Birds!

Spring is here and so are the birds. There are so many wonderful embroidered birds in the flickr embroidery pool that I will show off another bird mosaic next week. Enjoy the birds and the weekend!

Stitchettes Goodness

How gorgeous is this mini Stitchettes quilt? Seen on Laural's lovely blog, Thimble which I stumbled upon while surfing other people's del.icio.us links. You have my full permission to stalk my del.icio.us links, by the way... :) Anyhow, Laural's blog is beautiful, both in layout and design, and her beautiful pics and projects are sure to inspire you!

stitchettes wall hanging
Originally uploaded by swim notes.

Laural's quilt is not alone - just look at this sweet Stitchettes quilt by swim notes - her work is absolutely amazing! Or this incredibly sweet pillow by wisecraft.


What are the Stitchettes? They're lovely embroidery patterns by Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls.



Each season, she's cooked up charming new designs - so far there's summer, fall, and winter. Keep checking her blog as she unveils the new Spring Stitchettes. For more Stitchettes goodness, dive in the (Flickr) pool!

Flickr loveliness

The Flickr embroidery group has to date 514 members - and growing. Every time I look at the photos I see new people posting their work. Often if they're new to the group, they have a lot to show and it amazes me how beautiful and original people's work is. So very cool.

With over 3,000 photos in the group - where do you start with showing off? I'll start with one of our top contributors cbcyr. (Also known as Carol from New Haven, USA).



Great stuff Carol!

Sources of Inspiration - Museums

Needleworkers are always looking for sources of inspiration. The advent of the Web has opened a whole new world to needleworkers when it comes to finding new and exciting examples of needlework to inspire future projects.

A great source of inspiration for new projects is to look to the past. There are fantastic textile and needlework collections held in museums around the world. Many of the big museums and an increasing number of the small ones, are making their collections available online. The quality of the online collections vary greatly, but even the smallest image can be an inspiration.

This pouch is based on an example in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is from the 14th Century, from the Westphalia region of Germany and is made using silk thread on evenweave linen in brick stitch.

When searching online databases, finding something depend on the search term you use. There are two ways to do it, by broad category:

• embroidery
• embroidered
• needlework
• textile
• fancy work

or by technique:

• blackwork
• redwork
• cross-stitch
• needlepoint
• petit-point
• sampler
• klosterstitch
• opus anglicanum
• goldwork
  

Most museums and galleries have a separate section for their Collections. If it is possible to search in the Collections, rather than the whole site, do so, as you will generally get a better set of search results.

So here are some links to various online catalogues and databases associated with museums around the world:

• Victoria and Albert Museum
• Museum of Fine Art, Boston
  
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  
• Cleveland Museum of Art
  
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

And now since this is my first post, a little about me. My online name is Laren but I also use Jane which is my name in the SCA. The SCA is a historical recreation society. My main area of interest and activity in the SCA is historical embroidery, so I will be posting about that. This will include articles about historical embroidery techniques, history of popular embroidery stitches and techniques, examples of surviving historical embroidery and anything else that takes my fancy! I am slave to two kitties and live in Newcastle, NSW in Australia.

My main blog is The Needles Excellency, and a couple of websites In Prayse of the Needle, where I have project diaries, handouts with patterns etc and Historical Needlework Resources, which has lots of links to information about historical embroidery and examples of surviving historical embroidery. My Flickr site. My current project is based on a 14th Century German klosterstitch wallhanging which will probably take me about 400 hours to complete.

Featured Book: Hip to Stitch

Hip to Stitch: 20 Contemporary Projects Embellished with Thread written by Melinda A. Barta is a great embroidery book for both beginners just exploring the world of needlework as well as those more advanced. It starts with the basics explaining all the supplies and tips to help you get started. Even if you have been creating embroidery for some time there are tips that help with organization and also provide a fresh approach.

The layout of the book makes it simple to navigate and the pictures are inspiring. Most importantly, the directions for the projects are clear and easy to understand. There are twenty projects in this book and they are all very different which helps keep those creative juices flowing. Stitchers of all levels can take something away from it and hopefully explore new techniques they have never tried.

A project I personally found interesting (plus just plain beautiful) was the Korean inspired thimbles. There are four different patterns to choose from and I chose to make the red thimble featured here in the book's photograph. Speaking from a beginner's point-of-view this project is do-able. Working on a smaller scale was challenging at times but also very fun. It is also nice to work on a project that can be completed in a couple of hours!

This thimble also introduced a new stitch to me, the couching stitch. It covers the seam of the thimble by laying thread over it and tacking it down with a working thread. You can view directions and an illustration here at Annie's Attic.

If you would like to see the thimble I made, check out the flickr embroidery pool where you will also see tons of inspiring work by some very talented stitchers.

More than words

My somewhat pathetic heading of my very first post on this blog describes my feelings for sewing by hand. It is also the theme for the photo mosaic this Friday. I am a very social and talkative person but when I sit down with a little quilt or embroidery I feel no need to explain. I just am. I think you know what I mean.

