Patterns: A spot of deja vu

I couldn't resist another look at this lovely embroidery, especially as I noticed on Etsy recently that it is now a pattern by Joey's Dream Garden! So you too can now get some orange tigery goodness!

And the winner is....

Joey's Dream Garden!

Out of 770 votes, Joey won with 183 votes cast for her amazing piece. Seriously, if you haven't yet, you need to click through to the large size and do some zooming in to appreciate the stitching. It's incredible. She'll be receiving the Rainbow of Stitches book and full set of DMC floss!

Here's the breakdown of the votes:



There was a LOT of movement in the voting yesterday, with LadyHazard's entry swinging in to second and Jacque's entry into third. I sat down with some embroidery last night and had a great time monitoring the end of the contest.

Remember that each of our category finalists will be receiving prizes as well! Each winner will receive a package with a bit of the following: embroidery floss, pdf patterns, vintage patterns, fat quarters, blank tea towels or pillowcases. Winners: please Flickrmail me, floresita, with your address so we can get your package sent out to you.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered this contest, everyone who voted, and all of our finalists. This was an amazing showing of talent.

Have you voted yet?

Just asking because you never can tell who's going to win these things, you know... From time to time stuff happens in the last few hours... I'm just sayin'

Voting ends at midnight tonight, ET. I know I'll be staying up to see who wins!


Vote!

Edit: 12 AM 6/16 - Voting is now closed! Winner will be announced later today.

p.s. I removed those handy "who's winning" links so there'll be no peeking!

Cast Your Votes!

Well, you've seen them all, now, people. It is time to cast your vote!

Want to take a look at them all again, zoom in, pore over them with a cup of coffee, pulling your hair out, trying to choose just one? Go ahead and do that. You've got time.

Voting closes at 12 AM, Wednesday, June 16 (NYC - Eastern Time) and the Grand Prize Winner, chosen by all of you, will be announced later that day.

Ready yet? Yeah?

Okay Vote! - Voting is now closed!

Winner in the Surprise Rainbow Category!

So we added a surprise category to the Rainbow of Stitches contest (in keeping with our tradition of surprises.) Although we wanted to celebrate monchromatic works, we also felt we had to give the entire rainbow a chance. Our winner, JacqueLynn, singlehandedly dominated the category with her talented abstract creations, and I was in awe of her energy to create. So, let's meet JacqueLynn!

Describe yourself
After YEARs of thinking I have to do my list of jobs first, and art second, I have switched it around - and am so happy.

What inspired your entry?
The first time I saw Takashi Iwasaki's embroidery art on the internet, I was awed! His work inspired me to do abstract embroidery.

Favorite stitch?
I love chain stitch - it fills and curves well - it works in so many places. I like to put different colored French knots in the chain, to look like polka-dots

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
Stitching fills a need I have to use my hands. Although I draw digitally, stitching helps me use my hands in a more physical way than I do when I draw.

How did you get started?
My Mom taught me to embroider when I was 8 or 9. ( and sew and knit, and garden- i.e. pull weeds, and almost crochet - she was a lefty and had a hard time with doing the hand switch thing when showing me to crochet.) Just the other day, I was reading a blog about someone trying to learn to sew - and all I could think of was how lucky that I learned all the tricks, techniques and little secrets from my Mom. THANKS MOM!

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy pool that you have noticed?
Oh my gosh, yes. I started looking at the photos from the Feeling Stitchy pool that I have added to "my favorites" and had 7 flickr friends just on the first page of my favorites.

All total, way too many to list. - I find that looking at the art that others have created is so often a jump start to a new project. It's about looking at someone else's art and thinking - "I love that!" What did they do that is so right for their piece, then thinking about it and learning from it. Feeling Stitchy pool and blog is such a great place to see the kind of embroidery art that I can learn from.

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Also in the Rainbow Category...
There were lots of standout creations in our last-minute wildcard Rainbow category, but a few of my favorites were:

Dragon by fatquarter


Voodoo Chic by anyakase1


Totally Gay by Giddy Girlie

Thanks to all our stitchers, and congratulations, JacqueLynn!

White Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

Wow, who knew that judging the Rainbow of Stitches contest would be such hard work? There were so many amazing and highly deserving entries in the white category that it was hard to pick a winner, but big congrats to Caitlin (saltyoat) for her winning entry.

Want to get to know Caitlin a little bit better? Here's how she answered our winners' questionnaire ...

