Scraps - Finished

So here's the finished Scraps, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Probably the most appropriate Oz character to stitch!

Here's a secret for anyone using the red iron-on colored pencils for pattern transfer. It doesn't wash off, but you can fade it completely if you let the piece side in the sun for a week. This one needs some more sun time, but I couldn't wait to show it to you.

It's on a vintage handkerchief, which still has quite a bit of room left. I'm considering filled the entire thing with Oz illustrations, because John R. Neill was an amazing artist. I used to copy the illustrations all the time in middle school. Loved drawing them.

I wish I could share what I'm stitching now, because it's really pretty. Sadly it's a Christmas gift and you know how that goes...

Scraps - 01

Scraps is going pretty well, and I'm done with all the black parts. My plan is to the do the patches in the darkest blues, purples, and greens in the DMC range. I didn't want to fully colorize it, but also didn't want to have it be all black and white. Though, now that I'm thinking of it, my other illustrations are just with black thread... Drat.

I've managed to contract a children's livestock disease - hand, foot, and mouth (okay, it's not related to the livestock disease, I just say that to annoy my sister). It didn't go around our areas when I was a child or my mom was a child. She'd certainly never heard of it. This is the second year that my niece and nephew have gotten it.

Benjamin was here the other day, and we ate lunch together, sharing some silverware, before I knew it was going around. Sigh. I should know better than to share silverware with any child, no matter how healthy they seem. My body is not liking it so far.

A great thing is that when he was here I got him to do a little stitching on plastic canvas! He probably would have done more, but I kept correcting him on which side the needle should go in (I know, I'm dreadful). I'm hoping he'll want to add to it (in other colors) on his next visits. 

I was interviewed!

Catherine of Ancora Crafts was extremely kind and asked me to do an interview for the series she's running on her blog. 

Of course I ran around like a mad goose texting everyone I knew (okay, so there are only like... five people I text, but I was unspeakably excited). I'm tell you now because my interview is up!

I had every intention of starting my remake of my Roman mosaic but I really wanted to do another illustration for the stitch-along, so I'm putting it off again. I decided on Scraps the patchwork girl from the Oz books, and John R Neill's lovely illustration.

This time I decided to trace it with my iron on pencil, since I didn't want to Fabri-solvy obscuring the evenweave like it did with the owl piece. Only of course which part shifted and smudged during the ironing? Only the head... only the part with the most detail. Sigh! That'll teach me. This is from The Gnome King of Oz, my favorite of the Ruth Thompson set.

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

I stitched this ages ago, and sold the finished piece a few months back, but I've only just put the pattern up for sale. I'm really proud of my dead bird based on the classic blackwork bird design.

I've been thinking of putting together some blackwork design packs (of my original designs) with themes, but I'm not sure it's worth it. So many people seem weirdly nervous of blackwork, even though it's the exact same level of difficult as cross-stitch (aka - super easy). 

My current mission is to get a friend to try non-counted embroidery, which she's nervous of. I don't think basic embroidery stitches (back stitch, stem stitch, satin stitch, etc...) are any harder than doing cross-stitch. Really it's just a great relief to mindless follow a pattern printed on fabric, with no need to be constantly counting and checking up and glancing between fabric and pattern.

I have too many things I want to work on right now, one is a big Christmas present (15,000 stitches! It will be my biggest piece yet), then I want to restitch my Roman mosaic, add some embroidery to my mini-crazy quilt, work on my patchwork Aida concept, do another piece for the Illustration Stitch-Along (free choice this month), etc...

Bless This Hive of Scum and Villainy

Here it is, gang, my greatest embroidery pattern EVER.

I'm so happy with it all around. I actually tested all the colors on a scrap of the fabric before starting to stitch (unheard of for me) and I think that really helped, as I'm really happy with that aspect as well (though the blue is a bit bright in certain lights/pictures.

Anyway, the pattern is now up in my Etsy shop.

Currently working on a Christmas present that I can't post here, but I've also got a small free embroidery piece going that I should be posting soon. I'm intending to restitch my Roman mosaic too, now that I own all the DMC colors.

I've started using software to convert some of my patterns into all symbols versions, since I know a lot of people prefer that. They're so hard for me to read myself though. When you've got a lot of colors obviously that's the best option, likewise if you've got limited printer ink, but for a simple pattern I think colored squares are so much easier to read. Of course I can't use printed out patterns at all since I'm pretty well lying down when I stitch. 

Tomorrow I'll have a post about this year's Quilt National exhibit at the Dairy Barn. It's an especially incredible group this year, with loads of embroidery incorporated.