Woodmice.

There are quite a few of these beautiful, cheeky little animals living in the garden. Lots of hidey-holes, ground cover and places to set up home, plus a never-ending supply of birdfood to pinch makes mouse heaven apparently!

 

10th april cheeky mouse 1 This bold wee thing let me get so close that I needed my macro lense!

10th april cheeky mouse 3

Just a few quick sketches so far, but I`d love to try some mousey embroideries.

woodmouse drawing 2

woodmouse 2

sketchbook woodmice 1

sketchbook woodmice 2

sketchbook woodmice 3

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Summer Butterflies.

A few sunny days this Summer has meant a lot of butterfly stitching in the garden. I love sitting in the sun, snipping tiny fragments of fabric from my scrap box and hand sewing them into place to create butterfly wings. I try to be as accurate and close to the real thing as I can, part of the challenge is finding the perfect fabric and I quite often use the backs of prints for a subtler shade, or even paint up ‘grounds’ of calico in just the right colour. Sometimes I add a sprinkling of hand embroidered stitches for extra texture. A lot of fiddly hand sewing goes into each one before they are finished off with machine stitching.

Here are a few of this Summer`s butterflies so far.

butterflies garden 006 A selection of finished butterflies out in the sun.

orange tip butterfly 028Orange Tip.

scarce copper and small blue 003Scarce Copper.

scarce copper and small blue 046Small Blue.

holly blue butterfly 011Holly Blue.

three small butterflies 001Moorland Clouded Yellow, Clouded Yellow and Small Heath. These brooches are a dainty 7cm across.

brimstone and orange tip 014Brimstone.

brimstone and orange tip 031I think Orange Tips are my favourite to make. I spotted quite a few real ones this Spring for the first time here.

clouded yellow and cranberry blue butterflies 027Cranberry blue.

clouded yellow and cranberry blue butterflies 033Clouded Yellow. I love the soft illustrations in this vintage field guide book.

cabbage white butterflies 040Four little ‘Cabbage Whites’. I couldn`t decide which one to make so I made them all!

cabbage white butterflies 052Large Whites.

cabbage white butterflies 054Small Whites.

purple and blue butterflies 001Adonis Blue.

large white butterfly 019A larger Large White.

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Moths.

Recently I have started making moths created from layers of machine embroidery. They are really like little 3d abstract paintings in thread. I try to make them as close as possible to the real thing, layering threads and blending colours to recreate the markings on the wings. I love the challenge of making them, and their evocative names!

Green Carpet moth 015 Green Carpet moth.

Green Carpet moth 029

yellow moths 041 Barred Yellow.

yellow moths 089 Clouded Buff.

yellow moths 083

moths for etsy 028 Scalloped Oak.

moths for etsy 034

moths for etsy 049 Swallowtailed Moth

moths for etsy 072

deaths head hawk moth 023 Death`s-Head Hawkmoth. This one was a special order.

deaths head hawk moth 006

elephant hawkmoth 003 Elephant Hawkmoth.   Another commission.

I loved making this one. It was a real challenge, but an enjoyable one, and such gorgeous colours to work with.

elephant hawkmoth 013

My moths vary in size, measuring from about 12cm- 18cm across, so they could be worn as very large brooches. However I think they would look striking pinned to a curtain, displayed in a box-frame or hung on the wall just as they are. These have all sold straight away, so I`m feeling really inspired to make more and continue to explore these subtle and intriguing creatures.

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Hedgehogs.

A few months ago, a very good customer asked if I would consider making her a hedgehog brooch. I wasn`t sure at the time as I was still quite new to free machine embroidery and didn`t think I could do it justice. However last week (after a gentle reminder from the lovely, patient lady) I decided to give hedgehogs a go. Growing confidence, combined with my wonderful new Bernina machine, meant that the time was right to take my machine embroidery to a new level.

I began with drawings and then made three embroideries. These were really little paintings in thread and I really enjoyed drawing with the machine, mark making, and layering lots of different threads. I sort of fell in love with hedgehogs last week as I brought these little creatures to life. They`ve had a wonderful response on my Facebook page and all three embroideries were immediately spoken for, with orders for two more. It seems that everyone loves a hedgehog! Yesterday I started work on four hedgehog embroideries and I`m really looking forward to getting stuck into them today.

hedgehog drawings 008

hedgehog drawings 002

hedgehogs WIP 005

hedgehog embroidery 006

two hedgehogs 004

two hedgehogs 028

two hedgehogs 054

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Filed under drawing, embroidery, embroidery hoops, hedgehogs, machine embroidery

A Few Makes For Spring.

It hasn`t been a cold Winter, but it`s been a very long, rainy, dreary, dark and depressing one. Everyone is longing for the Spring, and now we`re into March it feels as though it`s almost here. It`s still quite chilly, but there have been one or two sunny days, and it`s wonderful to have an extra hour or two of daylight in the evenings.

I thought I`d share a few bright, cheery makes that look forward to Spring.

brimstone butterfly for etsy 004

A sunshine yellow Brimstone butterfly.

brimstone butterfly for etsy 044

red, white and blue flower 012

Stitched flower brooches.

green flower for etsy 043

twin heart brooches for Oban 032 A few twin heart brooches.

butterfly heart brooches for etsy 001 New butterfly heart brooches.

butterfly heart brooches for etsy 083

grey and yellow heart brooch plus fabric 029

orange tip butterfly pair 6 inch hoop 004

And a pair of Orange Tip butterflies fluttering over some lovely vintage fabric in cheerful shades of pink and orange.

