Re-introducing: Eydie

Stitched by shebrews

Eydie, or shebrews, on her blog and Flickr, is generous crafter with amazing artistic skill at painting, art quilting, and creating. Just a click through her Flickr stream will reveal the scope of her abilities, and I'm sure she has even more skills hidden away that we don't know about, too! It's a joy to have her here!

A mini interview with Eydie:

Your favorite dmc floss color? bright yellow or rich golden

Your favorite embroidery project? the reproduction card booklets I made. (above)

Your inspirations? My inspirations have to be classic children's book illustrators and children's drawings

My shop url is: http://ohmy1.etsy.com

My blog url is: http://shebrews.typepad.com

Any swaps you're involved in?

I did a "rabbit" swap once. I would love to do more swaps.

One word answer:
Freehand or pattern? Freehand
Messy or neat? Messy
Cute or edgy? B-side (lol)

My daughter and I always talk about how I am the b-side in everything. Like a 45 record, I am the side that most people haven't heard, that doesn't make the top 40, but has a faithful following anyway. I am not the most popular, but I have my "peeps" (people), and sometimes I just have to have long talks with myself because I think differently. I never like the most popular song, I never like the most popular book, I quite prefer the least traveled road, shopping when no one is around, and one of a kind things...---the only exception that I have found so far is that I really think Johnny Depp is the most intriguing and attractive guy. I know there are lots of Johnny Depp fans....... so, there you have it.

Thanks, Eydie, for not following the rules - it's what makes your work unique and beautiful! ;)

Embroidery from a Nanologist' Perspective

Yes, that's a word. Nanologist is a person who is a Gnome collector.

I happened upon these delightful hand-embroidered Gnome's when looking at Etsy. The artist calls her shop "Paintingpixie". Brandy Carsten, from Colorado, USA, says "I picked my name by mixing my love for traditional art and the magical world of fay."



Before studying Brandy's art , I discovered I was weak on the little Gnome facts. Prior to this, I always pictured the Travelocity gnome as he is playfully humming his way along in what he thinks is a comfortable river and suddenly finds himself falling off the edge of the earth.........(so like my life......lol).

This is what I learned, there seems to be a general agreement regarding the following things about gnomes:

1. A gnomes life span is about 400 years.
2. When a gnome is about 200 years old, they begin to think of marriage.

3. Birth of gnomes always involves twins.

4. Male gnomes indulge in pipe smoking.
5. Gnomes are 7 times stronger than a man.

Brandy says that she made her first gnome doll for her son when he was small. "It was soft, filled with carded wool and had a simple embroidered face. I was highly influenced by Waldorf traditions; simple in design and natural materials. This is why I leave the faces blank, it leaves the emotion of the doll play open. "

"As far as my embroidery history, I simply became curious and tried a couple of stitches until they looked right with the exception of the French knot which I had to look up to see how to make a proper one. "

"I let the seasons and the natural world around me influence the designs of my embroidery. I embroider intuitively- meaning I don't usually have a design plan, it just unfolds with each stitch. I have a couple of Rocky Mountain Flower guides for inspiration and reference that I use upon occasion."

"The Mushroom Cap Gnomes are truly my favorite of my designs so far. It took me quite a while to create the right shape for the cap. "

"Along with embroidery and doll making I have recently taught myself to spin yarn with a drop spindle. I love the feeling of the wool roving passing through my fingers and twisting the yarn. I close my eyes and imagine that I am connected to all the women of the past who have also made yarn in this very same way since the beginning of time. I love to needle felt, its so similar to painting with color mixing and layering. I also do illustrations in pencil and pen and ink."



Brandy says her favorite artists are Alphonse Mucha (one of my favorites, also), Van Gogh, and Matisse. Artists that are living today that she admires are Michael Haque, Brett Wilson, and Karma Majors (who is her aunt). Brandy lives in Colorado with her husband and two children.

"When I was a child I lived for a year in the mountains with a rushing river in my front yard and all the world to explore in my back yard. That year I discovered the magical realm of fairies and gnomes. Every spring flowers seemed to speak to me and trees and the rocks all had their own story to tell. I saw the world around me in a vividness that I hadn't been aware of before. Then my family returned to the city and I ever since have had that connection with nature." Thanks, Brandy, for sharing your art and thoughts with us.

Embroidery- the Embellisher Queen

Hi Everyone! I hope you are looking forward to a new project! I have learned that sometimes I fail to make use of some valuable tools I have when I am looking for an embroidery project. As an embellisher, I constantly look for things to put my "signature" on. Lately, when I go to a fabric store, I have been looking at fabric as a canvas, rather than a painting. Instead of being satisfied that the fabric is doing all the work, I look to see what I can do to make it "mine".

