Patterns: April Showers and some more hearts

Amidst the cold torrential rain here in the UK, spring feels like it's almost, possibly here, so I thought this new pattern by September House fitted the bill. I love the rainbow trim on the dress and the little scottie dog!

As for this week's featured free pattern, well I believe hearts are not just for Valentine's and I think this embroidered bookmark, stitched by Flickr user Awe Lisa, using a Sublime Stitching free pattern, looks very cute and if you read Awe Lisa's blog about where she left the bookmark, I think it must have made a very sweet surprise.

More Button Finds

Heart Buttons by Deep Indigo

I just had to share this bowl of sweet hearts with you! You can see more of Deep Indigo’s rainbow heart embroidered buttons here.

___I hope to add a few work in progress photos next week from some of our button swap members (if they are willing to share with us!), but for this week I leave you with this sweetly stitched wip photo by Birthine -

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Work in progress by Birthine

What's the difference between embroidery?

Hey guys - I have been wondering about something and maybe you can enlighten me.

Why do (some) people think of embroidery and cross stitching as separate things?

I see people talking about how they used to do cross stitching, but then got into embroidery. Huh? To me, cross stitch is sub-category of embroidery, not a category in itself. I know, there's counted cross stitch, but I would still put that under the Embroidery umbrella - and it wouldn't even stick out at the side and get wet!

Then there are other people who, when you tell them you do embroidery, will say "oh so you do cross stitch?"

What is going on? To some they are two different things and to others one is the same as the other. Am I missing something?

Stitchy Tunes

I really love the band Architecture in Helsinki. Not only do they make great music but they make cute stitchy videos.  

I can't decide what I love more the coconuts or the tikis. 

Architecture in Helsinki - Like It Or Not from helsinkids on Vimeo.

Five questions with a manbroiderer | Spicy-Shots

I'm very excited to launch a new feature here on Feeling Stitchy that I'm calling "Five questions with a manbroiderer". Today I'd like to highlight the work of Glenn Dragone, aka Spicy-Shots on Flickr.

Aside from a career in the home textiles industry, Glenn is a prolific crafter. He is an accomplished quilter, knitter, and photographer in addition to being an amazing embroiderer (as evidenced by the images of Glenn's work that you can see throughout this post ... by the way, is anyone else excited for Tim Burton's upcoming take on Alice in Wonderland?)

FS: When did you first start embroidering, and how did you become interested in the craft?

GD: I started embroidering last April. Basically, I’ve always been attracted to things that are created with any form of needle and thread. I’ve been knitting for years. During a mindless meandering on the internet, I came across some antique redwork. I was fascinated by the simplicity and decided to give it a try. The embroidery evolved from that point.

FS: How would you describe your style?

GD: Since I’m rather new to the craft, I would call my style "ever-changing". I do gravitate towards 50’s and 60’s retro pieces. I also love classic illustration.

FS: What is your favorite embroidery project that you've made? That someone else has made?

GD: I was pleased with the Alice in Wonderland projects I’ve done. I like the original artwork and wanted to transform it into a 3 dimensional piece. There are tons of great embroidery artists out there. I have many favorites.


FS: Do your friends / family / co-workers know that embroidery is a hobby of yours, or is it a "secret identity"?

GD: Everyone knows that I have some sort of project in the works at all times. I am officially “out” and embrace my crafting.

FS: Do you embroider in public? If so, what is the strangest / funniest / most interesting reaction you've gotten from others?

GD: I’ve knit on a plane and haven’t really had any negative reactions. I do get the stares and the occasional .. “What are you making?” question from time to time. I would embroider in public. I just haven’t had the chance.


Do you know any manbroiderers that should be featured here on Feeling Stitchy? Do you have any questions that you'd like our manbroiderers to answer? If so, please leave me a comment below!

I love your bike

Stitched by Laura Hartrich

Isn't the stitching on this piece amazing? I love the beautiful contrasting and complementary colors and all the different stitches.

And, there's a beautiful story behind this piece as well - Laura is donating this to a benefit for Mariel Mentink, a bike rider who was struck by a hit-and-run motorist in Austin. Mariel is now hospitalized with a great deal of rehabilitation in front of her. I just lost a dear childhood friend in September to a bike accident, and so this bike, and what Laura is doing has extra meaning for me.

