Wasp

A while ago I signed up for a Phat Quarter swap... erm quite a while ago actually, I had to contact my partner (the very cool Mr X himself) and ask for extra time because I was making something odd that I had no idea how to make.
Behold the 'sort of' stumpwork stiletto wasp:

The main part of the body is embroidered in floss, the face is fake leather appliqued onto kid leather, the legs are wire and the wings are tracing paper stitched on gauze with paper covered wire stitched on for the veins. It is huge because stiletto wasps are a mythical beast from the Scott Lynch book Red Seas Under Red Skies - it's a great book, the second in a series (the first The Lies of Locke Lamora is even better)- I used a description of the wasp in the book to design my version.

 I was pretty pleased how it turned out - not bad for a first attempt at something like this. It was very challenging, as I was making it up as I went along. I had to make the wings twice as my first set didn't have the tracing paper and were awful- they needed something to give shape to the gauze.

Next on my embroidered object list is either a fish or something like an urchin or starfish (think french knots and plenty of em) whaddya think?

bluetit stumpwork

So things have been quiet on the blog for a few weeks. This is because I had been working on Christmas gifts and didn't want to spoil the surprise for the recipients!

I made this blue tit for my mum and dad. It is always difficult to decide what to make for people but as my folks enjoy feeding the garden birds and my mum had admired previous bird stumpwork embroideries I decided to go for a bluetit. I think this is one of the best I have done- I painted the background with fabric paints and this time I was very pleased with how it looks. The branch is wool felt with lots of french knots in hand dyed silk thread to give the effect of moss. The bird is a padded slip worked in stem, satin and split stitch.
I couldn't afford to spend a lot of money getting it framed so bought a simple box frame which allows for the 3D nature of stumpwork. I know some people don't use glass when framing embroidery but I don't usually like frames without glass in them- it just looks wrong to my eye!

The good news is that they liked it!

I will do another post soon about another handmade present I made. Maybe 2013 will be the year I manage to blog more regularly!! Happy New Year to you all xxxxxxxx

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! 

Eyeball embroidery - Halloween giveaway CLOSED

yep, it's an eyeball, and it is 3-D and it glows in the dark... what else can I say?!

I'm really grateful to all you people who take the time to read my blog so I've got a little gift for one of you.

If you'd like this embroidery, these little skull beads and this set of iron-on embroidery transfers leave a comment on this post before 24th October they could be yours!

The winner will be picked at random on the 25th 

Magpie finished (probably!)

 I say it's finished but I keep picking it up and adding a few stitches here a few stitches there. If I'm honest I wonder if it is a bit overworked but then I keep seeing little tweaks I could make. I was feeling quite disappointed with it but then I looked at it from across the room and thought it looked nice so I think maybe the really detailed wing is a bit distracting up close. I was enjoying all those blues whilst stitching and I got a bit carried away.

 The magpies body is a padded slip. My favourite thing is the tree stump- it is couched silk strings and wool and is very tactile!!

 I painted the background with fabric paints. This was an experiment and I will make it lighter next time I do this but I like the overall effect.
I have started something else, an urban threads pattern (I don't often use patterns but Urban Threads has some great ones I couldn't resist). It was nice to not have to plan for a change just choose a pattern... transfer.. go! As you can see I have stitched the outlines and I quite like how it looks left plain but I am going to start filling it in using some muted colours.

I should really be thinking about Christmas crafts but am still at the planning stage- have you started your Christmas crafting yet?

snow white mini crown embroidery

This was done for an altered tin swap on Craftster. I wanted to do something other than embroidery for a change so signed up for the wicked children altered tin swap. Then I panicked because I don't know how to do altered tins so ended up using embroidery anyway!!! I think the paper bits on the tin look good but in the end it was the embroidery  I liked the best :)

The crown is couched gold threads with a wire frame to shape it. The apple on the crown was brussels stitch I think and the leaf is chips of checked purl stitched down like beads. There are beads added for extra glitz!

