Happy Holidays!

Experimenting with Couching Stitch

I had two embroidery projects on my to do list in August…

1. work on the stitch along I started in my google+ community

2. continue the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge

… and I ended up not accomplishing either!

But instead I did finish a project that has been on my mind ever since I learned the couching stitch.

Years ago, I asked my husband to draw me something to embroider for Valentine’s Day and he drew me this girl with a heart.

She has sort of become my “avatar” over the years for MooshieStitch – she's on my Flickr, Google+, Tumblr, Etsy profile, etc.

When I learned the couching stitch for TAST, I thought it would look cool to embroider hair with it, so I decided to re-do this girl with new couched hair!

I removed the heart and eye makeup.

With the couching stitch, it was so easy to stitch up the hair very quick – I may do another girl with different colored hair and fill it all in completely.

Up close just because.

Finished hair ... what color for the lips?

Red of course!

If you notice the difference in lighting from the above photos - that's because I took them at different times of the day. What a difference! I am still learning my natural lighting when taking photos...

What do you think? Which version do you like better? Couched hair or the black and grey stem stitch version?

I think my next version may be green and black hair.

International Embroidery Day - July 30th!

Happy International Embroidery Day!!

I recently read on Queenie's Needlework blog, that July 30th is International Embroidery Day!

Read more about it Here! on the Sweden Embroidery Guild's website and download the manifesto.

 

Another Little Sheep

I really like stitching these little sheep with french knots. This is from a Floss Box pattern I posted about here.

This time I created my own border around it.

This was a birthday gift for a new friend who loves to knit, so I thought stitching a little sheep would be fun and fitting - you know, sheep make wool, wool makes yarn.... :)

Blinded by Science Embroidery Swap

I am so excited to receive my swap piece for the Phat Quarter's Blinded by Science embroidery swap from Wallflower Arts.

I absolutely love it! She did such a great job. Her idea of a pinup inspired anatomical drawing is just awesome.

This swap was so fun. I will definitely participate in future swaps.

If you want to check out my embroidery for the Blinded by Science swap, check out my previous post here.

Something Old - Redwork Ladies

Another one of my older embroidery projects in my Flickr photos.  

I can't remember where I found the patterns on the internet but I loved their pinup look. 

I framed them in little frames I found at a garage sale.

work in progress shot

Something Old - Dave's Design

I was looking through my Flickr photos and found this embroidery I did back in 2009. It's a drawing my husband did that I embroidered for fun - well, actually I gave it to him for an anniversary gift.

I always liked how this turned out - although he thinks I should have filled in the teeth white... I suppose I could do that someday...

How to: Mounting Embroidery on Canvas

For my Phat Quarter - Blinded by Science swap embroidery, I finished it by stretching it or mounting it on a canvas. I had never done it before so thought I would give it a try. It  was really easy and I think it might be my new favorite way to display embroidery.

What you need:

1. Staple gun

2. any size canvas  

Blank 8x10 canvas

I first  laid my embroidery on top of the canvas and did my best to center it.

Then flip it over and staple the center of each side, pulling the fabric tight.

Work your way around the canvas stapling towards the corners.

To do the corners, I wrapped the each corner like wrapping a present and stapled it down. It is a little bulky in the back, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I am sure the more I do it the better I will get.

Back side finished 

Up close view of the wrapped corner

Finished!

Add caption

WIP Wednesday

I've made some progress on my little sheep stitching. Any work on it has been during my lunch breaks.

I am much more excited about my other wip for the Phat Quarter group swap on Flickr. It's my first swap and the theme is "blinded by science". My deadline is April 30th so I have get going on it. I will post photos of it when I am finished.

My Tools

One of my favorite blogs, &Stitches is offering a competition for their readers - show our embroidery tool kits!

**Update - the competition is closed, but you can still see all who shared their favorite tools!**

My favorite embroidery hoops are the Q Snap frames. I think they are easier to work with. If I do use a normal round embroidery hoop I always use a plastic one, even though I have a ton of wooden hoops, I choose plastic every time. (Update February 2016: It's funny how things change. Since I posted this back in 2013, I switched to using wooden hoops and now never use the plastic hoops!!)

DMC embroidery scissors. I use this pair the most.

For transferring patterns, I use the Sulky Iron-on transfer pen with tracing paper. For smaller projects I will use Quilter’s Choice transfer paper. I like how it doesn’t smear and is easy to transfer onto the fabric.

I have been buying Dritz embroidery needles and I use that little purple square pincushion to hold my needles.

The pincushion is nothing fancy – I made it out of some felt and put some Velcro on the bottom so it will stay  in place on the couch arm.

Floss Love Vol. 3: Metallic threads

Metallic and Shiny.

Not always the easiest to stitch with, but look cool.

Renaissance Designs thread

DMC

Like looking at thread? Check out the Embroidery Thread Lovers Group on Flickr.

Finished Purple Girl

Finally finished this purple girl.

Floss Love - Caron Collection threads

Here is another thread that I have yet to use.

Many years ago I bought these few skeins of the Caron Collection threads at the needlework shop.

50% silk 50% wool
Color 6010

And now, years have gone by and I still haven’t used them in any embroidery. I need to use them soon…

Color 077 - Royal Jewels

Why is it that I will buy these threads, and yet I end up never using them?? 

Which is part of the reason I started these Floss Love posts. So maybe it will force me to look at what I've got in my stash and hopefully start using it! 

WIP Wednesday: Purple Lady

Hello! I'm starting a new weekly feature called WIP Wednesday!

Every Wednesday (hopefully) I'm going to post what embroidery work I have in progress.

This week, I'm working on the next pattern my husband drew.

I'm using 4 strands of floss by mixing 2 strands of dark purple with 2 strands of very light purple.


Warning.... big booty coming up!! :)

WIP - Mask Embroidery

I've made a lot of progress on this mask embroidery I started from a previous post.

I had no idea what colors I was going to use when I started stitching this, but knew I wanted to do something more pastel-y, since my last few embroideries had so much black. I'm not sure if I want to add some filler stitches to it.

Up Close

This is an original design my husband drew that eventually will be a pattern on our Etsy store. . . Whenever that is ready. Its a work in progress. . . but we are slowly getting there.