Violet Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

The winner in the Violet Category is Lena aka LadyHazard !

Choosing my favorite in the "Violet" category wasn't tough (okay, it was a little tough). But, Lena's stitched version of "War and Peace" by Picasso was my immediate favorite.

Lena, tell us....

Describe yourself in 10 words or less.
Library school student and lover of beautiful things.

What inspired your entry?
When I was a kid, my mom had a comforter whose pattern was a few Picasso sketches repeated all over it. I didn’t know where the images came from, but I spent countless hours admiring it. A few months ago, I happened upon one of the images on the Internet and I gasped, recognizing it from that old blanket and I knew immediately that I had to stitch it up.

What is your favourite stitch?
I love the French knot; it’s such a pain but I love the texture it adds to a piece. It seems to look best when used either sparingly or entirely. Weird, huh?

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
The real question is what doesn’t inspire me? I look at things and can’t help but wonder if I could stitch a particular image or embroider on a particular surface. I have so many projects down the pike because of this—I only wish I had the time! Also, I just want to have and gift beautiful things to people I care about.

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
I picked up cross-stitching as a teenager because of my mother and my older sisters. They all did it. It’s an Albanian tradition to stitch up a bunch of things to decorate your house with, in anticipation of a future marriage. However, being the contrarian and feministy kind of gal that I am, for years I associated embroidery with this old-world style of thinking and refused to do it. I finally picked it up again a little over a year ago, once I realized that I could stitch up literally anything and for any reason I wanted. It didn’t have to be about biding your time until a man came along, it was about creating something you love with your own hands and being proud of it. Most importantly, embroidering flowers is not mandatory.

I still haven’t built up the nerve to try cross-stitching again, though. Maybe one day! =)

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
There are so many impressive (and frankly, intimidating) stitchers! I adore every single thing that lagidgette makes, and luckyjackson:: does some impressive things with fabric. Oh, and how funny are Stephanie Tillman’s What Party embroideries?!

Thank, Lena, and congratulations!

Yellow Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

The winner of the yellow category is Q is for Quilter with her wonderful lion quilt block.
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ABC Quilt Block - Lion by Q is for Quilter_

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A little bit from Martha -
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Describe yourself in 10 words or less

Old-fashioned quilter, embroiderer and collector of vintage fabric and children's books

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What inspired your entry?

A 1964 ABC coloring book illustrated by Vincent & Dorothy Fago - I added the letters. I love to combine quilting, embroidery & vintage illustration.

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What is your favourite stitch?

Stem stitch with one strand of floss

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Who or what inspires you to stitch?

Vintage children's book illustrations - both from my collection and from other Flickr members

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How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?

Over 50 years - My mother taught me to embroider tea towels when I was a little girl.

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Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Oh yes -- way too many to list, but here are just a few:
Ruffledfeather
Shariub

Spicy-Shots

Mrs Gibson's Atelier

BooDilly's

Kleas'

meaganileana

alexcateye

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Martha has now completed the ABC quilt top and is currently in the process of quilting it. You can see the finished top here. Well done Martha - simply stunning!

Are you ready for some winners?

Maybe you're itching to find out who the winners are for the Rainbow of Stitches Contest?

No? Ok, I guess we won't tell you then...

What? You do want to know? Oh, okay then! :)

What's that I hear? You want to know them all right now? Well, we're going to reveal 2 a day for the next 5 days, so you'll just have to keep checking back here!

How about I introduce our esteemed panel of Mystery Judges while you wait? :)

The Judges
Red: Kirsty
Orange: Carina
Yellow: Sam
Green: Nicole
Blue: Beefranck
Violet: Jenny Hart
Pink: Pam (Kittykill)
White: John
Black: Jo
Surprise Rainbow Category: floresita

That's right, we'll be introducing you to 10 different category winners over the next 5 days, at the end of which, you will all get to vote for the Grand Prize winner who'll receive the Rainbow of Stitches book and a complete set of DMC floss (454 colors!) Ready?

Rainbow of Stitches contest - less than a week left!

Right! There are 5-6 days (depending on your timezone!) left of the Rainbow of Stitches Contest! Are you busy stitching away? If you haven't started yet, I thought I'd just point out some stats on what has been submitted so far. As you probably know, entries have to have a dominant colour, as you can see in the image above.

