Hoop Bonanza!

I am totally obsessed with making hoops to go up on my hoopla wall at the moment!! Since I've moved house my hoopla wall has definitely expanded :D :D Here are the latest additions to the wall.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

I have nearly really grown out of my love of the Pokemon games/world, and still spend far too much of my time playing the games on my DS. I bought a job lot of hoops from eBay a while ago, and in the set I has some some red plastic hoops, and immediately thought they would make a good Pokeball hoop! Mostly made from felt with a black band of ribbon running through the centre. I wrapped the bottom half of the hoop in white felt, to finish off the pokeball!

I am loving all things Viking themed at the moment, so when I saw this pattern on Urban Threads I knew I had to make it :D The Viking face is stitched up in mix of one strand brown and one strand of green thread. I then free hand stitched some runes around the edge of the hoop and added some bright green seed beads for some more colour.

This was another awesome Urban Threads pattern. I'd been meaning to make a pagan themed hoop for my hoopla and I loved this pattern. It was a pretty quick hoop to stitch up, and was done using back stitch. I then crayon tinted the pattern to make it more colourful.

And here's what my hoopla wall currently looks like!! :D :D

May Round Up

Once again I'm a bit late in my monthly blog round up, so apologies!! Getting the new house sorted took longer than I thought, and it has been a busy month at Embroidery Emporium HQ!!

I haven't crossed off much more on my 50 Projects list, but it has been a very productive month.

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.

So I finished my first swap on Craftster and have already signed up for a second one!! I really enjoyed my first swap, and was lucky to be given a fantastic partner to swap with! Here are the hoops I made for my partner -



She loved them so I was really pleased! And I received the most awesome swap package back from her too!! I'll do a separate blog post with more pics and info on the hoops :)


35. Go to more than 2 events this year.

We attended our first event - May Spring Pensthorpe, at the start of the month. The event was great fun, despite the dreadful weather, and I finally got to wear my new Viking outfit which was great!! It was really comfortable to wear and helped keep me warm during the event.



I finished the wedding sampler I mentioned in my last round up and am really pleased with how it turned out. Made a good start on the baby sampler to. The Hunger Games cross stitch is still ongoing, and I've made loads more hoops to go up on my hoopla wall, so much stitching has been done :) Hopefully I'll get a chance to update the blog some more this month :)

Vicki x

April Round Up

Hello!!

I know this April Round Up is coming a bit late but things have been a bit hectic here at Embroidery Emporium HQ!! I've been moving house - yay!! (I now have my own crafting space and fabric/costume wardrobe - that is once I uncover the floor from more boxes!!), been away at events, and been uber busy with some pretty big commissions and making my Viking garb, which has left very little time for updating my blog!

So here's what I've been up to in April, and how I'm progressing with my 50 projects list!

3. Stitch Japanese wedding sampler.
It's done, it's done, it's done! It was an enormous amount of work, but I am so very pleased with how it turned out. You will have to wait several more months till I can post pictures of it though :) But it couldn't have turned out better!

9. Organise all my silk.
I spent many hours doing this recently! I had a commission which was done with many shades of silk thread so had to organise them to make them easier to use. I got bored and created this silk spool tower :p

10. Sort out Viking outfit.
It's done!! Well mostly! it's still awaiting an embroidered band to around the top of the apron dress, but it is now perfectly wearable and it is awesome!! I wore to an event recently and it was so warm and comfortable. I'll do a proper blog update for it but for now here's a shot of me wearing it at Pensthorpe -

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.
I finally did it, and am currently participating in the UK Only swap over on Craftster. I've made 2 of my items and the third is currently being worked on :) More info to follow once my swap partner has received them :)

As well as all these I also started a Hunger Games cross stitch project which I made the pattern for myself. Currently stitching the third part so that should be done soon. Made a good start on another wedding sampler for a family friend, and finally found a baby sampler I liked to stitch up for my cousins second baby!

What took up most of my time this month (apart from Viking things) was an embroidery commission I receievd via my website to embroider some artwork. This was a great project to do and it will receive it's own blog very soon, but here's a sneak peak of the finished commission -

Hopefully now that moving and everything is out of the way I should have more time to update this blog :) Thanks for reading, Vicki x

March Round Up

It's that time again!! Here's my stitching round up for March!!

So, although I have been doing a crazy amount of stitching recently, not much of it was actually from my 50 Projects list. Here's what I have been up!

1. Update my blog at least once a week.
Well this month I have been rather rubbish on this front, so apologies for that!

3. Stitch Japanese wedding sampler.
This is what I am currently working on. I'm well over half way through now :)

10. Sort out Viking outfit.
This project is what has been taking up most of my time this month. I have already made an embroidered Jorvik Hood which you can find more info on here.