To learn more about Mariel Mentink, and to lend your support, visit http://supportmarielmentink.com/.

Re-introducing: Floresita

There is one more FeelingStitchy blogger to re-introduce. Although I suspect she requires no introduction at all. She is of course Floresita. She is the founder of Feeling Stitchy and the reason we are all here. Apart from spreading the stitchy love here and in her own Flickr stream, she also writes a wonderful blog, things I've made, which is an inspiring collection of her art (that's right, she's not just a talented stitcher!), crafty stuff and great photos.

Thank you for having us all here, Floresita!

Your favorite DMC floss color?
3371 - I always use it in place of black for any hair - love how it looks with 321 and dark, bright pinks and apricots.

Your favorite embroidery project?
The embroideries I did last Christmas. Simple, textured, sweet. I love to look at them.


Your inspirations?
Let's see - mostly, it's all of you guys! Everything I see in the Flickr pools, Craftster, on blogs - I love to see what everyone is making, thinking about, loving, etc.

Your blog url? 
unafloresita.blogspot.com
I also have a blog with scans of old vintage transfers here: mytransfers.blogspot.com

One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? Pattern
Messy or neat? Stitching = neat; Life = messy :)
Cute or edgy? Preferably, both! :)

Patterns: Dinosaurs and (because I can never resist) another bird

This weeks patterns are all freebies. When searching Flickr for free patterns recently I was immediately drawn to the simplicity and charm of this pattern by Flickr user sarachung and as I was in the process of making another set of bags as birthday presents , I immediately had to sew the little bird up, adding a L for the birthday girl's name.

I also had another birthday bag to sew up, for a boy this time and fantastic as the great range of free embroidery patterns out there are, I find they tend to be more orientated towards feminine designs, so this time I made my own pattern up, based on photographs of the dinosaur toys I was actually giving as a birthday present (I made one up for my son to).

The actual bags are based on a pattern for Trinket Keepers found here on the Made by Rae blog.

You can find the designs for the T-rex and the diplodocus on my Flickr stream here (without the letters).

The letters I used for both the dinosaur bags and the bird bag, were created by typing the letters I needed into Word (although any other basic word processing program would do), finding a font I liked (in this case I used Times New Roman) and blowing the letters up to the size I wanted (in this case I changed the size of the letters to 300pt.). I then printed the letters out and using my light box, traced them onto the fabric, along with the bird and dinosaur designs. You can see more in progress photos on my blog.

swap update and tutorial

embroidered buttons by Fioleta
___

Here’s a list of all the swap partners in the embroidered button swap –
If you have not received an email from me then please let me know and I’ll send the details again.

__

Mollie & Shannon
Susan & Amy S
Adaiha & Caitlin
Jo & Mary
Megan & Kellie
Charlie & Judit
Beth & Charity
ClaireH & Claire M
Cathy & Aj
Lisa T & Rebecca
Kitty & Erin
Naomi & Quinne
Kim & T’lia
Leigh & Sam F
Kristin & Rebekah
Amy W & Lorna
Hannah & Lisa M
Kate & Robina
Jennifer H & Morgen
Sophie & Sarah
Pam & Reilly
Carly & Shanti
Michelle & Rose
Sami & Leah
Angela & Laurel
Holly & Amy M
Carey & Janalyn
Amy S & Vanessa
Molly & Courtney
Dione & Karina

___

And as mentioned last week here’s a tutorial for using Prym cover buttons, which you might find useful if stitching French knots, or any other delicate stitches that you don’t fancy squashing in a button mould!
It took me a while to get the hang of this type of cover button, but the nice thing with these is that you can easily take the back off and reposition the fabric is needed.

___

If anyone has any tips they'd like to share for this type of cover button then please feel free to add a comment below.

___

This example shows how to make a little French knot sheep button ... (click 'full' to enlarge tutorial)

How To: French Knot Sheep Button

Stitched-up doll

Stitched by annaleahart

I love this little doll Annalea stitched for her little girl when she split her chin and had to have stitches. How special would you feel when your mom handed this to you? Love the bright blue stitches on her chin! :)

Little girl + Yeti + Embroidered Soup = Awesome

 

I love how little Zadie is spoon feeding the appliqued Yeti, soup...

