10 Years in the Flickr Embroidery Group Giveaway!

The first photo ever added to the Flickr Embroidery group!

I didn't want to let April go by without pointing out that our beloved Flickr Embroidery group turns 10 years old this month! Feel free to click through all 99,372 photos uploaded over the years for a trip down memory lane.

Many things have changed over the years, but one thing that has not is our common love of embroidery, fascination with all things thread and textile-related, and our celebration of color, friendship, uniqueness and camaraderie.

A photo from more recent times. :)

I was tickled to see a connection in the first photo that was ever uploaded to our group, and a lovely photo added to the pool this week (above) - we've begun and ended 10 years with cherry blossoms! Surely a sign of good luck and blessings.


To celebrate our momentous 10 years as a group, I'd like to do a very special giveaway.

 To enter our 10 year anniversary giveaway, leave a comment on this post and tell us two things:

1. How long have you been a member of the Flickr Embroidery Group (or, tell us how you found Feeling Stitchy, if not through the Flickr group)
2. What is your favorite, go-to embroidery tool (a special hoop, a specific brand of needle, your favorite floss, a treasured book)

I'll leave the comment thread open through Friday, May 6, 9 PM CST, when I will close it, and choose 1 random winner who will win... 10 prizes!

The prizes will be a surprise, but here's a hint - I'll be using your comments as inspiration when I put the goodies together. Every prize will be craft-related and crafter-approved. This giveaway is open to all of our readers.

Are you ready to celebrate with us? Hooray for 10 years of the Flickr Embroidery group!

Friday Instagram Finds No. 50 with Stitchy Fox

Can you believe that April is almost over? We only have one more day, and it will be May - how did this happen?! Goodness...the time is flying by so quickly.

On today's Friday Instagram Finds we're featuring Cathy of @stitchyfox. Cathy has such nice looking stitches! I love her "Haters gonna hate" purple unicorn with, is that an eye patch?? So cool! I'm pretending that the horse piece is a mini horse :) Do you love cats? Cathy has two, and they are featured in Cathy's pictures too. Take a look!

@stitchyfox

A photo posted by Cathy (@stitchyfox) on Apr 12, 2016 at 6:46pm PDT

A photo posted by Cathy (@stitchyfox) on Feb 18, 2016 at 10:43am PST

A photo posted by Cathy (@stitchyfox) on Mar 29, 2016 at 11:47am PDT

That's it for this week's edition of Friday Instagram Finds! Join in the conversation by commenting below. While you're on Instagram checking out Cathy's work at @stitchyfox make sure you follow Feeling Stitchy! We'd love for you to stop by and say hello. You can find Feeling Stitchy on Instagram at the handle @feelingstitchyish. You can find Amy @randomactsofamy on Instagram.

Want to be featured in Friday Instagram Find? Tag your best stitch-related photos with #feelingstitchyig!

Tutorial Tuesday: Internet round-up

There are so many lovely tutorials on the web right now, I thought I'd do a roundup to point them out!

Those gorgeous florals above come from Down Grapevine Line and include a free pattern and stitch guide. Click through the images for the free pattern!

This lovely Bullion Knot Rose tutorial comes to you courtesy of Mollie Johanson, on the About.com site:

If you're on the lookout for another knotted stitch, how about this lovely Danish Knot, as stitched by Kimberly Ouimet:

This gorgeous sashiko leaf pattern can be found on Radiant Home Studio:

There's also an adorable free pillow pattern on the DMC Commonthread site, to use with their new Coloris threads:

Hope you enjoyed this roundup!

MooshieStitch Monday: A Longer Woven Picot Stitch

Hey there! Remember when I showed you the woven picot stitch? Well, it got me thinking about stitching the woven picots a different length...

You see, the blue flower above from my previous post was stitched with a 1 1/4 inch pin.

I went to my local fabric store and found the longest pins available - which are 1 3/4 inch quilting pins.

See the difference below.

Here I used the longer 1 3/4 inch quilting pin for my woven picots.

Dark photo alert

Slowly adding more petals of the flower.

I stitched this with #5 pearl cotton on black cotton fabric.

Added french knots with white DMC floss for the flower center.

Can you see the difference in lengths of the woven picots as compared to the blue flower?

I love how this turned out and now I want to experiment more with different lengths of woven picots.

I am on the search now for longer pins... Let me know if you have seen pins longer than the 1 3/4 inch quilting pins.

