Great personal swaps with Katie and Nicole!

I have recently done two personal swaps with people I know through Craftster and it's been such a good experience. They both managed to tap into my personal taste and make very cool things for me. KatieKutthroat was the first person I did a personal swap with- we like similar themes and are both avid stitchers. I was blown away with what I recieved from her- this bag has been in constant use since I got it. Her stitching is really beautiful and I loved how she had used a different thickness of thread to give texture on the hair (I'm stealing that idea x)

She also sent me a sassy pinup in tattoo flash style- those little swallows are metallic, very cool indeed. I think the patterns are all by Sublime stitching- Katie picked out great choices for me as I love anchors...
... speaking of anchors look what I recieved in my personal swap with Nicole! I have no idea how she did this; the glass is frosted with an anchor design. I guess you must be able to get some spray on glass frosting stuff but I've never seen it before. I think this will be my Rum glass for when I'm being a pirate. I love it so much. She also sent me this great personalised card she made-coincidentally we both picked a nautical theme (the bag in my last post was for Nicole).
Ladies if you are reading- I hope we swap again as I love my new goodies. Getting stuff in the post that other people have made for you is so much fun and I had a great time making things for you both x

Hello Sailor!

Ahoy there me hearties! I made this for a friend on Craftster. It's on a tote bag - I hand appliqued the patch on which was a bit silly as I own a perfectly good sewing machine but it does look quite nice!
She recieved it today and has been in touch to say she likes it so I'm very pleased. The design is taken from Sailor Jerry flash- the handwriting is my own (and could be better!). I really enjoyed adding the tiny details like the ickle anchor tat and gold bracelets.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum x

Tea Towel Tour 4

Seriously this has to be seen:
http://www.craftster.org/pictures/data/500/medium/sailor_girl.JPG
How great is that?! Nannetta picked the most perfect design for me. I am a sucker for all things nautical. I can't wait to see how the other talented stitchers add to this towel, who would have thought a tea towel could make my heart race?
And here is my humble contribution to IamSusies towel:It's pretty different to my usual more filled in style because I wanted it to fit in with the rest of the embroidery on the towel, and I wouldn't usually go for something so cute but I designed it myself and am pleased with how it turned outThe rest of the embroidery on the the towel (bird by IamSusie and squirrel byTimpani~Jax) is so beautiful. One of the best things about the swap is getting to see everyone else in your groups work in the flesh - although it's quite intimidating when you get a towel where the stitches are all so pristine and you think 'Oh shit, I can't stitch anywhere near that neatly- I'm gonna mess up this beautiful towel' But I'm sure all the other swappers get that feeling too.... right?!

It's Mitch, bitch

I am so pleased with this, it's based on an image from the Mitch O'Connell tattoo book. He's kind of creepy isn't he? When I was sewing it I kept telling Stu I was going to make it into a pillow case so he'd wake up in the night and see this scary clown grinning back at him, ha ha!
I'm actually going to frame it and hang it somewhere in my house- but it will have to be in the bedroom or guest room as one of my best mates has a clown phobia and this would totally freak her out if I hung it in the lounge.
I would really recommend the Mitch O'Connell tattoo book as a pattern book for stitchers- there are so many cool images in it and they'd all look great as embroideries.


Oh and just cause she is finally finished, here is my Angelique Houtcamp sailor girl hanging in my dining room. It took me ages to get around to filling in the rope and when I sat down to do it, it took less than an hour. There is hope for that long (and ever-growing) list of unfinished projects. Oh and if you've never heard of Angelique she is amazing, check her out here: http://www.salonserpent.com/Home.html

Louise Brooks

I had to stitch something flapper/20's themed for the tea towel tour. I had absolutely no idea what to do so started browsing photos online. I ended up deciding to do a pic of Louise Brooks and then ordered a DVD with her in from Amazon. So I sat stitching this whilst watching her on screen.
It's not the best likeness, but, the necklace - its FRENCH KNOTS- hell yeah!

tea towel tour 4 (and more)

I love embroidering on tea towels- it's such an old fashioned thing to do and feels like 'proper job' craft.
I am taking part in the Craftster tea towel tour; there are 6 people to a group and 6 towels doing the rounds so everyone stitches on each others towels- At the end you get your towel back and everyone will have made their mark on it. Here's how Ive started my towel:the lettering is rubbish but I'm pleased with the anchor and birds (which are flying all the way to Germany right now). If you want to see more goodies- and there is some seriously good stuff going on in this swap- look here http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=263926.0

and here is a little extra which is not my usual style but is for a gift, technically it's still a work in progress as the design is repeated on the towel.
Shrooms and strawberries- random huh? It's from a vintage transfer, I scored a huge envelope off EBay for a few quid. I'll try and scan some in at some point.
TTFN
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