What inspired your entry?

I was actually really inspired by this piece. I love doily and lace patterns, and knew I wanted to create a piece that reflected that. I also liked the idea of using the work to experiment with stitches and create a sampler of sorts. I started stitching the piece in an embroidery class at the Stitch Lab here in Austin.

What is your favorite stitch?

French knot

Who or what inspires you to stitch?

I'm really inspired by vintage embroidery transfers and fabrics. I also get a lot of inspiration from the blogs I read, Flickr, and the thrift stores I frequent.

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

I started cross-stitching when I was a kid, using premade kits (horses and Christmas ornaments were a part of my repertoire). I started doing embroidery last fall, using Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects as my textbook.

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?

I really love the white stitching on paper that jessicakelly entered in the contest (editor's note: we love it too and this entry was a close second!), and I'm a big fan of the work of septemberhouse, doe-c-doe, and the Pin Pals.

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Thanks, Caitlin ... and good luck going up against the colors!

For some more of the outstanding contest entries in the white category, check out the mosaic below or browse our gallery.

Black Category Runner Ups

I really enjoyed judging the black category of the Rainbow of Stitches contest recently, there were just so many excellent entries, everyone certainly made it very hard to choose! You've all shown how exciting 'just' black can be, with some amazingly intricate, beautiful work, thank you.

1. c and h scan, 2. Magician Bunny Take 2, 3. twins, 4. on our backs set (not safe for work), 5.The Flower Thrower, 6. The Spider and the Fly-6, 7. Haunted Mansion Wallpaper Embroidery for Giddy Girlie, 8. Rod Serling piece - finished!, 9. "Kiss Me Deadly" poisoned lipstick

Black Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

And the winner in the black category is . . .

Freehand Doodles - Lookin' Good by Jammy Sage

I love how this sweetie's eyes pop out of the fabric at you, she has such an expression-full face.

I had the opportunity to ask Jammy Sage some questions, here's what she said:

Describe yourself in 10 words or less.
I’m a lover of all things colorful, crafty and cool.

What inspired your entry?
I’ve always had a thing for bunnies -- they show up in all pieces of my work in one form or another, but I had never had an embroidery piece that I fell in love with right from the beginning. Until this one. I had been wanting to start a new series of art for my Etsy shop, and the “Feeling Stitchy” contest was the perfect opportunity to get my creative juices flowing!

What is your favourite stitch?
I have to say the basic Back Stitch. It is what I use for all of my embroidery outline pieces, as it allows me to perfectly follow my freehand-drawn doodles. I have also come to love the French knot immensely!


Who or what inspires you to stitch?
I think the “what” that inspires me to stitch would be boredom. Nothing occupies my bored mind better than embroidery! I will sometimes get inspired for a new doodle in the middle of the night and will jump up to draw it before I forget. When I have a new doodle to stitch, my hands are just itching to get started!

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
I learned the basics of stitching when I was young. Started off with counted cross stitch, but I found that it was harder for me to follow a set pattern and I would usually continue on making it up as I went, and seeing how it looked best, for me. I still have trouble following a pattern! I decided last year to gather up all of my embroidery notions and start stitching again. I think embroidery has now become a part of who I am and I’m loving it!

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Most definitely! Just from this Rainbow Of Stitches contest alone, I have seen an amazing and inspiring amount of talent out there! I have completely fallen in love with every colorful and beautiful piece made by carlyandmelissa, the craziness and awesomeness that is davis.Jacque, the classic and spectacular cross-stitching by What Delilah Did, the fabric and floss combinations by Poppy And Lime, and about a billion others whose art and talent make me swoon every single day.

So many congratulations to Jammy Sage!

Pink Category Winner-Rainbow of Stitches Contest.

Oh Boy! Was it ever hard to pick a winner! There were so many amazing entries that narrowing it down took forever. I was completely blown away by everyone! Drum roll please.....The winner of the Pink category is SewLovelyEmbroidery.

Describe yourself in 10 words or less......
I am very immature for my advanced age ...

What inspired your entry....
I love the era of flappers...great fashion, great dancing!!! I love bubbles and mostly I really, really LOVE Champagne!!!!!!

What is your favorite stitch
Le French Knot ....ooooo la la

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
I come home from work, everyday, tired. Katy and I inspire each other to keep going and create new and exciting things. I love that I can watch TV and actually be productive! I am inspired by the Flickr Embroidery pool daily, I love to look and see what other people are creating..I am not sucking up....it's the truth!!!!

