Stitchy Snippets - Translucent Exploration

Mariko Kusumoto works in several mediums, above all it is her fibre sculptures and jewellery that leave me awestruck. With a strong focus on craftsmanship and exploration of materials, Mariko's stunning fibre art is colourful, dynamic and radiates 'a playful, happy atmosphere'. A lot of her beautiful Fibre Art is wearable jewellery such as brooches, rings and necklaces. In Mariko Kusumoto's words: 'I always like to leave some space for the viewer's imagination; I hope the viewer experiences discovery, surprise, and wonder through my work'.

Wonderful Wednesday #40: Diana Watters

This Sea to Sky cross stitch pattern by Diana Watters Handmade on Etsy is just fabulous. I love the minimal textures and colors and modern look to this piece!

From Diana's bio on Etsy, this Toronto artist is: "a designer, and metal fabricator, that has a serious penchant for cross stitch and colour." I'm really looking forward to seeing more from her!

Follow Diana on Instagram: @dianawatters_handmade
(https://www.instagram.com/dianawatters_handmade/)

Twitter Tuesday #3: Well Embroidered

Today's feature is a gorgeous crewel work piece in progress by Well Embroidered (https://twitter.com/Wellembroidered), a Royal School of Needlework trained embroiderer.

It's been a joy watching this piece grow day by day - follow Well Embroidered on Twitter or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/wellembroidered/) if you'd like to see more!

Would you like to be featured in our Twitter Tuesday series? Be sure to follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/feelingstitchy), and tag your embroidery with #embroidery, #handembroidery or #feelingstitchy so we can find you!

Stitchy Snippets - Smocked Jewels

Check out this really unusual jewelry by UK based textile artist Tinctory. Luxurious silks are beautifully hand dyed using natural dyes from plants. Smocking is used to transform the fabric into wonderful shapes, textures and patterns. This traditional embroidery technique involves gathering fabric and holding the pleats into place with patterned stitches, which provide further adornment as well as being functional. Taking much inspiration from the world around her, Tinctory's jewellery resembles natural elements and appears as if it has been plucked from an English garden.

Twitter Tuesday #2: Paraffle Embroidery

Hello all! Today I'm featuring a lovely tweet by Paraffle Embroidery - a set of lovely embroideries stitched for a wedding.

Paraffle embroidery is an Etsy shop by Sammy Bishop featuring lovely patterns, kits, and original embroideries - be sure to pay her shop a visit!

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/paraffle
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paraffle_embroidery/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paraffle_/status/874257255964827648

If you would like to be featured in our Twitter Tuesday feature, please tag your tweets #embroidery and/or #feelingstitchy!

Craft With Conscience Series by Sarah K. Benning

I am blown away by the latest interview of Michelle Kingdom on Sarah K. Benning's site - her work is so consistently innovative and breathtakingly beautiful and daring. I also had the honor of interviewing Michelle for our blog - here is that post.

The interview with Michelle is part of a larger series called Craft With Conscience - in Sarah's own words:

"This series arose out of my own frustrations related to seeing my work constantly copied stitch-for-stitch, sold without permission, and credited to other people. Rather than wallowing in unproductive negative emotions, I wanted to find a way to bring this common issue to light in a positive way. My solution was to share the work of artists, crafters, designers, and makers who I greatly admire for their originality and dedication."

I love the idea of using a negative experience as inspiration to share something positive and inspiring with the world. Definitely an idea I come back to, again and again, and my main source of inspiration as I write my posts for Feeling Stitchy.

I highly recommend a visit to Sarah K. Benning's site, and the Michelle Kingdom interview!

Wonderful Wednesday #39: Velvet Pony Design

The colors and textures in this Geometric Bear pattern by Velvet Pony Design on Etsy are amazing!

This Geometric Owl pattern is also quite adorable, with a similar woodsy palette. These are both fabulous intermediate cross stitch patterns!

Twitter Tuesday #1

Hi all, today I'm starting a new feature called Twitter Tuesday on Feeling Stitchy - on it I feature lovely embroidery I find on Twitter.

Click the photos or links to see more of the marvelous Twitter handles I'm featuring today - @omgembroidery, @margdier, and @messymaura .

Beetle embroidery by Marg Dier, @margdier on Twitter

Floral embroidery by The Messy Brunette, @messymaura on Twitter

Would you like to be featured in our Twitter feature? Be sure to follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/feelingstitchy or @feelingstitchy.

Tag your embroidery on Twitter with #embroidery and/or #feelingstitchy so we can find you!