Christmas Florals Embroidery

I'm spending the week attempting to catch up on things, but still so far behind, and getting more behind. I spent a week stitching these Christmas Floral Embroideries, which was definitely a week well spent, but I let all else slide while I did that. I am so not a multi-tasker.

I was trying to think which was my favorite. The little bird? Maybe. Definitely a cutie.

 But I really like the reindeer too.

I like them all! They were each fun projects to work on and not at all difficult stitching, but even so, they were still interesting to work on!

Strawberry Thief Crewel Embroidery

This is my latest finish and I'm very happy with how this out.

I really love pinks and greens on this one, they are so soft and yummy and a delight to work with.

Developing the details on this one was loads of fun. Making the strawberries with the trellis is one of my favorite ways to make them and I always like how they turn out.

On the sidebar now I have a signup for my newsletter that I am finally going to start sending. Be sure to signup for it, so you get all the updates. I'll be making special offers in there.

Owl Mandala Embroidery

I dug up another old embroidery to photograph for my Instagram collection! This one was a fun one. I remember just having some fun with the stitches and colors I chose.

This one is from the third mandala pattern collection.  I'm thinking this one too could be remade into a nice crewel kit too. More to work on! And I am still so wickedly far behind.

Also, I have finally joined Pinterest!! It's been a long time coming. I'm slowly putting some of my stuff on there, but I also plan to scour the web for any sort of nice embroidery or artwork too that I like to share.

Bird Mandalas

I've been sorting through my embroideries lately as I dig up photos for Instagram. For me, the embroideries bring back memories of when and where I stitched them. This is one of the things I always love about handwork, especially slow handwork. Memories and associations are worked into each stitch. Most are neither happy nor sad, just reminders of where I was at different points in my life.

Here is one of my stitched memories. I remember very well this little project. I wanted to experiment with using a different color fabric than white, which I almost always prefer. The birds are fun, I may very well revisit them in a crewel project.

I'll be returning with more of embroideries., and the work on new one is continuing every day too, so more pictures very soon.

Lately, I've been seized with the explore bug, so I've been taking whatever little outings I can, even ones to those sort of little landmarks on the side of the road that you always just pass by and never take the time to stop and look. It's always, someday but not today. My latest stop though is more special. These are stone carvings from the bronze age (1000-500 BC.)

 

These are found in Southern Sweden, not all the far from the Baltic Sea, and as you might imagine they feature ships rather prominently. The little lines are thought to represent rowers and the larger figures might be gods.

Embroidered Purse

I'm still catching up on showing some previous projects on this blog. Today I have one of the embroidered purses I made a while ago.

I've used a variety of materials in making this purse, beads, cheese cloth, yarns of different types, mostly just playing around.  The bird was made by covering a thick interfacing with fabric.

 These little purses are like interactive works of art, which is an idea I really like.

Hopefully there will be more purses in the future because I really like them!

Backyard Birds

It was a beautiful winter day on Sunday, so I've collected some photos of the little birds that come visit me.

 

I love these little birds. They get food here all year round.

 The bullfinch is always a delight to see out there.

 One of the bird clubs in told me about giving them margarine. It's popular all year long!

 The woodpeckers have started showing up and drilling on the trees to announce their presence.

It's really been a few years since I became a birdwatcher, and I truly regret that it took me so many years to start seeing them. They've turned out to be a source of endless inspiration for my projects.

Let Your Heart Sing Crewel Embroidery

I've just finished a fun crewel project I adapted from an earlier design.

I love the bright colors on the little bird, and the way the wing turned out.

I have another couple of crewel projects I want to do before I turn to do some stumpwork projects. I've promised to make the dragonfly project into a pattern, so that is at the top of the list.

There will be other projects like this one too coming in the future.

Winter Owl Crewel Embroidery

I'm celebrating a new finish!

This little owl was lots of fun to stitch. I really like the big staring eyes. They look almost worried, but it must just be the snow that's the problem. :)

 

I have a pile of new designs in the works, all waiting to be stitched up, so it's to get to work!

Have a great day!