RED - 153 

ORANGE - 50

YELLOW - 49

GREEN - 117

BLUE - 124

VIOLET/PURPLE - 36/31

PINK - 81

BLACK - 90

WHITE - 70

If you haven't submitted anything yet, here's a tip: do your stitching in one of the colours that aren't so popular, like yellow, violet/purple or orange!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Don't forget, May 31st is the last day to submit!

Edit: The contest ends when every timezone has passed from May 31st to June 1st. Anything else would be unfair, right? ;-) To find out when that is, please follow this link to timeanddate.com and put Honolulu in the top spot and your own timezone in the bottom one.

Surprise Prize for the Rainbow of Stitches Contest!

Let me guess, you like embroidery floss? And, if you're anything like the rest of us, you've probably stared at the DMC embroidery floss display, wondering what it might be like to own every single color. Well, the winner of this contest will wonder no more. Wanna know why?

Our winner will receive a complete set of DMC embroidery floss. 454 colors. One person. Every color of the rainbow. And then some. Have you fainted yet? I almost did.

Thanks to the wonderful peeps at DMC for contributing this amazing prize to our contest!

http://www.dmc-threads.com/

Oh, and look - their badge is even looking a little Feeling Stitchy-inspired, as a tie-in to our contest! Our original banner design is by Kirsty Neale, who won our 2008 banner contest. Thanks, DMC, for being so generous and supporting this community of stitchers!

And to all of you - have you entered the contest yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Because, if nobody wins this prize, I might have to keep it myself. Ha ha, I kid, I kid. Maybe.

Floss Porn: Rainbow

Photo by bigB

Oh, I am drooling here. Want to drool harder? Try looking at this large. ;)

I love how bigB has taken pictures of all the projects she's planning for the Rainbow of Stitches contest. Let me tell you, I am loving all of 'em. Like this one, and this one and this one. Keep the inspiration coming!!! :)

Rainbow of Stitches Contest!

So, just in case you hadn't figured it out by now, with my rather obvious hinting... we're having a contest! Pam received a complimentary copy of Rainbow of Stitches and we are dying to share it with you. :)

Instead of just giving it away randomly, we decided to celebrate the rainbow of colors and create a contest you can enter in 9 different categories!



The Prizes
We'll select a winner in each of the 9 categories - which means... 9 prizes!

9 Category Winners:

• Each category pick will get a sweet prize that could include: embroidery floss, pdf patterns, vintage patterns, fat quarters, blank tea towels or pillowcases.
• Also, each of the 9 winners will be featured here on Feeling Stitchy with a brief interview.

Finally, YOU get to vote to choose the Grand Prize winner, who will receive:

• Rainbow of Stitches book
• Complete set of DMC floss (454 colors - thank you, DMC!)

How To Enter
Want to enter? It's easy! Join the Rainbow of Stitches Contest Group, and add your entries.
You can enter in as many categories, as many times as you like!

The Rules
Entries must be hand-embroidered by you.
Can be any size and on anything - handkerchief, pillowcase, clothing, quilt, pillow, atc, etc.
Works don't have to be all one color, but they should have one dominant color or theme. Have fun with it!

May 1 - 31: We'll accept submissions
June 5 - 13: 9 category winners featured on Feeling Stitchy
June 13 - 15: You vote for Grand Prize Winner
June 16: Winner announced!

Are you ready to get stitching? Can't wait to see what you create!!!

White inspirations

White - lovely, frothy, angelic white is gorgeous, too. I love the effect of white thread on white fabric, or varying shades of whites and ecrus and beiges, or white on linen - natural, silvery, or cream-colored.

Again, this is not a part of a traditional rainbow, but it's a part of our rainbow - the amazing things you've created and added to the pool... So, have we inspired you enough yet? Are you ready to choose one? Or, will you not be able to choose one, and instead choose them all?

Take a look at all of them, one more time and try to pick just one color you want to inspire you... Then, if you want the biggest old hint of all, take a look at the name of this set, to see what we're up to (details tomorrow)! Excited yet? I know I am!

