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!

WIP skeletons everywhere

 This is for the Edward Gorey stitch-a-long on flickr organised by the very friendly and talented Nicole. Still time to join in if you wanna join in. I wanted to work the design up fairly small as I'm stitching on the edge of a pillow case but it does mean those tiny leaves are a bit of a brainache to stitch- I'm doing then in satin stitch, for scale the skeleton is just over an inch high... yeah I know... I'm going to go blind stitching this. Also I have no idea how I'm going to do the shading - which in the original illustration is cross hatched because I'm already using just one strand of floss - I'm considering using sewing machine thread but that might be a completely crazy idea- or using one strand of a lighter coloured floss (this is actually stitched in a dark green although it looks black here).
I hadn't heard of Gorey before this stitchalong but wanted to join the fun so bought Amphigorey  (an anthology of some of his work) it is so darkly funny and I love the style of his illustration, especially all the haunted looking sunken eyed children. If you aren't familiar with his work look him up ... maybe you'll find something you can't resist stitching!

I've also been making some progress on this skeleton- I am loving how it looks all filled in baby pink. It is almost pretty! The mechanics of how all those pieces would fit together to make the framework for a face is fascinating me- and look at this how they have laid it out in a heart shape -  could very well be my next project.  Hope you are enjoying seeing this piece grow. I have to go now, back to sitting and stitching and ruminating on how we are all bags of bones!

Moth by Giddy girlie

I while ago I posted about the hummingbird I made for the Phat Quarter tiny swap. This is the beautiful piece I received from Giddy Girlie . She was inspired by my love of moths and created this gorgeous embroidery for me. His body is turkey rug stitch so he is fluffy and lifelike and the satin stitch is so smooth. I love the way it is so striking and graphic- the colours pop against each other. Obviously it will join my growing collection of bug and moth art - I'm thinking of either keeping it framed in the hoop or putting it in a box frame- I have other things displayed like that and at first glance they look like real entomology displays.

Make sure you have a look at the gallery- it's full of awesome stitches 

I'm a piece

These are my two jigsaw pieces for the Craftivist collectives I'm a piece campaign. The idea is to raise awareness of Save the Children's Race against hunger and to encourage people to sign the petition (please do!). Lets face it- we are all in this together and no one should have to go hungry today. The top piece was sent to the Craftivist collective and they are going to use all the pieces they receive to make an art installation that will be shown at several location throughout the way to promote peaceful activism and raise awareness of the campaign. The second piece I sent to my MP to ask him to support the campaign . If you would like to learn more about the campaign - there is still time to take part if you are quick have a look here  http://imapiece.craftivist-collective.com/

WIP - bones

This is what is in my hoop at the moment- a infant skeleton with a disarticulated skull. I know some people might find this image macabre or maybe even violent but it's just an anatomical diagram that shows how all the bits fit together and I think that makes it really fascinating and beautiful. The finsihed piece will be this image in a mirror image with one side filled in baby pink and the other baby blue so yes, I am playing on how we react to images like this, especially those of babies but if it works out the way I envisage it I think the end result will be very striking.
I would love to know what people think of this as it's not like my usual embroideries but I feel quite excited about it, so please your feed back-I won't be offended if you hate it!

bee hummingbird embroidery

Bee hummingbirds are the worlds smallest bird- 5-6cm from the tip of their beak to the end of their tail. I made this for jessicakelly for a Phat Quarter swap on the theme of 'tiny'. He may only be small but I packed in loads of different stitches and detail by using only 1 strand of floss.
Playing with scale enabled me to really play around with different stitches. I often try and make my birds as lifelike as possible so it was good fun to get creative with some pattern and I like the effect. I'm not sure how this would work on a bigger scale but it would be interesting to try- the textures would look nice in crewel wool in linen I think.