Work In Progress

I began a new piece to embroider on this weekend................

It has a tiny blue bird sailing over..................
With lots of clusters of Forget - Me - Nots................

And large petal shaped leaves......................

That go with beautiful roses................

This is the kind of embroidery I love the most.

I can't wait to finish it and to show you what the project is.................or have you already guessed what linen this is being embroidered on?

How about you? Have you started any new project lately? Are you embroidering,? getting out your paint brushes,?...........or is that the sound of knitting needles I hear? Let me know............I always love to hear!

*Just to let you know, because some of you are asking.......all of the stitches in this project are the basic outline stitch in embroidery and short and long stitch. Hope this helps.

In the Chaos

Do you ever find that you are so involved with your creating, that once you stop and look around you, it seems that your creating has taken over not only your creative space, but the living room and the bedroom............even the dining room table?? Look at the following photo..........this is Boo, saying........."we have to talk..........not one more stitch!"

That's what's happened to me. It all started when I looked up to see a large cobweb hanging on the ceiling............I look over to see dust bunnies on top of my sewing lamp................snips of floss lying in a path from my creative space to the bedroom...........and then..............it happened.............snips of floss hanging off of Boo's tail..........and then.................hanging off the back of my husband's shirt!..........as he was walking by!!!! I grabbed my duster and it looked like a Texas wind storm.........inside of my living room! And then...........my motor kicked in.............I pulled out boxes of my material stash, mixed- matched linens waiting to be embroidered.......(and organized) and instead of getting one stitch done............I organized everything! Now, my linens are folded and sorted........waiting for color........my material is in boxes for quilting, sewing, and crafting. And now I can start letting those snips fly and cling all over again!

Can you relate? I would love to hear!

Making Those Tiny Stitches

I have been emailed a question about embroidery that I would like to share the answer with all of you.

Sue wanted to know how to embroidery very small designs.

Well, you can take very tiny stitches, or you can also use a running outline stitch. This is what I do when I come across tiny embroidery designs like the one above for a baby bib I am making. The photo above was done by using this stitch. As you can see, you can get the detail you desire. Are any of you familiar with this type of stitch? Or do you find another way of stitching tiny stitches better? I would love to hear!

I finished the cross stitched bouquet and stitched it onto a homespun towel.
I also dabbled in making a few baby things like these adorable little shoes. I also took a lot of my embroidered things along with me to the first Farmer's market meeting last night. The folks there were so friendly and oohed and ahwed over my work as they passed it along to each other. I am not sure as if I will do the farmer's market, however, due to a lot of reasons...........you can read more on my country blog.........Eggs In My Pocket,
http://eggsinmypocket.blogspot.com
I have until July to make my final decision about this. Which brings my question to you. Do any of you sell your handmades at a farmer's market or such? Do you have to travel a long way into town to do so? With the economy, do you find folks so willing to purchase these items? I would really love to hear!

cross stitch bouquets

This is the month that my Italian Jasmine blooms it's cheery yellow blossoms. I love this old heirloom plant and look forward to seeing it bloom each year.

While looking through my books, I came across this cheery counted cross stitch bouquet.
It is rather small and works up quickly, (although I still have some more stitching to do on it). I plan to make something with it...........just not sure yet. Although I love embroidery above and beyond in the world of stitching, there is something about cross stitch blossoms that just tug at my needle strings. How about you? Do you like cross stitch? If so, do you like flowers better?.............animals perhaps?...........or some other kind of design? I would love to hear!