Flowers in Winter

You may remember that I made a couple of these 'negative space' projects last year. When I look at those projects (well at the ones I finished anyway) I think: 'This looks really nice'. Immediately followed by: 'But it's so much work!' It's a lot of fun to do though: the shading, the fill stitching, experimenting with colour combinations (not always a success) and trying to improve my embroidery techniques at the same time. Today I added the flower on the top right, that looks like a poppy (at least I hope it does). It was a bit of a struggle as I used too many shades, and in some parts the stitches were incredibly small which really isn't good. In the end I made some adjustments so I'm not completely unhappy with the final result. Hoping to be able to show you a finished piece in a week or three!

New Iron on Patterns are Here!

I'm thrilled that finally my new iron-on patterns have arrived! Together with my daughter Luna I assembled the patterns (transfer sheet(s), description sheet, postcard) last weekend and I have quite a few waiting to be send out to you. The pattern envelopes have a new distinctive design that reminds me of black board chalk drawings. :)

One of the new patterns is The Most Excellent Party Bear and it has some awesome new additions. When you buy the pattern you receive two pattern sheets: one with the Party Bear and one with 'special touches': several motifs to turn the Party Bear pattern into a DIY sampler for an anniversary or to welcome a new baby. There's a banner with 'Welcome' and a tag that you could add names to for example. You could combine them into one piece or make several smaller pieces to hang them nicely arranged on a wall.

Wave Goodbye.. is another pattern you may recognise from last year. It's a fresh, fun, summery design and comes with an extensive stitch and colour key.

Flower and Bird is a new design based on the Negative Space piece I made earlier this year. As it's perfect for shading it's included in my upcoming online Shading Class! All new iron-on patterns are also available in one Excellent New Pattern Deal which will save you almost 15%.

Simply Shading Online Embroidery Workshop!

Often when I post a (progress) photo of one of my embroideries online I get comments like 'I wish I could embroider like that'. That inspired me to start writing and preparing my new workshop Simply Shading. It's aimed at embroiderers (I think even adventurous new embroiderers could join) who want to try their hand at shading but need a little push in the right direction. :) You will learn how to choose colours and shades and use them effectively.

The workshop starts on the 18th of June and will end 4 weeks later. A kit with fabric, needles, floss holders and the Flower & Bird iron-on pattern (finished embroidery pictured above) are included but thread is not included. The lessons will be available as downloadable PDFs and there will be a student and teacher only forum for feedback and questions. And... as my former Furry Nice students know I'm always happy to answer any questions you have via e-mail or on Instagram.

Shading is really a lot of fun and not incredibly complicated but it takes time, practice and patience. I look forward to tell you all about it in the workshop!

You can sign up for the workshop now and if you use the code EARLYBIRDY before the 3rd of April, you will receive a 10% discount. Yay! Hope to see you many of you in the workshop!