I`m longing for long sunny days and really hope we have another Summer like last one. The clocks go forward in a few weeks so at least it will be a lot lighter, thank goodness! Like lots of people I find Spring a really energising and inspiring time so I`m really looking forward to exploring lots of new ideas.

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A Few More Birds.

I`ve been working on lots more little stitched birds over the last few weeks. I love making them, especially as I invested in a new sewing machine a couple of weeks ago (a wonderful Bernina) which is an absolute dream to work with. I still feel that I`m gaining confidence with each one, and really enjoy going to town layering all the differnt coloured threads to create little paintings in stitch.

Here are a few recent birds, I must admit that I was especially pleased with some of them, but I think the little coal tit is my favourite so far.

Sam, bullfinch, heart brooch 043 Bullfinch.

coal tit embroidery 002 Coal Tit.

I think this one is my favourite.

coal tit embroidery 037

chaffinch 013

Chaffinches.

chaffinches for etsy 008

two blue tits for etsy 015

And of course, a few more blue tits!

two blue tits for etsy 042

two blue tits for etsy 056

bluetit for etsy 007

two blue tits for etsy 007

two blue tits for etsy 093

two blue tits for etsy 103 I love this one!

I think it is the vintage fabric backgrounds that really help these little birds come alive, and a big part of making them is selecting just the perfect piece of fabric for them to perch in. Then I stitch in a twig or two, layering little scraps of fabric to look like bark. I like the layered, tangled look this gives, as if the birds are living in an overgrown garden– just like mine!

 

 

 

 

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Bluetits.

Happy New Year!

My first working week of the year has been all about bluetits.

First came some scribbly drawings in my sketchbook, inspired by all the bluetits in my garden:

bluetit sketches 088

bluetit sketches 092

bluetit colours 013

bluetit colours 018

Next came three embroideries inspired by the drawings:

five inch bluetit hoop 123

five inch bluetit hoop 130

bluetits 005

bluetits 015

bluetit on stitched branch 001

bluetit on stitched branch 019

All three embroideries sold straight away in my Etsy shop, which was a lovely start to the New Year.  I`m feeling much more confident with free machine embroidery and really enjoyed stitching these little birds, layering fabric and thread to echo the original drawings.  I was really pleased with these little bluetits and I want to work on lots more, as well as all the other birdy visitors to my garden. I`m so lucky to have a garden that is always filled with birds, probably because it`s really overgrown and filled with bushes and trees… I always keep the feeders topped up and I added another little bird table this Christmas which I put outside the kitchen window. Birds are always a bit wary of something new, but bold little coal tits visited first, and now there are all kinds of garden birds flying in for a snack all day long.

Last year was a great year for me, my work took on a new direction and I finally started to bring together drawing and sewing. I started an online shop and began to get the hang of Etsy, and also realised the wonders of selling and networking online. Now I`ve got lots of lovely customers and wonderful support and encouragement via Etsy and Facebook. This week I passed 1000 likes on Facebook which I was really amazed and happy about. I`m so excited to see what this year brings…  I`m going to begin with lots more drawings and stitching of birds.

 

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Filed under birds, embroidery, embroidery hoops, inspiration, machine embroidery, my garden, online shop, vintage fabric

A Few More Robins…

I`ve made a few little batches of stitched robins now, and they are continuing to be popular. I`m really pleased with my latest ones, I feel that I`m really getting the hang of them… The little 4″ hoops are my favourite. I like the fact that they are small enough to hang on a Christmas tree– I`ll be making a few of these as Christmas presents!

Here are a few of my favourites from my latest batch.

robins, blackbird for etsy 156

robins, blackbird for etsy 218

robins for etsy 013

robins for etsy 034

robins for etsy 056

robins for etsy 091

robins for etsy 112

robins for etsy 148

robins for etsy 174

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Four Butterflies.

These are some butterflies I`ve been working on this week. They are part of the little collection that I`m sending down to Made in Britain in a few days.

garden and four butterflies for MIB 103

garden and four butterflies for MIB 105My version of an Orange Tip. I think this one is my favourite. I try to make my butterflies as close to the real thing as I can, although on a slightly larger scale!

garden and four butterflies for MIB 110An Adonis Blue.

garden and four butterflies for MIB 115A male Large White. I`ve made a few of these white butterflies now and really love layering white on white.

garden and four butterflies for MIB 124A female Gatekeeper.

 

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Back to Bumbles.

I`ve been concentrating on making bumble bees this week ,  a few brooches and embroidery hoops to top up my Etsy shop and to send down to Made in Britain in Bristol. I really enjoyed it as I hadn`t made them for a while and it was nice to make something that reminded me of Summer on such dark, gloomy Autumnal days.bees and ladybirds for etsy 070Three brooches for my Etsy shop.

bees and ladybirds for etsy 189I love this vintage fabric, printed with bluebells. A piece of from an old curtain which is printed all over with little vignettes of cottage gardens.

4 inch bee hoop 015This little piece, printed with Livingstone daisies, came from the same curtain. Just perfect for adding a little bee and setting in a cute 4″ hoop.

bees and ladybirds for etsy 209Another pair of bees stitched onto a remnant of vintage linen.

bees and ladybirds for etsy 125I thought the colours in this woven fabric worked really well as a background for this bee. It was a tiny piece of recycled furnishing fabric, just big enough to make one brooch!

 

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