Embroidery Inspiration

This month's Craft Jam being Embroidery, I thought it prudent to write a little blog about it.   The furthest I have come to embroidery is a cross stitch made when I was pregnant. It is a gentle art,  taking great concentration and skill to make things by hand.  Nowadays there are amazing (and expensive) machines which embroider intricate designs at the push of a button.  Craft Jam this month we will be learning how to do it the simple way,  using a number of simple stitches to create lovely keepsakes and to get a little taste of this fantastic craft.  I have been trawling the internet for inspiration and have found some really gorgeous embroidered pieces. 



This notebook I found on Folksy by Handmade by Edwina,  I love her use of colour and folk art appeal.  Applique,  embroidery stitches and beading have been used to give this real character.  

Frutejuce on Folksy have this fabulous pattern for a Mexican Day of the Dead style embroidered skull.  This is fantastic perfect gift done on an embroidery hoop to hang on the wall.  

This is a great idea and a great tutorial by Little Birdie Secrets blog.  It shows how to turn your kid's doodles and drawings into embroidered art.  A fabulous idea and a great keepsake.  There are loads of tutorials online for this and if you don't fancy doing it yourself there are a few craft businesses out there who specialise in creating gifts doing just this.  

One of my favourite embroidery artists, based here in Devon is Three Red Apples.  Annabelle Ozanne is the creative force behind Three Red Apples and as well as creating fantastic embroidery,  I love that she creates her pieces with no fancy sewing machines.  Just a simple machine,  drawing her embroidery straight onto the material.  She even has two old Singer sewing machines to keep it rustic and real.  Annabelle has a fabulous blog, do take a peek.  You can buy her goodies on Etsy  and her website.  

 Finally,  I cannot do a piece on embroidery without mentioning Dottie Angel.  The lady behind this Tif, is a british girl living in the US.  She has a huge online following through her blog and a perfect brand of eclectic charm selling embroidered pieces as well as hand sewing and crochet.  Is there any craft this dynamo cannot do.  Dottie's blog is fantastic and whimsical.  And with a seaview,  two airstream caravans in her garden, chickens and 8 kids,  she certainly lives the crafty life.  

'I do love all that you are'  Dottie Angel

Mosaic Craft Jam - June 2013

Mosaics Night 

Led by Anne and her team from Arts and Crafts in the Chapel, Moretonhampstead, this night was always going to be special.   Anne has been a mosaic artist for many many years,  Christine has done mosaics for over ten years and Emma a newer artist  came to help us all take the first steps to try and produce our own mini mosaic masterpiece. 

To whet our appetite for this craft they brought with them some magnificent work, my personal favourite being 'Dave' the mosaic'd Indian Elephant.  This piece is really special so much so that I took rather a lot of photos.  Anne had a picture with her showing an amazing transformed MG classic car from normal car to a mosaic'd car that I would give my right arm for.  She was commissioned to make something for Moretonhampstead festival and a friend donated his old MG classic car to the cause. 

Here's a picture of the magic worked on it.  If you look close enough you'll see an entire tea service on the bonnet!

Can you imagine doing the school run in this?   Now there's a thought :)

I am soo impressed with the finished work that we all managed to achieve in the course of 2 hours. It helped immensely that Anne was such an expert in the field.  She inspired us to use objects that we had found at home in our craft cupboards.  Buttons,  old pieces of jewellery plastic,  mosaics is a craft where you can really let your imagination fly.  I am certainly hooked and even managed to grout my piece a few days after.  The grouting is messy but woah does it really finish the look of your work,  well worth it!

Here is some of our best bits.................................................

Photo mosaics of our Mosaics.  Lots of different materials have been used to create these fantastic pieces.  I love the little green pendant heart and the little aqua beads in the bottom right piece.  (top photo) and the sailing boat on the bottom picture (bottom left).  

One of the girls had just moved house,  I think this is a lovely addition to her new home 

My own finished and grouted piece (not quite perfect but its a start)

Flamboyant!  More pictures of Dave the mosaic elephant 

                                              

                                                                

I love this jigsaw piece and the leaf,  they are large pieces which is not obvious from the photographs.  This is a craft that I could really fly with, the end result is so satisfying.

Anne runs courses in Mosaics up in mid Devon and is happy to come to venues to teach her art.  in addition to this she sells exquisite mosaic kits with everything included to help you make your first project.  

 Contact Anne Read at enquiries@partofthecountry.com  and check out her website at http://www.partofthecountry.com/