... from this freehand embroidered soup bowl in a dream bubble! On her blog Beth shares details of this  Yeti Dreams of Soup project.

A Post for a Friend

This post is for my friend Shane. He's a constant source of inspiration for me, whether I'm making things for him or things inspired by him. He's been dealing with a serious illness the last couple of weeks - he's on the road to recovery now, thank goodness! - so I wanted to post a couple things I know he'll like as a little tribute to him. :)



Stitched by sunnysidey

When I saw these, I thought of him immediately, especially since I once made him this by special request:



Feel better soon, buddy!

My Strawberry Girl

Okay, when I say Strawberry Girl, I immediately think of Siouxie and the Banshees and get all nostalgic for my teen years during the 80's. This cute little strawberry girl is nothing like the punk goth one in my head. I just love this totebag. It's the cutest!

You can check out more of apparentlyjessy's work on her blog-she has cupcakes!

Funny valentine

Stitched by Creative Kismet

Hee hee. Just had to share this funny valentine with you. Creative Kismet, this is awesome. Way better than some silly card. :)

Don't forget to vote!

Don't forget to vote for Feeling Stitchy as your favorite blog with a handmaking focus in the 2010 Handmade Olympics!

Flor asked her fellow Feeling Stitchy bloggers to answer two short questions in return for our status as a finalist:

1. Why do you blog? I blog as a way to share the things I create with people who I feel can both appreciate my work & the steps I am taking as I develop my skills, as well as who can inspire me by sharing their work in return. Because the online crafting community is so rich with talent and innovation, I want to contribute to the shared pool of content as much as I withdraw from it (and I make a LOT of withdrawals!). That way, I hope I can encourage others to branch out and try new things in the same way that I have been encouraged and supported by my fellow bloggers.
   
2. How has blogging influenced your creating? For me, it's quite simple: I wouldn't be blogging if I wasn't creating, and I wouldn't be creating if I wasn't blogging. Connecting with like-minded crafters around the world has been the fuel in my tank when it comes to inspiration for new and varied projects.

So what are you waiting for? Time is running short ... jump on over and vote today!

Rebekah's Stitchette Quilt

Happy Tuesday, stitchers!

As I mentioned in my self-introductory post, sewing & quilting was my "gateway drug" into the online crafty world. In fact, my first experiences with discovering and reading blogs was when I stumbled upon some wonderfully inspirational quilting sites like Amanda Jean's (now, sadly, defunct) Crazy Mom Quilts site and modern quilter Jacquie's Tallgrass Prairie Studio site.

But there was one blog that I was drawn back to again and again because of this crafter's beautiful aesthetic and her plentitude of amazing projects: Rebekah's blog, dontcallmebecky.

Rebekah is a jack-of-all-trades crafter -- at once a sewer, quilter, embroiderer, and knitter ... the girl can do it all. And she does it all with impeccable taste and an enviable sense of style. Case in point: check out this quilt that, because of its simple beauty, convinced me that quilting was something I could actually attempt. Oh, and it also prompted my first purchase of Denyse Schmidt fabrics. I hope to make a quilt just like this one day ...

Handkerchief Corners Quilt courtesy of jrcraft

But I digress. Since this is an embroidery blog, I wanted to share a favorite project of mine from Rebekah's collection. Take a look at this quilt featuring all 16 of the "Four Season Stitchette" patterns by Wee Wonderfuls. I love how Rebekah used a basic quilt square to really feature her amazing stitching, and selected a bright palette of fabrics that really complements the tone of the illustrations.

Stitchette Quilt courtesy of jrcraft

This project really opened my eyes to the endless creative possibilities that can happen when you combine embroidery and quilting. Isn't it an amazing creation?

Stitchette Quilt courtesy of jrcraft

You can read more about this quilt here.

Oh, and speaking of firsts, this pillow (made by Rebekah for her sister) was my first ever exposure to the world of Sublime Stitching ... and, after seeing this, I promptly placed my first order! It's been downhill ever since ...

