Stitched Lettering Mosaic

Stitched Lettering, a gallery on Flickr.

So I finally found out how easy (and fun) it is to make galleries (and photo-mosaics of them) on Flickr. These are all pieces from 'my' Stitched Lettering group. Be sure to click on the photos to find out who embroidered the piece. Before clicking, note that some of them are not 100% SFW!
You can join the Stitched Lettering group here!

Tap dancing Polar Bear in Stitches

You already met this talented bear the other day, starring on my very first fabric design and this is the embroidered version. PDF pattern will be available some time in the next couple of weeks as a set together with a smaller design!

This was one of the first sketches of the Dancing Bear. It is somewhat related to this tiny Bear portrait embroidery I did earlier this year. For some reason the brown bear turned into a  Polar Bear along the way. It is so hard to get motivated tap dancing, multi-coloured scarf waving Polar Bears to model for you though... ;) 

polar bear in my local zoo

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! 

P.S. the fabric I used for the embroidery is Pretty Little Things Jada by Dena Designs for Free Spirit Fabrics.

Fly me to the moon...

...and let me dance among the stars! Fly me to the moon is the name of the fabric I designed and got printed at Spoonflower and today I received the test swatch. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Here is a closer look at the tap dancing, multi-colour scarf waving polar bear...

I think it would be a really sweet (yet cool) design to use in kid's quilts! I know it's not that big a deal for a lot of people to see their design on fabric but I'm really excited about it. It was something that was on my 'must do' list for a long time. The hardest part was choosing which colours to use but I think the this slightly retro/fifties palette works really well. I can't wait to add some more fabric designs in the same style and theme.

If you feel you need a tap dancing polar bear in your life you can purchase the fabric here. I have an embroidery pattern with the same theme coming out really soon which will be available via my own shops. I will post some photos of my embroidered version in the next couple days.

This week

For some reason a whole week went by without blogging. There were happy occasions at home (birthday parties!) to prepare and recover from. Sad happenings in the news to ponder about... So this is a bit of a hotch potch post about my small crafty news from this week.

I finally got round to updating my Princess and the Pea Sampler PDF pattern. The previous version dated from 2010 and since then I somewhat improved my PDF making and computer drawing skills.  Find the updated pattern here! I have a whole new pattern in the works by the way, it's one of my loveliest yet (at least I think so) and I hope to bring it to the shop before the end of this month.

I continued work on my Blackwork try out piece. After a shaky (and wonky) start I kind of got the hang of stitching that diamond shape. The whole composition is a bit static and not really refined like this impressive blackwork Whale's tail but you have to start somewhere, right? Also, I'm tempted to use other colours than black. Back in the 17th century it was not uncommon to use other colours than black either! This lovely piece by Sami Teasdale shows how you can get all creative (and colorful) with this traditional technique.

Kingfisher by Sami Teasdale

Find more fabulous pieces on Sami's blog Teasemade. I picked up some new blackwork tips from another recent addition to my Stitchy library called the Stitch Bible by Kate Haxell. I haven't properly read through the whole book yet (it also covers other techniques like Crewel and Hardanger) but found the instructions and diagrams in the blackwork section really useful. And soon I need to make room on the shelf because Sami is actually going to send me this book about Blackwork, as she had two copies. How sweet is that?

Ok that's all from me this week. Hope you all have a great weekend. :)

Back to Black

One of the gifts I received for my birthday was this book about Blackwork by Becky Hogg. This publication by the Royal School of Needlework is only 96 pages but for me it is a perfect addition to my stitchy library.  There's a short history of blackwork embroidery, a chapter about materials (funnily enough cheap bright blue plastic hoops aren't required), design and transferring. Of course there is a chapter about Stitches. Blackwork is limited in the number of stitches it uses and you will not need to learn any new stitches if you already know your 'basic' embroidery stitches.

There are lots of different patterns to be found in this book with diagrams and stitched examples. And with patterns I mean 'filling' patterns like diamond and hexagon shapes, not bunnies and hedgehogs. The patterns are followed by chapters on different Shading techniques. That's my favourite section of the book, it's amazing what you can do with variations in pattern, type of thread and stitches! 

Of course I had to give Blackwork a try too (see top photo) and grabbed some even weave fabric (not sure of the count 32 possibly?) and black floss. I drew a Jackalope (not sure yet how to tackle the antlers so haven't added them yet) on the fabric with a regular pencil and started filling it with a simple diamond pattern. It's far from perfect. Problem is that with my eyesight I can hardly see what I'm doing so it's really time to get a magnifier for detailed work like this. As it happens there was a review of an interesting magnifying tool called Craftoptics on Needle 'n Thread today. It would certainly do wonders for adding a Steampunk touch to my look (and possibly help me with my stitching too) but sadly it is a little too expensive for me. 

Speaking of tools...