Swedish Wool Embroidery

This project was a reproduction kit I bought some years ago and made. It's from a design that was found in the south of Sweden. The fabric is a thick wool felt, really nice to feel, but less easy to push the needle through. I so loved working with the wool threads though! This is the project that brought me to crewel work which I really enjoy.

The size is about 20 inches square, so there is quite a bit of stitching in this!

 This should be made into a  pillow, which I still haven't done! In the old days, the embroidered pillow was meant to be used as a riding cushion, since there were no stuffed seats.

I love the naive folk art quality of the designs they used. Color were, of course, limited, but they made imaginative use of them to give the embroidery lots of life and fun.

Below is a selection of various antique wool embroidery from the Nordic Museum in Stockholm.

May 2013 Project

It took me a little while to decide on a theme. I wanted to do something that reminded me of the softness of spring. New leaves, new flowers, the warmth of the sun as it gets higher in the sky each day, the sweet songs of the birds as they mark out their territory. There are always lots of ideas to choose from, but this time it ended up being the cherry tree that got my attention.

This is a free embroidery project that I let develop. I had an idea of a tree.

I used some painted strips of linen for the grass. I pulled out some threads from each strip, so they looked a little grassy.

For the tree I couched down some wool yarns. I wasn't quite sure the best way to do the branches, but I ended up unraveling the yarn at the ends. They are a little loose at the ends, since it was impossible to stitch down where they thinned down.

For the leaves I cut up bits of a specialty yarn and just sewed them down irregularly.

You can see the details in the closeup photo:

This project was fun. As I said, I let it develop freely. No pattern lines or templates. I told myself not to pick out any stitches as I went along too! Everything is as it was stitched. It's good practice in moving past perfectionism.

Blackbird

Blackthorn

Cherry blossoms

Sparrow with nest material

March 2013

I have finished my embroidery journal project for this month. I had the idea at the end of February, so I went ahead and started it.

I got this idea from watching the birds, of course, as I often do. These blackbirds love to eat fruit. Apples are a favorite, but I think they like the raisins even better.

I added the tangle of branches around the little bird, since they spend their days hiding out in the bushes.  The males are jet black which makes the orange ring around their eyes really stand out.

The snow and ice continue melting. The winter has been long and oppressive. The sun is starting to be strong enough to warm us. Now we wait for the days to grow long enough for the blackbirds to break out into their sweet song.

For embroidery lovers only

I think that must have been true then as it is now. You certainly have to love embroidery to make it through a project of this size!!!  This project is nearly 2' x 2'.

I have come back to my reproduction wool embroidery that has been pushed to the side for a very long time. I started this a year and a half ago, and I am determined that this year it will be done. To be honest I am a bit ashamed that it was left sitting so long. I will keep at it, although I do intend to go back to my other projects as well!

I've mentioned this project before, but I will again. It's been a long time. This project that I bought (it wasn't one of my own creations) is after an old pillow that was found in the south of Sweden. It's very typical with the colors and the folk-arty themes, as well as the black wool fabric too. Black was highly prized and a sign of wealth, since it was hard to make black.  The cushions were meant for use, not just for decoration like mine will be. The seats were hard wood, so a cushion was very welcome.

I've been a fan of these old embroideries for a while now. To me they tell a story of the joy of embroidery and decoration, as well as the joy in the creative process. I find them fascinating to look at and ponder.  The reproductions are fine and all, but the next one I do will be of my own design, because I think it's more important to use our arts and crafts to tell our own stories.

Now for some true cuteness. Around here, the little long-tailed tits are pretty much considered to be one of the cutest birds in existence! Whenever I hear them out there, I always stop to watch them because they are just so fun to watch!

More Crewel Embroidery

Here I am once again with a new finish. The first for the new year! Although I have cheated by working on this during December too.

It's already been nearly a week since I finished this.

The color choices caused me great pains. I somehow managed to pull it together well enough for it to look alright, but my problem isn't that I don't know the colors I want to use, it's that I don't have them! I will keep collecting crewel colors until I have want I need!