Kurt Halsey Pillow courtesy of jrcraft

I just wanted to feature it because I love it so much!

Here's a link to all of Rebekah's embroidery posts from her blog -- she's got so many other amazing projects that I could go on & on ... but too much to feature in just one post.

Go take a quick visit to see what Rebekah's up to over at dontcallmebecky ... and tell her I said "hi"!

Shop links on Flickr - please read this

Hey guys & gals, this is kind of a boring post, but it is important! So please don't skip it!

I was having a look at photos in the Flickr Groop Pool and I just want to give y'all a heads-up regarding posting links to Etsy/Artfire/whatever shop you have.

Don't Do It.

Ok?

I am not saying this to be a party pooper or because we don't want you to share the shop love, but because it is not allowed, per the Flickr Community Guidelines.

Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes.
Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account.

So please, please don't link directly to shop listings from individual Flickr photos! We don't want anyone to get into trouble and/or shut down on Flickr because of this. If you blog about your stitched goodies for sale on your blog, it is probably fine to link to such a post. But please don't say "hey this is for sale, have a look at my blog" - because that is pretty much the same thing as posting a link to Etsy, ok?

It is fine to have a link to your shop in your profile, but even there don't fill it with 'advertising'. Just put a single link in your profile and then if you insist on giving 'commercial info' in your photo descriptions, simply write something like 'for more info see my profile'.

Clarification: Will you get shut down for having the occasional link? No, probably not. However, I have seen people being told either to tone it way down or simply being told that they risk getting shut down - in one case the Flickr user didn't really have many links to her shop.

The point of this post is: don't do something that could be interpreted as violating the use of Flickr. And it doesn't just apply to this group, it is across the board. Better to be safe than sorry.

 * * * * * *

Now, apart from it not being allowed, I want to add this, and this is just my opinion, of course.

People will take a look at your profile and/or contact you if they see something they like it and want, even if there is no mention of it being for sale (although if you have loads of images of the same thing/s you can usually conclude that that is the case!) It really isn't necessary to plaster 'advertising' all over your photos. In some cases it just makes your images look a bit cheap and you look kinda desperate. Flickr is a photo/image sharing site, not a store front.

Before I became a part of the Feeling Stitchy team, I would be totally honoured if Flor, or someone else, posted one of my stitchy photos on the blog - I don't know if others feel this way too, but I will say this: even if I like your work, I am not very likely to blog about it here on Feeling Stitchy if I get the feeling that you are just 'sharing' your stitchy photos because you want to sell what you make.

I love embroidery and I love sharing the love and showcasing the awesome stitchers in the group, and I don't mind linking to people's shops but that is very much secondary, if not tertiary or even fourthiary!

Ok, gettin' off my soap box! Happy stitchin'! :-)

Patterns: Birds of Prey

Sublime Stitching has recently released a new .pdf only pattern sheet, 'Birds of Prey' (you need to be registered with Sublime Stitching and log in, to be able to see the pattern). I had a great time stitching the whole pattern sheet up as a cushion this week, I tried to keep the colours as close as possible to the real thing, so it was fun searching google for pictures of different birds of prey.

I particularly enjoyed stitching the vulture and the bald eagle; I stitched the vulture first and wasn't too sure about the use of white floss for the bird's chest feathers against my white fabric, so when it came to stitching the bald eagle, I blended two strands of white floss with one strand of black (as shown in Jenny Hart's floss blending tutorial here) for the white feathers and I was a lot happier with the effect.

I think a lot of the designs on the sheet would look great on their own on country and western style clothing. When stitching up these patterns it made me think a lot about stitching on denim or gingham (I think the bald eagle would look particularly good on gingham, filled in with satin stitch). So I will definitely be stitching these designs again!

For those wanting an immediate, free fix of some Birds of Prey; Sublime Stitching has also released a free sample of the design over on Flickr, the owl design.

Re-introducing: Eydie

Stitched by shebrews

Eydie, or shebrews, on her blog and Flickr, is generous crafter with amazing artistic skill at painting, art quilting, and creating. Just a click through her Flickr stream will reveal the scope of her abilities, and I'm sure she has even more skills hidden away that we don't know about, too! It's a joy to have her here!

