12 Months of Christmas: French Hen

It's a wrap on the French Hen! Let me take you back two weeks previous, when I first began...

This messy progress shot gives a good idea of just how many threads and bits and needles are in play at any given moment...

I started off with the flower shape on the wing in another color, then changed my mind to this darker felt.

I sewed it on using 1 strand of metallic silver thread, which let me say can at times be disastrous, as you can see in the next photo...

Use short lengths of metallic thread, work slowly and carefully, and realize you can still have a mess! Deep breaths, the side not seen is not so important. Just wanted to show you my back, so you don't get frustrated when this happens to you. :)

This photo reflects a full day of stitching, along with a few of the threads I used in the little teacup. I tend to find recurring colors around me as an unconscious source of inspiration in my stitching.

So, if you're uninspired in color selection, surround yourself with a few beautiful things you find inspiring, you'll never know what can happen!

This morning I was just about finished. All that was left was to add the gold pearl cotton to hang the hen, and stuff the shape and close it up...

I am glad I remembered to add the hanging thread before I sewed her up - I almost didn't, and that would have made things much trickier!

Although the French hen wasn't particularly hard to put together, I did find myself wondering at times if I was doing it right. With the wattle, comb, and little pantaloon-looking shapes above the feet, there are a lot more little pieces in play to sew and sandwich together.

Larissa's tip to use glue to hold the pieces together is perfect, but I'm too impatient to wait for glue to dry, so I haven't done that yet. I'm also messy, and could easily picture myself making a gunky mess of my sewing. :)

I'm also fairly sure I botched the feet a bit, but I chose not to dwell on that tiny part of the process, instead enjoying the overall project. It's really fun to stitch these once a month, as it gives me time to really think about the colors and not get too frustrated working towards a deadline...

Here they all are together - I'm really enjoying how the colors are all coming together - I'm using the same shades of felt and threads on each piece, for the most part, for a few more details on the metallic threads I'm using, check out my previous post!

Join the 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong!

Are you inspired yet? Would you like to join in? Remember, joining this stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet where you are tracking your progress. Don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html. Next month is Colly Bird! Let's stitch!

Feeling Random Friday No. 10 with Bobby Pin Bandit

Happy Friday, my stitchy friends! Do you have some fun stitchy plans for the weekend? I've been working on getting my embroidery floss organized. It's been a much bigger job than I anticipated, but I'm getting there. :)

Let's take a look at Bobby Pin Bandit today! I've followed Kristen for a couple of years now, and love her style. She embroiders and sews and more often than not combines the two - like in the picture above. What a gorgeous tote bag!! Her Instagram feed is always filled with such bright and colorful photos. It's a true pleasure for me when I see one of her pics pop up. And I love how Kristen is so quick to support other makers.

Below you can see some of my favorite projects from her feed. Click on them to go straight to her Instagram.

A post shared by bobby pin bandit (@bobbypinbandit) on Mar 19, 2018 at 8:24am PDT

A post shared by bobby pin bandit (@bobbypinbandit) on Mar 12, 2018 at 10:39am PDT

A post shared by bobby pin bandit (@bobbypinbandit) on Mar 1, 2018 at 3:14pm PST

MooshieStitch Monday: Goldwork Daisy Part 3

In case you missed it, check out Part One and Part Two of my Goldwork Daisy series.

Todays' post will be what I learned from the following video:

Part 5: Cutwork and Finished Piece

The cutwork technique is used to add veins on the leaves. In the video, Sarah uses both bright check purl and wire check purl for the veins, but I decided to just use wire check purl.

Wire check purl thread is very similar to the bright check purl - but it is less shiny. More on the different purl threads can be found here.

Then it was on to finishing the flower petals.

The remaining three petals are stitched with couched down Japanese thread (the same technique as the flower stem) and I used a purple thread for the couching stitches. I really like the way the different color thread looks with the gold.

I added one couched row of pearl purl in the very middle petal and then bright check purl chips  randomly within the other petals.

This is where I didn't follow the exact instruction Sarah gave in the video. She adds more couched Japanese thread rows in the petals, but I thought I would try something different and I wanted to practice couching more pearl purl.

I will say again that I really liked this goldwork kit and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn goldwork.

Thanks so much for following along with this series!

One last time before you ... 

This goldwork kit is the Golden Daisy by Sarah Homfray.

Be sure to check out Sarah's Instagram , subscribe to her YouTube Channel for lots of video tutorials, and go to her website where you can shop all things embroidery, including kits and supplies.

12 Months of Christmas: Mmm Crafts Stitchalong

Hi all! I'm excited to finally unveil the 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong for all of you! This stitchalong is for anyone who has ever gotten to Christmas and realized they have no time left for Christmas stitching, or for people who wish Christmas could somehow, magically last all year. Well, it can! I am a huge fan of Larissa Holland's beautiful Christmas ornaments patterns - and I have religiously stitched her Snow Bird pattern each year for my friends and family. In honor of her completion of the Twelve Days Ornaments Patterns, I thought I'd stitch up each one for you to see, and hopefully inspire you to stitch along with me!

This stitchalong is totally voluntary and no-pressure - to join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. You don't have to stitch all 12, of course, but she is doing a special pricing for a bundle of all 12 patterns, if you are interested. I believe Larissa's patterns are well worth the price - they are beautifully designed, with lovely stitch guides and color photos.

I will do at least 2 posts per month here, with a few photos of my process, as well as sharing anyone who has left a link to their blog or Instagram showing off their Twelve Days patterns progress. You can ask questions, brainstorm, or just feel happy and Christmas-y and admire. Ready? Here we go!

#1 - Partridge & Pear

For the first pattern, Partridge & Pear, I chose some bright colors from the Benzie Design felt which Larissa suggests using:

I never feel too pressured to use the typical red and green in my Christmas stitching, choosing instead shades I can enjoy all year. I used lots of satin and metallic threads - the shiny pink on the pear center is DMC satin floss (a pain to work with, but worth it) and the thin, shiny silver on the partridge wing is DMC metallic sewing thread. Instead of using running stitch, I did a fair amount of couching - that's my tip for working with hard to handle metallic threads - couch them instead of stitching with them.

I'm not confident of my French knots - so instead of a French knot for the partridge eye, I stitched 2 sequins, using a bead to hold them in place (a technique I learned from Larissa's Snow Bird pattern).

I think I went a bit too thin on the lettering on the back, but onwards and upwards! I'll be using at least 4 strands for lettering from now on...

#2- Turtle Dove

For pattern #2 - Turtle Dove, I again used lots of metallic and satin threads:

The blue running stitch on the Turtle Dove breast and wing is DMC satin floss, and I again used 1 strand of DMC silver metallic sewing thread on the wing and neck band.

I didn't have Sulky Fabri-Solvy on hand, so instead I am stitching over tracing paper, which is laborious to pick out, but otherwise works fine. This time I used 4-6 strands of floss for the lettering, and it stood out much better, don't you think?

I chose not to add the bead for the foot, mainly so I could speed on to the next ornament. Although my stitching of the bird's beak looks a bit wonky to me, I am overall quite happy with my Turtle Dove!

#3 - French Hen

For pattern #3 - French Hen, I cut out my pieces and started on my stitching. Can't wait to show you my finish later this month!

Join the 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong!

Remember, joining up in this stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet where you are tracking your progress. Don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html. Let's stitch!