Miss Molly Bear Stitchery - Artsmart Craft Cottage

Hi and thanks for stopping by :-) This is another scheduled post whilst I can't access my computer for 2 weeks.

Today's post is another stitchery I made for my DD. One of my other loves is embroidery and decorative (tole or folkart) painting, and I love projects which incorporate both these crafts. I also LOVE the old-fashioned floral materials that you can get nowadays which I used on this stitchery.

This particular design is by Australian designer: Libby Richardson from Artsmart Craft Cottage and comes as a printed panel on calico, full instructions and you get that gorgeous ceramic handbag that the Molly is holding plus the pearls around Molly's neck, but you supply all the embroidery threads, paints, materials for the panels, and hanger. The bear was painted with acrylic paints and textile medium, then you simply embroider the bear using simple stitches like straight stitch and french knots - can you see the gold embroidery for ribbon on the hat? You can always click on the photo for a bigger LOOK! Lastly, I sewed on the panels and attached the wire hanger. The finished size is around 22 cm x 28 cm (which is 8" x 11").

I've made 3 of them so far and given 2 away as gifts and the 3rd is on my DD's bedroom wall.

Hope you like it :-) Thanks again for visiting! Back soon with another post!

Jocelyn

Recipe:

Artsmart Craft Cottage pre-printed stitchery design 'Miss Molly', JoSonya acrylic paints, paint brushes, JoSonya Textile medium, Anchor stranded cotton in various colours including gold, embroidery needles, materials scraps for panels, wire hanger

Rose Topiary Stitchery

Hi and thanks for visiting my little Blog :-)

I thought I would show you one of my Stitcheries that I finished a little while ago.  The stitchery combines my "other two loves" which are decorative painting and embroidery.  It comes as a kit designed by Libby Richardson from ArtSmart Craft Cottage (Australian company but there are stockists all over the world if you look at their website) and is called "Standard Rose Stitchery" - the design is printed on calico and you also receive the 3 ceramic rose buttons (for the topiary), but you supply the paints, stranded cotton embroidery threads, needles, hanger (I bought my hanger from EBay) and fabric and it comes with instructions on how to do the panels/borders. 

The images are painted with a mix of JoSonya acrylic paints and JoSonya Textile medium and is simple enough for a painter with limited experience to do, then you simply add the embroidery. The best thing about the embroidery is that it uses simple stitches like backstitch, french knots and lazy daisy so it is something you can do and watch TV at the same time and not mess it up!  I added a gold bee charm which didn't come with the kit - just needed a "little something" to finish it off.  I have no connection to ArtSmart Craft Cottage - but have been a regular customer over the years and did a fabulous workshop with Libby a long time ago at a Craft Show.

Hope you like it!  Don't forget you can click on the picture for a closer look.  See you again soon.....

Jocelyn

Stitchery Recipe:

Kit:  Standard Rose Stitchery by ArtSmart Craft Cottage

Your own supplies:  Anchor stranded cotton, embroidery needles, JoSonya Acrylic paints, JoSonya Textile medium, sewing thread, sewing machine, assorted co-ordinating material scraps, rotary cutter and cutting board (optional but it's easier than hand-cutting!), bee charm (optional), wire hanger

Finally A Finish!

Happy 2nd Day of Fall everyone! The best time of year is here! The beautiful colors, crisp air, pumpkins and hot chocolate all leading up to Thanksgiving and then the Christmas season! It's my absolute favorite!

Well I finally got a project finished--you know one of those that was stared oh a couple of years ago and then got tucked into a drawer and sort of forgotten. Well here it is! You might recall I blogged about it way back in January for The Procrastinator's Challenge. I think I won--I procrastinated past the date by um.....several months! Anyway this is my primitive/vintage Santa stitchery. It's a pattern by Leah Smith of The Country Cupboard that appeared in a 2006 issue of Create & Decorate Magazine. I think I got it a little darker than I wanted, but I think I like it, although I think I would like to find a different way to display it than in this frame. I know I don't want a pillow--maybe a different frame. Something unique or something totally different--not in a frame. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Now that I have one project finally finished, maybe I can get myself on a roll and finish something else. Anyone want to take bets. hehee!

What's It Gonna Be?

What's it gonna be? Well your guess is as good as mine. I don't know quite yet.......

...except that it's going to be a journey. A creative embroidery sampler of sorts. Years ago young girls would make samplers as part of their schooling to learn how to sew and they were prided on how well their stitching was and the samplers had order to them. Well not this one. Now that's not to say that I'm going to be sloppy with my stitching, because I do want that part of it to be particular, but the rest will be creative reckless abandon! An exercise if you will in learning to let go and create. To go with the flow! I was inspired by Teresa McFadden of My Minutia, when I saw her fabulous creative sampler and I thought, wow, what better way to get the thoughts and creativity flowing. The most fun exercise ever!

So I'm on a new little sewing adventure. I started with a piece of beautiful Irish linen and a few ideas and went from there. This first little piece I decided to applique with a tad of embroidery and as I go I plan to add some hearts, paisleys, pansies, a crown, buttons, a hand, maybe a few embroidery scribbles and who knows what. We'll see where the needle and thread lead me. Already though I can tell you that I've thoroughly enjoyed the little stolen moments I've had to work on this little piece. I wonder where my needle and I will go next. We have lots of blank space to fill up.

Happy Stitching!

Free Vintage Embroidery Patterns

I love to embroider and have collected up lot of free embroidery designs and sites--however I've not gotten much past the collecting part it seems. The vintage patterns are so charming, whimsical and timeless. Anyway I thought I'd share a few links that I have saved that are full of wonderful vintage designs for you to save, so have fun, make a new folder for them and you'll be all set when the mood to stitch strikes. Enjoy!

http://www.needlecrafter.com/index.html?page=http://www.needlecrafter.com/home.html

http://www.patternbee.com/FREEVRW.html

http://www.patternbee.com/FREENQ.html

http://www.patternbee.com/FREEPATTERNS4.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytransfers/sets/

http://mytransfers.blogspot.com/