He would wave, if he could

Mr. Fox just wants to say 'hi'... He would wave, if he could but he still has no limbs sewn to his body so waving is kind of difficult right now. But he's hopeful because 2011 seems to be the year that I'm trying to actually finish some of my projects! Yesterday I finished my blocks for last years Fat Quarterly's Quilt along. (not pictured here) I had quite few 2.5 inch squares left though and some yummy scrap fabrics I got in my recent scrap swaps & buys. There was quite a lot of yellow/purple/pink/orange in those surprise packages so I went with that colour scheme and just started sewing. I made these two blocks.

I'm so happy with how they turned out that I can live with the feelings of guilt of starting yet another project!

p.s. if you want to keep up to date with my blog posts in any kind of reader you can subscribe to my posts. It's the link on the right, top of the page. :)

p.s. p.s. To start the year of the Rabbit in style this week 20% off all patterns in my Follow the White Bunny Etsy shop. Use coupon YEAROFRABBITSALE on check out. Discount ends 7th of February 2011.

If only my Brave friend Pindsvin was here...

After last weeks long post about hoops (in which I apparently used the word 'hoop' more than 15 times)  I don't have much to say today: Bear with Lantern. Embroidery Try out. Not quite there yet....

Hoops!

Basically I have got 4 types of hoops. The one I forgot to include in the picture is one of my regular (round) plastic hoops. I find there is a lot of difference in quality of these plastic hoops. I received my favourite one in a swap from Georgia but can not recall what brand it is! 

The hoop in the front of the picture is a so called Flexi Hoop (Anchor manufactures these). The inner ring is plastic and the outer ring is flexible. I bought a bunch of these on Ebay when I just started out in embroidery and I'm still quite fond of using Flexi Hoops. Especially the one in the picture. I also have smaller oval Flexi Hoops but they tend to pull the fabric a tiny bit too tight and this can distort the fabric. My large Flexi Hoop on the other hand doesn't keep the fabric taut enough but could be fine for framing. Except that I'm not crazy about the rubber woodgrain look. ;) And apparently there are also square Flexi Hoops available but I haven't tried those yet.

Everyone knows the Classic Wooden Hoop, posing here behind the Flexi Hoop. Ideal to have on hand when all other hoops are 'taken' and for framing too. I have heard that these would not be good to use for embroidery as they could leave marks on your fabric. Hasn't happened to me yet but I'm not too fussy about these things anyway.

Yesterday the latest addition to my Hoop Collection arrived: a Q-snap! It's a square frame (you can see it in the foreground of the picture) and mine is rather huge (11 by 11 inch) because I ordered the wrong size by accident!  Will let you know how me and the Q-snap get on when I have a chance to try it out. Do let me know if you have any tips for using this particular hoop though. And I'm also curious what kind of hoop you all are using!

Right now I'm still working on the Phat Quarter Swap piece (the one in the Flexi Hoop) but I'm already thinking about next projects of course. My partner in the Phat Quarter Swap (who is actually not the person I'm stitching my piece for) was Jessica and she sent me these adorable two embroideries!



You can read all about it if you click on the photo.

Zoe's bag (made from my stash)

It's a good thing I don't visit Ikea as much as I used to because every time I'm there I just have to buy some of their fabrics. Some of the IKEA fabrics are quite heavy (canvas probably) and durable. Perfect for making bags and tote bags and so on, and that's what I did! Zoe needed a new bag for her Theater Class and this bag  holds everything she needs: ballet shoes, clothes for dancing, a drink and a snack and a binder.

The bag is simply shaped like a long tote bag with a 'boxy bottom' and the top folds over so it looks like a messenger bag. It was super easy to make apart from the bits where there were multiple layers of canvas to sew through. I used a 'jeans' needle for that. It was a bit noisy but my Husqvarna managed to do it in the end!

Look! I haz cute Ikea fabric lining too!

I followed this tutorial but simplified it quite a bit. I have a less fancier strap and did not bother with an inside pocket or a closure.

So while I was actually using some of my stash to make this bag. Some new additions to my stash arrived!

The very lovely Katy and I did a scrap swap. That is to say: I sent her some sorry scraps, she sent me enough to make quilts for the whole neighbourhood!

Bunny proudly presents...Tales from the Forest

Me, bear and squirrel go back a long long time. In 2009 I made this small water colour painting.