We have such a good contest going on at the &Stitches blog at the moment. The only thing you have to do is blog (or if you don't blog, post on Flickr) about your embroidery tool kit  or embroidery tools and share the link on our blog. The prizes are so fabulous that I truly am sorry that I can't enter the contest myself. Sublime Stitching goodies (scissor, labels, patterns), a most wonderful tiny Abstract Art needlepoint kit from RetrosariaZoe and yummy handspun floss from DragonFlyLotus Designs. The winner will be picked by myself, Carina & Julie so make sure your entry is special :) 

Gorey in Stitches Roundup

Top (left to right): Brodwaith, Murder Bird, Flaming Nora Crafts

Middle: Sewphie, Sew Technicolor, The Stitch Emporium

Bottom: xsilverdaisyx, me, Cherry and Cinnamon

I am so impressed with the fabulous interpretations in thread of Edward Gorey's work that were posted in the Illustration Stitch A Long group! While being proud of my talented Stitch A Longers, I'm also slightly embarrassed that I didn't finish my own piece in time. I seriously underestimated the amount of embroidery work that tiny embroidery brought me, especially 'translating' the cross hatching in stitches. As soon as I'm done  I will dedicate a post to my little Doubtful Guest embroidery. The mosaic really doesn't do the embroideries justice. You must click on the links above and view (and enlarge) the photos to be able to truly appreciate (and comment on) the great work the Stitch A Longers did.

On the first of April our New Stitch A Long started. It's all about the art and animation movies of Tim Burton this time and Bridgeen (my co-host) and myself are counting on more fabulous work from you guys. Everyone is welcome to join our Stitch A Long group here!

A new furry friend

Hello everyone! My name is Milo and I was adopted by Nicole from a local Animal Shelter yesterday. I used to live in a house with 10 other cats but sadly my former owner died and we all moved to the shelter. Me and my feline friends had some medical issues due to a bit of neglect but nothing too serious.

As soon as I saw my new owner I thought the best way to go was to sit next to her modestly the whole time she was there. I was kind and interested but not overly pushy or neurotic as some of the others. I also didn't hit her.

I'm still very shy and need time to settle in. There is also another cat in the house. She hasn't fallen for my charms yet but  I guess that's just a matter of time.

Milo xo

Flow Feature!

Today my shop is featured on the Dutch blog of the very lovely Flow magazine. As you probably all know I am Dutch but rarely sell a pattern in my home country. Embroidery seems to be quite a rare thing over here and is mainly associated with cross stitch. Hopefully this feature will inspire some of the Flow blog readers  to pick up needle and thread and start embroidering! :)  Flow magazine (the printed version) is now also available in English and I'm sure many of you will love it. Find more details here.

Thank you to all who sent me kind birthday wishes and downloaded the free-bee pattern last week. As part of my birthday present I get to adopt another cat today. So we are heading to the animal shelter in a bit to see if we can find a suitable companion for Tijger. I'm very excited about it!

Bee Happy Free Embroidery Pattern

So tomorrow I turn 42 (eeeep!) and I thought it would be nice to give something away on my birthday. This Bee Happy embroidery pattern is much like a mini-sampler. Great for beginning stitchers but fun for embroiderers of all skill levels (at least I think so!) Please read the whole post to find out more about the idea behind this pattern... :)

Download the Bee Happy pattern here

I got the idea for the pattern when I was reading about the decline of bee colonies (which is bad news for all, as they very are important in our eco system) and how you can help bees in your own garden (or balcony) by planting bee-friendly plants and herbs like lavender and rosemary. I will definitely try and make my garden bee-friendlier and I hope you will too! Find out more about what plants bees like and their behaviour here.

You will find some stitch and colour suggestions added to the pattern but please feel free to do your own thing. I mean the Turkey Stitch for the bee is fun (imagine a soft furry bee!) but can definitely be a challenge! Feel free to share this pattern on your blog or Pinterest etc but please but do link back to this blogpost.

Of course I'd love to see your version of this pattern in my Flickr Group or Facebook page.

Happy Stitching everyone!

Changes

Earlier today we made an announcement on the &Stitches blog about not releasing new issues of our e-zine anymore (at least not any time soon). Obviously it was a hard decision to make. Both me and Carina loved putting the issues together and the positive response we received in the Embroidery community was and is heart warming.  However it was a lot of work (A LOT!) for just two people to make the zine and it took up so much of my time that I noticed that things and ideas I wanted to try for myself and my own business were put on hold. So it's a bit like the 'when a door closes, a window opens' thing (or was it a window that closed and a door that opens???) Anyway... you get the idea. It is sad to say goodbye to the zine, but there is a lot of other good stuff to do. And who knows what opportunities will come along?

The good news is also that the &Stitches blog continues! We (that's me, Carina and Julie) have been featuring inspiring embroideries, tutorials and artists on the &Stitches blog for the past year and we will continue to do so in the future! The great thing is that we get along excellently as a team and I can't wait to meet up with both ladies when I'm in London this July. :)

P.S. wondering what that picture above is all about? Be sure to check back tomorrow and I will tell you all about it. :)