sample making for penguin and fish

This past month, I stitched up a few samples for Alyssa, the fabric and embroidery pattern designer behind Penguin and Fish.

Alyssa sent me five animals to embroider: a giraffe, an elephant, a lion, an owl, and a hedgehog. I was able to stitch up each of the patterns in one sitting, and I loved the results!

The designs were adorable, and I loved the small details, like the satin-stitched giraffe spots and one-stitch lion's mane.  I'm excited to see what Alyssa does with all of the samples!

etsy favorites in red

DIY Embroidery Card Kit by Curious Doodles

Cherry Bomb Headband with Wool Felt by Lou and Lee

Coral Ampersand by OhHi

embroidery project: not for all the tea in china

For those of you lucky enough to be in the Seattle area on Friday, you should stop by Assemble Gallery and Studio's May Artwalk Extravaganza. In addition to the opening of their show of Emily Katz's embroidery work, Assemble is also hosting an embroidery contest with the theme, "Not for All the Tea in China.

I visited and fell in love with Assemble during our trip to Seattle, and I'm so excited to have the chance to participate in their contest. My piece, which is currently untitled, will be on display alongside the other entries starting on Friday. 

The eleven-by-eleven-inch piece of fabric features cross-stitch text in the center (the first time I've ever done cross-stitch on a surface other than aida cloth), French knots (of course!), large isolated chain stitches, and buttonhole stitches (which I learned how to do during an embroidery class with Rachel Hobson at The Stitch Lab).

I chose the design after a lot (a lot!) of deliberation. I ultimately decided to stitch a phrase that was a variation on my husband's response to the question, "What wouldn't you trade for all the tea in China?" The flower frame was inspired by the Liberty of London line of products that recently hit Target shelves--and the floral storage box I picked up from the clearance shelf during a shopping trip last weekend in particular.

For those of you that can, I do hope you'll stop by the event, check out the entries and vote for your favorite one, and support a great crafty and creative space.

UPDATE: Though my piece didn't win the contest (you can see the winning entry here), it did sell. Thank you for all of your lovely comments, both here and on Flickr!

embroidery project: doily

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of taking the Artistic Embroidery class with Kat McTee at The Stitch Lab in South Austin. After falling in love with this doily-themed embroidery project, I knew I wanted to try out something similar.

I started off using a simple circular design that I found in a book at the sewing studio. I transferred the design to my piece of linen and then started stitching, embellishing the pattern as I went along. I experimented with a variety of stitches, including a modified blanket fan, to create a sampler of sorts.

One of my favorite sections of the doily is its center, which features a cluster of French knots.

I finally framed the piece last week and finished the back off with a vintage sheet.

UPDATE: This piece won the white category in Feeling Stitchy's Rainbow of Stitches Contest!

embroidery project: chandelier

As an early Christmas present, I received a copy of Jenny Hart's latest book, Embroidered Effects. I hadn't done any embroidery up until that point (November), so I read the book cover to cover and practiced all of the stitches. The book includes lots of neat transfers, so for my very first embroidery project, I decided to stitch a chandelier.

The design was super easy to stitch (I did most of the stitching while sitting on a plane) and features lots of French knots. I stitched the design all in blue, and following Jenny's suggestion, I added a gold sequin to the main droplet hanging from the chandelier. 

I was finally able to frame the piece a few weeks ago using this simple tutorial and a scrap of floral fabric.

embroidered button swap: what i received

So for the embroidered button swap, my partner, Adaiha, sent me this lovely set of buttons, embellished with lots of pretty French knots (my favorite!) in blues and greens.

In the package, among squares of vintage fabric, vintage buttons, and chocolates, I also found an adorable strawberry pincushion...

...a matching needlebook...

...and an adorable blue crocheted octopus pin (love!).

Adaiha and I enjoyed the swap so much that we decided to do another one. Next up: tiny embroidery (framed in mini hoops!). I've already started stitching, and will reveal the results in late April.

sewing project: french knot napkins

I really love making napkins (which you may have noticed in these two posts), so for my parents-in-law's back-to-back birthdays, I decided to make them a pair of napkins.

I've been slowly learning how to embroider (pictures of my projects from my embroidery class at the Stitch Lab coming soon!), and I've wanted to embroider napkins for a while, so I decided to give it a try.

Using a piece of white cotton for the front, I created a border using dark blue French knots. For the back, I used a piece of olive green cotton; both fabrics are thrift store finds.

I'm really happy with how the napkins turned out, and have plans for more designs with various stitches.