Monkey business

I thought I'd draw the little monkey I stitched for Katy before I send the embroidery off to her, just in case I want to make a pattern from it.  ;)

In the mean time my youngest 'monkey' has been busy with some embroidery as well.

It is Fall Break over here (hence the not blogging for a week) and Luna wanted to start an embroidery. I often choose the smaller patterns from Sublime Stitching for the kids to stitch as they are not too hard and don't take forever to finish. This cute Maneki Neko is from the Sublime Stitching Craft Pad. Instead of the traditional white with black/reds accents Luna has chosen floss colours to match our own (Tabby) cat Tijger. :)

After teaching Luna the back stitch last year, I now taught her the split stitch. Luna embroiders with a 'real' needle, which may not be a great idea for all six year olds but she is doing brilliantly so far! Are your kids interested in learning how to embroider too?

Ask me, ask me, ask me...

1. a is for ..., 2. S embroidery, 3. 038

After reading this post on Thomas's blog, I thought it would be fun to do some similar crowd-sourcing here as well!  Ask me a question and I will try my best to weave the answer into my 'about me page'. It doesn't have to be craft or embroidery related, it can be anything (as long as it is ... you know...decent and not too personal, of course I reserve all right to ignore questions!). So ask me, ask me, ask me! From my favourite Scooby Doo Villain (which was the question I asked Thomas) to my least favourite subject in school, and from my preferred way of transport to which embroidery stitch I can't perform..Very curious what you all will come up with!

All lettering in the photo is from my beloved 'Stitched Lettering' group!

...in a Pear Tree

So...here is a little sneak peek of something I'm embroidering to go with Thomas Knauer's adorable line of fabric called 'Pear Tree'.

One of the fabrics from Pear Tree

As we both love fonts, typography and all that, we had to sneak in some (well a bit more than 'some') lettering in this collaborative project. I have chosen some fairly textural stitches for the lettering and I'm particularly pleased with how the (split) stitching on the swirly bit turned out!

In the meantime I'm also working on another fun project which I know some of you will enjoy! Oh and I'm trying to feed the family too sometimes...So if progress on the pattern ideas I was working on (Badger, Owl Pillow) earlier is a little slow, bear with me. :)

Sweet Beetle Bug Free embroidery patterns and a new winner!

You may remember I stitched a couple of cute little bugs a couple of months ago based on Saffron Craig's Beetle Bug fabrics. It has gone a bit quiet after that but finally we decided to make these available as a freebie embroidery pattern for you all! Woohoo! If you go here and sign up on Saffron's site you will receive an email with a link. The little bug is great for tea towels and napkins and the lantern bugs are lovely on a pillow case (in the pattern you will also find the lettering for the words 'Nite Nite Bugs'). Be sure to check out Saffron's other fabrics too. The softie panels make great quick and easy Christmas gifts for the little ones!

I'm also happy to announce that I found a winner for my Baby Go! Fabric Cutter. Lisab  (comment no.4) is the winner. I have already contacted her and she is very pleased with her prize. Congratulations Lisa!

If you haven't already please take a look at the special offer for Follow the White Bunny Blog readers that Carina has for you: a 10% discount on her online Christmas Stitches Embroidery Class! Read all about it in the blog post below.

Ready for some...Christmas Stitching ?

I can't believe it's October already! It has been crazy warm weather here the last week or so which is very unusual for this time of year. Still the calendar says it's only 85 days till Christmas! Therefore I thought you all might be interested in the 'Christmas Stitches' Embroidery Class my Feeling Stitchy colleague Carina (of Polka and Bloom) is offering.


The class starts on October 17th and runs for 4 weeks, ending on November 13th. In the weeks before the class starts, you will receive a list of materials needed and a link to the class site. A Christmas stocking, ornaments, a brooch and various patterns will be among the projects included in the course. All in Carina's own wonderful unique Scandinavian inspired style.You can find more information and sign up for the class here.  The great thing is that Follow the White Bunny readers get a special discount! Mention "Snowbunny" when you check out with Paypal to get a 10% refund. Valid until October 9th. That's pretty cool, right?

Stitch Inspiration

Push Stitchery is my latest addition to my personal embroidery 'library'. It's different than other embroidery books; you will find no stitches explained in this book,  reading Push Stitchery is more like visiting a really awesome Embroidery Exhibition. It features the work of 30 Stitch artists (selected by Jamie Chalmers aka Mr. XStitch) from across the globe (well to be honest more from the 'Western' part of the globe) whose work is 'pushing' boundaries rather than safely staying within them. Some artists distinguish themselves by using extraordinary techniques, sometimes on usual surfaces. Others have an unique (sometimes unsettling) theme in their work. A couple of artists I have 'followed' and admired the past few years are featured, like Porterness and Penny Nickels. Others, Aya Kakeda and Charlene Mullen for example, were new to me but I'm glad I found them through this book! I wish I could show examples from the book but I can't due to copyright issues. If you check out the links you can get some idea of some of the content though. :) 

And while I am by no means pushing any stitchy boundaries (except maybe my own) I'm rather pleased with how my cute tattoo/sewing inspired monkey is turning out! Only a few details to add and then I will send it off to Katy.  I stitched the lettering three times (and unpicked it twice) and I found out that the stem stitch really is an excellent choice for stitching lettering similar to the one I used.

In other news: believe it or not but I still haven't found a winner for my Accuquilt Giveaway! So possibly there will be another draw later this week...

Winter Forest Quilt

The pretty bird fabric in the middle (I think it is an Aunty Cookie fabric It is a Shannon Lamden/Aunty Cookie fabric called 'Home Sweet Home' find it here in a black colourway) was given to me in a swap by my stitchy pal Georgia. It was one big panel that I just couldn't cut into! Until I saw the same fabric in this gorgeous quilt top made by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts. I also loved the subtle quite 'cool' colour palette she used. So for, what I call my Winter Forest Quilt, I chose colours (mostly from my stash, yay!) very similar to those in Rita's 'Milk and Cookies' quilt. And I cut into that big pretty panel because I'm sure I will enjoy the sweet birds with keys in trees much more in a quilt for my couch than hidden in my fabric cabinet!