The Accidental Embroiderer

A strange inspiration

Some time ago I ran across an unusual photo on a BBC website. It’ s supposed to be a picture of two doormats that have become frozen and frosted, but it looks far too much like a work of art just to be an accidental picture - I think the house-owner must have been doing some work of his (her?) own in order to make such an interesting image

Frozen doormats or works of art?

 

Anyway it looked so much like a black and-white image of leaves and flowers that I couldn’t resist using it as inspiration for a coloured version of the same subject. OK, I know it isn’t anywhere like the original, but it was fun to do, and it might make a nice mat or chair cushion

 

Inspired by an icy mat

 

Run, rabbit!

OK, I know it’s only spring (although at the moment here in the Scottish Highlands it’s snowing heavily) but all the same, as I’ve mentioned, I must make a start on some works for our summer exhibitions. These works need to be more complicated and “arty” than the decorative things I usually do, so they take a lot more time

At our exhibitions, I’ve noticed that pictures with animals are popular, so I thought I should do some pictures featuring our local wildlife, and I’ve started with a running rabbit

 

Rabbit running in the green

 

One thing I love about using embroidery for animal pictures is that you can get such interesting textures with the threads. Of course in a conventional painting you can add some texture with a paintbrush, but you never get the same three-dimensional effect that embroidery gives, and it really adds a lot of interest to a picture - assuming of course that it’s a picture of a furry animal! You can't really see the effect very well in this scan, but you'd notice it if you saw the real thing

Oh no - not another free bird!

As some readers will know, I’ve been designing and digitising for many years now, and as a result I have a HUGE collection of designs in my files. I have no idea how many there are but it’s up in the thousands. I know I should try to file them in some kind of sensible way but I never seem to get round to it, and as a result it can be difficult to find a particular design, or to discover what use I’ve made of it

Which means that this month we have a freebie which I don’t THINK I’ve offered before, but I'm just not sure. It's one of so many designs in the files, so if you have it already, many apologies.

 

A bird from the past

 

It’s a classic William Morris sort of bird  and I know I’ve offered a lot of free birds recently, but I hope there’s room for another one in your collection. It’s for the 4x4 inch (100 x 100 mm) hoop, and HERE it is, in .pes v.6