Gazelle Embroidery Finished

My design of a gazelle and bird started out as a drawing in my sketchbook. (See the work in progress here and here.) I had fun exploring different stitches to fill in the solid areas. I love the way the chain stitch and split stitch look as filler. It reminds me a bit of mosaic andamento. The size is 10x10", stitched on blended wool felt, and titled "Confidante." I found the perfect shadowbox to frame it in so that the glass wouldn't press on and flatten the stitching. I haven't decided yet if I want to sell it or not, but if you are interested, please contact me!

 

 

 

 

Embroidered Wedding Hearts

My little sister got married this month (April Fools Day!) and when I learned of her engagement, I immediately got to work on a surprise garland of embroidered hearts. I started with the colors she had chosen for her wedding bouquet, a fun colorful blend of bright pink, green and purple.
I made a total of 14 hearts, each one with a different color combination of blended wool felt, buttons and matching threads. Two of the hearts were embroidered with their names and date and place of their wedding. I then put foam board in between each heart and a back heart to make them more rigid, and blanket stitched them together.

I actually ran out of time and wasn't able to stitch the hearts to the ribbon before I flew to Oregon, but was able to get it finished on the drive to the wedding location - whew!  Then, while my sister was out, I hung them up in the cabin where her reception was held. They looked great with her coat, too - how cute is she?! 

Congratulations, Jen and Clay!! xo

 

Purple Stuffed Kitty!

I made my first stuffed kitty, wow, it was a challenge! I don't own a sewing machine so I hand stitched everything.  The first one is always a learning experience, right? Still, I think she turned out super cute! She is about 10" long, made with blended wool felt. I had fun adding a braided necklace and the delicate gold whiskers.

I also discovered a new chain stitch I absolutely love! It's called interlaced chain stitch and looks more complicated than it is, but is actually quite easy! If you want to give it a go, you can find how to do it here, at the wonderful Needle 'n Thread, the best online resource I have found.

Written by Mary Corbet, you will find loads of written instructions and videos of basic and advanced stitches, thoughtful book reviews of a huge library of how-to books, project lessons, free patterns, informative and interesting blog, I can go on and on. Subscribe to her blog, learn and be inspired!

Here is a close up of the interlaced chain stitch. I followed her instructions but used three colors instead of two, and eliminated the final step of couching the threads. Sweet, huh?


Interlaced chain stitch with green split stitch below, click to enlarge!

 

Embroidered Valentines

For my two favorite guys.

Hand Embroidered Kitty Ornaments!

 

I'm having a great time embroidering some small ornaments for Christmas. I love these little frames, they're very festive. It's so fun to see my drawings come to life in embroidery! You can find these ornaments and other art in my Etsy Shop.

Hope you like them!

Embroidery in Progress - Cats

I haven't yet decided if I prefer working on linen or felt, with color or no color, so I'm just playing and experimenting with both. I know for sure how much I like using the split stitch for outlining. It's just more interesting than the back stitch and a little more forgiving if stitched crookedly, which is great for a beginner like me!

Goleta Family School Holiday Marketplace

Last night I signed and sold my book at the Goleta Family School Holiday Marketplace.  I had a table in one of the two classrooms next to these wonderful self portraits (love the one with the fangs!)

Not only did I sell a lot of books, but I did some holiday shopping of my own and came home with many hand made ornaments and magnets made by children (my favorite kind of art!!)

I felt right at home the moment I walked up and saw this mosaic-covered boulder.  :)