ammonite stumpwork wallhanging

Another embroidery that was made for a swap - I really love this one.

The padded ammonite is embroidered using bullion knots in the centre, then padded satin stitch using stitches as padding as the spiral gets bigger and satin stitch padded with felt on the outside (widest part of the spiral). It took hours and I loved every minute of it, I think I watched the entire first season of battlestar galactica whilst making this- that's how long it took!
The cross section ammonite is stitched on wool felt. I then constructed the wallhanging from a batik fabric I bought and some fabric that had been used to wrap some swap items I received. The sewing is a little wonky but I was pretty impressed with how well it came out. The offcut of dowel I had in the cupboard (the rest is a jolly roger flagpole on my sons ship-shaped sandpit!!!). I had to plait some bias binding to use to hang it as I didn't have any cord.
So now I know how to make my embroidery into wall hangings- how cool is that?!
I'd love some hints and tips though if anyone has any!

Thanks for all the comments re; going back to work. The boys loved nursery, which is a relief - in fact I am pretty sure I missed them far more than they missed me.  Work went well and it was nice to have some child-free time; I drank cups of tea whilst they were still hot, did tasks without having to provide a running commentary of what I was doing and went to the loo without an audience!

bluejay stumpwork

Made for an embroidery swap on Craftster (yep, I am a swapaddict). I used linen fabric for the background and felt for the branch. I don't think I'd ever looked at a bluejay before- we don't have them in the UK. They are so pretty with all the different shades of blue. 

I used the padded slip technique I've used before, so he stands up from the fabric a bit. I like how it looks but am starting to play around with different ways of doing backgrounds for stumpwork to add more interest. 

I have several projects on the go right now but will have significantly less crafting time now as I go back to work next week. I've been on maternity leave for the past year so have been able to do some stitching during nap times - I will miss that!!

The boys turned 1 and 3 last week so it's been a busy time but lots of fun and I made my first 'proper' birthday cake- as in a cake that is meant to look like something. Maybe I'll post a photo here but I reckon it might end up on CakeWrecks if I do- I won't be turning into a food blogger anytime soon. Jake loved his yellow robot though :) 

Despite the reduction in crafting time I have decided to work towards opening an Etsy shop. I want to stock some embroidery, a little jewelry and some cross stitch and embroidery patterns. Am aiming to have my shop open towards the end of September. Any volunteers to test patterns once they are ready- this won't be for a while, maybe August time? I have a lot of work to do before I can set up my shop properly- any advice will be gladly received- and I need to get cracking on stock (once I have got a few swaps out of the way ;) ) What do you all think I should be stitching for my store? Do ya reckon embroidered brian blesseds would be a good seller?!!

And in other exciting news my boxing hares were featured on &Stitches alongside the supertalented MotherEagle go take a look!

cute cupcake

Unfortunately a few of the swappers in the Wild Olive swap went awol so Mollie put the call out for replacement partners. I volunteered and here is what I made for the person she asked me to stitch for.


Hearts and cupcakes! Not my usual style but I quite like it and my partner liked it too :)