Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Stitchy News for September!


UPDATE: Many thanks to Karen for letting me know that some of the links in this edition weren't working! As of today, October 2nd, they should be working again :) So sorry for any inconvenience!

Autumn is in the air and Hallowe'en is on its way, but there are still some bright and colourful projects well worth making too :) And Giveaways! Without further ado:


Special Event: "Pumpkins For Cathey"


On Friday, September 27th, pumpkins started popping up all over the Blogsphere with the mysterious title "Pumpkins for Cathey". This was a special surprise event organized by Daffycat for her friend Cathey, also known as Pumpkin at Pumpkin Patch & Co. for her 7th Blogoversary! Sadly, along with the happy congratulations for this wonderful achievement, this event had a serious purpose - Cathey is suffering from end-stage cancer, and Daffycat wanted to raise Cathey's spirits.

Cathey has written two posts well worth reading: A Much Needed Rant and What Cancer Is Not.... Although I'm late and do not know Cathey, I'd just like to add my best wishes - there are links to all the blogs that participated in the comments on Daffycat's post, and you can still visit and offer your own best wishes if you'd like :)


Learn How To Stitch Small Leaves + Stitch A Tiny Pumpkin!

Over at Needle N' Thread, Mary Corbet has recently added a quartet of great posts with stitching suggestions for miniature leaves, perfect for little floral motifs, as part of her awesome Stitch Fun series! So far, there are Fly Stitch Leaves, Cretan Stitch Leaves, Buttonhole Stitch Leaves and the unusual and very pretty Rose Leaf Stitch.

While you're there, you might also want to visit Mary's great tutorial showing how to embroider a cute little pumpkin with bullion knots!


Why Not Embroider A Whole Pumpkin Patch?

Speaking of embroidered pumpkins, Annet at Fat-Quarter has an interesting guide showing how to make a needle-woven one! This stitch is very dimensional, with great texture, just perfect for the Great Pumpkin in your patch :)


Stitchy Inspiration: Beaded Pumpkin Pins

Paulette, who blogs at Beedeebabee, does absolutely amazing work with felt, and her adorable pumpkin brooches - adorned with beaded flowers - are gorgeous! Also, the beaded picot edge is easy and elegant, a wonderful technique I'd like to try! She kindly shares a yummy recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies too ;)


Beautiful Finish: Harvest Moon House

Over at the always-amusing Spinster Stitcher blog, Coni has just finished an amazing Autumnal canvaswork design called Harvest Moon House by Laura J. Perin. See the finish in this post - be sure to click on the photo to see all the lovely details! And if you like the project, you can find lots of update posts by scrolling through her blog :)


Free Pattern: "Autumn Is Here"

Thanks to Ingrid's lovely finish (her beaded rick rack trim is amazing!) at her Mii Stitch blog, I discovered a freebie of a very cute yellow birdie on a branch full of changing leaves! Called "Autumn Is Here", the pattern is available here at The Snowflower Diaries. The designer also offers several other free primitive patterns.


Get Ready For Hallowe'en Stitching With Fun Freebies!

Emma Broidery at the DMC Threads blog has a great round-up, including a host of cute Japanese "kawaii" style monsters. And Jo at Serendipitous Stitching compiled a wonderful list last year! Cyberstitchers also has a spooky Hallowe'en Alphabet (with "Halloween" word chart) and several small frightful freebies, perfect for ornaments.


Tutorial: Two Tiny Embroidered Coin Purses, With Patterns

Bev, who blogs at Flamingo Toes, has little project for using up scraps of fabrics and threads: two cute miniature coin purses! The projects are really made by the vintage-looking purse clasps she used, but the sweet little patterns she provides - an umbrella raining hearts and a bicycle holding flowers - could be used anywhere!


Sew A Patchwork Of Memories!

Amy has written her first tutorial at Cloud CouCou Crafts, and it's a really lovely idea that makes for a beautiful project! She had been saving some clothes from her young daughter's early years for a special project, and made a very cute cushion of simple squares from the material :) It's sewn on the machine, but the idea is easily adaptable to other family members and to hand sewing too. A wonderful keepsake gift to give!


Great Gift Idea: Embroidered Jewelry Pouch!

Speaking of gifts, over at Feeling Stitchy, for Tutorial Tuesday, there is a guide to hand-sewing a small drawstring pouch. Suitable for storing jewelry or other small items, it would also make a lovely personalized gift bag! A link is included to the free monogram frame pattern, which is very pretty, but the lettering is done by hand.


Stitchy Inspiration: Embroidered Magazine Cover

(Found via DMC Threads) Donatella, at the fashion blog Inspiration & Realisation, recently tried embroidering on paper and she shares her results! The image she picked is gorgeous, and the simple running stitch adds a lovely textured overlay :)


Take A Virtual Tour Of Scotland's Textile Treasures

Susan Elliott, of Plays With Needles, recently went on a trip to Scotland and has posted a trio of wonderfully detailed posts about the historical needlework that she saw at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow: Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, A Tisket, A Tasket, and A Tale of Two Coifs. Her post on The Great Tapestry of Scotland is also very interesting, and Susan also has some lovely photos of the Scottish scenery too!


Quick Lesson: Stitching "Over 1"

Veronica, at Veronica's Stitching Vault, has stitched up an excellent example of "over 1" options for stitching on linen! These smaller scaled stitches are often used for fine detailing, including skin shading, but the terminology is so confusing :)


Stitchy Books To Learn From

Over at &Stitches, the team has been sharing their favourite embroidery books, the ones they turn to time and time again for stitchy inspiration! I'd never heard about any of these three previously, so it's very interesting to learn about the contents:

Carina chose Mary Gostelow's "The Complete Guide to Needlework Techniques and Materials", Julie picked the French edition of Mary Thomas' classic "Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches" and Nicole opted for Jacqueline Enthoven's "The Stitches of Creative Embroidery". Do you have a favourite stitchy book? I'd love to know!


