The Accidental Embroiderer

Cats again...

For some reason I seem to be doing a lot of cats recently. I'm not sure why - certainly I'm very fond of cats but I like dogs too and indeed I like all animals and include a lot of them in my work. But there's something just so appealing about cats' furry coats that seems to ask to be interpreted in embroidery. And when you consider the complicated stripy pattern that you see in tabby cats - well, it's irresistible to the digitiser!

 

A furry kitten

This is done in the "scribble style" that I've been using a lot recently. First I applique a fabric shape onto the background, then overstitch it lightly and finally scribble over it in various colours. As usual with scans of these works, you can't see the furriness of the stitchout in much detail, but take my word for it - the kitten really looks quite furry! However it's not quite right - I think maybe it needs another colour worked in there somewhere, and I'll remember that when I do my next tabby cat. So it's not a perfect replica of a tabby kitten but it's not too bad

The difference between painting and embroidery

OK, I know - you paint with paint and you embroider with thread. But embroidery is a craft, and like all crafts it is limited by the techniques that you must use to make it. But let's start with painting. This is a spectacular example of Mexican folk art that's been in my "Inspiration" file for years.

The original painting

I was reminded of it recently when it was sent to me by a blog reader, who said that she'd had it digitised so she could stitch it out. Well, nobody could blame her for that - it's really beautiful. BUT - she then said that the digitised version had involved 4,999 colour changes. 4,999! And goodness knows how many jumps there would have been. So in the first place it would have taken an absolute AGE to stitch out - imagine changing the thread 5000 times!  But also the back of the piece would have been matted with knots - not only those caused by starting and finishing a colour, but also because of all the jumps.

So, as beautiful as this design is, it is intended to be a painting and NOT an embroidery. But I liked it so much that I was tempted to interpret it in a design that could be easily embroidered. As you can see this is not a copy, but I hope it has the same energy and spirit as the painting that inspired it

 

Embroidery inspired by the painting

There are a few jumps, but not many, and there are 29 colour changes - NOT 4999!

Birds from the exhibition

A couple of weeks ago I reported on our annual NEOS exhibition, where I sold a respectable number of things. One thing was clear to me - although people admired many of the pieces, almost everything that was sold involved animals or birds. This is no surprise to me - I prefer them myself, which is probably why they appeal to other people too! One piece that was sold was a special favourite of mine - a panel of three wagtails, which went home with a friend and neighbour who lives not far from here

 

Three wagtails

Wagtails will probably not be familiar to American blog readers, - I think they live only in Europe. But they're charming little birds who love nothing better than to run around lawns, looking for insects in the short grass and bobbing their long tails wildly up and down. They are definitely well-named!

 

The wagtails in their new home

A mysterious Mexican freebie

Regular blog readers will know that I love Mexican folk art - I find the simplified but sympathetic animal forms and the vivid colours quite irresistible. Well, the other day I found this design somewhere in my files. It's clearly inspired by Mexican art but I have absolutely no memory of where it came from or even when I did it. That's the problem with doing so many designs - you tend to lose track of them!

Two Mexican birds from...where?

But I thought it would make a nice colourful freebie, especially just now as we're heading into winter again and may need some reminding of summery times. It's a nice compact design, for the 4 x 4 inch (100 x 100 mm) hoop, and with no applique. Here is the design file (in .pes v.6) and here is the worksheet