 I sent the original to Bookwormbethie but could not really say goodbye to these two just yet. I made a few changes to the design, the tea cup went, leaves were added etc and I took a long long time stitching the final version of this pattern. Not exactly sure how to go about it. But now it's finished and I have my own Bear and Squirrel and I'm keeping them with me this time! But if you fancy having these two hanging out with you as well get the pattern now!

Black with cream please

Black and Ecru 6 stranded Embroidery Floss, in the background a tiny chess game

The colour combination Black and 'not quite white', either cream or ecru, is so much better I think than simply 'Black and White'.

photo by What Delilah Did

I love how this black 'Guardian' by What Delilah Did,  looks on the creamy coloured linen.  I bought the pattern in her shop the other day and also this butterfly. Can't wait to stitch them!

I'm not sure if this vintage Scandinavian decorative plate I picked up at the Salvation Army shop a couple of years ago has coloured with age  but I like it like it is now. Black and cream is just one of my favourite colour combinations. Do you have a soft spot for certain colours or colour combinations too?

Tiny stitches

For the past week I've been working on this embroidery for a swap on Flickr. I assume my swap partner does not visit my blog so I thought I could share a WIP picture here. I'm a bit nervous about it all as my swap partner is an amazingly talented embroiderer. The theme of the swap is music. I love music but I had a hard time trying to connect to my partner's taste in music. Eventually I was drawn to an album title (Ophelia) and started the project there. I made some sketches before hand but I'm largely making it up as I go along. Ophelia is a character from Hamlet. She drowns in a brook. There are many lovely art works with this theme and I'm especially inspired by this pastel drawing by Odilon Redon, this painting by Millais and the lovely 'stamp' embroideries by Penny Nickels. (see picture below)

And at the same time I'm trying to do 'my own thing'. The good thing about a swap like this, is that it forces me to step outside my Embroidery Comfort Zone and create something different from the stuff I usually do.

Stash, scraps and wips

As Luna and I had this afternoon to ourselves (Zoe is at an Ice Skating Party in the pouring rain, poor thing) I thought I'd try and spend an hour or so working on one of the neglected unfinished quilts. I gave Luna a glue stick and some fabric scraps and she was happily creating this nautical themed artwork. Note the embroidery hoop with two hearts under water on the left. :)

Meanwhile I tried to do a bit of work on last years Fat Quarterly Sew Along Quilt. Still not sure what size I will make that quilt. Since I have joined the StashPact11 on Flickr (a group all about using your stash instead of adding to it) I'm determined to only use what I already have to finish this quilt. It's not that I will not be buying any fabric at all this year, I'm just trying to use more from my stash and only buy if I need it to finish a project or have a specific project in mind. And I may have to think of a project soon to justify buying this gorgeous Tammis Keefe fabric (by Michael Miller)!

Tales from the forest

I just finished this new design called 'Tales of the Forest'. It's still a tiny bit wrinkly from the wash and dry and (too) quick ironing I did but I couldn't wait to share it with you all. I think it would be great just as wall art or as a center piece on a pillow or something. Still busy writing up all the details and making a few adjustments on the drawing of the pattern. Are you wondering too what tale the squirrel is telling here?

Many thanks to all who commented on my feature in the Cross Stitcher, I'm still very excited about it! :)

Look at me...

..in this issue of Cross Stitcher magazine! On their request I sent a couple of photos of my embroideries recently and it resulted in this feature:

I haven't actually seen it in person, as the magazine isn't available here but my bloggy friend Carina was very kind and sent me some scans of the magazine.

Year of the Bunny

First of all: best wishes for 2011 to every one who visits my blog! I only learned the other day that in 2011 on the third of February, the Chinese year of the Bunny starts. A great opportunity to have a small celebration with you all so I'm going to think about what special things I could do for this occasion. One of them will certainly be a giveaway as my talented and generous friend Saffron has already donated a fat quarter bundle of her fabrics. Awesome!

So... 2011 initially started as slow as 2010 ended.  So much so that I totally forgot to put the January Package Deal in the shop. I have now though and I think it's a little bit awesome. :) Anyway today things went back to normal. The girls went back to school again and I  had to wake up from two weeks of 'hibernating'.  First thing I did this morning  was choosing some paint for our hall way. My husband will do a (hopefully) magnificent and much needed make over of the hall way this week. I was looking in the Home Decor Store for various shades of grey for the wall and door posts. The shades had interesting names, much to my amusement, like 'seal', 'tempest' and 'later'. I'm sure you know exactly which colours I'm talking about now. LOL. I would love to name paint colours for a living!