I suppose because I am a painter on certain days, looking at things as "unfinished" seems to happen to me quite frequently. I like working on muslin and filling in all the wonderful colors, but sometimes I like to look at something that's already on its way and change it's course. I will show you some examples of what I mean, and then, give you the directions for the little 'checkbook holder', 'pocket folder', or 'clutch', whatever you decide to use it for.



Here is an example of a fabric that had cats printed all over it. I trimmed one of the cats and left enough border to stitch it to another piece of fabric. To make things easier, I ironed it on with Heat and Bond Lite first. (The light Heat and Bond lets you sew through it).



I blanket stitched around the outside of the cat, but, after looking at it, I probably could have just straight stitched and been just as happy. I thought of filling in the stripes, which is an option, but I left them open.


Here, I used the 'themed' fabric and just took it a step further with adding the word 'teacher' and a few flowers to pull the pieces together. Later, after looking at it, I added white centers to the flowers, but I will not post that picture to save space.



Here, again I used the 'themed' fabric and added the image, and after looking at it, tied it together with embellishing one of the 'cat' words on the already printed fabric.


This little trick draws the piece together and gives it that personal touch. Now, I will show you how this is all put together. (what to cut, directions)


Cut the following pieces: 2 pieces 7" x 3 3/4" that will be the cover. They look like that above. While you are cutting them, imagine them folded in half width-wise, so if you are placing a particular design that it goes where you want it. (not upside down) This piece above gets folded as the cover of the folder. Stitch these two pieces together and plan your embroidery embellishments and do them before anything else.



Here, I have embellished the 'plain' dragonflies. At this point I debated about beading, which would have been great on this design. I added the word 'dragonfly' and stitched the flowers in the dark area to tie it together. This is a good time to add your label if you have one, also.



Now, this is the tricky part. I did it wrong the first time, so my picture was wrong and I can't show it. Cut 2 pieces of fabric 7" x 6" that will be the inside pockets. Fold these lengthwise and iron, then lay them on the right side of the cover (the outside) the opposite (which would be crossway) direction of the division of the cover. In other words, the two lines would intersect. Make sure the fold of the pocket is facing the middle, and the side you want showing facing the cover.

Then, cut one piece of fabric (this will be your lining) 7" x 7 1/2". Lay this piece face down on top of the pockets. Pin all around, leaving a gap for turning. I like to leave the gap on the back side bottom. This will be handstitched after turning. After stitching and trimming, pull the entire thing through that opening and push corners out and iron flat. I hand stitched snap closures on mine, but this is optional.





I wanted to show this last kitty folder because I wasn't happy with it after I finished it. I don't think the newspaper fabric 'worked'. I would probably use a solid or vaguely printed fabric instead, next time and use the newspaper fabric for the folders.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and idea post. Let me know if you use it, I would love to see what you do with it.

note: pattern pieces below are not actual size - they're a guide to show you what to cut...

Aunt Pearl's Drawers

Hi everybody! I was thinking about Mother's Day coming up and something I could give that I made....For my birthday a friend of mine gave me some drawer sachets and I liked them very much. They were commercial and paper packets, and though I love opening my sock drawer and being greeted by such a lovely fragrance, I thought an embroidered set would make a lovely gift. So, I made a pattern just for the blog to share with you. You can use them how you like and even sell if you want. I would love to see what you do with them, so email me if you Flickr them or put them in your blog or shop.


I am only posting the pattern on this blog, but I have written out the whole tutorial on my craft blog .


I was worried that the post would be too long if I did the whole tutorial here. I am new to blogger, so I don't quite understand all the posting options or ways of doing things.....


I don't know how these will print out, but hopefully you will get good copies. I embroidered on a 3" x 4" square of muslin which after tracing the pattern I bonded to the fabric with heat and bond lite. Then, I began my embroidery. If you do it this way, you don't have to "quilt" the pieces, which I like because I can get on with the embroidery, which I love.



I was looking at the Flickr pics last nite trying to get familiar with things you do and I realized that I am an amateur embroiderer at best. I do not know the rules.....lol....are there rules? I started embroidering when I was ten. I was given some floss and some printed towels and left to my own. I realize when I am working sometimes that there is probably an easier or better way, but I somehow manage to get to my goal regardless. I use a simple backstitch for outlining and the border is an official stitch, but I don't know what it's called. I found the stitch I use for the border, it's called Herringbone, it can be found here.


I went to my Aunt's house yesterday and asked if I could photograph my sock sachet in her sock drawer. My Aunt is 79. She agreed, but lit up when she saw my "underwear sachet" and offered to let me use it in her underwear drawer............




I hope you find some lovely drawers for your new sachets. Enjoy the patterns and until we talk again, I hope your "Feeling Stitchy!"