ATC swaps & Stitched by Hand

Wow - was that a loooong blogging break! I guess summer is a bit like that as usual routines, and vacations seem to interrupt the normal flow of things. I haven't been crafty at all this summer. Leaving me feeling completely blank about how to fill up my blog space. I'm still working on fixing up our new place, painting, rearranging and planning how to turn my small walk in closet into a jewelry studio. That will be my project for this long weekend. I'll post some before and after pics next week.

In the meantime I thought I should share a photo of this amazing embroidery work by the very talented Penny Nickels. I was the recipient of her work in a Flickr ATC swap (stands for Art Trading Card) back in June. You can look at the Card I stitched for Purple Crayon, here. In my haste to pack up an move I forgot to take any pictures of it for myself!

There is another "Old School" sewing competition going on with the Stitched by Hand group on Flickr that looks like a lot of fun. If you love embroidery and hand stitching you should check this out too. The deadline to sign up is Sept 6th.

Have a great long weekend!
Jodi

A little progress...

I've been working away at this embroidery project in my spare moments for the past two weeks. It's finally starting to look like something...I'm teaching myself as I go along (to be totally honest I haven't embroidered anything in at least 18 years)!

Three books I've found enormously helpful are "The New Crewel", "The complete Guide to Embroidery Stitches" and "The Embroidery Stitch Bible" .

Have I mentioned that I replaced my eBay "habit" with an Amazon one?! You see it's just that I really hate shopping. I loathe it in fact. Then I discovered you can shop from the comfort of your own home and I haven't looked back. You know you've got issues when the six books Amazon is "suggesting" you might find interesting, based on your "user profile" - you already have!! I've got 3 more on order that haven't arrived yet... I'll share them next week.

Hope you had a great weekend!
Jodi

Feelin' Stitchy Valentine

I've been so excited to use my new Crewel wool embroidery thread that I decided to stitch up these little hearts for my Valentine. I used wool from the charm packs I purchased from this lovely Etsy seller Feltpro. I stuffed them with cotton balls to make them a bit "plump" and that was it! I was pleased with how they turned out, but I need to practice my stitching skills. I'm rusty...

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Jodi xxx

So Crewel!

Sorry I just couldn't resist the pun! This Crewel embroidery thread was waiting for me in the mailbox when I arrived home today. I'm bursting with excitement over this! I've been wanting to get back into embroidery and was totally inspired when I discovered Aimee Rae's book Doodle Stitching. This is exactly the style of embroidery I love so much. I have to travel over seas for work in March and I think this will be the perfect project to take along for those long boring nights in hotels.

The thread is from Renaissance Dyes in France. The colours are gorgeous and earthy, all done with natural plant based dyes & it's 100% merino wool. The quality is excellent and their shipping is fast and reasonable, considering it is coming from Europe.

Now I just need to find a nice linen fabric to embroider onto!