Patterns: Most Excellent Party Bear

Nicole from Follow the White Bunny has just released a new pattern, yay! I think this one, the Most Excellent Party Bear, would look fantastic on an extra special birthday card!

Farewell (not goodbye) and congrats!

Carina's project from the new &Stitches

A little bird (or bunny) may have told you that two of our wonderful bloggers, Carina and Nicole, are setting out to create kind of the most amazing embroidery-related zine, ever. Jo did a review of the awesome publication they’ve put together (&Stitches) just a few days ago - and please don’t think we’re biased because they’re our friends - they’re also amazingly talented people. I thought you should know a little bit more about just how awesome they are...

Carina has been a blogging friend for years now on Feeling Stitchy. I founded this blog in March of 2007, and Carina joined in one year later in 2008. She has produced countless posts and has tirelessly helped moderate comments and photos and contributed so many ideas here. She hosted the July Stitchalong last year, which introduced you all to MimiLove's delightful Tom Gnome. She has her own successful side business - we showed you one of her beautiful patterns during the June stitchalong, and you can find more of her gorgeous patterns on her site Polka and Bloom. She’s also been a featured designer for DMC and has created her own stitching books.

Nicole joined us in 2010 and has contributed many lovely posts on embroidery and stitching - she also helmed the wonderful Covered in Stitches Contest last year - bringing together the talents of so many stitchers for a truly inspiring group of finalists and prizes. Her own lovely side business, Follow the White Bunny, features whimsical embroidery patterns that showcase her kind nature and her talent as an illustrator, quilter, and storyteller. She was also a featured designer in the recent Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays book.

If I have to say that Feeling Stitchy has been about anything at all (aside from embroidery) it has been about the joy of making things and the growth you experience from doing things you love, for free. They generously volunteered their time and effort here, and I know we have all grown thanks to their love and dedication. We wish them the best of luck in their new endeavor. Thank you, Carina and Nicole!!!!

Good times for a change

I made the cross stitch you see pictured above to mark a special occasion: my last blog post for Feeling Stitchy. The text is a quote from my favourite '80's band the Smiths. Despite feeling sad about leaving this blog, I think this particular quote shows a positive sentiment too.

I surely loved writing for Feeling Stitchy and hopefully you have enjoyed my weekly posts too. Thank you all for reading them (and particularly for enduring my Dutch-English writing) and for taking the time to leave your comments. I hope my posts (and the Covered in Stitches contest) inspired some embroiderers reading this blog to try new things and to broaden their stitchy horizons!

Bye bye! *Waves fanatically* Oh and if you think you are going to miss me, you know what to do...just Follow the White Bunny!
Love and stitches,
Nicole/Follow the White Bunny

P.S. just to be clear, it's only me leaving, Feeling Stitchy is made by a team of bloggers and will continue to exist!

Patterns: &Stitches

Feeling Stitchy bloggers Carina and Nicole have just launched an exciting new e-zine called &Stitches. A quarterly e-zine, each issue has a theme and for the first issue their theme is colour, so cue lovely, bright embroidery patterns from Nicole, Carina and for this issue, their guest embroidery designer is none other than Corinne from SeptemberHouse, with a brilliant fish design.

As well as three fantastic embroidery patterns (as well Corinne's fish, Nicole has designed a lovely text based Spring pattern and Carina has designed a very cheerful felt applique bird), there are articles on finding colour inspiration from objects around you and colour theory, which I think will be very useful for that all important first step (colour selection) in embroidery projects. There are also interviews, book reviews and a how to for an embroidery stitch that I've certainly never heard of and I'm always up for learning new stitches.

All this and great photography to, I certainly enjoyed reading this issue of &Stitches and will be eagerly looking forward to future issues. If you would like to check out &Stitches, Nicole and Carina are very kindly offering a discount to Feeling Stitchy readers, you can find the &Stitches shop here, just enter the code ORANGE at checkout to get 15% off! This offer is available till Wednesday 18th January (CET).

Because bears have thoughts too...

Naturally bears don't use words to express their thoughts, but their thoughts might just take the shape of a dark cloud... I am absolutely smitten with Cate Anevski's new pattern set called 'Animal Expressions'. The set includes seven animals, with all kinds of thoughts. You can purchase both the patterns and the finished art work in Cate's shop.