Friday Instagram Finds No. 49 with @siwooinparis

Happy Friday!! I hope you've all had a wonderful week, and are looking forward to a fun-filled weekend! Weather permitting, I'm going to spend much of it outside planting flowers and herbs and finding inspiration for embroidery patterns.

@siwooinparis
Today on Friday Instagram Finds we're featuring Siwoo whose Instagram handle is @siwooinparis. Siwoo is a Korean living in Paris. Her photos have multilingual captions, many in French, English, and Korean. Siwoo creates beautifully detailed and colorful hand embroidered pieces. And her feed is filled with beautifully staged photos. Take a look!

A photo posted by @siwooinparis on Mar 29, 2016 at 1:42pm PDT

A photo posted by @siwooinparis on Mar 15, 2016 at 11:34am PDT

A photo posted by @siwooinparis on Feb 12, 2016 at 12:14am PST

That's it for this week's edition of Friday Instagram Finds! Join in the conversation by commenting below. While you're on Instagram checking out Siwoo's work at @siwooinparis make sure you follow Feeling Stitchy! We'd love for you to stop by and say hello. You can find Feeling Stitchy on Instagram at the handle @feelingstitchyish. You can find Amy @randomactsofamy on Instagram.

Want to be featured in Friday Instagram Find? Tag your best stitch-related photos with #feelingstitchyig!

Stitchy Snippets - Dreamlike Embroidery

Canadian based artist - Amanda McCavour creates beautiful, dreamlike, large-scale embroideries. Her basis in drawing led her to experiment with various mediums to create line and she was intrigued to incorporate embroidery in her drawing. Shading and colour are worked into her embroideries as one would do with a paint brush or pencil. Drawing and line remain fundamental to her work 'I would describe my work as being drawings that are made out of thread. I am interested in thread as both drawn and sculptural line.'

Amanda uses a sewing machine to create her pieces and embroiders free-hand onto water soluble fabric. Once the fabric is dissolved in water only the thread is left and these thread lines form the structure of the installations. Amanda 'is interested in thread’s assumed vulnerability, its ability to unravel, and its strength when it is sewn together.' The embroideries appear delicate however the countless, layered stitches create a new fibre and the pieces hold strong without a base cloth.

Amanda's knowledge and experience of printmaking is also apparent in her work. One particular installation is influenced by doodling. Amanda explains 'I made more than 400 neon orange thread "scribbles" and hung each from the ceiling with a pin and a piece of thread. I was hoping that this repetitive imagery and action would create a mass of thread, a giant scribble. It was all of these similar repeating parts that created a larger whole. Some of the repetition in my work relates back to these ideas which are present in printmaking.'

Amanda talks about the impact of fibre in contemporary art. 'It seems to be that the possibilities for fibre in contemporary art are endless and that the role it might play is one of expanding and broadening the boundaries between art, craft and design.'

Friday Instagram Finds No. 48 with Stitch Culture

Happy Friday, Stitchers! I hope you've all had a fabulous week with big plans for the weekend. I checked the weather for where I live, and it's supposed to be beautiful. I have plans to work in my yard this weekend.

@StitchCulture
On this week's Friday Instagram Finds we take a look at Devin of @stitchculture. Devin creates clever embroidery that features pop culture sayings and graphic fabrics. My husband loved this first hoop. I had no idea what it meant until he saw it (Any Billy Madison fans out there?). I just love the Holly Hobbie-esqu fabrics. It reminds me of my girlhood years in the 1970s :) Take a look at a few of Devin's pictures, then head over to her Instagram account @stitchculture

A photo posted by Devin W. (@stitchculture) on Apr 9, 2016 at 12:17pm PDT

A photo posted by Devin W. (@stitchculture) on Apr 6, 2016 at 9:00am PDT

A photo posted by Devin W. (@stitchculture) on Mar 30, 2016 at 9:38am PDT

That's it for this week's edition of Friday Instagram Finds! Join in the conversation by commenting below. While you're on Instagram checking out Devin's work at @stitchculture make sure you follow Feeling Stitchy! We'd love for you to stop by and say hello. You can find Feeling Stitchy on Instagram at the handle @feelingstitchyish. You can find Amy @randomactsofamy on Instagram.

Want to be featured in Friday Instagram Find? Tag your best stitch-related photos with #feelingstitchyig!

