&Stitches Stitch Swap

The team of &Stitches organized a stitch swap and of course I had to participate. My swap partner Teresa (Daisies for Violet) is from the USA and she told me that New York is her favorite city. So I stitched her the skyline of New York. I am very proud of this work, because it is my first embroidery I did without a pattern. I simply searched for a skyline at Google and then changed it a bit to my needs. It took quite a while to finish this, but it was also much fun, especially towards the end, when all came together.

My swap partner send me this amazing embroidery:

It looks so neat and pretty. I still have to learn a lot about embroidery. Thank you so much Teresa!

Fun thing is, that Teresa has a son almost the same age as the little one. I hope we can stay in contact and exchange some experiences. It is so nice to meet other moms from all over the world.

Presents

I was really happy, that for last christmas I got some selfmade presents done.

First I made these cute ornaments for my parent's advent calendar. The design is by Wild Olive and I even ordered the matching felt. It was a lot of work to do. It took me a whole day to make these, but I think the outcome is worth all the work. I even have left over enough felt to make a set for myself for next christmas.

For my Mom I made these Downton Abbey embroideries, because she really likes this series. I was a bit afraid of the faces, but I think they came out well. I think my Mom really liked these. Anna and Mr. Bates are our favorite characters from the show. I have bought another set of characters as well, so hopefully one day, I can make some for myself.

I also made an embroidery for my Grandma, but forgot to photograph it. Maybe I am able to take a picture when I next visit her.

Overall I am happy I managed to make these presents. The only thing I did not accomplish was something for my boyfriend.

A lot of wood and a birthday party

My father celebrated his 60th birthday this weekend and so my boyfriend and I headed to my hometown. Before the big party we took the opportunity and visited "Blockhausen". This a kind of "village" (it´s only three or so huts) made of block houses. There are exhibited a lot of wooden sculptures made with chainsaws. These are so cool. I really can't imagine how they make all the little details.

Outfit rundown:

Suit, fur stole, hat, bag: vintage

Blouse: selfmade, Ottobre pattern

Stockings: What Katie Did

Shoes: C&A

And here are my presents for my Dad: selfmade hazelnut creme and something to drink wrapped in a selfembroidered bag. I hope he likes it.

The party was fun, but really long. So I think I will be off to bed early today.

Birthday Present

My Mom celebrated her birthday at the end of April and of course I did not make her present in time. It was nearly finished but then it laid here for week after week untouched. When I had some days free before my final exams I finally finished it. It is a Fat Kitty by Aimee Ray.  I embroidered it with the intial of my Mom and the flowers of the original pattern. I am not so pleased with the embroidery. Somehow the felt was difficult to work with. But I hope my Mom will like it nonetheless. And thanks to my Dad for the photos, because I forgot to take some (for a whole week) before I send the package to my parents.

Review - Embroider Everything Workshop

I have this book for quite a while now, but never posted it here. I saw it first at another blog and ordered it immediately. It´s a shame I did not stumble on this ealier.

This is such a great book for beginners. I love all the different projects. Some are simply adorable, but there are also some useful projects, which I really like. They feature a lot of different embroidery techniques and different skill levels. I have a lot of things I want to make. In the beginning of the book you find the usual explanation of stitches and so on. But also a great article why to embroider.

All in all I really love this book. It does inspire me to do embroidery more often (if I only had the time). Hopefully I can make this great belt in the photo soon (maybe before summer is over, I even have some matching buckles).

Stitch Swap

Last week I finally got the hoop from my swap partner. I was so excited to see, what it would look like. And I am so amazed. This hoop is so beautiful and so well done. I really love it. It was made by Sara Boehnke.

I am really happy I participated in this swap and think I would do it again.

Japanese Embroidery Books

I just love the embroidery designs of Hiroko Ishii. I bought the first book (the one on the right) some time ago and fell imediately in love. Now I discovered there was a second volume and I had to have this.

In both books are really cute motifs. The themes are very different. There are flowers, animals and of course the little cute people. One of my favorite motifs are a row of girls with glasses and the little hula girl in the photo. I did not use any of these yet, but hopefully will do in the future. And if not, it´s also nice to only look through these books.

Easter Presents

This year I wanted to give only selfmade things for Easter. After I discovered these pendants at Etsy I had to make some for my Mom and my Grandma. My Mom liked her black and white one very much. I hope my Grandma will like hers too.

