New work (in progress)

I usually try and avoid posting frumpy photos (fabric not ironed! embroidery on a peg on the fire escape ladder!) but I hope the embroidery makes up for it. ;) I have been working on this for over a month now. Progress is a bit slow due to an aching thumb that is in a brace most of the day and well, the amount of fill stitching is quite overwhelming too. I don't even know how much time I have spent embroidering this piece, surely more than 40 hours... There are parts of this piece that I'm very happy with and there are parts I'm not crazy about but I really do like the overall effect. I also like that it's totally 'me': the subject, the flowers, the obsessive shading and using about every colour available in my stash :)  It's nearly completed now and I can't wait to try out more similar ideas. Maybe even as embroidered illustration. Anyway, I expect that some of this will make it's way into the new online class I'm planning for 2015. Hope you all like it.

  

From my sketchbook...

Yes, another drawing of Pindsvin. This is just before he embarks his teacup to sail the seven seas. Tea spoon ready for some serious peddling and a suitcase full of Traveling-Hedgehog-Essentials. :)

Over the next two months or so I will be doing a lot more sketching as I have just enrolled in a short online course for illustrating Children's books, hoping to improve my illustrating skills a little bit (or preferably a lot!). The subject of the illustration is Thumbelina and obviously that is right up my street. If I have any nice results to show I'll definitely share them here on the blog!

Alice and Martha in the Mail + giveaway coming up!

Today two lovely packets arrived in the mail!

On the left a lot of old embroidery transfers I bought on Ebay: a few Vogart patterns, including the gay fruits that I really wanted to add to my little collection and quite some Aunt Martha patterns including a cute bunny one that I could not resist for obvious reasons. :D

On the right a somewhat tired version of Alice in Wonderland with lovely illustrations by Margaret W. Tarrant. Luckily the inside of the book looks better than it's cover. I have been bidding on Ebay on books illustrated by Margaret Tarrant for quite a while now but I usually stopped bidding at about a third of the price of the final bid. Sadly there are people who buy these books to take them apart and sell the illustrations separately on Ebay.

Anyway, I will host a small giveaway on this blog soon! It will contain some of the vintage embroidery patterns as there were a few 'doubles' in the lot I bought and I'll add some embroideryfloss as well.