Halloween garland

from nanaCompany

You guys are really cranking out some wonderful Halloween crafts!

There's a spider in my hoop...

Learn how to make your own Dangly Spider! Brought to you by the talented Jenny Shaw (miss niff, on Flickr).

Cute, Creepy Bunnies

Be sure to score these free creepy bunnies. Perfect for a Halloween trick or treat bag... :)

Fall Challenge Winner and Tea Towels Galore!

Fall is indeed upon us and hopefully everyone is nestled in for lots of crafting. There has been so much going on over at Craftster that I need to step back and take a breath. First, I would love to announce the winner of the Fall Challenge, "What does Fall mean to you". It's Anya Kase! Check out her wonderful Jack-o-Latern!

A special thanks to everyone who entered. You can check out all the entries over on Craftster.
Second, The wonderful Lilyvanili put together a wonderful Tea Towel set swap. Each person had to send out at least three tea towels. I can't believe all the awesome talent! I'm so sad I didn't join. Maybe there will be another round (hint, hint).


1. Eighty Five Percent confusion, 2. Eighty Five Percent Confusion 1, 3. AllieStar, 4. AndreaDenielll, 5. AndreaDenielll1, 6. beckster, 7. beckster1, 8. camelama_clouds, 9. diablita, 10. diablita1, 11. camelama_twiggy, 12. leeska, 13. Megan, 14. Nicole, 15. Nicole1, 16. Lilyvanilli, 17. elvissatx, 18. fiberartsy, 19. fiberartsy1, 20. Jessarama, 21. la la laurrenn, 22. la la laurrenn 1, 23. PerachYafeh1, 24. sixblueirises1, 25. smittenheart, 26. psoupdesigns, 27. psoupdesigns1, 28. SampsonsLynnie, 29. santacruzsugar4, 30. santacruzsugar5, 31. Sewsew-a-gogo, 32. sixblueirises, 33. SugarySweet, 34. SugarySweet1, 35. zombiekilla1, 36. zombiekilla

Halloween Menu Free Pattern

How you decide to do this menu is up to you, but I like to combine vintage graphics with my designs. I have made many, many of these and they always come out different. There are programs that you can buy with vintage postcards to print out. There is one especially designed for Halloween. The Vintage Workshop can be found on-line and they have various subjects of graphics you can print out. These usually also include projects that you can make with patterns and directions.

I used two fabrics fused together with heat and bond and then I did a herringbone stitch to hide/enhance the fused pieces. Under the tutorial section there is a method of transferring patterns to dark fabric. I usually just freehand my patterns with a gold gel pen. If you are careful you can cover all the ink. When I finish this project, I heat and bond it to fiberboard and then frame it under glass. Options are for a wall hanging or pillow. Instead of printing the postcard on paper, you print it on fabric and fuse it or stitch it in place.


This was one of the first ones I made. I printed the postcard on fusible fabric and fused it to the other fabric instead of stitching it. I used two different colors for the menu for interest and added the spiderwebs with a gold thread. With the lighter fabric, you can trace the words with a water soluable pen before fusing the yellow fabric on the black. I stitch through both layers of fabric for extra support since I rarely use a hoop.



I would love to see how you put this together if you make it, so make sure you post it to the Embroidery flickr and tag it with Halloween Menu. I find that most people who have purchased these from me keep them up all year they like them so much.

Spooky Stitching

Love this Halloween stitched house. Unfortunately, the descriptions are not in English, so I can't describe much. I found this in the Flickr pool for Halloween.


These Zombie and Vampire hairclips from "House of Secrets Incorporated" speak to me of unique Halloween attire. Design and photos are by Hilde Heyvacrt according to the Flickr information.

And what is Halloween without treats? Here we have a nice candy corn by sTuDio * Odd in the Halloween Flickr pool.



And we must not forget to "Welcome the Great Pumpkin", who suspiciously looks like the "Head Beagle" with that grin..........



And lets not forget "Batboy" by Tamie Snow of Roxycraft, embroidery pattern available at Pimp Stitch.

Hope you feel inspired!!!

Not Your Grandma's Sampler

I found this example of stitches on Jessica Palmer's site. She borrowed it from Ickybitty's photostream on Flickr.