"Stitched Blooms" Blog Tour With Giveaways!

Carina Envoldsen-Harris, who co-hosts &Stitches and blogs at Carina's Craftblog, is releasing her first craft book! "Stitched Blooms: 300 Floral, Leaf & Border Motifs to Embroider" comes with digital versions of the motifs on a CD and 20 suggested projects. Carina is currently hosting a Blog Tour for the book, which is almost over, but the full schedule is here and she noted still open Giveaways at the bottom of her most recent blog post. The dates run from October 1st to 6th, so hurry on over and enter to win your own copy! Disclaimer: I have entered one of the Giveaways!

Some of Carina's larger patterns are available for FREE on the DMC site, in the "Pearl Cotton Embroidery" section! My favourites are Summer Days and Bird of Paradise :)


Perfect for Hallowe'en: Historical Dracula Pattern Giveaway!

Fellow &Stitches co-host Julie (of Button, Button) designs as Little Dorrit & Co. and has just released a new Dracula pattern for Hallowe'en. Not your typical vampire, this bloodsucker displays his literary heritage proudly! You can find the full rules and enter to win a copy of the pattern on this post, contest closes on October 9th!


Stitch A Sweet And Simple Bunny With Felt Applique!

Bridgeen Gillespie at Cherry & Cinnamon has a guide for a quick and easy Spring Bunny, but the background fabric is actually quite Autumnal :) The free pattern is more of an inspiration than a real template, but this is an adorable idea that is very adaptable! It would be supercute stitched on a floral print with lots of lazy daisies ;)


Quick and Cute Stitching: Felt Owl Brooch

Laura (aka Lupin) at Bugs and Fishes has an old but wonderful tutorial on making a cute little owl brooch, perfect for brightening up your Fall coat, scarf or bag :)

While you're visiting, Laura also has a great tutorial for a larger feathered owl and templates for an assortment of felt Autumn leaves with 15 project suggestions!


Fine Crochet: A Lovely And Unusual Rose

Olga at Lacy Crochet has a wonderful pattern and tutorial for a very unique one-dimensional rose! Inspired by traditional Irish Crochet roses - which are commonly three-dimensional - she designed this modern yet elegant flower with asymmetrical petal layers! This motif would be look lovely in a table runner, as Olga suggests, or as a doily and would be practical too, since you could actually lay items on top of it :)


Fantastic Fairy Tale Finish!

Miss Lilly, from the great stitchy blog Back On The Wall, posted an amazing finish at the end of August that I've been impatiently waiting to share with you ever since :) Called "Once Upon A Time", it is a JCA kit designed by Michael A. LeClair, and it is shaped like a real open book!!! Unfortunately, this design no longer appears to be available, but as a finishing idea, the open-book concept is simple and stunning :)


Catch Up With Crafty News From Across The Pond!

Finally, I'm very excited to share that Emma Lenton (good friend of ES and host of EveningEmma) and Michael Westgarth (of the gaming blog MegaWestgarth) have started an exciting new venture called CraftiHub! CraftiHub is devoted to providing daily updates about all kinds of interesting things going on in The United Kingdom. My favourite article so far has been about NeuroKnitting, which is amazing!

The site is in its early stages and could use your support :) If you like what you see, you can follow Craftihub on Bloglovin' like I do, or add it to your favourite RSS reader. I'm really looking forward to watching this site grow!


Thanks Very Much For Reading!

Please feel free to share your favourite crafty/stitchy book in the comments below!

If you have an item of interest for Stitchy News - including your own - please e-mail me! My address is in my sidebar at right (>) under the pretty postage stamps :)

10 comments:

Mii Stitch said...

What a post!!! Fantastic news :)

Karen said...

Every time you post Stitchy News I always manage to find a new blog to follow. :) I loved the fairytale book finish and the little owl brooch. So many fun creative things!

Aurelia Eglantine said...

@ Mii: So glad you enjoyed reading, congratulations again on your lovely little birdie finish!

@ Karen: What a wonderfully kind thing to say! Thank you :) That is exactly what I want to accomplish with these posts and it makes me incredibly happy to hear that you're finding new blogs to be inspired by!!! There is so much amazing creative work online ;)

Stitching Noni said...

What a wonderful Stitchy News :)
Thank you for all the great links... Have also found a some new blogs to follow :)
Look forward to the next update :)

Cloud CouCou said...

Just reading your post and noticed my name there!! Thanks so much for the mention, it's very kind of you :)Will be checking the other links out for some other stitchy ideas.

Aurelia Eglantine said...

Sorry for the delay in response!!!

@ Noni: Oh, thank you so much for your kind words :) I'm so happy that you've found some new blogs to follow too!

@ CCC: Well, of course I had to add you in LOL! You did a wonderful job with your tutorial, I hope it's the first of many :)

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Thanks for the mention! I intend to update the Hallowe'en links this year.

Love Miss Lilly's book finish too.

Aurelia Eglantine said...

You're very welcome Jo :) You put together a wonderful list last year, and I'm really looking forward to visiting your updated list!

Sue said...

Great news and posts, thanks for sharing them here! :)

Aurelia Eglantine said...

Thanks so much SS! I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed the links :)