July's Trunk Show is at Emily's Stitchery!!

Emily's Stitchery in Northbrook, IL is hosting my trunk show in July!  Here is a look at their awesome set of my Hoot Owls, notice those cute little feet and the fun fabric used for the welting!!

Fly Away Home!

Some cute finishes today, and a couple of them have been in the works for a long time!  Not these Cardinals, though, these were stitched by Linda C., one of the quick stitchers in this year's  Falling Star Club, and they are already finished and at home!

Love that dimensional star shape finish!

Next up are pieces from another club series, the last two Hoot Owls stitched by my friend Judy G.  These will join the other 4 already at home and will complete the set!  Congrats to Judy, they look great!!

These 3 Pumpkins and Candy Corns from my Crazy Patch club series are the first of 9 stitched by Rebecca S., and she still has 6 at the finisher to look forward to!  I can't wait to see them either, especially if they look as good as these!

Great work everyone and thanks for sharing!!

Judy's Owls

Judy G. has recently finished stitching all six of my Hoot Hoot! owls, using my stitch guides but her own stash threads, and they came out great, like all of Judy's stitching.  I'm so happy to show the whole set off to you here today.  Hopefully sometime soon I'll have more photos, when they come back from the finishers!

Holiday Owl

 Spring Fever Owl

Patriot Owl

Harvest Owl

Winter Snowy Owl

Spooky Owl

Stitching Games Update & New Finishes

As you may remember from my last post, I was still wondering what I would stitch for my April Stitching Games clue, "The Seven ____".  Well, Harry Potter came to the rescue and filled in the blank with the "Seven Known Types of Spells", so of course then I stitched her magic wand!  I did it in Basketweave Beading using gold Delica beads and I like the look, but I think now I'll have to replace the beads on her corset as they clash with the beads on the wand.  I'm thinking an orange shade of Fyre Werks will do the trick!

My latest finishing shows offs are this CandyLand Christmas stitched by Marla Muth (check out those candy feet!)

And Judy Gartman has finished yet another Hoot! Hoot! owl, this one in the middle of a cross-country move, no less!  I recently moved halfway across the country and I wasn't even capable of flossing my teeth, let alone picking up a needle and thread, so kudos to you Judy!

Thanks for looking, hope to post again this weekend with some new project pictures, so please stand by! 

Threads on Parade!

The first owl in my Hoot Hoot series, the Spring Fever Owl, shipped out to participating retailers this month, and my distributor, Ruth Schmuff, was pulling the thread kits for the series.  She remarked on the variety of colors and thread types used throughout the series and I kind of wished that I was there to see all of the threads together in one big kit.  I stitched them owl by owl so I never had all the threads out at once. As I referred back to my photocopies I made of the threads I used to refresh my memory (when I am done stitching, I take all the thread and materials I used and put them on my photocopier to make a reference picture for the future, just in case there are ever any questions regarding the stitch guide) and I thought that I should have taken a regular photograph of each thread kit as well.  So I went to the thread stash and pulled the threads again and took these photos.  I think I will do this in the future for other things I stitch.  It will be a nice way to show what you will look forward to working with for each owl and it's a nice little scrapbook project for me! 

Here is the kit for the Spring Fever Owl, those shiny black dots are the big Holographic sequins for her eyes:

                           

Here is the Summer Patriot Owl kit, complete with the sequins for his star-spangled wings:

The Fall Harvest Owl features Swarovski crystal sequins and some wonderful silks and velvets:

The Winter Snowy Owl kit is very pastel so I photographed it against a darker background.  The beads in the tray are the black Delica beads I used for his eyes:

The Spooky Owl Kit has all your traditional Halloween colors, plus some rick rack for fun embellishing:

The Happy Holidays Owl is all vivid greens and pinks plus more Holographic sequins:

                         




If you are a thread-a-holic like I am, I know you enjoyed looking through all these gorgeous threads too.  Just walking into a needlework store that is well stocked with threads makes my mouth start to water and then my pocketbook start to hurt!  But I have never regretted any purchase, even when I have ended up buying duplicates of threads I already have as there is nothing like having plenty of stash at home and finding just the thread you happen to "need" for your project in the convenience of your own house!  Hopefully, those of you in the Owl Club will enjoy these new additions to your thread collection.  Until next time, Happy Stitching!

Celebrate the Season With the Holiday Owl

The sixth and final owl in this preview is the Holiday Owl, all decked out for the most festive season of all in pink and green. He's also a little bundled for the weather in a couple of warm, furry textures as well, thanks to a little Fuzzy Stuff and Petite Peluche. There are variegated silks and holographic sparkles throughout too!

Here he is all set to fly down your chimney with his little silk wings:
Here he is stitched and flat, the better for you to see his holiday finery:
I was looking to do something special for his chest feathers-- something feathery but also I wanted the look of vintage-style glass tree ornaments. I came up with a variation on the Barred Beetle stitch, framing holographic green sequins in pink silk and metallic. Wait 'til you see how these shine!
His wings are pretty jazzy in Byzantine with Peluche and Sparkle Rays:
I chose a Very Velvet for the beak because of the luscious orange color it comes in; the stitch is a Fern variation:
I hope you have enjoyed this preview of my upcoming series. My distributor, Ruth Schmuff, mailed the first owl shipment out to stores yesterday, so get your needles ready! In honor of the current season, she has chosen the Spring Owl to be the first owl out the door, so you should get her in all her pink and green glory sometime next week. Hope you will enjoy and if you have any questions at all, please do send me an email. Happy Stitching!