Enjoy these beautiful examples of whitework from the stitchers below:
1. Snowy Owl! by bugsandfishes
2. White seahorse by thejoysofjess
3. Snowflakes Pillow by bstudio18
4. The Guardian (Palomino) by What Delilah Did
5. Pale Hydrangea Bloom Ornament by jennybubbletime
6. Drink me! Hoop shot by thejoysofjess
7. Taxidermy Bunny by Janick • Nea
8. DANDELIONS by hareanddrum
9. white things by tiny happy
10. wip - happy cloud by bookwormbethie
11. CROW hand embroidered brooch by hareanddrum
12. playing by contemporary embroidery

Black inspirations

Here I am again, with another non-official color of the rainbow. But, after seeing the amazing things you guys do with blackwork, black fabric, and black threads, I must say I'm feeling the black magic. I love black - it goes without saying - but there's something about using the color black in embroidery that makes the work that much bolder and more dramatic...

Are you a fan of the blackwork, too? If it was down to one color for you... out of all the colors you've seen... and maybe one more surprise color... tomorrow - could you pick one?

Enjoy the black magic by the creative stitchers below:
1. Universal GillMan by SheenaRamone
2. Orion Embroidery by piddlipoo
3. wolf by fionabearclaw
4. not good enough by beefranck
5. blossoms by racaire
6. coinpurse by lifepieces
7. Black Rabbit Quilt by badbird
8. Finally finished by Mrs Gibson's Atelier
9. Blackwork Robin by konnykards
10. Vader Drinking a Pop by Mama Sass
11. Elizabethan Cross Stitch by whimsyandcharm
12. because I love you by Sarah Blick

Pink inspirations

What's that I hear out there? No pink in the rainbow? Well, pink's in MY rainbow, that's for danged sure! As evidence, look at those pinks up above. Salmon pink. Pale petal-pink. Carnation. Rose. Fuschia. Coral. Magenta. I challenge you not to heart the pink.

So, have you put together any clues yet? Rainbows? Favorite colors? Conte- I mean, hmmm? :)

Heart the following pinks, by the great crafters below:
1. Berries close - up by apple & eve
2. Pink curlicues by Carina
3. Pink Tulip details by thejoysofjess
4. Safflower Pink by barefootshepherdess
5. Pink flower close up by barefootshepherdess
6. ELECTRIC PINK felt coaster by VitaminJ_Singapore
7. Chihuahua on bowling shirt by sew alex
8. knotty brooch - pinks by One Little House
9. 69 by tishous
10. Happy Easter Bunny by allaboutthebuttons
11. serotonin by Girl Incognito
12. TAST 07 - 5 Chevron Stitch by konnykards

Violet inspirations

Ah, violet. Or purple. Or lavender. Or lilac. Or plum. Or any shade in the purplish vicinity. I like it. And I used to hate purple. But somewhere along the line, sometime last year, I woke up and loved purple. It was weird. Any of you have a similar change of heart? Or have you always been purple people?

So, um, still thinking about your favorite color? Let's say you had to race in the Color Olympics, and you had to pick a color to run for... is purple your native land? Would you proudly race for purple? ;)

Enjoy the purpl-y loveliness, as seen in our Flickr pool, brought to you by the peeps below:
1. lilac colored threads and wip by Ravenhill Designs
2. Floral hand embroidered brooch or scarf pin by hareanddrum
3. President Taft by Amanda Jean
4. detail by Veronica TM
5. Purple Embroidery Tree by kayla coo
6. I love you two cushion in violet by -syko-
7. peacock detail by soraia_bejinhos
8. White Flower Purple Pincushion by TheBlueDaisy
9. purple by raspberryfairy
10. felt brooch by Erratic Needle
11. TAST 7 Rope Stitch by konnykards
12. jack-in-the-pulpit stitch by crazybutcute

Blue inspirations

But... blue makes me happy, too! My favorites are the greeny-gray shades, sort of robin's egg or cerulean or steel-blue gray, but just about every shade makes me happy.