For my Dad I tried to make Whiskey Chocolate. Unfortunately it did not work out as I want it, but I hope at least it will taste okay.

I got two cookbooks from my parents, both from Jamie Oliver. I will write more about them in a future post. We had a nice weekend together. More photos will follow soon.

Stitch Swap

Wild Olive hosted a Stitch Swap last month. I know I had to participate. It was so difficult to choose a motif. It had to be a 4'' hoop, so the choice was a bit limited. My swap partners favorites were mustard, turquoise, vintage and flowers. I wanted to use as much as possible from my stash and suprinsingly I only had to buy a new hoop. I choose a motif by SoSeptember, because I really like her style and it has such a vintage feeling. Don´t you think this little birdie is just adorable? I really like the outcome. I even found some matching ribbon, fabric and trim to decorate the hoop.

Sent it on Friday and now I only hope my swap partner will like it. Till now I did not receive anything, but of course I show it to you, when it arrives. I am really curios to get it.

Doodle-Stitching

I recently bought the first Doodle-Stitching book. Had the second one for a while now and I love all the cute motifs and projects. For some time I avoided the first book, because some people said, the second is better. Now that I have the first book, I have to admit they are right. I really like the motifs and projects in the second book better. The projects are more practical and the great motif collection is stunning. But I do not regret I bought the first book for my collection. One reason is that I simply like the designers style. You really should visit here blog and her etsy shop. I even bought something from her etsy shop. Her embroidery is so cute and reminds me of fairytales and lonely woods. And I have to admit, even if the projects in the first book are more decorative, I really like some of them (who could resist cute forest animals?). So I am happy to have a new cute book in my collection.

And I was a bad girl and ordered a new embroidery book only yesterday. I hope it arrives soon so I can show it to you. Maybe to make it a bit better, I am near to finish my piece for the Stitch Swap. I found some nice additions in my stash.

Oh, and I sewed something, but I want to get some nice photos before I can show it to you.

I will love you Monday ...

I embroidered some kitchen towels for my Grandmas birthday. I hope she likes them.

Design is by Wild Olive.

I embroidered something

It was my friend´s birthday this week and I had no idea what to give. Finally I bought a book, because she asked me some time ago if I knew some good new books. But I thought only the book was not personal enough. Then I had the idea last Sunday to stitch something for her and because I had a lot of kitchen towels laying here for another project (coming soon) I stitched this cute peekaboo clock. I finished it the evening before her birthday party. I hope she liked it.

Embroidery patterns - SeptemberHouse

Another great source for embroidery patterns is Corinne´s etsy shop SeptemberHouse. She has so beautiful vintage inspired embroidery patterns. The first I stumbled upon were the circus wagons.

All of her patterns are stunning, but easy to make. I really like this.

And you should stop at her blog so september too. There are many beautiful free patterns (I love the elephant!).

Only a short post today. Have some things to do.

Embroidery Patterns - Wild Olive

I am really into embroidery right now. I have so many plans (hopefully i have enough time for all of them). And I stumbled at a very cute shop at etsy:

Wild Olive

Her designs are so adorable. My first project are some christmas motives I want to use as an advent calendar. I really like Pdf-embroidery patterns. They are affordable and you can print them again and again.

Mollie even has a very nice blog with a lot of free patterns and how-tos.

I am sorry, that this is such a short post, but I am still a bit ill (it caught me on Saturday and I am happy I was able to go to work today) and I left my camera with all the photos at my boyfriends home. Hopefully I can post my graveyard photos this week. Last week I was so busy with such a lot of things.

Sublime Stitching

Some weeks ago I bought "Sublime Stitching - Embroidered Effects" and fell in love with the designs and ideas. The book contains iron-ons. In the first part the author explains different stitches and embroidery basics. The second part contains ideas for projects. I think the projects are really cute and wearable/useable. The designs look good without being to difficult.



And here is my first project from the book, a birdie jeans.



Birdie jeans

poupeegirl

In the book there were two birds, one on each side. I had problems with the iron-on, because the jeans was too dark and I didn´t see it one the fabric. So I draw it myself.
Here is a close-up:



In real the colors are a bit darker. I love the outcome. Got so much compliments when I wore it last week at work. Hopefully I have the opportunity to make something from the book again soon.