plague doctor ghost and lion o!

So much to share today. I had a rare quiet afternoon as both my boys were asleep so I had a play:

It is glow-in-the-dark floss on gauze. The fabric is very see through so you can see the thread on the reverse. This means it is really easy to 'sketch' with the thread. I worked completely freehand using an illustration of a plague doctor for reference. I love the look of the loose ends. This was just an experiment and I think there is a lot of mileage in this technique. It is so fast to do and it was fun to do something looser than my usual style. 

It looks ghostly and would be great hung in a window. Has anyone else tried this? What did you think?

Ok and now something completely different...

After my flash gordon piece I wanted to do another nostalgic piece. I really regretted using such tiny stitches on his hair- it took forever but does look very smooth! I think I will do more embroideries of the things I loved when I was younger, it's just so fun. I want to do the car from Dukes of Hazzard, teenwolf and Henry's cat. They are all so evocative of my childhood, the funny thing is I did lion-o because it was something me and my brother liked but after posting it on my facebook it has been very popular with my friends- it obviously inspired memories in my friends too.

I've also been thinking a lot about my blog and how I can improve it. I'm thinking regular posts about blogs I like and about artists/inspiration online. Also maybe a monthly list/photo type post that is non embroidery related to let people get to know me, bookworm bethie does great posts about herself alongside her craft posts and I always enjoy reading them. I'm also musing about tutorials- I never use online tutorials so am wondering whether it is worth the effort of making one. I was going to do one about the different fill stitches I use but am not sure anyone would be interested. I'd really enjoy some feedback around what kind of posts people enjoy- please drop me a line or leave a comment if you have any thoughts on this.

moth

Thought it might be nice to share some 'in progress' pics, this is a yellow- barred moth.

dum dum dum dum FLASH aaahhhaaaaa

This is Prince Vultan- leader of the Bird people in the film Flash Gordon, played by the mighty Brian Blessed.
Have been working on this for a while and it has been my favourite thing to do. Lots of details to keep it interesting to work on.
And I'm really pleased with it, it's nowhere near perfect but I love it because;
          He has a french knot beard!
          I have made my peace with metallic floss!
          I can make a Ming the Merciless to keep him company!
I have just outed myself as the biggest nerdball ever haven't I ?
The shadows and skin tones are much more natural than in the wrestler I did- think I am getting close to cracking it. Will have to start another portraity piece to keep up momentum, I want to get better at stitching people.


 I loooooooooove Brian Blessed- he has the best booming voice and he swears better than anyone else ever

imagine gnats pattern testing

Rachel at Imagine Gnats was asking for testers to try out her new embroidery patterns. Well as her designs are supercute I had to get in on the action.
This is the valentine superhero boy pattern - there is also a girl who is just as cute

The patterns are available as pdfs here --> http://www.etsy.com/listing/91907366/valentine-super-hero-girl-embroidery
http://www.etsy.com/listing/91907545/valentine-super-hero-boy-embroidery?ref=v1_other_2

I can't wait to see what other patterns are available in the future

leibster love xxx

A big thankyou to the utterly ace Flaming Nora for my award. It gives me the warm fuzzies!

The Liebster award comes with some rules.

A Liebster blog award is given to blogs that are gaining popularity but have less than 200 followers. The rules for nominating are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to her/him.

2. Reveal your top picks and leave a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

So here are the 5 blogs I feel deserve to get a virtual high five and leibster from yours truly. Please check out and enjoy...

1. http://crystal-fiberartsy.blogspot.com/   A cool embroidery blog- she does such cute work. I really like her needlework style, everything she makes looks superneat.
2. crooked sister this blog is so stylish and there are plenty of cute crafts to see here. 
3. http://jafabrit.blogspot.com/ some amazing embroidery here and her other art is great too. have a look back through her posts to find her doodle cloth, like a sketch book but embroidery, and be inspired
4. http://wrenandstitchy.wordpress.com/ embroidery AND chickens! Seriously, this is a great blog and Glenda's needlework is perfect, she also seems to be one of the nicest people around in the blogosphere  :)
5. http://andstitches.blogspot.com This is a fairly new blog that is going to be huge. It features the work of lots of different embroiderers - great flickr group too!

Wait! Don't forget to give Flaming Nora's blog a visit too while you are at it!

my picks are all embroidery blogs, because i love getting some inspiration from you all. Hope this post might bring you all a few extra visits.

There are tons of other blogs out there that I love - the craft blogging community is awesome - see my blogroll for more of my favourites. And if you can recommend any blogs to me I'd love to hear from you, I'm always on the lookout for new inspiration.

Stitched jewellry

there is some beautiful stitch inspired jewelry around right now, look what I found at JOY

wooden cross stitched earrings- soooo cute!

And look at this necklace from graciesgardenbazaar

it's so beautiful, I wish it was mine. The graded colour and different stitches make it so unique. If you were wearing this you'd want to stroke it constantly! I need this necklace in my life :)