Halloween Doodle Embroidery

Bugs and Hearts

Did you know you can turn your doodles into embroidery and make a personal statement?

I've been working on a lot of embroidery lately. All of these are works in progress and I still have to remove the pencil lines and clean them up. Then I can frame them and do things with them. I hope they inspire you to make your own. I think it is important to do original artwork.  I'll put some of them in my Etsy shop if they come out well enough. The letters are really tricky. Think of it as drawing with thread. I'm using 2 strands of embroidery floss on woven cotton or muslin.



Hissy Cat

Witch Parking Embroidery by Fayme Harper

Saving an Embroidery Project

I've been thinking about embroidery a lot lately, and then out of the blue my new friend gives me some craft books including one of taking doodles and then using them for embroidery patterns. Of course the book had interesting doodles but I'd prefer to use my own. That is the plus side of  being an artist; I can draw my own art.

The I started reading a novel called Calligraphy of a Witch or maybe it's called the Witch's Calligraphy. At any rate, the heroine does embroidery to help her overcome being sold as a slave. So once again in some strange way embroidery has entered my life.

So last night I stitched a floral design on a dish towel that I bought years ago for that purpose. Then I picked up an old project of a hummingbird that I was making for Guy's mom. Somehow I'd done a lot of the chart wrong so I'd abandoned the project. But I realized the important thing wasn't to slavishly copy the pattern in the magazine, just as long as the end result still looks like a hummingbird. So now I'm just eyeballing it, following the coloring and the lines of the pattern, and not worrying about following the design. It's the only way it's going to get done. I didn't even have a record of what color floss I'd already used. But I'd already finished the body and the beak, so I just have to get the wings right more or less. When it comes to the hibiscus part, I should be able to use the chart again. I feel good that I'll be able to save it and not lose all the labor I've already put into it. I started it in 2009.

Sunset Bunny

Since its too windy to work outside today, I decided to work on my Etsy shop instead. I still have more to list, but if I do too many at once, I start getting the descriptions all mixed up. So I thought I'd quit while I was ahead. I've added new owls and bunnies. The sunset bunny is my newest favorite. If you've never tried embroidery on felt, it's a delight to work with. It's also a good material to teach young hands their embroidery stitches. For about $3.00 in California, you can gift a young stitcher with enough felt, thread and buttons to get started.

Felt Ornaments

Owl with beads.

Little bunny.

Blue Owl

Sewing a sunset cottontail bunny.

A selection of the felt ornaments I just finished. I'm trying to fill up my Etsy shop before Easter. Then again if they all sold out before Easter, I wouldn't cry too hard.

Stitchery, Beads, and Other Fun Stuff

I've been working on an article called the Creative Spark and it's been keeping me from blogging as much. I was just working on a rainbow knit scarf that I'll be posting in my knitting blog.

Earlier today I hit the jackpot at a yard sale and got a bunch of beautiful silver lined lampwork beads, as well as some prints of frock coats, some metal jacks, and a watercolor book. I made out like a bandit.

So I couldn't resist making a pair of right angle weave green earrings out of some of my new beads.

Yesterday I started a stitching project with burlap and felt and I'm making a pumpkin pillow. I was hoping to work on that more today but it got circumvented by bead fever. Ah well, maybe tomorrow.

Using Waste Canvas on a T-shirt

Here I am working on my t-shirt with waste canvas. For some reason this lettering style is very time consuming and easy to do wrong. I'm spending more time fixing it than I am sewing it. Such is life sometimes. At least the weather was pleasant and I got to be outdoors instead of stuffed into a cubicle.

This is a collage I made on a site called Blingee.

Create cool Profile Comments

Love Machine

I just finished my newest Zombie Nanner Gang challenge, which is 'love machine'. I did it in thread embroidery on felt. I like this acrylic felt because it's made of recycled soda bottles. I did it freehand for a folk art feel.

Flying Pickle

I just finished my first challenge for the Zombie Nanner Gang. This is the first day so if you want in on something fun, challenging and creative hop over and sign up. Or just join and follow to watch the creativity fly. Go Zombie Nanner Gang.

Owl Dishtowel 2

I've been all over the Internet today looking up various types of embroidery, and now I wish I hadn't because it sure can be intimidating when you see what other people are making. I looked up SCA embroidery on Flickr and there were 519 photos. I only got through about 200 before my eyes started to glaze over.

I miss my SCA days but it can be a very overwhelming group and a big time and money suck if you don't set some boundaries.

Anyway, I made another owl today in 'chicken scratch' style embroidery. I'm just not sure that anyone but me will be able to tell it's an owl. It was fun though and a technique well worth exploring, but perhaps in some more abstract way, like a border on an apron perhaps.

Owl Embroidery

Today is a very happy day for me. My new camera came via Fed Ex. It's just like my boyfriend's camera and a step up from my previous canon that was stolen. It's a Canon Powershot A560. And I'm not letting this one out of my sight.

I finished my first embroidered owl on a towel for my new etsy shop Tweeters and Hooters. I haven't listed it yet because I want to wash it and pre-shrink it first. I expect it to hold up just fine but if something's going to run amuck I'd rather find out before I sell it.

I remember hearing about chickenscratch embroidery when I was a child so I looked it up on Flickr. Since the towels are checked I thought I'd try some. I found some beautiful examples on Flickr. I'm very excited. It looks a lot like blackwork embroidery I think. So I used my new camera to take photos of my new embroidery.

Update: I decided to go ahead and list it.