Inside the tin is a tiny stumpwork apple. The threads are woven around a small wooden bead and the leaf was florists wire stitched onto green fabric to form the leaf shape, I then cut it out and inserted the tails of the wire into the hole on the bead. It was very small and fiddly but would be really nice for making jewellry.
It is meant to represent the evil queen from snow white as a child in the woods at night- I was aiming for the disney image of snow white surrounded by friendly woodland creatures!

satin stitch 3 ways- a tutorial

I do love a bit of satin stitch me- here is a little buggy satin stitch sampler with an explanation of how I do 3 different types of satin stitch

1) To start with you need a pattern, so get designing, or you can use my one! download the pdf for free.
We are starting with the bug on the left, he is just plain ol' simple satin stitch

 2)Bring your needle up at the bottom of your shape in the middle and form a stitch by taking your needle through at the top of the shape. Make another stitch in the same way next to it and work across the shape like this until you have filled one side, then go back to the middle and fill in the other side

If I am filling a larger shape I might outline it with split stitch first and take my satin stitches up through/down into the split stitch line this gives a smooth outline but isn't really necessary on such a small shape
 3) Fill in the top of the bugs body the same way

 4) Use your new-found satin stitching skills to fill in the bugs head in a different colour and use small straight  stitches to add detail.
 Make 2 long chain stitches to form each leg with a small straight stitch at the end to secure. You might find it easier to mark them on with a disappearing marker first.

 Work the top two legs first, then the middle two, then the bottom two, DON'T try and do all the legs on the left then all the legs on the right- it will be wonky!

Ta-dah- he's done! (You could add some french knot spots or seed bead eyes if you wanted to be fancy)

 5) Now for the middle bug- he is stitch-padded satin stitch. Start by satin stitching a small area in the middle of the bug

 6) Now stitch right over the top of those stitches, covering a slightly bigger area ...

 7) ... and again... and again- until your shape is filled. The body should stick up from your fabric quite a bit because of the padding you made with your stitches.
 Add a satin stitched head and work the legs using a couple of long chain stitches and 3 tiny chain stitches (see the first photo) and take one stitch across the body near the top in your contrasting colour to define the body.

8) The last little bug is felt padded satin stitch. Cut out a small piece of felt in a similar colour to the thread you are using and use little stitches to attach it to the middle of the bugs body

9)Now cut out a slightly bigger piece of felt and attach it over the top

 10) Work your satin stitches over the top of the felt- this little guy should have a really domed body because of the felt padding.

 An alternative way of doing this is to just use the larger piece of felt over some toy stuffing- you can make the shape really padded this way.

 This little guy has a satin stitched head and chunky legs worked in stem stitch and filled with yet more satin stitch. His body is defined with a line of back stitch. Use the first photo as a guide.




There we have it- three types of satin stitch- I hope someone out there finds this useful, please let me know if you do. If there is anything that doesn't make sense (and as this is my first tutorial this is very likely) just ask and I will try and explain.

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!

in the hoop

This is what I'm working on right now. It's an embroidered slip for a stumpwork piece. Am loving trying to capture all the colours that gleam on a magpies black feathers.
I've been doing lots of embroidery lately but it's for swaps so I can't show you yet but I can share the gorgeous goodies I received in the Craftster 'anything goes needlework swap' ;

 better photos and more info
here and here!
I was so lucky to get such a great partner for that swap and as a bonus I am getting to swap twice as someone dropped out so I volunteered to be a replacement partner. I'll be posting my swap package this week so can share what I made very soon...

stumpwork sparrow

This is part of my swap package for the Anything Goes Needlework Swap on Craftster. My partner loves sparrows so I knew I wanted to do make a sparrow embroidery. I also recently bought the RSN guide to stumpwork and so the two fused together pretty nicely. I have to also give credit to this tutorial that I found incredibly useful, especially as it uses a bird for the example so it showed me how to add details at the end.  As a first attempt I think this worked really well  and I was pleased with my stitching on the bird, I wanted it to look realistic. The twiggy branches are tapestry wool couched on with embroidery thread, this looks really nice but the wool shows through a little from the back of the linen so next time I'll hoop up some cotton or calico behind the linen to avoid this.

Here is a detail to show how the bird is three-dimensional;

Please excuse the creases in the photos- I did iron the piece before sending and mounted it in a flexi-hoop but I don't have any photos of this.