Old Stitches, New Tricks

Just in case you don't read the &Stitches blog: we have a fabulous new Embroidery competition going on called Old Stitches, New Tricks!  You can read all the details (about how and when to enter etc) on the &Stitches blog but basically the idea is that you take something 'old' (an old pattern or technique for example) and use it in a contemporary way. An interesting challenge for sure! 

Great prize to win: this is the loot the winner will get!

I was planning on playing along as well. Obviously I can't enter the contest (as I am an &Stitches co-host) but I really wished I could, because the prizes are fantastic.  Anyway, I started researching an old, somewhat forgotten technique yesterday (not revealing what it is yet!) and I hardly could find any information on it. Nothing in my personal 'library' and very little online as well. I wonder why that is but I'm determined to bring it put it in the spotlight a bit before it disappears in oblivion  :) 

My Trip to London

I had a great time in London last weekend! After dropping off my suitcase at the hotel Friday morning I headed to Earl's Court which was the Tube station nearest to my hotel. Since I read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere I can never view the London Underground in the same way again and many of the Tube Stations and the famous 'Mind the Gap' phrase have a special connotation to me now. If you like (urban) science fiction than you should definitely check it out, especially if you are traveling to London.

Anyway, I was meeting my friend Sami at Earl's Court and we went on a quest to find Shaukat Fabrics. A store that is supposed to be like an Aladdin's Cave of Liberty Fabrics, some even say bargains can be found there. Well there was a lot of Liberty Fabric there, that's for sure, a bit overwhelming actually! I was really excited when I found the stacks of remnant fabrics. Sami and I went through the stack where all pieces cost 1 pound each, and I dug up a really lovely fabric (the white with flowers). The 2 and 5 pound stack was more impressive and there's where I found the other fabrics. The larger pieces were about a quarter of a metre and cost 5 pound. Reasonably priced but not exactly super-bargains.

Later that day Sami and I met up with Sophie (of What Delilah Did) and we went to see an interesting exhibition called 'Making Colour' in the National Gallery. After that we sat in a park (not sure which one) and talked lots, because that's something you do in parks rather than museums. :) We also managed to squeeze in a quick visit to Liberty where I found this fabulous patchwork deer. Saturday I went to the &Stitches Picnic in Hyde Park and I wrote a little bit about that on the &Stitches blog yesterday. I had quite a lot of time for myself on Sunday and visited the Victoria & Albert Museum where I saw some beautiful embroidered garments and textiles. Especially the Chinese Silk Embroideries were very impressive. 

I received some fabulous gift over the weekend like these two pendants. The one on the left was made by Sami in her signature blackwork-on-Liberty- fabric-style. The one on the right was stitched by Sophie (from &Stitches) and the odd thing was that the motif almost exactly matched that of the dress I was wearing on the day she gave me the pendant! 

It was great to spend a few days in one of my favourite cities again and I felt very lucky to have such wonderful company during my time in London. Thanks friends!

p.s. I totally forgot to mention Pigeon Steve-with-the-Leaf who joined us at the &Stitches picnic. Definitely will write about him in the future as I'm planning to embroider a Steve the Pigeon Portrait :)

Stitching in the Park

Have you heard about the &Stitches Pic nics yet? This summer, on the first Saturday in June, July and August we're getting together in Hyde Park in London to embroider, eat and chat. Find all the details (including the exact spot where we meet) here.

It all started last summer when I got together with Julie, Carina & Sami and we spent a lovely afternoon stitching in the gardens of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This year we thought it would be great if we could include more people (because it's so much fun!) and a park is the perfect place to meet if more than a few people decide to turn up ;)

For me events (if we can call it that) like these are great as you get to meet and chat to people that you only know from Twitter or their blogs. So if you like the idea of spending a hopefully sunny afternoon stitching and maybe making new friends (or finally meeting on-line friends) then please join us for one (or all) of the Pic nics.

I'll be travelling from the Netherlands to join the &Stitches Pic nic in July and I'm so looking forward to it! I'm arriving a day earlier and leaving the day after so I have time to meet up with people and visit some museums and craft/fabric shops (tips are welcome!) Anyway it would be great to meet some of you in London!

Embroidery Finish Along with me!

