Embroidery Update: My Work in Progress

Last night I located the bag of embroidery goodies that I still have from the class I took at Make Workshop.

This is my sweet, sweet little bird and flowers pattern that I chose to take away as my "practice" piece. I was pleasantly surprised to see how far I had actually gotten.

I finished up the flowers last night. Don't you love the bold green and turquoise flowers with the hot pink centers! I used a french knot to make those centers...I love them! The french knot is really an easy stitch and fun to make. Read here for an easy how-to and a photo of an adorable french poodle pattern.


I laughed when I found this little square...this was the square I took with me to practice making X's and stars while riding the train home back to LI. Imagine sitting next to me that night?!


Well, thanks for taking a peek at my work...I hope to finish this up as soon as I purchase more light blue floss. In the meantime, I'm going to be practicing more french knots!

Crafty Monday: Jenny Hart's Embroidered Effects

As I was wearily searching through my emails on this Monday morning (does anyone like Mondays?!), this photo over at The Purl Bee definitely perked me up!

This bright and cheery hummingbird is an embroidery pattern from Jenny Hart, who has a brand new book out called: Embroidered Effects. The photo below, also via The Purl Bee, shows off one of her funky patterns:

Jenny, for those of you who may not be so familiar with her work, is a crafty lady extraordinaire...back in 2000 she just about single-handedly brought the embroidery craze back with her popular website, Sublime Stitching and hasn't looked back since! With her funky patterns like skulls, unicorns (below), sushi and more, she definitely made embroidery modern.

I took one of her classes with a friend of mine in NYC a few years back...not only did we have a blast, but I definitely pick up my embroidery now and again bc it is just so fun. I love Jenny's patterns because they are so fresh and really unlike anything else out there.

I have her Sublime Stitching Craft Pad and really need to open it up and get to work! Embroidery is an easy skill to pick up and inexpensive too, all you really need is an embroidery hoop, some colorful floss, a needle and one of Jenny's fabulous patterns!

If you're looking for a new hobby to pick up this winter, I definitely recommend it. I'm vowing to start a few new patterns and share my work with you this week!