was really pleased with how it turned out. 2. I first found this pattern in the flickr Hoop Love group and added it to my list of designs I want to stitch. I love bird patterns and this one was so sweet and I really liked that it was a larger pattern. Then I found the Alexander Henry fabric and decided they were meant to be together. 3. I free handed again and created this cute rocket ship for a onesie. It is one of the patterns I am going to offer for custom onesies in my shop soon. 4. This is the first time I have used linen. I love the fabric but hate the wrinkles! I noticed other designers were using linen a lot so I decided to give it a go.

Do you sell the items you make? And if so, do you have any tips for people who want to start selling their work, either online or at craft shows?
Yes, I sell items that I make. Any tips? Hmm, first I guess make sure there is a market for your items- ask friends that will be honest with you about your products. Feedback is hard to take sometimes but it will help you create products that really will sell or be in demand. I’ve only done 1 craft show and the one thing I did learn to make your display as eye catching and cute as you can, it really does increase your traffic. Market yourself and your shop. It is so hard to get noticed at Etsy these days; you have to bring people to your shop if you really want to make sales.

Where can we find more of you?
Frances Vintage in downtown Phoenix, my Etsy shop, heatherhalesDESIGNS the blog, and right here in the land of eternal sun! I love meeting new people; feel free to drop me a note if you’ll be in the area: heather@heatherhalesdesigns.com

Thank you so much, Heather!!!
Thank you Jessie- this was a real treat. I am so excited to keep reading your weekly interviews!

xx

I will be posting interviews every other Thursday with all sorts of stitchy gals. Haven't you always dreamed of seeing your name in stitch? Well, if you'd consider being interviewed, or to recommend someone whom you'd like to hear more about, please drop me a note at sweetjessie@comcast.net. Come on now, don't be shy!

Exploring contemporary embroidery

1. Perfect, 2. embroidery lungs and heart dress, 3. Huelle (3), 4. Goldfish, 5. face detail, 6. lungs 002, 7. Breakdance, 8. Manmade #1, 9. Ashtray, 10. ♥ AMOR * n.11, 11. Foxy, 12. At a Crossroads

Hello all, I'm excited to post here on this fab blog (thanks for letting me!). As Floresita mentioned I will be posting about contemporary embroidery, which sounds a lot more daunting than my own description of it, mixed media embroidery and embroidery in unusual places and surfaces. Both of those descriptions are quite broad and so I think these posts will be too.

To me, contemporary embroidery is any of the following elements and all the imaginable and, as of yet, unimaginable ways of combining them: embroidery with or on unusual materials, in unusual places, by unexpected people (because embroidery is such a female dominated area this will usually mean: embroidery done by guys), embroidery made for unexpected purposes. But possibly even more important elements in contemporary embroidery is the context in which it is made and its subject matter.

That is my definition of contemporary embroidery anyway. And I'm no expert, I just tend to gravitate towards embroidery that breaks away from the 'norm'. So that is what I'll be exploring in these posts. I hope you'll enjoy the journey.

And to finish off the this first post: what does contemporary embroidery mean to you?

Home Sweet Home Embroideries

I'm very excited to share my first post here on Feeling Stitchy - I'll be doing weekly themed mosaics from embroidery pictures I find on Flickr. Since I'm feeling quite attached to my little house these days - I thought house embroideries would be fun. Surprisingly, there are not a ton of them. I love the ones I found and I really love the 3D houses with embroidery on them! Enjoy!

new authors on Feeling Stitchy!

It's amazing that Feeling Stitchy is a year old now! We had some wonderful contributors our first year (2 of whom are still with us) and I'm excited to introduce you to some new authors now (and re-introduce you to some old friends)...

Laurie - Old School Acres

Maybe you've seen Laurie's gorgeous owls in her Etsy store or read some of her wonderful posts here. Laurie will be featuring a new Etsy store a week and children's crafts from time to time.

Jackie - Wren's Nest

I met Jackie through a Tea Towel Swap last year and got to enjoy her hand-embroidered work firsthand. Maybe you've stumbled on her Tea Towel Lover's group - check it out if you love vintage embroidery. Jackie will be blogging an inspiring mosaic each week.

Sally - All the Stuff I Like

Sally is a wonderful crafter who you may have met through a swap - she's been uncovering coolness in the Embroidery pool since Feeling Stitchy began. Look out for her inspiring finds!

Carina - Carina's craft blog

Carina has a beautiful, inspiring craft blog all on her own and has done a series of inspiring interviews with crafters. She sells her wonderful creations in her Etsy store and will be blogging on contemporary embroidery here on Feeling Stitchy.

Jessie - Sweet Jessie

I'm sure you've seen some of Jessie's embroidered adorable-ness in the Embroidery pool, or maybe stitched a few of her free patterns. Jessie also has an Etsy shop with handmade goods, and will be doing interviews and spotlighting web finds.

Eydie - She Brews

Eydie works in many different media, creating embroidery collages and art using found books. She's also an avid crafter and sells her work in her Etsy store. Lastly, she's a generous soul who donated over 50 transfer sheets to share on my Vintage Transfer Finds blog.

Pam - Kittykill

This awesome crafter needs zero introduction if you've visited the Craftster Needlework boards - she's a moderator there, and I'm proud to announce that she's an admin in the Flickr embroidery group as well! She'll be popping in here as she has time, and it's an honor to have her talent in the group!

me - floresita

I'm happy to be here, part of my favorite group on Flickr - I'll be featuring anything interesting I find online. If you like vintage transfers, check out Vintage Transfer Finds, where I blog free patterns from my collection.

Welcome everybody! :)