I will entertain you here on Fridays with mosaics of pictures picked from the flickr embroidery pool. I will also introduce you to shops that sell embroidered stuff. Please flickr mail me if you know of a crafter/embroiderer that needs a spot in the light!

Who am I? My name is Kajsa and I live in Turku, Finland. I am a mother of two and a stay-at-home-mum and a very enthusiastic crafter. I love sewing and at the moment it's mostly about appliqué, quilting and a little handstitching. Vintage cross stitch and redwork is also close to my heart. I have a masters degree in Ethnology, a subject I chose much beacuse of my love to traditional textiles. Read my blog to know more about me and my work (and my kids :). Or go see my flickr album! Nice to meet you! See you on Friday!

Kajsa

Vintage Transfer of the Week

Is everyone happy it's almost Springtime? I say almost, because in New York, there's still snow on the ground... But hopefully this vintage Dutch girl will cheer you up! From my stash of vintage transfers.

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to Feeling Stitchy, the Flickr Embroidery group blog! This blog has more than one talented blogger at the helm, scroll down to see the full list of peeps blogging... We hope Feeling Stitchy will inspire you to create new things - teach you new stuff, and introduce you to other crafty people. We'll be featuring projects, cool finds on Flickr and the web, free patterns, Etsy shops and interviews with embroiderers.

About Our Group (and Blog)
We're a friendly craft community and we're here to inspire you. We love all kinds of embroidery - Japanese cute, frilly and girly, old-school vintage, embroidered artworks, crewelwork, Subversive cross-stitchin' (and regular cross-stitch) and super-cool Sublime Stitching. Are you a creative machine embroiderer? We dig that, too! Basically we want to see anything you've embroidered yourself and want to share! Floresita created the Embroidery group on April 14, 2006, and little by little we've grown to over 5000 members!

How do I Join Your Group?
All you need is a Flickr account to join our group - they're free and easy to set up. Visit us, and add your pics to the pool, it's that simple! And who knows - we might feature your work here!

I have an Embroidery - related question...
Post it on our Discussion Boards! We have tons of talented members who love to help.

Who Blogs Here? 
All the Feeling Stitchy bloggers have their own blogs (see links below) - feel free to visit us! We're all avid crafters / small business people who volunteer our time here.

Contact Info?
Questions, suggestions, etc. regarding Feeling Stitchy? Email me, the admin of this blog, floresita: unafloresita AT gmail DOT com


Feeling Stitchy bloggers, Year 4

Bridget (beefranck) ~ her blog: MrXStitch (with MrXStitch)
Carina (wardi) ~ her blog: Carina's Craftblog
Eydie (shebrews) ~ her blog: She Brews
Jenny Hart ~ her blogs: Embroidery as Art, Sublime Stitching blog
Jessie (sweetjessie) ~ her blog: Sweet Jessie
Jo (lacerslife) ~ her blog: Lacer's Life
John (j_q_adams) ~ his blog: Quilt Dad
Kirsty (Kirsty) ~ her blog: Kootoyoo
Nicole (Follow the White Bunny) ~ her blog: Follow the White Bunny
Pam (kittykill) ~ her blog: faster kittykill
Penny (Penny Nickels) ~ her blog: Donkeywolf
Sam (incywincystitches) ~ her blog: incy wincy stitches
floresita (floresita) ~ her blog: things I've made

Feeling Stitchy bloggers, Year 3
Carina (wardi) ~ her blog: Carina's Craftblog
Eydie (shebrews) ~ her blog: She Brews
Jenny Hart ~ her blogs: Embroidery as Art, Sublime Stitching blog
Jessie (sweetjessie) ~ her blog: Sweet Jessie
Pam (kittykill) ~ her blog: faster kittykill
floresita (floresita) ~ her blog: things I've made

Feeling Stitchy bloggers, Year 2
Carina (wardi) ~ her blog: Carina's Craftblog
Eydie (shebrews) ~ her blog: She Brews
Jackie (wrens nest) ~ her blog: Wren's Nest
Jenny Hart ~ her blogs: Embroidery as Art, Sublime Stitching blog
Jessie (sweetjessie) ~ her blog: Sweet Jessie
Laurie (oldschoolacres) ~ her blog: old school acres
Pam (kittykill) ~ her blog: faster kittykill
Sally (allthestuffilike) ~ her blog: all the stuff i like
floresita (floresita) ~ her blog: things I've made

Feeling Stitchy bloggers, Year 1
Amy (amyleigh) ~ her blog: ibby bee quilts
Jane (Laren) ~ her blog: the needle's excellency
Kajsa (sykossa) ~ her blog: syko
Laurie (oldschoolacres) ~ her blog: old school acres
Sally (allthestuffilike) ~ her blog: all the stuff i like
floresita (floresita) ~ her blog: things I've made

Thanks again, to everyone, and hope you enjoy our blog! :)