This antique sampler is from the medical History Museum in Zurich. It represents a variety of stitch techniques appropriate for different anatomical regions and types of injuries. Just thought you would enjoy seeing this as much as I did.

p.s. Fyi, if you go to the Flickr picture, there is a very huge size you can really check out the details. I just figured that out. Also, in case that freaks you out, you can click on these pictures and they will get bigger and it won't be so overwhelming.........(I am suddenly glad for micro surgery now......)

Tommy's Shirt started the search.......

I found this adorable embroidery this morning as I was browsing for inspiration. I just adore the free spirit of children......This is from reikosensei 's flickr pages. I think I may have to go through all those "under the bed" boxes where I saved my children's art pages I couldn't discard. All my children did a great deal of drawing, so I should have quite a stash of patterns.

Then, there are the cute patterns for childrens projects like the one I found in Laura Hartich's photostream.


Then, there are always inspiration from childrens books as One Good Apple shows us.


Claire Garland publishes a book about embroidery for children as seen on the Paper Doll photostream.

Check out the pirates in the former link pages........they are pretty cute!

October Featured Project and Interview on Craftster

This month's featured project and interview is from Lilyvanilli. It is a wonderful piece of Milhouse from The Simpsons. This piece is amazing! It is all hand stitched. When I first saw it, I squealed with delight. I hope you enjoy it too.

Also, don't forget that the Fall Challenge is going on over on the Needlework Board. Entries are due by October 13th. You could win a $20.00 JoAnn's gift card and a beautiful necklace.

And now, on with Milhouse and the interview.



1. Tell me a little about the project

My boyfriend is just about the biggest Simpsons fan ever and he especially loves Milhouse. He'd been asking me to make him a Milhouse shirt for a long time and he also wanted a zip-up hoodie, so I decided to make him a Milhouse hoodie for his birthday. I found 2 pictures of Milhouse and combined them to make the final design. The fabric is too dark for my Sulky pen to show up, and I don't like carbon paper, so I drew the design on tear away stabilizer, placed that on top of the fabric, stitched the black outline in back stitch, then tore the paper away. Everything else is done in long and short stitch, all with 6 strands of floss. I started it in May and worked on and off until August. Since it was such a huge project it was a little daunting so I procrastinated a bit more than usual.

2. Tell me a little about yourself
I'm 27 years old and I live in Santa Cruz, CA with my boyfriend of 8 years. I manage a video store and watch way too many movies and TV shows. I've been vegetarian for a little over a year now and I really love it, but I do miss cheeseburgers occasionally (and yes, sometimes I have dreams about eating them)! I also knit, crochet (a little), decoupage, and I'm just generally crafty. I have a blog, flickr, and Myspace page if you'd like to know more!

3. What/who inspires you?
A lot of other people on Craftster actually. I like to look at what techniques other Craftsters are using, the colors they choose, the type of designs they're using. I love tattoo art, Lisa Petrucci, Keith Haring, Mark Ryden, almost anything you'd find in Juxtapoz.

4. How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
I taught myself how to embroider about 3 years ago, but I've only been serious about it for the past 2. I went to the Sublime Stitching How-To and learned a few stitches, made a pillow case, and didn't pick it up again until a year later when I learned a few more stitches and made a couple more pillowcases. I was pretty hooked by then and I haven't stopped since!

5. What would you tell inspiring needleworkers?
Just to go for it. Start with a few basic stitches and practice until you've mastered them, then branch out from there. Don't be afraid to try new things and challenge yourself. Try to pick designs that are unique, or that you don't see around a lot. Also, don't be afraid to work stitches differently than the instructions say to. For instance, I found that working my long and short stitch in vertical rows as opposed to horizontal like the directions I found said to makes it easier for me and it looks better than when I tried horizontal. Just mix it up and have fun with it!

Jump for joy

This cuteness comes from rectangel

Piglet adventures...

All courtesy of the talented lawdymizzclawdy

Halloween embroidery ideas

from Green Jello - read more on her blog

A few of you were wondering what to do with your Halloween or holiday embroideries (aside from the typical tea towel or framing). How about some coasters? Or a handmade trick or treat bag? Or a Halloween, t-shirt, onesie, or apron?

A small stitchery in a mini-hoop would be a quick and easy "sign" to hang on your door, so kids know where candy is available...

Stitched from Annie Oakleaves' free ghost patterns