365 Lucky Days

The Artist herself: a young Lucky

Last September Lucky Jackson started a remarkable project called 365 Lucky Days. For one year she creates a new work of stitched art, each day. Within the 365 days Lucky does 'mini-series', pieces connected by a theme from portraits of family members to mug shots of celebrities to new years resolutions. My favourite might just be the 'I think I love you but I'm only a preteen and my mum says it just hormones' week. Lucky just past the '100 days of Stitching' mark so it's about time we got to know the talented lady behind the challenge a bit better!

Steve McQueen. Notice the 'jail suit' stripes in the background.

Who is Lucky Jackson?
Hmmm. I'm a mother of two gorgeous girls (4 and 6) and wife of the world's greatest husband. I am a self taught artist that loves everything vintage. I am an extremely optimistic person. I like to think I am a pretty funny gal (the jury is out on if I actually am)

Where do you find inspiration?
I have always been a bit of a recluse and have found company in books, music, movies and visual arts. I am a culture vulture. I think that is where I draw a lot of my inspiration from. I also collect a lot of vintage dresses, boots, cameras...and of course fabric. These items inspire me daily. I just kind of look around at the things I have and the things I have seen and the stories I have heard. I like to think my art is a combination of the two.

Bombshell: Marilyn Monroe

Any specific artist(s) that influence your work?
I love, graphic novelist Adrian Tomine. Luke Haynes blows me away with every new quilt he does. And I love the work of Children's book illustrator Oliver Jeffers. We collect all his books and the girls are always having to retrieve his books from my studio.

What inspired you to make a stitched work of art every day?
I keep journals of all my ideas and I kept thinking..when are you going to make them? You can spend a few hours surfing the web or you can make something.

Blog crush: Erin of www.calivintage.com 

You use some awesome fabrics in your pieces, where do you find them?
Value Village, Vinnie's (local thrift shop) my friend My Girl Thursday just gave me a huge bag of the most fabulous fabrics ever! People know what I do and there has been bags of fabric left on my door step with kind notes of encouragement. I live in the best town (Peterborough, Ontario) ever!

Richie Tenenbaum

In your 365 days project you work with different 'themes', do you have enough ideas to last you until day 365?
I have lots of ideas. What I need is more time! (ed. luckily 2012 is a leap your so this just might turn into a 366 days project!)

Family portraits

What is your personal favourite of all the pieces you made so far?
I like the portraits I did of my family. Ben and I as kids and my kids dressed up like super heroes.

What good has the project brought you so far?
I am so grateful for the press the project has received. People are so super supportive and encouraging. It blows me away. The most surprising thing about the project is how happy it makes me! I really love making something new every day.

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You can follow Lucky's progress on her 365 Lucky days blog. Some of her 365 days artwork is available in her shop.

Too wit to woo

I think my stitchy resolution for 2012 might be 'stitch something neat on a doily'. I just love this 'Too wit to woo' piece by Kate Elisabeth Rolison (aka Poesie Grenadine). Kate stitches modern poetry on vintage linens. Read more about it on her blog. 

Do you have any 'stitchy' resolutions for the new year? Are you finally going to try and master the French Knot maybe? Or participate in an embroidery contest? Embroider more (and spend less time at the computer)? Leave your resolution here in the comments, post your photos in the Embroidery Pool with #NYR2012 and maybe you will be featured on Feeling Stitchy! 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year! 

'Tis the season...

1. The Mouse King Ornament, 2. hexagon christmas ornament tutorial, 3. Trio of felt portraits, 4. Tiny Snowman Ornament

...to be stitching cute Christmas ornaments! Emily has made a lovely series of patterns inspired by the Nutcracker. You can find a tutorial for Nova's Hexagon ornaments on her blog. The sweet trio is stitched by Lisa from a book called Fa la la la Felt. And I don't know much about this tiny cross stitched snowman made by thehomebird except that I think he's extremely cute..

Happy Christmas Stitching everyone!

Stitch your own handwriting

Have you ever tried to stitch your own hand writing? Seems to me it's the perfect way to add a personal touch to your piece. Dana of Water Penny has a tutorial on her blog on how to transfer your handwriting to fabric.

And if you are a fan of stitched lettering, quotes, alphabet samplers etc. be sure to check out my Stitched Lettering group on Flickr!