I've mostly finished my apron dress, and hood. Both of which still need all the seams hand finished with contrasting thread. Bought all the necessary bits to finish the outfit of. Now just need some more embroidery to poshen it up!!

Here's what it looks like currently -

It is impossible to get a sensible looking photo of me! haha!

50. Make more of my own patterns.
I've just finished making a Hunger Games cross stitch pattern. Got all the materials and threads ready to start it, now I just need some free time!!! I've also designed another Christina Perri themed hoop, this time for the song Jar of Hearts.

And that is it for my 50 Projects list this month. I've also made another Kindle cover which is still awaiting a blog of it's own, but you can see my finished Christina Perri themed hoop here - Ghost of a Girl. As well as these I've made 12 new reusable cloth pads, a petticoat to go with some costume and two cushions from some awesome butterfly fleece fabric! So things have been pretty busy at Embroidery Emporium Central!

Vicki x

Embroidered Jorvik Hood

Apologies for once again being rubbish with blog updates!! I have been so busy with sewing in the last couple of weeks I've had no time for blogging!

I've been working really hard on piecing together all the bits for a Viking outfit. I'm going to an event at the start of May and fancied wearing something different, so Viking it is!!

I spent a while researching suitable head wear for the outfit, and decided on a Jorvik hood. As I love all types of historical embroidery, of course my hood had to be covered in some pretty embroidery.

In total there is 24 inches of embroidery around the front of the hood, which is made from linen. I have used the 'acanthus vine' pattern for the embroidery. This pattern was originally found on clothing in burial mound at Bjerringhøj, in Mammen parish, Middelsom, in northern Denmark and is dated to the 10th Century. The find was one of the largest collections found of Viking embroidery. For more information on the pattern and other extant examples of Viking embroidery check out this site -

I drew the pattern onto the linen, and started the embroidery by stitching the whole outline. I tried to stick as closely as possible to the colours in the original find. The pattern is worked totally in silk embroidery thread. The outline has been worked in stem stitch and has been filled in with a variation of long and short stitch, and stem stitch. Once the white outline was finished the pattern seemed to fill in really quickly.

The hood has also been lined with linen, and the two pieces of linen were hand stitched together.

And here's a shot of the hood on. (Apologies for aspects of the photo not being historically accurate.) Very much looking forward to wearing it at an event now :)

Vicki x

February Round Up

So I totally meant to write this yesterday but oh well!! An update on what has been occurring crafty wise throughout February and how much more I've ticked off from my 50 Projects list!!

1. Update my blog at least once a week.
Well, I pretty much failed at this after the first week of February!! Here's hoping I'm a bit more successful in March!

2. Make pattern for Japanese wedding sampler.
After putting off starting this for longer than I really should have the pattern is finished!! It was drafted out about 5 times, plus numerous other small sketches to get my ideas straight. It has mostly been totally drawn up from scratch, although I did use a small pattern to base some of the flowers on. All the materials for it have now been bought and have made a good start on the stitching, and it is looking good so far!

7. Start Buffy & Spike kit.
Another kit I have been putting off starting! Mainly because it was so different to other things I have cross stitched. I prefer working using just one bold colour, so a kit that includes lots of different, but similar shades, is a pretty daunting concept. I made a copy of the chart so I could highlight the pattern as I went along, which really helped me to keep my place whilst I working. Here's what I have got so far -

Looking just a bit random!!!

10. Sort out Viking outfit.
Can't totally cross this off the list yet but am making a good start!! I now have suitable shoes, an under dress on the way, fabric and brooches sorted for my apron dress, beads and pendants for my jewellery (although more beads are definitely necessary!) and am currently doing some embroidery for a Jorvik hood. Here's my progress so far -

It is stitched on linen in silk thread. It will also be lined with linen as well once it is finished.

29. Deathly Hallows hoop.
And another Harry Potter hoop to cross off the list!! This time a Deathly Hallows one, as Harry Potter is awesome!! I've been making a load of Harry Potter themed stuff recently, and as I said in January, I will do a big blog post of all of the Harry Potter themed stuff as soon as they are all finished and given as birthday presents :) Here's a sneaky peak for now -

31. Finish Opeth WIP.
IT'S FINISHED!!!!! I've already done a big blog post about so go check it out - Ghost Reveries

40. Stop being terrified of doing French knots & 48. Try my first cross stitch on linen instead of aida.
I think I have finally conquered my total fear and hatred of french knots!! GO TEAM!! Again, I have already done a proper blog post just for this hoop, complete with lots of pictures of said hundreds of french knots!! You can check it out here - Baa, Baa, French Knot Sheep

45. Set up a Folksy store.
Finally got around to setting one of these up as well. You can find my store here - Folksy

As well as all these things of my 50 Projects list I also finished a pretty big blackwork commission for a Catherine of Aragon outfit which will be featured in it's own blog very soon!!

And, I think, that is it!!

Vicki x