January Round Up

I thought to keep me on track with my 50 Things list I would do a round up of things I have completed in the month :) So far I have made a pretty good start on the list!

1. Update my blog at least once a week.
I think so far this has been going well!! Definitely been updating the blog more, although there is still a backlog of the things I've made recently to go up. I think if I can keep it up for 6 months then I can strike it off the list :)

2. Make pattern for Japanese wedding sampler
The process for this is slowly getting off the ground. I have drawn out a pattern I am happy with. Need to check the symbolism of some bits and confirm spellings and such and then will be ready to chart up properly.

17. Cover for my Kindle.
This is totally finished!! :D :D And currently awaiting a blog of it's own, but for now here's a sneaky peak -

25. Add to hoopla wall.
Already two more hoops! And have several more planned out and awaiting stitching! Here's a pick of how my hoopla wall looks -

A Wingardium Leviosa hoop has been added since I took this picture.

26. Tangled hoop.
I am totally in love with this hoop!! If you scroll down you will see my blog on it. It's such an awesome colour and I love how it turned out!

27. Wingardium Leviosa hoop.
My second hoop of the year to be finished and hung on the hoopla wall. This is still awaiting a blog of it's own,but as I am planning several more Potter themed hoops thought I would wait and group them all together. Here's a pic of it though -

44. Set up an Etsy store.
I finally did it! My Etsy store is up and running! Here's the link to it for anyone who would like to see - http://www.etsy.com/shop/EmbroideryEmp

So all in all not a bad month for crafting and lots of things I wanted to do and make have already been achieved :) Vicki x

Etsy!!

I have finally organised myself into setting up an Etsy store! Something I have been meaning to set up for ages. Y

ou can find me here - http://www.etsy.com/shop/EmbroideryEmp
So go take a look :)

Also, another thing crossed off my 50 things list!! Slowly working through it now!

And to make this post much more interesting, here's a picture of the very lovely and adorable Eyra cat doing what she does best, snoozing.

Vicki x

Embroidered Hankies

For Christmas I decided to embroider some hankies for my Nan. I bought Aimee Rays awesome Doodle Stitching books earlier in the year and loved pretty much all the designs in the book, so it was a pretty easy to find patterns I wanted to stitch. They took two evenings to stitch up, and are done using two strands of thread with backstitch and satin stitch. I drew the patterns on with a pencil, tracing the pattern from the book. Here's some close up shots -

I think this cat one is my favourite of the bunch :) ^^

(I actually have the same initials as both my Nan and Mum).

These were really fun to make, and very quick to stitch up. Will definitely be making some more :)

Thanks for reading, Vicki x

Tangled Hoop

I absolutely love Tangled, and it has fast become one of my favourite Disney films! Who could fail to love a film with a sword fighting horse, magical hair and a hilarious chameleon! I've wanted to make something Tangled themed for my ever growing hoopla wall for quite a while now and have had this one planned since before Christmas. I always loved the sun symbol you see all throughout the film, and this hoop is based on the purple flag Rapunzel has with it on.

I'm pretty sure it's framed in a 12" hoop. I started by wrapping some purple ribbon around the outside ring of the hoop, and left enough at the top to hang it with. I then pulled some purple satin material taught across the hoop, making sure it was totally flat and nice and tight. I found an image of the design online, printed it out and then cut out two of the suns rays to use as templates. Using the lens cap from a telescope a traced out a circle onto some yellow felt and then pinned the two paper templates onto more felt and traced around them. The larger rays are made using the same felt as the circle, whilst the smaller ones are from a slightly brighter shade of yellow felt. Once all the shapes were cut out I then pinned them all onto the hoop.

All the felt was then stitched down using two strands of thread. Once they were all stitched down, I couched some sparkly Russian gold braid in a swirl in the centre of the sun. I thought this would a bit more sparkle to the hoop. I love how the hoop turned out and is already hanging up on my hoopla wall :) I think it only took a couple of hours to stitch up one evening, and was the first piece I completed from my '50 Projects 2012' blog.

Thanks for reading, Vicki x

50 Projects in 2012

So, inspired by a thread on Craftster that I missed the sign up date for I thought I would set my 50 craft challenges for the year, to help motivate my stitching when I am not working on commissions. In no particular order, here’s what I have so far -