Bushy Tail

Admit it, you too want to touch that squirrel's bushy tail! Gorgeous stumpwork by Emily (aka Flossbox). She writes about the project here.

So when I think of stumpwork (which is essentially raised embroidery) I tend to think it's all beetles, flowers and forest critters. Nothing wrong with that of course (see our little bushy tailed friend above) but I was surprised to find a few very modern examples in our Embroidery Group as well. Like this Skeleton Fire-Banner by Childrenplayingwithfire and this Green Man by Rebbeca Ray. And let's not forget the KISS piece by Drop Dead Quirky! These pieces certainly make me want to attempt to create a stumpwork piece too!

Covered in Stitches Contest: vote for your favourite!

The Feeling Stitchy team had the incredibly hard task to select 10 embroideries entered for the Covered in Stitches Contest, for the public vote. Yes, it's now up to you, dear Feeling Stitchy readers, to choose your favourite Embroidered Book Cover!

Please click here to vote until the 22nd of November 12 pm CST. Please vote only once. Any duplicate entries will be disqualified.

But let's first meet the nominees (in no particular order) and find out what the judges had to say about the pieces in their reports!

The Great Gatsby  by Broderies de Cecile "Love the eyes and lettering, so clean"

Superman by Huzzah and Fancy Pants "The lettering is perfect! Love the satin stitch"

Wynken, Blynken & Nod by Lisa Leggett  "Brilliant stitching, shading and applique, you can feel the movement in this, it's got everything."

The Adventures of Tin Tin by Wendalene "I had to look closely at this one to see if it wasn't some kind of printed on fabric it looks that accurate, but nope, all stitching and shading, fantastic."

Dune by Funkembroidery  "Muslin hand-dyed with kitchen spices? How awesome is that!"

Still Life with Woodpecker by Cappywanna "Brilliant choice of book cover, perfectly executed."

The Invisible Mountain by SpidersPaw "The creative use of fill stitching on this piece is mind blowing."

No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Embellisher "Fantastic recreation of the cover, yet with the stitching it somehow manages to look even better than the original, I love how textured it looks"

French Revolutions by the Stitchsmith "I like the different stitches used. Especially the little 'airflow' details on some of the letters."

Conte des Mille et Une Nuits by Coeurdefreesia  "The face and the colors are wonderful, love the metallics"

Again, we were quite overwhelmed by the many great entries for this contest. We loved that many of you used techniques like fabric dying, tinting and appliqué to create the finished book cover. Another highlight was the crazy amount of fill stitching on many of the embroidered book covers! It was also lovely to see a couple of first time embroiderers among the contestants (and even making the final 10!).

Now go on, vote for your favourite!

Charley Harper Water Drop Quilt

This is a quilt in progress but it's already so incredibly wonderful that I just had to share it with you! Of the 33 organisms in Charley Harper's original illustration Martha (a k a  Q is for Quilter) has appliqued and stitched 17 so far. Isn't the background fabric just perfect for this Water Drop project? Love the combination of applique and stitching too. Inspiring stuff! Read all about it on Martha's blog.

More Embroidered Book Covers to look forward to...

Penguin has done it again!  After the awesome Jillian Tamaki embroidered book cover designs for the the Penguin de Luxe Editions of Emma, Black Beauty and the Secret Garden (now all available!) there are three more 'Penguin Thread' titles to look forward to! Rachell Sumpter has stitched some fantastic cover designs for  Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz and Little Women. The designs are wonderful but equally important: embroidery gives these cover illustrations warmth, and really makes them come alive.

If you want to know a little bit more about the design process of the first three 'Penguin Threads' books check out this short interview with Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley and Jillian Tamaki.

This Monday our 'Covered in Stitches' contest comes to an end so if you are playing along please remember to post your photos in our Flickr Group in time. As you may recall one of the grand prizes is the full set of the first three 'Penguin Threads' books!  If you are not submitting an embroidery, have a look in the group anyway. I"m so very impressed with all the submissions so far!

Fall Flower

I know we have already featured some Fall themed embroideries in the past couple of weeks but I really wanted to show you all this fabulous flower stitched by charm.mama. The colours are so vibrant and well...autumnal. And the fill stitching (notice the different stitches she used?) is just lovely. Read more about this project here.

Are you still in 'Fall' mode with your stitching or already stitching up winter themed patterns?

