The Accidental Embroiderer

A flowery freebie.

Well, we’re still in August, but as life is becoming increasingly busy, I’d better get the September freebie out now while I still have the time.

 

A few little flowers for September

I haven’t the least idea where the idea for this came from or how I meant to use it, but it’s colourful and pleasant, and it’s nice to have such an intricate design for the 4x4 inch (100 x 100mm) hoop, so I hope you can find a use for it somewhere. Here it is, in .pes v.6

As always, there will be a few people who for some reason can't download my files, so if this is you, please do let me know (via the "Comments" section) and I'll e-mail it to you directly

Almost time for NEOS…

As the moment I’m definitely in headless-chicken mode, trying frantically to get organised for our upcoming NEOS exhibition. North East Open Studios is an annual festival of the creative arts in this area which features work by many local artists, and it’s always an impressive event. So I’ve desperately trying to produce a few things for the show, which always takes time. But here are a couple of things which should go well (I hope!)

First there’s this salmon, which is a very old design and I think I’ve posted it several years ago. But it was popular so I thought I’d produce it again. It’s made with an appliquéd layer of Mylar, which gives it a nice realistic sparkle

 

Dee salmon

And then there’s just this little deer, trotting through a field of greenery. It’s nothing special, but it's decorative and I liked it

 

Deer in the green

So there are two which can go up on the wall. However the exhibition doesn’t begin for another ten days, so I’ll try to be back next week with a freebie for September

Animals in the forest

A couple of weeks ago I posted two animal designs that I’d done for my friend Cherri. There was a lynx and a raccoon, which Cherri wanted to use in a quilt she was planning to make. Several readers suggested that I should post a picture of the completed quilt, and as Cherri agreed, here it is

The Forest Animals

 

It’s called “Friends of the Forest” and I think it’s pretty impressive. All the bird and animal designs are mine, but they’re put together in such an original and interesting way. 

Cherri makes a lot of quilts (among other things) and if you would like to see other works by her, you can follow her on Instagram, @cherriberi1

A freebie with Flair

Many years ago - so long ago that it feels like another life - I produced a series of designs and articles for Flair magazine. This was a British publication, alas no longer in print, that was devoted to machine embroidery. I’m not sure why it went out of business - I hope at least that my designs didn’t contribute to its demise!

A few weeks ago, while tidying up my workroom, I came across an old copy of Flair that featured one of my designs on the cover and I thought that it might be of interest to some more modern embroiderers

 

From way back in 2007...

This is a very simple design - I don’t think that I’d do anything that simple today. But as it was meant to be used by people who didn’t perhaps have much experience at embroidery, it was probably best to keep it simple. So here it is again...

 

A design with flair?? Well, from Flair, anyway!

 

And if you'd like it, you can download it here, in .pes v.6