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
When I was younger my deaf aunt Eileen (who was taught back in the day...) knew every kind of hand crafted art from making lace to knitting and everything you could imagine- which OF COURSE I did not appreciate at the time!! Neither did my 6 sisters but we did eventually come back to it....

To keep us busy during the summer we had to have "quiet time" where we would read, paint or do something creative.We did a lot of embroidery.... Aunt Martha's Patterns..... and I grew to love the lush colors of the thread....I mean come on... they were inexpensive even by my babysitting pay standards!

I had given it up for years until Katy, my sons' sweetie-pie came along and started to embroider and we went on some camping trips and we started not only to embroider but to come up with designs we thought other people might enjoy!


Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Wow! I LOVE Alexandra J. Walters painterly stitching. I love lagidgette, her choice of colors and paint mixed with embroidery is amazing.

Quick Heads-up About The Next Winner

Our next winner post contains some very artful female nudity. Just a heads-up in case you have any qualms about that sort of thing.


But even if you can't scroll down now, be sure to have a look because it is amazing!

Blue Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

Hi there! I was tasked with the challenge of choosing a winner in the blue category, and let me tell you, there was a lot of really amazing stuff to choose from! Ultimately, though, there's only one winner - and it's meaganileana!

Describe yourself in 10 words or less.
'exploring a body of lines one stitch at a time'

What inspired your entry?
I was alone in a hotel room in Ahmedabad, Gujurat (India) feeling hot and sweaty...thinking of a project to fill a few lonely hours and focusing on my body (as usual!) which was feeling especially private during a time filled with modest Indian clothes and behavior. The desire to experiment with shading to, at some point, create more complex pieces birthed this piece.

What is your favourite stitch?
How can I pick one? I love back stitch, chain stitch, seed stitch, running stitch and the occasional french knot. I feel like these stitches would fill every stitching need.

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
I draw from true moments in relationships and also from bodies. Things I return to: plants, babies, nudity/anatomy, queer relationships, friendships, private moments and sweet nothings. The most recently finished piece is the one that inspires me to keep going, It's like an addiction. Sometimes even the stitches themselves are what excite me about starting a new piece.

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
My mama taught me when I was tiny (3 years) and my family is one full of sewers and embroiderers, but I fell into what is available on flickr in 2008, when I was out of college and looking around for fun new ways to make art. Since then it's been experimentation with a few successes.

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
There are many, but a few entries that particularly caught my eye are SewLovelyEmbroidery's white, Lady Hazard's purple, evilsarah's blue, and many black pieces: Elizabeth J. Smith, Spider's Paw, goodcanary, distracted muse. So many lovely pieces!

Green Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

The Green category of the Rainbow in Stitches Contest had many great entries and they were all so different too that I had a hard time deciding on the winner. There were a couple of photos that I kept coming back to though and especially Sarah's embroidery 'Green' had that 'Awesome-I-wish-I-thought-of-that' factor. It is stitched with a very neat satin stitch on one of my favourite fabrics ever (Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt) and I admire the minimalist approach.


So...without further ado I would like to introduce: Sarah!

Describe yourself in 10 words or less
Hobbyist needle jockey

What inspired your entry?
I *love* this fabric sooo much I just had to do something fun with it.

What is your favourite stitch?
Backstitch

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
Bare walls and requests from my boyfriend

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
I've been stitching for about 2 years now. My boyfriend asked me one day why I bought all these craftbooks and didn't "make" anything. I guess that pushed me to just go for it and not worry about failing.

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Doe-c-Doe her stitching and applique is *so* amazing
Girl Incognito (Itsastitch) lovely chemistry embroidery



Some great other entries that caught my eye were Green by Raphaela TE, Luna Moth by Giggly Mama, and Autumn Tree Lady by Say Say oh Playmate. But I could name many many more. Thanks all for participating, I can't wait for the next contest!

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!

Orange Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

Little Tiger's Orangey Celebration embroidery, originally uploaded by Joey's Dream Garden (formerly Joey 7).

I think (hope!) that you realise how difficult it was to pick a winner - I'd really like to have picked a few!

Well, without further ado, here is the winner of the Orange category. I picked it because Joey has used a very limited number of colours to great effect. And the use of several different stitches gives great texture to the piece. A job very well done!