A mini interview with Eydie:

Your favorite dmc floss color? bright yellow or rich golden

Your favorite embroidery project? the reproduction card booklets I made. (above)

Your inspirations? My inspirations have to be classic children's book illustrators and children's drawings

My shop url is: http://ohmy1.etsy.com

My blog url is: http://shebrews.typepad.com

Any swaps you're involved in?

I did a "rabbit" swap once. I would love to do more swaps.

One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? Freehand
Messy or neat? Messy
Cute or edgy? B-side (lol)

My daughter and I always talk about how I am the b-side in everything. Like a 45 record, I am the side that most people haven't heard, that doesn't make the top 40, but has a faithful following anyway. I am not the most popular, but I have my "peeps" (people), and sometimes I just have to have long talks with myself because I think differently. I never like the most popular song, I never like the most popular book, I quite prefer the least traveled road, shopping when no one is around, and one of a kind things...---the only exception that I have found so far is that I really think Johnny Depp is the most intriguing and attractive guy. I know there are lots of Johnny Depp fans....... so, there you have it.

Thanks, Eydie, for not following the rules - it's what makes your work unique and beautiful! ;)

Embroidered Button Swap

1. new stuff, 2. Hand embroidered Birdy Buttons

____

Swap update -

Well this is very exciting, we have 60 members signed up, so that means over the next few weeks 360 small fabric circles will be stitched, made up into buttons and shipped around the world … and I can’t wait to see them all!

Firstly thank you so much for all your emails, and as you all signed up so quickly I will be sending over your swap partners’ details sooner than planned. So expect an email from me within the next 3-4 days once I’ve paired you all up.

Sorry if you missed out!
I had a few people email after we reached 60 members, so sorry to all that missed out, but it doesn’t mean you can’t stitch along with us! If you fancy having a go at making some embroidered buttons we’d love to see them! Just remember to tag any photos in the embroidery pool with ‘fsswap’ so we can find you!


more tutorials and inspiration –

Save the whales – buttons stitched by ohfransson

This was one of the first images I saved as a favourite on Flickr when I joined a couple of years back - they are just wonderful! I used the same technique of satin stitching over wool felt on my Valentine heart button here

To see how Elizabeth made these buttons link here - save the whales

And to see another great little embroidered button tutorial link here - Molly’s sketchbook embroidered buttons
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more next week...

Next Saturday I will post the list of swap partners, but you will receive an email from me by Thursday (at the latest) with your partners' details.

I will also be adding another tutorial showing how to make fabric buttons without squashing your stitches, as we all know how delicate those little french knots can be!

Happy Saturday! x

Acorn Cap

This wonderful bit of stitching turned up in the Sublime Stitching customer gallery by Cate Anevski. Too sweet not to share here!

Previously on Feeling Stitchy: Cat Dot by Cate Anevski

Re-introducing: Jessie

Stitched by sweetjessie

Jessie, or sweetjessie, as she is known on Flickr and her blog, is a truly sweet crafter with a beautiful sense of color and pattern, and a talented stitcher. Lucky for us, she continues to contribute to our blog and we can expect many great things to come! Thanks, Jessie!

A mini interview with Jessie:

Your favorite DMC floss color? 151

Your favorite embroidery project? I think my favorite project ever was embroidering a drawing my son made (above). I loved his choice of color, and how much care he obviously put into it. It was a joy to recreate in embroidery floss.

Your inspirations? I'm inspired by so many images from the 1940's through the 60's - vintage children's school books, coloring books, paper dolls, candy colors, and sweet things! Most often, it's the vintage embroidery patterns themselves that inspire me.

Your blog url? www.sweetjessie.com

One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? pattern!
Messy or neat? neat.
Cute or edgy? Cute.

Stitches I Know

Sampler Detail 3, originally uploaded by tabithaspike.

I've been itching to get stitching on this sampler too! You will find it in Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects and it has 17 different stitches. I'm especially keen on trying the Open Cretan. Sounds a bit like a tennis tournament but it is the lovely red stitch sandwiched between the cross stitch and what I think is a chain stitch. This sampler was stitched wonderfully by tabithaspike.

