The Accidental Embroiderer

And now for something completely different...

Every now and then I get fed up with doing very serious, arty things, and feel like taking a break to do something silly and colourful. The other day I found a picture of a cat which I thought was really funny, and which seemed perfect for turning into a folk art cat. I think it’s a breed called Selkirk Rex, that has thick, curly hair, but it was the expression and the arrogant, defiant pose that I liked. (Unfortunately there was no photo credit with the picture, so I can't credit the photographer. If any cat enthusiasts out there recognise it, let me know and I'll acknowledge him/her correctly)

A cat with attitude

 

So I turned him into a cheerful folk art cat, and now I can get back to the heavyweight design things
 

A really Fat Cat

Scottish birds in Scottish places - the pheasants of Glenbuchat

Whenever I drive around the varioius parts of Scotland that we visit, I always notice the wildlife and especially the birds, so that some kinds of birds become associated in my mind with specific places. I thought it might be fun to do a series of Scottish birds, each pictured in a place where I’m used to seeing it.

 Glenbuchat is a beautiful little glen near us, and every time I go there the roads seem covered with pheasants. Pheasants aren’t the most intelligent of animals, and they mostly just stand in the middle of the road staring vaguely at the car, which gives me time to have a good look at them and make some quick sketches. So here’s the first in a series of Scottish birds in Scottish places – the pheasants of Glenbuchat, having a peck over the harvested fields

The pheasants of Glenbuchat in the autumn fields

Message for asprag, and all readers!

Hi everybody. Sorry to bother you with this, but it's worth repeating that when you ask for the free design, PLEASE make sure that you have given Typepad access to your e-mail. If you don't then I don't know your address and I can't send you the free design!

Remember that I always respond to all requests, so if you don't hear from me, there's something wrong with the system

A new zentangle project

First of all, I’d like to say thank you to all those people who were so kind as to to pass on information about whether or not they had the larger hoops for their machines. At the moment, the figures are about 75% with a large hoop, and 25% with only a smaller one, such as the 5x7 inch. So I might put up some large freebies in future, although I have a lot of sympathy for those with small hoops, as it’s only relatively recently that I’ve had a large hoop myself

Right, on to something new. For some time now I’ve been working on a new set of designs – a zentangle zodiac. I’m not at all interested in astrology, but I love the images that are associated with the signs of the zodiac – the mythological creatures, the various animals and human figures - all of which have a strong design “presence”.  There are, of course, twelve images, and it is taking a VERY long time to do them all in the zentangle style. I can usually draw and digitise a straightforward design in a day or less, but a large zentangle panel will take a week or often more. So far I’ve only finished a couple of them, and here’s the first, a Sagittarius. The colours aren’t quite right – that’s another problem with the big zentangles. It can be very difficult to get the colours right on the first try. But it shows you the main look of the design. So it’s one down, eleven to go!

A zentangle Sagittarius

A free bird

Right – before we get to this month’s freebie, I have a question. How many people out there have a large hoop, in particular the 6 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch (160 x 260 mm) hoop? I ask because many of the designs I’m thinking of giving away are for this large hoop. For example, this month’s free bird is really meant for the 6 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch hoop, but because I didn’t know if everybody would be able to use the large version, I’ve edited it and made it smaller so that it will fit into the 5 x 7 hoop. So if you ask for the free bird this month, could you let me know if you have the 6 ¼ x 10 ¼ inch hoop? That way I’ll know if I need to “shrink” any future freebies. Thanks!

 

January's Free Bird

Anyway it’s time for a change from floral motifs. Some people have said they’re interested in how I do feathers on birds, so here’s one of the birds from the Sunset Birds panel that I posted a few weeks ago (28 November). It’s got 15,684 stitches, two applique areas, and it’s for the 5x7 inch hoop. The scan isn't great but my scanner is down at the moment so I've had to use another one with a lot fewer facilities. The bird would look good done with patterned fabrics as applique, but I’ve stitched it in plain fabrics so you can see it more clearly.  If you’d like the file for this design, just drop a comment to the blog asking for it and I’ll send it out to you. And if you can tell me if you have the large hoop, I’d be very grateful!