Baby presents from Sublime Stitching Patterns

 A close friend recently had her first baby I wanted to include something stitched in with the gift I sent her. I used patterns from sublime stitching (Black Apple and Kurt Halsey). They are embroidered on muslin cloths which was slightly tricky as they are a fairly loose weave so I had to be careful with the thread tension- also they are quite see through so these embroideries had super neat backs- a first for me!!
I'm glad I chose muslin cloths though- I used muslins loads with both of my babies and I think I'd have liked some cheerful ones. If you zoom in you'll see I used quite a lot of split stitch and tiny chain stitch as these seemed to work best on this fabric. I used the cloths to wrap the baby clothes I bought and tied it up with some ribbon- it looked very sweet. Another nice idea might be to dye some muslins or add applique, I think most new mums would appreciate some pretty muslins to cheer them up when they are mopping up dribble and milk!

And I just want to share this, the other day my robot-obsessed son (nearly 4-eeek!) was quietly crafting in the dining room so I went to see what he was up to and was greeted by this;

:D

my needlework kit

The fab &stitches blog are having a blog link-up on the theme of embroidery toolkits. Such a great idea for a link-up because I am rather nosy so am enjoying the opportunity to peep into other peoples embroidery stuff ;)
Before I share my toolkit let me tell you one thing, it is NEVER usually this organised. I am constantly searching for scissors, my needlebook, the correct hoop. My kit is strewn about the house on shelves, in a wooden box in my bedroom, in the cupboard under the stairs and stashed in drawers. I know there are a lot of other chaotic crafters out there and plenty of neat freaks too- which are you?

 Here we go then, the mantis needlebook was made for me in a craftster swap- It is beautiful, regular readers will know I love insects and this guy really makes me smile. the big sampler,style needlebook was made by me in Primary school. I have lots of embroidery scissors I especially like these two pairs. There is also a disappearing marker and a transfer pencil. I also use sulky transfer pens if it's a project where I can get away with a thick line but my most common transfer method is using my lightbox and a pencil.

 Hoops and a handy project bag I received in another craftster swap- this is full of goldwork threads right now

My most essential bit of kit is my daylight lamp. I tend to work on a small scale and often stitch in the evening  so it gets loads of use . I love this lamp- it may not be pretty but it is saving my eyesight! It also means the you see colours properly, before I had it I made the occasional 'interesting' colour choice when stitching in the evening. 

I hope you enjoyed this little look at my kit- I'm off to check out a few more of the posts in the link up. Good evening x

Crewel berries

When I was on holiday last year in France my mum bought me this linen bookcover. I've been saving it for ages because I was waiting for the right idea for it. Then the other night I was flicking through this book and I thought that this design with it's autumnal colours would work well with the natural coloured linen. I adapted the colours a bit so I could use wool from my stash- its appleton crewel wool and comes in the most beautiful shades- if you are a floss fan give it a try, it is a similar thickness to embroidery floss (although you can't split it) so would work on most open weave fabric.
This embroidery is now prettying up my boring work diary and amazingly only took an evening to stitch; I always find crewel so much faster to work up.

Fox embroidery

This little guy is stitched using a pattern by Erin Paisley for Sublime Stitching. You can buy the pattern here : http://www.sublimestitching.com/collections/patterns-all-mix/products/erin-paisley-embroidery-patterns

It is one of a set of four and the plan is to stitch them all and then make a patchwork wallhanging using them. I love these patterns- they are cute but not typically cute. I think this fox looks quite sneaky!
I was bold with the colours - the pinky orange was a risk and I wasn't sure as i was stitching but now it's done I like these colours together. Using a pattern was great as I instantly have four designs that go together and I still get to have fun deciding how to stitch them. Much as I love coming up with new ideas for things to embroider it is so nice sometimes just to grab a pattern and get stitching without having to plan beforehand!

Do you use embroidery patterns or design your own or both?
 Has anyone else stitched the Erin Paisley designs? If you have leave me a link in the comments!!

Book review - folk art needlecraft by Clare Youngs

This is such a pretty book, I ordered it thinking I'd probably use it more for inspiration. I have to say though that I am really pleasantly suprised by how nice the projects in this book are. Although I own tons of craft books I rarely make anything from them as I prefer to dream up my own projects but I have already earmarked several projects in this book I'd like to make.

Patterns for the projects are at the back, and most do need enlarging, there is also good advice on adapting the size of the patterns and instructions of different transfer methods.The instructions on how to make up the projects are very clear- and well illustrated. Most of the projects could be made by a beginner.

There are five different sections; bags and purses, for children, pillows and throws (including the gorgeous cushion below), for the home and gifts and accessories. There is some (very) simple cross stitch, some sashiko, applique and lots of pretty hand embroidery.
My only critism is that as an embroidery nerd I would have liked some photos of the tradition needlecrafts that inspired some of the projects in the book, for example the author includes a design based on traditional Hungarian embroidery so it would have been lovely to see an example of a traditional embroidery piece.

The images I've shared here are my favourites and are two of the more detailed embroideries, but if you like this style you will probably like most of the designs from the book.

I would love to know if any of you have this book, and what you think about it. What's your favourite craft book at the moment?

finished skeleton embroidery

My skeleton piece is finished. The pastel baby colours work so well and I think the effect is beautiful. I like the way the skulls seem to be dissembling and merging because of the symmetry. To me it seems like they are in motion which was unplanned but a happy accident.
It definitely gives the impression of the skull being split apart into fragments rather than moving to join together despite it being a scientific diagram that is intended to illustrate how the parts fit together. I wanted to illustrate both the amazing engineering that we contain and also the vulnerability and fragility of our bodies.

This piece took a long time to stitch as the outlines were so intricate. There was a lot of fill stitching too but I quite enjoyed that. The black thread I used was a cheap floss from a multipack- and it was horrible! My advice would be that cheap floss is fine for chunky stitching but when split into strands like here it is too weak and not smooth enough- there are so many knots on the back of this piece! I plan to get this framed- I'll stretch it over some mountboard first.
I'd love to know what you think of it- please let me know.

Edward Gorey skeleton embroidery

 As I mentioned in my last post Nicole  and Bridgeen have organised an illustration stitch a long on Flickr based on Edward Goreys work. I have put so many hours into this piece- but I think it was worth it. I'm not sure whether I am 100 per cent happy with the placement on the pillowcase- I didn't want to make it any bigger but there is a lot of space above and below. I am considering adding a sprinkling of tiny skulls above and below but think this might spoil the 'classic' effect of the vines. I might also add some initials to the middle oval.
The way the images are framed is perfect isn't it- I am going to steal the idea for some of my own designs.
Here are a couple more photos for scale and placement:

The design is seriously tiny- I used 1 strand of dark green floss throughout. I love working on this scale but think I need to invest in a magnifying hoop for my eyes sake!