What inspired your entry?
My love of the colour orange! For me, it's the best colour because it's warm and makes me feel relaxed. It's one of the colours of a beautiful sunset and the colour of my favourite flower, the California poppy. It ranges from deep, rich rust, through the brightest, juiciest oranges, to pale pinky peach. It's a happy, bouncy colour!

What is your favourite stitch?
The french knot, partly because when I finally learnt it after years of not getting it, I felt a real sense of achievement! It was like discovering one of the deep mysteries of the universe... I love it because it's so versatile, you can use it to fill areas with one colour for a great texture, to achieve an effect like Seurat's pointillism or just add a few little dots on a tiny embroidery.

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
I love embroidery as a means to create pictures; I'm attracted to the beauty of threads of different colours skillfully worked into amazing stitches. Embroidery can be done by just about anyone; plenty of us have done embroidery at primary school. It's such a versatile art form and I love to see how far it can be pushed. I myself have a long way to go!

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
My mum taught me a few basic stitches like backstitch and chain stitch, when I was about 7 years old (which was partly to get me to help her darn socks) but it's only just in the last two years that I've come back to embroidery and started to extend my repertoire of stitches. I find online video libraries of stitches, like Mary Corbet's Needle N' Thread how-to videos really useful, because not only can you see the stitches being made, you can learn at your own pace.

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Yes! But I'll just talk briefly about three... I love how Palewildwoodflwr's Happy Little Tree shows beautifully what you can do with one stitch (chain stitch) and one colour, to create texture and the illusion of depth. I also really like Kajin's Hommage à Blossfeldt because it reflects the beauty of simple plant shapes which Karl Blossfeldt captured in his botanical photographs. What I like about Alli Coate's Transparency are the holes in the fabric, to show another layer behind. The embroidery is so simple, but it has so much potential for artistic experimentation.

Red Category Winner - Rainbow of Stitches Contest

The winner of the red category is Cath from Chunky Chooky.


Describe yourself in 10 words or less.
Optimistic, opinionated, craft- obsessed, vertically gifted, tea lovin', mum, wife.

What inspired your entry?
What I love about embroidery is the most basic of shapes can look amazing just filled in with a few different colours. I wanted a simple shape to fill in that would look good hung on my wall. As soon as I saw the deer silhouette I knew I had to stitch it.

What is your favourite stitch?
Its a toss up between backstitch and long & short stitch

Who or what inspires you to stitch?
I have always wanted to stitch... but wandering around the local craft shop with the Winne the Pooh / teddy inspired stitching...it made me gag ... when I stumbled across Sublime Stitching and Subversive Cross Stitch I thought FINALLY!!! Something I want to stitch! I bought a few patterns and books and set to work.

How long have you been stitching and how did you get started?
I have been doing embroidery for about 6 months. I am still learning and I am constantly emailing stitchy bloggers/ flickr contacts with questions... they have all been so helpful. I got started with a Sublime Stitching iron on transfer...

Are there any stitchers in the Feeling Stitchy Flickr pool you have noticed?
Lovin" Goodgorilla and jammysage

Thanks so much for choosing me as a finalist!
Cath

- - - - - - - -
The red category was hotly contested. There were a huge number of entries & the competition was fierce.

There's a gallery of red stitchery here which Cath's deer was selected from. I think that they all deserve an honorable mention.

Well done Cath - your piece is beautiful.

Rainbow of tags

Embroidery back originally uploaded by wardi

Have you entered the Rainbow of Stitches contest yet? There's still a wee bit of time! So get out those hoops and needles!

I want to just throw this out there: for the purpose of the contest would you make sure your entries are tagged properly?

For example, if you are stitching with yellow on a pink background, please only tag it with 'yellow'. Otherwise it will show up under both tags, making it harder to sort through the entries for each colour. We look at the colour of the stitching, not the background! :-)

If your entry has lots of colours and you just can't decide which one fits best, use 'rainbow'. Although it's not an 'official' category, atleast that way those entries will be easier to keep track of than having them pop up under yellow, green, pink, blue etc! ;-)

Don't forget, you have until midnight 31st of May to enter. The contest pool will be closed at midnight Honolulu time so everyone has a chance to add their entries. Check this blog post to figure out when that is in your own time zone.


P.S. If you have entered the contest, why not leave a comment on this post and let us know which country you are in? Would be cool to see how international our stitching is. :-)

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.