How about you - is blue your favorite? I mean, if you were choosing one, just one shade of the rainbow to stitch in... for a sort of, oh, I don't know... contest? Hmmm? :)

Here's a bit of blue inspiration from the following Flickr talents, found in our pool:
1. Koiranputki-brooch by knittinjo
2. Dragonfly by meeka5
3. The Sailor by Eva.Lena.
4. Abbey Road by good_gorilla
5. Embroidery details by Birthine
6. kokako by prettylittlelightnin gpaw
7. Teeny Hearties Wall Wear 3" by Janick • Nea
8. A new smile by chunkychooky
9. 'Dreamer' Stitch Picture by Stitcher Scribbler
10. Canary pillow by Aimee Ray
11. Dandelion and fern set by Mundo Flo
12. blackbird coasters by orange mushroom

Green inspirations

Ah, green. I'd have to say that as a color in nature, nothing makes me happier than green. And I love every shade of this color as well, from kelly to khakhi to sea green to chartreuse. Is green your favorite? I mean, if you had to pick one... from a rainbow... to stitch in... Not that I'm dropping any hints, or anything. As to why I might be blogging every shade of the rainbow...

Inspiring pics by the following wonderful stitchers and crafters:
1. CTA Green Line by jessainthebox
2. 1 Up DS case by Obajoo
3. stem by raspberryfairy
4. Button tree by thejoysofjess
5. Three Trees Linen Needle Book by jennybubbletime
6. pois... by lille-ursus
7. Green circles textile art sample by jkw_fire_horse
8. Amoeba in Pink and Green by BooDilly's
9. green car wip by doe-c-doe
10. Green, Green, Green... by bugsandfishes by lupin
11. frankenpurse by the messy nest
12. embroidered pear potholder close up by Adaiha

Yellow inspirations

Nothing cheers me up like a nice yellow. I love absolutely every shade, from the put-your-eyes-out-bright, to the mustardy, greenish tones. But I think my favorite is lemon yellow. Do you have a favorite yellow?

Are you wondering why I'm blogging a "rainbow" of colors every day for the next few days? Hmmm? Really? :)

Projects by the talented peeps listed below:
1. yellow leaf pin by maybeemily
2. close - up by apple & eve
3. star by kunderwood
4. yellow submarine magnet by Emmajb8
5. yellow is the color of leaves that fall hat by cosymakes
6. My glass if half full by xperimentl
7. Alma brooch - Handmade And Embroidered Felt Brooch by Yalipaz
8. broderie brooch 01 by misslilamae
9. yellow pteranodon by Katie Aaberg
10. ladybird square by Sumptuosity
11. who are you? by Sumptuosity
12. Affodell the owl brooch by Joey 7

Orange inspirations

I'm not sure about you, but I love orange. Just the right shade of orange makes me all kinds of happy. From creamsicle-colored, to oj, to tangerine, to burnt orange, to redhead, I can dig it.

Are you starting to get inspired? For something... interesting... that might happen... soon? ;)

1. embroidered car wip by doe-c-doe
2. Flapper girl - Handmade and embroidered felt brooch by Yalipaz
3. ABD_SS_CAMPOUT_FIRE by Amy Brinkman
4. Fish 2 by rachaellazenby
5. stitches unicorn by KarenInKnots
6. 3.26.10 by Katie Aaberg
7. hat or no hat? by mummysam
8. Queen of hearts brooch by Yalipaz
9. Eco Felt Sunshine Keychain Happy by lova revolutionary
10. Earrings by Pin Pals
11. Wombat button by sunnysidey
12. embroidered tree by weepereas

Red inspirations

Now, why am I posting these inspiring stitching pics? I mean, red's nice and all, but what could we be up to??? :)

Maybe you better stay tuned for the next 9 days or so, to find out? Hmmm?

In the meantime, enjoy these inspiring red-themed embroideries, created by the wonderfully talented people below:
1. President Franklin Roosevelt by Amanda Jean
2. the tenth doctor by maximum RABBIT designs
3. Rock n Roll embroidery by parrishplatz
4. ASAM = awesome by 14countess
5. Time by metro-station
6. Red Blossom Brooch by Shmemadoo
7. FS Swap buttons by kittykill
8. Pin up Girl 2 by jcgandolf
9. A wee Toadstool by lamdesigns
10. WHAT TIME IS IT? by fortuneless_cookie
11. A little felt cupcake by The Craftaholic
12. Red is so hard to capture by Cate Anevski