Mini Terrarium Embroidery #2

My fascination with cacti and plants continues. The weather here has started to turn grey and I like the little sections of (mental) sunshine I get by stitching these.

This one takes about 30 minutes

• The fabric is a cream calico with a medium stiffness interfacing.
• The light green of the cactus is split stitch with very short singular running stitch in the centre.
• The darker cactus is done with 1 thread (all others are 2) in split stitch and the a few long stitches through the centre.
• Everything else is split stitch.

 

Pattern coming soon!! Click here to download the pattern.

 

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Mini Terrarium Embroidery

I have this fascination with cacti and terrariums at the moment. I think they are a nice way to get a little garden inside and are generally pleasing to look at. Maybe I am just struggling with the lack of greenery in my inner city apartment.

Instead of getting some plants (like any rational person) I have embroidered some! I’m hoping to fill up this fabric with heaps of little plants and things that grow. It will hopefully delay a shopping spree at the local garden center.

This is a super quick and super cute little embroidery. It took me an hour while watching tv. So about 30-40 minutes of focus.

• The fabric is a cream calico with a medium stiffness interfacing.
• The green of the cactus is chain stitched around, and then rows of chain stitch vertically to fill up the space.
• The yellow cactus flower is just satin stitch.
• Everything else is split stitch.

 

Pattern coming soon!! Click here to download the pattern.

 

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Day 23 – Make a Laurel

I must admit, I am a little embarrassed to show you how little I have done. But I’ve been stitching like a mad woman! This is 2 hours work so maybe I stitch super slowly? I’m not sure.

Sorry about the creases! I have been taking it to work to get some done on my lunch break.

I stitched the start of a laurel wreath thing. I am going to base it off the Leafy one of these. I realised how unpractised I was at stem stitch! I think it looks okay. It will look better when it is covered with leaves and things. I definitely need to practise it more though.

I haven’t forgotten that I promised a pattern… It is coming. I just haven’t decided whether or not to add flowers to it yet. We will see 🙂

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Day 22 – Water your Gardens

This is my first time embroidering on proper embroidery fabric and I love it!!!

I normally just go for calico. Which is pretty thin and annoying with bright threads, and it stretches and buckles a lot.

You know the difference between washing your hair at home when you are already running late for work, and getting your hair washed at a salon where they give you a scalp massage and a cup of tea… That is the difference between calico and proper linen.

I don’t even know what this one is exactly but I am never going back.

Anyway, onto the stitching!

I picked a quote I like and have used split stitch (really good tutorial here) in a dark grey thread. Around the curved areas I kind of reversed the stem stitch, finishing each stitch by splitting the previous one. I found it made it a little easier.

Next I will be doing a leafy border… That and a pattern are coming soon.

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Day 16 – Pattern Part Two

I am currently a couple of days into a sewing project. It always takes longer than I anticipate. So in the meantime I thought I’d show how my progress is going on my cross stitch cross pattern. That’s a mouthful!

I’m excited to get this done and figure out a way to display it. It is nice to have something else to do when I am getting frustrated at my sewing machine (it’s almost always user error).

A lovely commenter recommended using a needle with a large eye for the metallic thread. And it worked!!! I’m using the largest tapestry needle I have and it has become so much easier to work with.

Hopefully sewing this skirt won’t take too much longer and I’ll be able to show it 🙂

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Day 14 – Pattern

I have something to confess… I took a day off.   Lately I have been feeling tired and uninspired. I was busy, getting little sleep, and disappointed at how my recent daily projects had gone. There isn’t really any excuse for it I just felt crappy. I’m still getting little sleep but am feeling a bit more invigorated. The real secret to getting back on the horse was picking something simple (did anyone else learn K.I.S.S. at school? Keep it simple, stupid!). I know it looks nothing the same, but these sheets have been on my mind since I first saw them three weeks ago. They made me think what is more simple than a basic repeating pattern? And also that can just look nice. I came up with this. I liked these colours together and although they don’t go with our apartment I would like to incorporate this piece somewhere (when finished). Metallic thread adds a nice bit of difference but can be soooo annoying to work with. Maybe getting some thread conditioner will make it easier? Threading the needle is the hardest part.
I’ll keep up with this and show how it goes on.

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Embroidery Inspiration

 

 

Hiroko Kubota

Yumiko Higuchi

Emillie Ferris

 

Day 12 – Stitched Pokemon

 

I didn’t really want to post this. I really really don’t like it. I often try this type of embroidery and it always fails. But giving up is the only sure way to fail, yeah? Maybe tomorrow I’ll get it.

xo Isabel

Day 9 – Mini Cactus

And my obsession with cacti continues… I think I just need to get some for the apartment to get this out of my system.

I tried just using back-stitch for this one. It turned out, uh, interesting. It isn’t my favourite so far but hey that is what this is all about. Trying different things.

When I reach 100 days there might be little cacti embroideries all over my place. That’ll be nice

xo Isabel

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram

Day 6 – Cute Cactus

Today I stitched a cute cactus! After yesterdays project I thought I would go for something easier. I liked using metallic thread for the first time in a long time. It is sooooooo bloody difficult to work with. If there is a secret to it please tell me!! It is so very pretty and glittery, maybe it is worth it.

It has satiated my need for cacti for now…

xo Isabel

 

P.S find me on
Pinterest  Facebook  Instagram