Here Comes Santa Claus - a wip and a finish!

Here is a progress report on the Santa Claus and little reindeer stitching. 

I am satin stitching the holly leaves and berries that are around the reindeer's neck:

I back stitched around the edges of the leaves and the berries with three strands of floss.  Then, using one strand of floss I satin stitched over the top.

It really gives a nice effect. 

The white border and pom-pom on Santa's hat are outlined with back stitch and filled with French knots.  I think I will do the same for the center and bottom trim of his jacket, his cuffs and boot tops.

I still have A LOT of stitching left before I finish this one!

I do have a completed project to share.  Remember the Christmas tree? 

All done!

I used a lot of metallic thread and some blending filament.  I used the couching stitch for the garland around the tree.  It is green metallic thread held in place with gold blending filament.  

I kept a good record of all my thread colors:

Here is the palette I used:

Owl Project

Since my last post on this owl embroidery, I have taken out the back stitching I used on the leaves and switched to a blanket stitch.  I like it so much better.  Filling in the entire leaf with lines of back stitch were making the leaf too dense and lumpy looking.  To me, this blanket stitch looks just right!

I have quite a few projects going at the moment, it is fun to have a variety of subjects to stitch!

Triceratops Project - Part Five

I am still working on my triceratops project.  Since I last posted about this, I have filled in the rest of the tree leaves.  I have used a straight stitch with a single strand of floss to fill them in. 

I am using the same method for the plants on either side of the text:

And also for the text:

I haven't made any progress on the volcano since my last post.  I think I will use the same filling method for the actual mountain. 

Here is the triceratops...I have a bit more progress to show:

This project has really been fun.  I like these patterns and the way they are working together. 

A very young relative of mine likes these patterns too; but not for embroidery! 
He loves dinosaurs and he helped me color these...he chose the colors and did some of the coloring :)

Embroidered Pillowcases

A few years ago my sister gave me some beautiful pillowcases she bought during a trip to Ireland.  They are from Brownlow Linens and they are made from the softest, loveliest cotton fabric. 

I am really excited to embroider on these.  I am thinking it will be so beautiful to embroider in white on white! 

I will be embroidering the pillowcase edges so I am looking for an appropriate design.  I think a horizontal border design will work perfectly.  Here are some of the designs I am considering:

This project will be fun!

I Love Horses!

I have a new embroidery pattern set available in my Etsy shop.  It is called I Love Horses!

This set has 11 pages of beautiful and feminine horse themed motifs. 

 The motifs work really well together to make up so many different scenes.  These can be embroidered, and they can be used for appliques.  They are also such fun coloring pages :)

I have started two projects already - first this pretty horse portrait with flower corners:

 and second, this fancy horse with a really big mane: 

   Here is a look at the pattern packet - so perfect for horse lovers!

Autumn Projects - Part Three

 I have an update on my progress of the two remaining Autumn projects.  {As you may remember I finished the first of the three here}.

The second project is this leaves and acorn border for my tea towel:

And the third is this little owl. 

For both of these projects, I am still experimenting with colors and stitches.   In the case of this owl I love the coral, black mustard and blue color palette but I am trying to get just the right combination of stitches - especially for the leaves! 

In the case of the tea towel, I am also thinking about trims.  I love a pom-pom trim on a tea towel. 

I am thinking maybe the smaller sized pom-poms would suit the border a little better than the large?

I guess I will have to wait until I finish the stitching!

Ballerina Pillow Project - Part Nine Finish!

Remember this ballerina pillow project?  I just finished putting the finishing touches on it!

Since my last post on this project, I sewed the front and back together - leaving a small open space and I stuffed the pillow with poly-fill. 

Then I sewed the opening shut:  

Next,  I made three bows out of this velvet ribbon trim. 

I hand sewed them across the top of the pillow:

Here is the finished front:

and the back.  I think it looks good standing up

or lying flat:

I recorded all my floss colors in my embroidery journal.  Looking at this journal page, I am surprised to see I started this little project way back on May 12 2004 :)

Here is the color palette for this project:

Pink Pincushion

 Since setting up my new sewing table and arranging my sewing area, I decided I needed a new pincushion.

I had this beautiful fabric, some matching trim

and quite a few buttons.  This fabric looks good with just about every color!

 I cut two pieces out of the fabric:

 These measured 5" x 5".  I allowed for a 1/2" seam allowance on all sides.

Once I sewed these together, I filled it with some poly-fil,  added the ribbon trim and buttons.  I hand stitched down through both the button on top

and the button on the bottom.  You can see that I just folded the raw edge of the ribbon underneath the bottom button and sewed right through it to keep everything in place:

This little pincushion is working out really well and I think it looks great on the sewing table too: