My First Craftster Swap

I recently took part my in my first ever swap over on Craftster. I have long admired all the awesome things posted in the swap gallery and have wanted to participate in a swap for ages!

It was the UK Only Swap and I was paired up with an excellent partner, who shared my love of hoops, which was great!! So this became very much a hoopla swap.

Here's the set of hoops that I made -



I came up with these three hoops after reading through my partner's questionnaire. They were great fun to make, even if I probably would never have come up the idea of making them without this swap.



I was given a link to my partner's favourites list on Etsy in her questionnaire. I spent ages looking through the many favourites, and this hoop is based on a lovely art print I saw on there. It is made entirely from felt. I added buttons to the moon as my partner said she loved them. The little stars are french knots done in two strands of thread.



In the questionnaire it said that my partner was going to be volunteering at the Olympics in London this summer, so I thought that it would be nice to make something as a reminder of this. I drew the pattern onto cotton, the hoops are stitched in two strands of thread and the writing in three. It uses mostly back stitch and satin stitch. The satin stitch on this took forever as it was so tiny. I wrapped the hoop in ribbon to make it more colourful.

Here's a close up of the satin stitch on the hoops -



I'm now in the process of making another 2 of these hoops!!! So no escaping the tiny satin stitching just yet!!



This was the third and final hoop that I made for the swap. My partner loved birds and bright colours so thought this would fit that theme. I found the inspiration for this whilst browsing through Etsy. Stitched on yellow linen, with felt applique for the branch and birds eggs and the birds are done using back and satin stitch. I wrapped the hoop in black ribbon as I thought it looked better than leaving it wooden.

Usually when I make hoops for my hoopla wall I don't bother to do anything to the back of them. Seeing as I knew the backs of these would be looked at, I thought I had better make sure that they looked neat and tidy, so I did this -



I was really pleased with how these hoops all turned out, and thankfully my partner loved them too. The package I got from her in return was TOTALLY AWESOME!!!! I absolutely loved all the hoops she made me -



My list of likes and interest was pretty epic. She decided to work with one theme - mermaids, and then run that through several other themes on my list. Those being Harry Potter - one of the mer-people, Disney's Little Mermaid, and a Lady Gaga inspired mermaid. I love them all and they look awesome up on my hoopla wall.

I really loved my first swap and have definitely got the swapping bug - have already signed up for my next one :D

Vicki xx

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

You're A Wizard Harry!!

Anyone who knows me in "real life" will know that I am a mahousive Harry Potter fan, I even have my very own lightning bolt tattoo, albeit *not* on my forehead :P Therefore my life was always going to be filled with lots of awesome Harry Potter themed crafts!

Wingardium Leviosa

This was the first HP themed hoopla I stitched up! I got a Kindle for Christmas and recently re-read all the books which spurred on this mega HP crafting session!! I free hand stitch the wingardium leviosa, and the feather is made from two layers of felt.

Always

As I just said, I recently re read all the books, and it was the first time I had actually re read the last book, Deathly Hallows, since the day it was released. And boy were there tears! I charted the pattern for the Hallows myself and it is stitched on 14 count white aida in two strands of thread. I then free hand stitched the word 'Always' underneath. I cry so much in the Snape's memory chapter, and right from book one he was always my favourite character. When they got Alan Rickman to play him in the movies I think I actually started to love the character even more haha!! Anyway, it just seemed fitting to stitch that quote underneath :)

The hoop has been wrapped in black ribbon, to make it look a bit nicer.

Open & Close

I am a friend of, and frequent poster over at Craftster. One of the members over on the site posted this awesome HP themed keyring. I absolutely loved the idea of this and so asked permission from the original poster if I could remake a version for myself. She kindly said that was ok, so I give you my versions -

I made one in Slytherin themed colours for myself, being a Snape lover, how could Slytherin not be my choice of house?!! And then a Gryffindor coloured one for my cousin's birthday, as she is also a massive HP fan!

For those not into the HP fandom 'Alohomora' is the spell for open, and 'Colloportus' the spell for close.

The spells are stitched on aida, and then mounted onto felt, with a ribbon tag sewn in so you can attach it to your keyring :)

I have many HP crafts planned, so keep watching for more!!

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

Ghost Of A Girl

One of my favourite musicians at the moment is the awesome Christina Perri. I am totally in love with her new album which has so many beautiful beautiful songs on it. Whilst listening to her album I came up with the idea for several hoops based on her songs. This hoop is based on the song - The Lonely :

Over on Crafter () recently, they had a hoopla swap which had the theme negative space. After seeing all the amazing hoops - which you should all go check out - in the needlework section, I was really inspired to make a negative space hoop for my own hoopla wall. When I listened to The Lonely, I thought that some of the lyrics fitted in perfectly into that theme.

I drew up the pattern and then transferred it to some cotton fabric. It is all worked in two strands of DMC thread. I started by stitching the outline of the girls silhouette, and then worked the black surrounding it in long and short stitches. Finally I stitched the lyrics I am very small backstitch. I wrapped the hoop in black ribbon, and voila, another finished hoop.

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