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December 30, 2012

Some favourites of 2012


L to R, top to bottom

  1. Kindersquad by SeptemberHouse
  2. The Crown by What Delilah Did
  3. Tattooed Ladies by Sew Lovely
  4. Do Small Things with Great Love by Nana Company
  5. Elsa Mora
2012 has been a fantastic year for embroidery, I can't wait to see what 2013 brings! Happy New Year everyone!


December 28, 2012

CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT - NEW YEAR, NEW EMBROIDERY WITH VINTAGE PATTERNS


Hi, everyone!  This is Beth from the New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns group on Flickr writing my second  Feeling Stitchy post for the month of December because I have some exciting news to share with my fellow stitchers:  For January/February the New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns group will be hosting their second stitchy contest!   

Contest begins.............................. Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Contest ends................................. Sunday, February 10, 2013
Category winners announced ...... Sunday, February 17, 2013
Door prize winners announced .... Sunday, February 17, 2013



HOW TO ENTER:

Join our Flickr group, New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns, to enter the contest.  And be sure to read **this discussion post** that provides the complete list of rules, details, etc...   


THREE CONTEST CATEGORIES:

New Year, New You - Choose any vintage embroidery pattern that you feel captures the meaning and spirit of one of your new year's resolutions or something important that you want to accomplish this year.


New Year, New Stitches-  This category is for specifically for showing off your fancy stitches!  "Fancy stitches" means (1) using fill stitches so there is hardly any bare/exposed fabric inside your embroidery AND/OR (2) learning and using a variety of new stitches in your embroidery.  You may use any vintage embroidery pattern of your choice.  


New Year, New/Old Mixed Media with Stitches - This category is specifically for combining "media" with any vintage embroidery pattern of your choice.  Entries in this category should have a significant amount of mixed media incorporated into their embroidery.  Examples of "media" to add to your embroidery include sequins, buttons, home improvement hardware, fabric, decorative papers, random and surprising found objects, etc.... You may use any vintage embroidery pattern of your choice.  


prize sponsors:

We have 8 brand new, awesome prize sponsors!  There are prizes for the three category winners and plenty of door prizes too!




  

   

December 27, 2012

AMOR - My best wishes for 2013

Olá! I'm passing by only to wish a great 2013 and to offer you a late Christmas gift...

After reviewing the book "Traditional Embroidery of Portugal" I begun adapting and recovering some vintage patterns that came in the design sheets. To end 2012 I decided to share with you one of my favorite patterns, already embroidered in my cork fabric book cover...

This pattern belongs to Azores embroidery (that I will review soon), called the Long and Short stitches embroidery, usually embroidered with two shades of blue.

Amor motivo para bordar - "Amor" (love in Portuguese) embroidery pattern
Embroidery pattern adapted from "Traditional Embroidery of Portugal".

Pattern from Traditional Embroidery of Portugal
Design sheet from "Traditional Embroidery of Portugal"

Book cover and back cover
Book: Traditional Embroidery of Portugal

I believe that in 2013 "all we need is love"... And as the Portuguese word for LOVE is AMOR, this is my way of wishing you all the love in the world!

See you next year!

December 24, 2012

Holiday sweetness

Just a bit of holiday sweetness for you guys, from our Flickr embroidery pool...

rudolph
stitched by snifferooski

gingerbread house
stitched by Kimberly

gift (kawaii winter wonderland)
stitched by Kristi

Merry Christmas!
stitched by barn cat

Starry night
stitched by Silvia

3 NŌM santas
stitched by Aimee

Commission: Personalised Christmas Bauble
stitched by Laura

I hope this post finds you all well and happy with your families and loved ones! Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night! :)

December 21, 2012

Sandy Hook Memorial

In NYC, my old friends stopped for one minute this morning, at 9:30 AM to observe silence for the children and families of Sandy Hook and the bells of my previous church tolled once for each of the victims. I know that we are all in different time zones, but if you can, please take a minute sometime this day to think of the families and children of everyone affected by this tragedy and offer a prayer or just a moment of positive thoughts.

In keeping with this, Danielle from Kitschy Digitals emailed me earlier this week to tell me about a special Sandy Hook Memorial pattern, designed by Wee Little Stitches. She says that all proceeds from the sale of this pattern will be divided equally between the Sandy Hook School Support Fund and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I think this is a lovely and worthy way to spend a few moments commemorating a national loss in a way that is uplifting and positive.

Danielle's words on this pattern:
This pattern was inspired by a need to find hope in a world full of tragedy. That no matter how much bad exists in the world, that it's important to remember there is still so much good around us.




I agree.You can read more info here: http://thompsonfamily.typepad.com/thompson_familylife/2012/12/sandy-hook-nami-fundraiser-at-kitschy-digitals.html

And people can purchase the pattern here: http://kitschydigitals.com/Look-for-the-Helpers-Cross-Stitch-Pattern.html

December 20, 2012

Christmas Memories Notebook (with Portuguese soul)


Olá! This is my first Christmas in feeling stitchy and I never want to forget it... In fact, I believe that we should never forget each of our Christmas! And that was the reason why I decided that it would be great to have a Christmas memories notebook... Wouldn't you like to do the same?