MooshieStitch Monday: Woven Basket with Flowers

Spring has officially begun here in the Pacific Northwest and to celebrate, I stitched this little woven basket with flowers! 

To start, I drew a small basket outline.

My basket is a simple rectangle but your basket can be any size or shape.

Let's weave the basket....

First the vertical stitches (warp threads).

Then start weaving the horizontal stitches (weft threads).

All finished weaving the bottom portion of the basket.

I stitched the handle of the basket with chain stitch.

My flowers are simple lazy daisies and the leaves are detached chain stitches.

The flowers can be any stitch you like.

I hope you stitch your own basket with flowers! If you do, leave a comment, post your photos in the Flickr group or tag your photo on Instagram with #feelingstitchyig!

Friday Instagram Finds No. 47 with Heart of the Heart Embroidery

Hello Stitchy Friends! I hope you're all having a fabulous day so far, and you have some fun stitchy plans for the weekend.

@heartoftheheartembroidery

Take a look at @heartoftheheartembroidery by Vanessa. I absolutely adore her whale and narwhale mini hoop necklaces! They are quite detailed, and look perfect in Dandelyne mini hoop necklaces. She also used a mini hoop necklace to create a lovely bolo tie, which is very clever! I found Vanessa's Instagram because she used #feelingstitchyig. Take a look at Vanessa's work.

A photo posted by Vanessa Blackier ⚓️ Embroidery (@heartoftheheartembroidery) on Mar 16, 2016 at 1:25pm PDT

A photo posted by Vanessa Blackier ⚓️ Embroidery (@heartoftheheartembroidery) on Mar 10, 2016 at 8:51am PST

A photo posted by Vanessa Blackier ⚓️ Embroidery (@heartoftheheartembroidery) on Feb 17, 2016 at 12:09pm PST

That's it for this week's edition of Friday Instagram Finds! Join in the conversation by commenting below. While you're on Instagram checking out Vanessa's work at @heartoftheheartembroidery make sure you follow Feeling Stitchy! We'd love for you to stop by and say hello. You can find Feeling Stitchy on Instagram at the handle @feelingstitchyish. You can find Amy @randomactsofamy on Instagram.

Want to be featured in Friday Instagram Find? Tag your best stitch-related photos with #feelingstitchyig!

Stitchy Snippets - Needle Lace Sculpture

Floating, intricate, lace sculptures cast vast shadows which expand across the wall. Dorie Millerson first developed this inventive technique and approach to sculpture some ten years ago. Millerson works predominantly in needle lace forming her pieces one loop at a time thus creating chains of thread and fibre to build the detailed structures.

The practice of creating the sculptures from needlelace often influences the subjects of Millerson's collections such as attachments and connections between people and places.

These themes are reflected in her choice of medium; creating links in thread and through the 'making' one experiences a journey. Millerson explains "The thread, as it loop by loop creates a bigger piece is a bit like the experience of travelling and the experience of remembering visiting a place. I often look at themes like memory or travel or relationships with people in the past in my work."

Friday Instagram Finds No. 46 with Baobap Handmade

Hi there, Stitchers! Well, this post is no April Fool's joke! Do readers in other countries do anything special for April Fool's Day on April 1st? Here in the United States, we play practical jokes on each other, most of them harmless. When I was in grade school, we would wear our clothes inside out and backwards, which made going to the bathroom quite interesting :)

@baobaphandmade
In this week's post we're taking a look at @baobaphandmade. Irem creates beautifully detailed hand embroidery. Her Peter Pan collars are adorable! Her work ranges from the whimsical to the realistic, and every piece she creates is beautifully executed. Take a look!

A photo posted by Baobap (@baobaphandmade) on Mar 15, 2016 at 7:37am PDT

A photo posted by Baobap (@baobaphandmade) on Feb 14, 2016 at 1:27pm PST

A photo posted by Baobap (@baobaphandmade) on Jan 30, 2016 at 3:41am PST

That's it for this week's edition of Friday Instagram Finds! Join in the conversation by commenting below. While you're on Instagram checking out Irem's work at @baobaphandmade make sure you follow Feeling Stitchy! We'd love for you to stop by and say hello. You can find Feeling Stitchy on Instagram at the handle @feelingstitchyish. You can find Amy @randomactsofamy on Instagram.

Want to be featured in Friday Instagram Find? Tag your best stitch-related photos with #feelingstitchyig!