1. Update my blog at least once a week.
2. Make pattern for Japanese wedding sampler.[Feb]
3. Stitch Japanese wedding sampler.
4. Finish dolphin WIP.
5. Finish Jack Sparrow WIP.
6. Start ‘Library Cat’ kit.
7. Start Buffy & Spike kit.[Feb]
8. Start Henry VIII & Wives kit.
9. Organise all my silk.
10. Sort out Viking outfit.
11. Sort out Medieval outfit.
12. Alter black Tudor outfit.
13. Make and embroider an Elizabethan Coif.
14. Blackwork Henrican coif.
15. Blackwork for Jason’s shift – collar and cuffs.
16. Make sleeves for brown Tudor outfit and alter it.
17. Cover for my Kindle.[Jan]
18. Try stumpwork.
19. Try crewelwork.
20. Learn to knit.
21. Make a Hogwart’s scarf.
22. Advertise and promote my website more.
23. Update photos in my work albums, and keep them up to date.
24. Improve the underside of my blackwork.
25. Add to hoopla wall.[Jan/Feb]
26. Tangled hoop.[Jan]
27. Wingardium Leviosa hoop.[Jan]
28. Glow in the dark Lumos hoop.
29. Deathly Hallows hoop.[Feb]
30. Felt Christmas stocking.
31. Finish Opeth WIP.[Feb]
32. Read more books on historical embroidery techniques.
33. Enter more craft challenges on DeviantArt.
34. Actually get enough courage to do my first swap on Craftster, instead of just reading all of the awesome ideas on the swap board and never entering one.
35. Go to more than 2 events this year.
36. Keep all the patterns on my laptop properly organised.
37. Make every card I give this year.
38. For my first piece of blackwork to sell on the stall.
39. Expand the range of embroidery stitches that I feel confident with. (Currently only really happy with back stitch and satin stitch)
40. Stop being terrified of doing French knots.[Feb]
41. Take better photographs of my work.
42. Keep my website up to date with pictures and blogs.
43. Be more active on my facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Embroidery-Emporium/115006128541419
44. Set up an Etsy store.[Jan]
45. Set up a Folksy store.[Feb]
46. Hopefully get more blackwork commissions.
47. Update my Flickr account with all the pictures I meant to upload there last year.
48. Try my first cross stitch on linen instead of aida.[Feb]
49. Stitch a Christmassy cross stitch.
50. Make more of my own patterns.

Pheww, well I think that list of epic-ness will keep my going for several years!!! Haha!! Anyone else set themselves challenges or aims for the year?
Vicki x

Tinkerbell Mini Cushions

Hii. So yet more Disney stitchery is appearing on my blog!! My friends granddaughter loves Tinkerbell and the first cushion was made for her. As she is quite young I didn't want to make something and just frame it, so thought a cushion would be a bit more fun and colourful.

I found the pattern on ebay and loved it and made up the pattern for the 'R'. After I finished the cross stitch I mounted it onto a piece of felt. As I can never leave the reverse side of my work blank, I stitched her name onto the back and added some sequins for a bit of extra sparkle. I then blanket stitched the two pieces of felt together. The cushion is stuffed with toy filling.

So, immediately after I finished this one and posted on my facebook, I was asked to make another one!! My Aunt commissioned me to make one for my cousin, who also loves Tinekrbell. I changed the colours of the flowers for this one, as I don't like to make things that are exactly the same. Charted out an 'M' for the front as well.

This cushion was then put together in the same way as the first. As it was a Christmas present I was asked to stitch 'Xmas 2011' into the back. They were actually pretty quick to stitch up and a fun pattern to do :)

Here's a close up shot of the first design so you can see all the details -

Thanks for reading, Vicki xx

Thomas Kinkade Cross Stitch

Soooo, yet again I have been dreadful with updating this blog. I was stupidly busy with stitching over Christmas and time just slipped away. I'm working on a pretty big blackwork commission at the moment in quite a short time frame so not much free time for blogging I'm afraid. Hopefully will get the chance to update this blog with all my latest pieces and show the amazing crafty bits I got for Christmas at some point soon. Having a brief sewing break for half hour so thought I'd do a quick blog about one of the Christmas present I made this year. My Mum is a huge fan of the painter Thomas Kinkade and she has wanted one of his pieces of artwork for years and years. I've been meaning to stitch her up a Kinkade piece for a while now and this Christmas I finally got around to doing one :) I found the kit for 'Evening Glow' on ebay. I had been searching for a kit I liked for weeks and finally found this one.

It was a printed canvas kit, so the picture was already on the aida material. It came with a chart, which gave a pattern for how you could embellish the picture with a variety of cross stitch, half stitch and back stitch using 1, 2 or 3 strands of thread to create a more 3d feel.

The great thing amount this chart was that you could add as many or as few embellishments as you wanted. I decided to pretty much stick exactly to the pattern on the chart, and once I had completed that, I added bits that I thought would make the piece stand out a bit more. This was really fun as I could just stitch what I wanted as I went along. I also stitched the artists signature into the corner.

The kit came with a load of blending filament. This was thread that I had never used before and I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive amount using it, as I have never really been found of using metallic threads. This turned out to be totally different to what I was expecting. It was much smoother than metallic threads, and although when you came to the end of the length of thread you were stitching with it was starting to fray slightly, for the most part it was incredibly easy to stitch with and gave a fabulous sparkly result. I would definitely use it over metallic thread in other projects that I wanted to add a bit of sparkle to.

Apologies for the rubbish phone camera picture, but this is the only shot of it I have were you can see just how sparkly the blending filament made it :) I had great fun stitching it up, and couldn't wait for Mum to unwrap it on Christmas day :) Thanks for reading, Vicki x