stag beetle embroidery

I love entomology displays and have meant to do this for a while. The head and main part of the body were stitched separately and are wired for shape. the head part is leather padded out with a little felt. I plan to do more as I think I can improve on this one a little so will take some in-progress shots next time. I love how it looks in a box frame, at a glance it looks real. I'm considering painting the frame black, I think it would look better. I will definitely do a bigger frame soon too containing several 'samples'.

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I actually had to unpick the legs once and start again as I managed to stitch the top legs coming out of its head. I was all finished and looked at it from a distance and thought 'that doesn't look quite right.... ' Lesson learned. Don't forget to step back from your work sometimes people!

I get so excited making things like this, I love to sit in the evenings with a glass of wine cup of tea, wearing comfy pyjamas, telly or music on, stitching away. It has become such a big part of my life that in the evenings if I'm not stitching my hands feel empty. Sometimes it seems like a strange hobby, particularly if I'm working on an unusual project and I often stitch things just for the hell of it without any thought of what I'll do with them once I'm done (in fact I have a load of completed embroideries stashed away in a cupboard). I quite like it though when I'm listening to a bit of Tom Waits or Nick Cave doing some stitching and I think to myself 'I wonder how many other people out there are doing this right now?' 

And what do I do with my free time when I'm not stitching? Well I read embroidery blogs, books and magazines of course! 

Urban Threads embroidery

I finished this piece I was making from an urban threads pattern. I don't often use patterns but actually really like some of the urban threads patterns. The subject matter and tattoo style of this appealed to me- I used to stitch a lot of tattoo flash. I think I might do some more tattoo style pieces soon. The strong outlines and solid fills work well for embroidery. I thought this would look good framed up in my bathroom!
Christmas seems to be creeping up on me- There is absolutely loads I want to make; some more decorations, stockings for the boys, a few gifts and christmassy pillowcases. I will be working hard over the next few weeks and am not sure I'll get everything done. How are your Christmas crafts coming on?

stitch and send

Here are my other stitch and send pieces. I kept it nice and simple. The flowery design is from the book The New Crewel and I made a pattern for the chevrons using graph paper.
Hope they make someone smile!

doodle fox embroidery

Mollie at wild olive posted about the stitch and send project recently asking people to stitch up patches to decorate bags to be distributed as part of a charity project. I stitched up 3 designs. This is the first one I did I wanted it to be unisex so I doodled this little guy. I thought he suited a retro chain stitch embroidery style.
Did anyone else stitch and send? I have to admit I was a little late sending so I hope they receive them in time to put them on bags for the thanksgiving event- fingers crossed for speedy postage!

leather brooches

A while ago I bought some leather offcuts for use in stumpwork. Some of the were just what I needed but some were too thick for using in my embroidery. I needed to think of a way to use them up and think I may have found the perfect way to use them- leather brooches. I have only made two so far but I have lots of ideas for other designs

EYEBALL!

 Badger

the stitching is a bit rustic I know- it ain't easy stitching through such thick leather, I
 need to buy a thimble before I make any more. I actually think they look better in real life than in these photos. Any other ideas for using up my leather?