Re-introducing: Carina

Stitched by Carina

A few more re-introductions are in order this week as we celebrate all the new and current bloggers on Feeling Stitchy! Next is Carina, or Wardi, as she calls herself on Flickr. Her blog has always been a huge inspiration to me - she is an artist with a gorgeous sense of color and unbelievable energy for creating. She has a shop with beautiful, elaborate patterns like the one above, and she is always up to something new. It's an honor to have Carina with us!

A mini-interview with Carina:

Your favorite DMC floss color? 907 (lime-y green), 740 (vibrant orange) and 3846 (happy turquoise) - sorry, couldn't pick just one! ;-)

Your favorite embroidery project? Tree of Life (above), one of my first patterns.

Your inspirations? Nature, folk art, history, colour...

Your blog and shop url?

Carina's Craft blog
Polka & Bloom

One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? Freehand
Messy or neat? Messy
Cute or edgy? Edgy

A Rainbow of Stitches

As you all know, I am crazy for needle crafts, well we all are or we wouldn't be here right? I am always on the lookout for a good stitching book. I recently found one in Watson Guptill's A Rainbow of Stitches, and let me tell you it does not disappoint. Just as the title implies, each section of the book is broken down into color and types of projects. It is a nice how to guide with everything you need to do fun and great looking stitching projects. It takes you step by step from transferring a pattern, to picking the best floss and fabric, to the best stitch to use. The projects are inspiring and the pictures are beautiful. All this in one great little package!! So whether you are an embroiderer or a cross stitcher, A Rainbow of Stitches has a project just for you.

stitching done by Batgirl

This will not come as a surprise to anyone that knows me but, I'm a big fan of the "pink" section!

Stitching done by kittykill

Bunnies in Love

Stitched by Joey 7

Ok, I am not usually a sucker for bunnies or Valentine's Day... but this is quite the sucker punch of cuteness. And stitched so beautifully! Read more about the pattern on Joey's blog.

Stitchy Valentines

Hi Friends!  Today I wanted to share some amazing stitchy valentines I found from Crafty Minx!
She has created patterns from vintage valentines, and then stitched them up... aren't they fantastic?

The free patterns are available to download right from the Crafty Minx blog (she even offers them in reverse if you're transferring them)!  I think the matches are my favorite.  If you decide to stitch these up for Valentine's Day, won't you please share them in our Flickr Embroidery Group?   Happy stitching!

We're finalists for Fave Handmade Blog!

Vote for us! (if you want to) :)

I received a nice little surprise this morning from Tara of www.scoutiegirl.com. It seems our blog, Feeling Stitchy, is a finalist for the Fave Handmade Blog in the 2010 Handmade Olympics! Do we have to jump high hurdles while blogging? Swim with a laptop? Stitch while bicycling? Luckily, being a finalist seems to entail none of those tasks. :)

However, we do have to answer the following 2 questions:
Why do you blog?
How has blogging influenced your creating?

Since this blog is very much a group effort which involves no less than 12 talented bloggers: Carina, Pam, Jo, Sam, Nicole, Penny, Bridget, John, Kirsty, Eydie, Jessie, and Jenny - of course I'm opening this up to everybody to answer! And that means all of you, because we all inspire each other and this blog wouldn't exist without your creative efforts.

So, why do I blog? I started blogging as a means to express my thoughts and feelings and to motivate myself to keep making things. I had no idea what it would become - that I would meet so many people who share my (extremely varied) interests - humorous, kind, sarcastic, witty, generous, amazing people. I also had no idea how much we would inspire and collaborate and confide in and grow with each other. Every new day amazes me.

How has blogging influenced my creating? I used to feel like I was creating things only for myself, and I was reluctant and shy to share that part of me with anyone. Now, when I make things, I feel it is informed by all the color and creativity that is in this world, online, and in my favorite groups and blogs. My sense of color has improved 100 fold, my shyness has diminished (a little), and I feel that everything I make and do is part of a larger community that is always inspiring me.

So, how about you? Let us know your answer to those 2 questions! And, if you feel so inclined, vote for us!

Hi!

