Works in Progress

How many works in progress can someone have? A lot! This one (photo on the right) is another try out of a new pattern I made last weekend. There will be lots of french knots and a Doe and I couldn't wait to start on it myself! But...I'm also still working on my Princess on the Pea embroidery. I really want to try new stitches on that one so it will probably take me some time to finish it. Then there are two embroidery Wip's from vintage patterns (a 'Bee Relaxed' one and a bunny -surprise!-), haven't touched them in months and both are nearly finished. I'm also working on a Sublime Stitching Forest Friend Owl and some Wee Wonderful Stitchette Summer embroideries. Am I the only who does this?

The embroideries that actually get finished (most of them I'm proud to say!) usually end up tucked away in a cupboard waiting for the 'right' project to use them. My wombat try-out embroidery was also heading that way but I amazed myself and made a pillow cover with it! :)

Sunday stash # 1 April Showers

In Sunday Stash bloggers can show off their fabric stashes each sunday. Here's my first little entry: as it's still April, I thought I'd show you these lovely retro Alexander Henry fabrics called April Showers! (Click on the photo for a proper view)

Book of Lost Things

Wouldn't this be a great book to make a faux box from? And find all the stuff you lost in there: Keys, sunglasses, lonely socks, friends....And I love the cover design. Anyway before you turn it into a box you might want to read the book first, because it's lovely. It's a kind of magical, creepy, strange, modern fairytale for grown ups. The writer John Connolly is more known for his thrillers but I wished he would write more books like these!

Versatile patterns

I've heard of people using colouring pages as embroidery patterns, but embroidery patterns also make excellent colouring pages. Luna (4) started with an interesting colour choice for the Hibernating Bear: hot pink. She loved the Anteater pattern but gave up on the Princess after a mattress or two...

It all started with an Ikea coffee cup...

I just put my Hibernating Bear pattern in the shop. It's very lovely and versatile: you can use it on pillows, pj cases, quiltblocks or simply on it's own, it cleans your windows, puts the garbage outside, and peels your potatoes. Ok maybe not those last 3 things but it's really cute and here ends the shameless self promotion bit...

What I wanted to share is how I came to make this pattern. First there was the bear. I've drawn him many times, made watercolour paintings of him and then put the image mentally 'aside' until I could think of good way to put him in an embroidery pattern. The other thing is the woodgrain bit. Lately I developed a passion for the luscious woodgrain fabrics by Joel Dewberry. I haven't actually got any of them (yet, there's some on it's way) because the online quiltshop where I bought several fq's (or was it yards?) couldn't handle all the orders they had when they had a serious sale going on and they canceled my order. Anyway, the woodgrain was on my mind too. And one morning while I was drawing I thought about putting the bear in a circle shape and the nearest circle shaped thing was my Ikea Coffee cup! For the Under the Ivy pattern I used a yoghurt pot...No need for expensive drawing tools at all!

French knot

It took me a long, long time to learn how to do the French knot. Thanks to the excellent Video tutorial on Mary Corbet's Needle'nThread I was able to master it. Her website is a great resource if you want to learn new stitches.
This is a test embroidery of a new pattern by the way. As I watched a picture of a sleeping Wombat (well of his butt anyway, I assume he was sleeping) this morning I thought of making a pattern similar to the Hibernating Bear pattern. This one has a sleeping wombat and instead of the woodgrain an aboriginal inspired 'frame'.

Bear Butt and a lovely Princess

The great thing about Flickr is waking up and finding out what your friends 'down under' and 'on the other side of the ocean' have been up to. This morning Georgia had posted her amazing version of my Princess pattern. I love it! And Cathy had posted a lovely picture of my new pattern Hibernating all waiting to be stitched up by her. I'm so looking forward to the result! The pattern is not finished yet, I still think the Bear Butt needs some adjustment.
: ) I know it's sort of the wrong season to introduce a hibernating bear embroidery pattern, but I made it and thought maybe people who are preparing for colder times (in Australia and New Zealand) would appreciate a cozy bear pattern.

Treat

I felt like treating myself to a little something because I sold a few patterns and I bought this lovely handmade felt needlebook on Etsy. Is it called a needlebook? I don't know but it sure is handy! And because it's useful I feel less guilty about buying even more craft stuff. I had a hard time choosing from all the lovely designs, but I went for the crazy owl needlebook in the end. Everybody loves owls don't they? The seller is called BigFish and she sells lovely buttons too.

And the winner is....

So...there were 16 entries to my little giveaway. I thought about doing a computerised draw first, but that wouldn't have been as much fun. So I wrote all of your names down on post-its and put them in my Stroopwaffle Jar and the first one to come out was:
Dionaea
Congratulations! You can choose 2 of the following patterns: The Delft Blue tiles, The Anteater, Under the Ivy or the Princess and the Pea. But there is also a mystery pattern. I'm still working on it and it hasn't been tried yet. It's small, it's cute and there's a bear involved. It will be ready later this weekend. You can choose that too if you'd like. Mail me your preferences please!

But that's not all. Because it's such a happy sunny springy day here in Hafrsfjord, I decided to draw 2 runners up who get to choose 1 of the patterns. The second and third ones to come out of the jar were: Georgia and Jenessa. Congratulations to you too and please mail me which pattern you would like to receive.

I think I will do another giveaway soon, it's so much fun. Thank you all for your comments. I love the ideas you gave me for new patterns. The fairy tale theme is very popular, so there definitely will be another one of those soon!

Happy bunny Give Away (a small one)

I was just so curious about what everybody was doing with my embroidery patterns that I found myself checking Flickr regularly for possible new additions. So...I started my own Flickr group and because I am a very optimistic person I am confident that all of the embroideries made with my patterns will be showcased there! :)

Today there are already 30 of you who have joined my little group! That makes me a very happy bunny and I want to celebrate it with a modest give a way. The winner of this giveaway can choose 2 single PDF patterns from my shop! All I ask of you is to leave a comment. It would be awesome if you could share with me what embroidery pattern you would like to see in my shop. Give away ends Friday the 17th of April noon Oslo time! Oslo in Norway, Europe that is (are there any other Oslo's?)
sorry, you cannot enter the giveaway anymore. Winner will be announced soon!
Ye ol' shoppe is here: www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5529370
And you can find the Flickr group here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1087099@N23/
Sorry about the ugly links, I haven't figured out yet how to make them look good.