Nearly Finished Finish Along Project & Winner Giveaway

Not a lot of progress on my Finish Along Project in the past weeks, mainly because I had the flu (or something similar) for a full week and wasn't able to do much at all. I did add the second paw though and more 'filling' on the face. Right now I'm working on getting the quills right. 

For my next project, besides the Polar Bear I'm stitching for my online class and a rather large contribution for a publication, I will try and make a Tiny Bird Portrait. I loved reading all the Bird suggestions in the comments on the Giveaway Post. So many good ideas, thank you all!

So now onto the winner of the Giveaway. As usual I let the Random Number Generator do it's thing. It chose comment 54 as winner which is DH, congratulations! I will contact you soon. 

More Tiny Hedgehog progress: Apple and Fluorescent Scarf

Normally I wouldn't post two times in a row about the same project but I made quite some progress with my Tiny Hedgehog this week and wanted to share it here on the blog.  As you may have noticed the Tiny Hedgehog now holds an Apple in his tiny paws (or paw as I still need to add the other paw) and I also added a rather fashionable scarf!

I'm fairly happy with how the Apple turned out, especially considering the tiny size of it. Actually the Apple is a bit tiny even for this Tiny Hedghehog! Luckily my Instagram friends came up with a solution for this oddity: either it's a Crabapple or the Tiny Hedgehog is actually a Giant Hedgehog holding a normal sized apple. :)

I think the scarf (it's an infinity scarf can you tell?) is a real eye catcher with the fluorescent accents. I was unsure when I added the yellow neon colour but now I'm happy I went for a less obvious choice of colour.

I have had these two Fluorescents Flosses (try saying that quickly 10 times in a row!) for a few years now and they are stored in my Floss Cabinet in a Ziploc bag with other less regular threads like DMC Jewel and Pearlescent effect floss. These fluorescent flosses are a bit easier to use than other metallic like threads (check Carina's Glitter Floss compare post!)  but, as you can see in the photo, they tend to split instantly. However.... I was able to do a pretty passable Satin Stitch with it so it was worth the extra 'trouble'.  :)  DMC Light Effect Fluorescent Floss is most commonly sold in packages with four other Fluorescent Colours. 

If you like my Furry Creatures in Stitches you might be interested in the online Embroidery class I"m launching later this year. Send me an e-mail (big red button on the right) if you want to be added to the special Furry Nice Mailing List. :) 

p.s. as you may remember I'm stitching my Hedgehog project for the &Stitches Finish-Along. There's still plenty of time to join in! 

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. :) 

Them eyes

I think it's amazing how much difference the addition of the eyes makes to a tiny animal portrait like this. It gives the creatures instant character. That's why I often try to add them fairly early in the process mostly using tiny straight stitches and a single strand of floss. This time I used black floss for the middle part, a few stitches in a dark brown shade around the eye and finished with a tiny 'sparkle' of white floss.