Over at the &Stitches blog we are hosting an Embroidery Finish Along and we'd love to have lots of people to Finish Along with us and complete an unfinished embroidery (or several!) from their WIP basket within the next month. If you'd like to join in, share a photo (and write something about your project) on your blog (or Tumblr/Flickr etc) and add your link to our Finish Along blogpost. 

I went through my overflowing WIP basket, but surprisingly enough there were very little embroidery projects in it. A few English Paper Piecing projects, some unfinished cross-stitch pieces (which of course also count as embroidery but I wasn't confident I could finish those in the next four weeks) and only two half finished embroideries. I have chosen my unfinished tiny hedgehog embroidery to complete. Not sure why it was left in my basket half finished but it could be because I had no idea how to continue with it. I think I'll resume stitching tonight, starting with the apple. :) 

News from the Stitchy Community

Illustration SAL 3 From top left clock wise: Wrightson Frankenstein by Sandy, H.R. Giger illustration by PixieFey, Totoro hoop by Rebecca and St Trinian's by Meredith. See the whole gallery here which includes photos I couldn't use here due to copyright.

The Illustration Stitch Along is already in it's third round! This time people who have joined in are free in their choice of which illustrator/illustration they are going to tackle and so far the results are very impressive! You can still join in this Stitch Along or perhaps you'd rather wait until the next Illustration Stitch Along starts in October? If I remember correctly we'll be making embroideries based on the illustrations of Dr. Seuss then. I think I'll embroider a Dr. Seuss pillowcase for my daughter. :) 

Another fun challenge is up on the &Stitches blog! Last Thursday I announced our Back to School Stitching Competition there. A fun theme and fab prizes by Penguin & Fish, Lucky Jackson and Septemberhouse! There is still plenty of time to enter as the contest closes the 15th of October. Check further details here.

Woodlands &Stitches is out now!

The new &Stitches zine is out today and it's all about woodland flora and fauna this time! We have woodland animal inspired patterns (including my Barry the -Tiny- Badger pattern, a Folksy Fox, an Owl Girl and Animal Tracks) and neat ideas for stitching woodland scenery.

We talk to Trish Burr, author of several fabulous needle painting books and Abby Glassenberg: soft toy pattern maker, craft book author and all round inspiring crafty person. Katie of Mother Eagle makes beautiful miniature hand embroidered jewelry and we interviewed her as well. Our featured designer this time is Laura Howard of Bugs and Fishes and she contributed an adorable design to this issue:

There's lots more to read and make in our new issue (over 70 pages!) and we even have included coupons for discounts in my own Follow the White Bunny Shop and Carina's Polka & Bloom shop, so don't miss out!

As reader of this blog you can get Woodlands &Stitches with a 10% discount (we offer the same discount on the &Stitches blog except my code is valid a bit longer) if you enter the code OWLTAKETHATDISCOUNT on checkout.  This offer ends Monday the 4th of February.  

Say hello to...

... a new furry friend called Barry! I made this pattern (and 'how to') for the new Issue of &Stitches (out very, very soon!)...

Scandinavian inspiration

Not able to squeeze in a visit to Scandinavia for some Stitchy inspiration? No worries Carina & I will take you there with our latest issue of &Stitches! (read on to find out where to get a discount code!)

See that adorable Polar Bear on the cover? That's made by Emily Wilmarth the creative talent behind The Flossbox. You will find the pattern in our Scandinavian Issue! It was a pleasure to work with Emily, she is a lovely friendly person! Putting together an original and uhm.. awesome zine like this is hard work (there's only the two of us) but it's also inspiring. With each issue I learn new things about embroidery (Hello Raised Herringbone Stitch!) and get to 'meet' (if only by mail) fabulous new people (like Emily). We hope that our enthusiasm for stitching shines through on the pages of our zine!

There is much to tell about this Scandinavian issue but I would only be repeating myself, so please check out my blogpost on the &Stitches blog to find out more. You will also find a discount code in the blogpost so you get 10% off the regular price (for the next two days only)!

Fancy Floss Storage

IKEA calls my new floss storage place HELMER: Drawer Unit on casters but I prefer to call it my Floss Cabinet. It's perfect if you have a rather large floss stash that you mainly keep in skeins (not on bobbins). I keep scissors and needles and such in the top drawer and one drawer is reserved for current projects. The other four drawers are filled with floss (still in the zip locks in which I stored them previously). 