Decorate a notebook as you like and use it to describe how special was your Christmas... Your Christmas Eve, the gifts you gave, the gifts you've received, the most special moments. Work with your children so they can have their memories notebooks, too. They'll love it!


Christmas notebook
Christmas memories notebook

Christmas craft notebook
Craft Christmas Memories notebook

My Christmas memories
Share your Christmas Memories

My Christmas Eve
Describe your Christmas Eve...
I promise that this will be a special Christmas, and it will remain in your memory forever...

* As always I've only used Portuguese supplies... The notebooks, wool yarn, cotton thread and my home made Christmas decorations with cork and burel... They all have a Portuguese soul!

Has anyone already wished you FELIZ NATAL? 

December 19, 2012

December Stitch Along

I am just loving all the awesome ornaments being stitched up by everyone! 

Dec2012stitchalong
This star by KelseyBest is wonderful! The sequins are the perfect touch. 


Felt Ornaments
Aren't the color combos on these ornaments just the best? Beadgirlj does a great job stitching these up.

Felt Christmas Decorations
EEEP! Look at the cute little faces on the lights! Love it, Pixiefey! 

There is still time to get your stitch on! Let's Go! 

Bumpkin Competition Winner!



Thank you for all the entries to the Bumpkin competition, it's been fascinating reading what everyone is stitching this Christmas. I plugged the numbers into the random number generator and the winner is . . .


Which is ...... Aileenbell
|
I've been stitching costumes for my daughters' Nutcracker ballet! Can't wait to do some "fun" stitching. I have a Nutcracker collection I have been wanting to try. Thanks!


Wow, you've been busy Aileen! Sounds like the Friends for tea pattern would be the perfect fun stitching for you! Please contact us on the Feeling Stitchy email address and we'll forward your address to Catherine at Bumpkin.

December 18, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I have had New Year's Eve on my mind, and thought I needed a fun cocktail ring or accessory to add to my outfit for the evening. Today's tutorial can be used for any event or holiday, but I am going to use it as a New Year's Eve embroidered cocktail ring. 


Supplies needed for this project:

-fabric scraps or small pieces of fabric
-button cover kit in the 1 1/8 inch (2.8cm) size
-embroidery floss and needles
-beads or decorative accents
-hot glue gun and/or glue of your choice
-pliers
-scissors

I used 6-strand purple and blue metallic embroidery floss from DMC, and separated them into 3-strands for each piece I stitched. I found ring bases at my local craft store, but they are also available here


Step 1: Choose a piece of fabric and lay out your pattern. I had this fabric with a medallion print that was about the same size as the button form that I covered. This made it easy to keep the pattern within the print of the fabric. I filled the print of the fabric with french knots for one ring. I had some clear beads in my sewing box that I thought would add a little sparkle to the center of the french knot ring. I drew up a quick sketch of a diamond for the other, which you can access here.


For fabric without a print, I used a very light outline of the button in pencil and then stitched random little stars within that space. 


Step 2: Once your stitches are complete, it's time to assemble the button and finish the ring. The package of buttons that I purchased had a pattern on the back that ensured the fabric was cut the appropriate size to cover the button. I made a template from the pattern on the package and used that to cut the stitched fabric.



Step 3: Now you can cover the button. These instructions came with the button kit that I purchased, but in case you need them, this is how to cover the button hardware with the stitched fabric. You will need the two button pieces, your stitched piece, and the button assembly tools for this step.


Place the stitched piece of fabric face down inside of the white curved button cover tool. Place the button top face down on the fabric. 


Gently press the button into the white button cover tool and fold the excess fabric over the back of the button piece.


Place the back button piece on top of the fabric and pushed down gently.


Take the blue button cover tool and place the hollow side over the exposed button piece and press down.


You should hear a click when the back piece fits into the front button piece. 


Gently remove the button from the white tool piece. 



Step 4: Take your pliers and pull the wire out of the back of the button.


Step 5: Using the hot glue gun, add a small amount of glue in the center of the back of the button and then add the ring base to the back of that. Make sure to place the ring base centered so the stitches don't look crooked once the ring is on.



Step 6: Place ring on finger and enjoy!


Hope you all have a very wonderful holiday season and happy new year!



December 16, 2012

Patterns: A Bumpkin Christmas and a Giveaway!



There's still plenty of time for some Christmas stitching and I can't think of anything better than a quick break from all that shopping and partying, than to put your feet up with some festive sewing. Bumpkin has a trio of lovely patterns perfect for this time of year, there is the cute tree decorations above and two embroidery patterns.






The lovely Catherine from Bumpkin has offered the Friends for Tea pattern as a giveaway! To be in with a chance of winning it, comment below and tell us what you're stitching this Christmas. The competition closes Wednesday 19th December 1200 GMT, when a comment will be picked randomly but if you can't wait till then to get stitching and buy the Friends for Tea pattern and then happen to win it, Catherine will refund you the cost of the pattern.