The Birds

Murderbird has posted some awesome bird themed embroideries in our Flickr Group. I love the use of the green patterned fabric as backdrop for this sweet little American Redstart.

And how about this fabulous Turkey Vulture? O.k. Mr. Vulture may not kill us with his cuteness but the fill stitching is to die for, right?  (And he probably wouldn't mind if you did!)

Old is New again: Swedish Weaving

I do not pretend to know everything about embroidery or stitches. Actually I still have a lot to learn. The good thing about that is that I regularly stumble upon exciting things that have been around for ages but are new to me. Last week I found some great tutorials on Swedish Weaving on Collette's blog Serendipity Handmade (find the posts about it in the side bar of her blog). Swedish weaving is also know as Huck Stitching (and a bunch of other names) and was especially popular during the 1930's and 40's to embellish tea towels and aprons. Huck refers to one of the fabrics used for this technique and the 'weaving' bit becomes clear when you study how it's done.

The thread stays on top of the fabric so there is no thread visible on the back of your piece.

This sampler by Lynn (aka the Little Red Hen) shows a lovely colourful variety of patterns in Swedish Weaving. Of course you are not limited to tea towels and aprons. Personally I quite fancy the idea of an Ipod case embellished with Swedish Weaving! More info about the history of Swedish Weaving, what fabrics to use and techniques etc. can be found here.

I'm sure you are aware we have a fun embroidery contest going on at the moment called Covered in Stitches. There are quite a few fabulous entries in the Covered in Stitches Flickr group already but it's certainly not too late to join in at this point! Submissions are accepted until November 7th.

Book cover inspiration and a Contest update

Today I'm showing you some examples of embroideries I found on Flickr that were inspired by or based on book covers. These are not entries for the 'Covered in Stitches' Contest (and yes, there are already some entries!) but they certainly could be! 'Monster' was superbly stitched by Lauren on a tea towel.

'A Wrinkle in Time' is an embroidery made by Lynn. She used a cool book cover from the sixties as starting point  for her piece.

A very different approach is this mixed media piece made by Moxiedoll77. She embroidered on the leather book cover of a book called 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter'.
 
I have great news for all the stitchers that are joining in the 'Covered in Stitches' contest. In addition to the wonderful collection of prizes we already had, we have an extra prize for the winning Book Cover! When Penguin Books learned about our Contest earlier this week, they kindly offered to send the winner the full set of the Penguin Classic editions with the Jillian Tamaki covers. Thank you Penguin Books!

Remember, if you have any questions about the contest, just want to say 'hello' to your fellow 'Covered in Stitches' stitchers or post a submission: visit the 'Covered in Stitches' Flickr group!

Pure Adventure

With the anniversary of the tragic events on 9/11 ten years ago in mind, I thought today I'd post something positive and inspiring. Stitched by Disobedient Child on a vintage (looking) hankie. I like the idea of stitching messages on a hankie so you can carry your inspirational quote with you... (or even better: give it to someone you love!)

This Tuesday I will be telling you everything you need to know about our fabulous Feeling Stitchy Embroidery Contest. Amazing Prizes? Strict Rules? Fantastic Theme?  We've got you covered!

The Cat and the Bird & looking for sponsors!

I guess the cat will literally have to jump through hoops to get to the bird. Love this  'Cat and Bird' series embroidered by Whimsiology!

Last week I announced that the Feeling Stitchy team is planning to do a contest soon. Remember last years Rainbow of Stitches contest? That was fun right? At the moment we are looking for sponsors to be able to give the winner(s) of this years contest some neat prizes. Think supplies, books, magazines...If you are interested in sponsoring our contest, you can contact me on followthewhitebunny AT e-tropolis DOT nl  

Especially Awesome

I was so excited to find this wonderful embroidery made by Judith Pudden in the Embroidery Group on Flickr. The detail in this work is amazing and I especially love the silver skirt. This embroidery is based on an Edward Gorey illustration. His outstanding work translates well to embroidery as I found out myself recently.  I actually have another one in the (or rather a) hoop at the moment. Check out Judith's other embroidery work here (impressive satin stitching!).

Now... I was wondering if you all would like another Feeling Stitchy contest? I hope so, because we have one planned in about a months time! Actually, I just realised that today's featured work would fit the contest rather well. Are you curious yet what the theme is?