Many thanks to all the sweet crafty folk who offered to make my little Pindsvin something (read the details here). As you can see in the photo below my Pindsvin stuffy is not finished yet, but I'm making good progress. The quills are quite a lot of work and I had to order some more felt to finish his spiky 'do'. :) 

So...for the peeps that are going to knit/sew/craft something for this little fella: I will put together a fact sheet with Pindsvin's measurements etc in the next couple of weeks so he won't end up with a tiny scarf and a huge bag or something ;) I'd really like to have your e-mail addresses so if I can't get in touch with you via your comment: please send me an email with your name and project. Thanks! 

On the 18th of October the new  &Stitches e-zine is out. In the next week me and Carina are busy putting the final touches to this fabulous fourth issue which is all about Scandinavia! A theme that is dear to my heart as I have lived in Norway for a couple of years and have fond memories of my time there. Anyways...do check out the &Stitches blog  this week (and we'd appreciate a follow there too!) because this week it's Scandinavian Week. We have a giveaway, a free pattern and sneak peeks of the (fab!) new issue. Hope to see you all there!  

Get some Oriental Inspiration!

Just a quick post to let you all know that the new issue of &Stitches is available now. The theme of this issue is 'Oriental Inspirations' and it was such a fun theme to explore!

Maneki Neko is my pattern contribution to this issue (remember the sneak peek I showed you last week?) and I think it turned out rather cute! And how about that oh so appropriate Cherry Blossom background? It's actually the new wallpaper I have in my craft room. :)

Check out all the details about the zine in the post I wrote on the &Stitches blog and don't forget to use the discount code at the end of that post if you are going to purchase your copy!

Satin dots

Carina and I are working hard to put the finishing touches to the new issue of &Stitches. As you probably know each Issue has it's own theme and I love how the theme of Issue 3 made me explore new techniques and subjects which definitely will leave a mark on some of my future patterns! Pictured above is a tiny sneak peek of the embroidery pattern I have contributed for the upcoming issue. Any ideas what it could be?

Big Bad

It's been a bit hectic in the past week two weeks or so. Two birthdays (myself and my youngest daughter), the release of my Abel the Stitch explorer pattern (which had a wonderful warm welcome and I'm really chuffed with that) and finishing the second issue of &Stitches!

While both Carina and I have worked on putting together the new e-zine since January, somehow a lot needed to be done at the last moment. But we managed to do it! Please check out our blog for details (including a discount for Early Bird Buyers) and there's a chance to win a copy of our e-zine at the Wild Olive blog too.

I'm currently stitching Cate Anevski's Big Bad and Little Red pattern from the current &Stitches issue, it's such a fun pattern to stitch. I used one of Lizzy House's 'Outfoxed' fabrics to stitch on and now it looks like the Big Bad (grey) Wolf is hiding in the forest a bit. :)  I'm nearly done stitching Little Red; I chose a lovely but difficult to stitch on fabric for that one and I may have to start again on a fabric that is more suitable...

Variation

I have been using a lot of this Colour Variation Floss in the last couple of weeks, including some in my new 'Abel, the Stitch Explorer' pattern. I actually used a ridiculous number of different colours in that pattern as you will find out if you decide to purchase it. (Still working out the details but I'm aiming at launching it next week!) Some of these variation threads have more than one colour in a skein, other skeins have different tones of one colour.  The colours are very soft and the changes in colour (or tone) very subtle.  Anyway these Colour Varation Flosses, or any other variegated floss for that matter, obviously are best used in a bit of your embroidery (or cross stitch) where the change of colours can be seen. Having said that, I also sometimes use small bits of variegated floss for a detail just because it's the right colour! (or so I think). I think (cross)stitching lettering with variegated floss could give lovely results too. Where do you use variegated threads for?

If you follow the &Stitches blog (or Facebook page or Twitter) you will probably already have seen a couple peeks of projects from our next issue. The second issue of &Stitches is all about books and reading. Our featured artist is the very lovely and talented Cate Anevski! This is the pattern I designed...

"Books&Stitches" is available from the 17th of April.

&Stitches e-zine launch party!

I'm so excited about the long awaited e-zine Carina and I have launched today! I could tell you all about it but then I would be repeating myself.  So please go check out our launch party post here, for the oh so secret discount code (15% off Issue 1!) and a giveaway (2 day only so hurry) as well! Can't wait to hear what you all think of the e-zine. :)