Wow! It's great to be here. My name is Jo, otherwise known as Mrs. Lacer and I will be blogging here on Feeling Stitchy, every Sunday, about new (or relatively new) embroidery patterns out there. One of the many things I love about embroidery is how many great embroidery patterns are being created; both commercially from small businesses and independent sellers and as lovely freebies from the embroidery community as a whole. So, my aim is to highlight at least one new commercially available pattern and one new free pattern a week.

To start off, I thought I'd go for a bit of a bird theme, I've had fun this week embroidering patterns from Etsy seller revidevi, who is currently holding a 'Buy 3 Get 1 Free' sale. Her patterns are sent out as .pdfs. The .pdfs I received were all seven pages long and featured the design repeated in bold line, reversed, reduced and with colour suggestions.

I've already embroidered revidevi's Birdncity design, the city buildings beneath the bird were very fun to do and I'm currently embroidering Weird Tree and Birds, which has some fantastic curves (I don't know about anyone else, but I love embroidering smooth, curved lines!).

'Birdncity'

'Weird Tree and Birds' in progress

Most of revidevi's designs feature birds and / or trees, so definitely a pattern shop to check out if you like those sort of things (I do!).

Now onto the featured free pattern; I found this one specially for those still searching for some Valentine's inspiration; Sibling Craftery have a lovely sheet of free embroidery designs, specially for Valentine's Day, featuring lots of different hearts, a pair of cute dogs and these two 'tweet hearts', which I've embroidered up for my husband's Valentine card!

Sunday: Introducing Jo

Stitched by lacerslife

Jo, or lacerslife, as you may know her on Flickr and her blog, is an embroiderer with an eye for the unusual, as you can see in her science-inspired projects. She'll be keeping up with all the embroidery patterns out there, and showing us what's new!

Your favorite DMC floss color?
Hmmm, tough one. I go through phases, for example, when I opened my Etsy shop (Mrs. Lacer’s Attic), my work was going through pretty much a brown phase, nearly everything was brown, so much so, that by the end of the big rush of work I did, in preparation for getting some stock together to open my shop, I was utterly sick of the colour! But I think at the time I was, it being November, quite influenced by autumnal colours.

However normally, I think I have to assume my favourite floss colour is blue, particularly muted blues, that look like they’ve been around for a while. I came to that conclusion, after recently grouping my floss supplies into colours and discovering I had way more blue than anything else! I’m afraid I can’t give you a specific DMC floss colour though, as being here in the UK means that I tend to use more Anchor floss instead.

Your favorite embroidery project?
My current favourite embroidery piece is my angler fish (I’ve attached a photo). My favourite has a tendency to change over time though!


Your inspirations?
Small details around me would sound really vague, but it’s true, I’m fascinated by the veins on a leaf or the banding on a snail shell. Other than that, like my favourite colour, I go through phases, I’m currently fascinated by the different ways you can embroider lettering, how font chosen obviously effects how the embroidery turns out but also how one choice of stitch may go with one style of writing and another choice of stitch will go with another. I’m also getting more into exploring my scientific background (before having kids I was a biologist) and I’m attracted to the idea of embroidering biological specimens.

My other big inspiration is my daughter and I love embroidering for her, she’s 6 years old and my biggest and most demanding ‘client’. She is fascinated by the work I do and loves it if I embroider something for her or her friends. She likes to examine my work closely and will quiz me on what stitch I used where and will often makes suggestions for what she wants. Her favourite stitch she likes me doing at the moment is satin stitch, this was after I embroidered her some satin stitch flowers, to which she said, when she saw them, “I like those, they look hard!”.

Your shop and blog url?
My shop, which is still relatively new, is where I sell hand embroidered pieces, it’s called Mrs. Lacer’s Attic and it is at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lacer. My blog, Lacer’s Life, is at http://lacer.wordpress.com/ and is where I talk about craft, writing, cooking and general family life!

Any swaps you're involved in?
I swap occasionally on Swapbot, I like to do fabric based ATCs or Aranzi Aronzo dolls!


One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? Pattern
Messy or neat? Neat
Cute or edgy? Edgy

Thanks, Jo! Can't wait to see all the new patterns you feature! :)