It's a Crewel World ~

 well not exactly crewel {or cruel}

but it is kinda like crewel ~

my embroidery, that is….

;)

for the past couple of days, I've been doing a lot of sketching in my books.

happy drawings of my Folks & characters ~

Since I got my new glasses, my eyes have been getting adjusted, 

so that means that I had to put the "Pin" project on hold for a couple of days more ~

... cross stitching right now isn't being friendly to me, hence the bigger needlework I'm doing!

I'm hoping to get back to the 'Pin' project today & finish the 2% I have yet left to do, 

then get them listed in the Etsy shop for you.

{thanks for your patience}

So I figured I'd share with you what I've been working on…

I took one of my drawings from my sketchbook and traced it onto some vintage linen.

I use a combination of water-soluble ink & disappearing ink when I do my Humble Embroidery.

this fine point pen does the trick well, I bought it at Joann's ;)

everywhere you see blue ink, that is the water-soluble ~

that is what I use for what I call the 'hard' outline of the design….

~ the purple ink is the air erase or disappearing ink.

that is what I use while filling in the design as I go…

using it to add guidelines like the detail in the tulip below ~

 I'm mostly right-handed…

but

 I can do just about everything with my left hand too ~

so I have a tendency to stitch in crazy directions…

Here I'm using 6 strands of DMC cotton floss to fill in the details of the tulip…

I also kinda-sorta work upside down.

{really don't know why}

but it works for my little brain 

:)

I like to incorporate different things into my needlework.

and usually will add a bit of calico, a patch or some other stitching, such as the naively crossed stitch lettering you see below:

her name is Ruth….

I filled her dress with tiny petaled flowers and used french knots for their centers.

the flower stems and all outlines are stem stitch ~ 

… for some reason I prefer to use stem stitch to outline instead of outline stitch.

yeah ~ go figure.

in the upper left corner I stitched in a patch, after taking my scissors 

and making a deliberate hole in the vintage linen…

I love the simple, make-do look that patches & repairs give to my work 

~ even if they are intentionally made.

the basket was filled in with chain-stitch, 

& a portion of Ruth's fur {chest area} 

was stitched using seed stitch to lend a bit of texture.

then it was stained.

first I lightly spritzed the finished piece with water to remove the water soluble ink ~

doing that also helps the stain to have a little more 'tooth' and gives a great old or vintage look.

I still need to iron it ~

then frame it.

but I like it.

do you?

This design will be available as a PDF or Instant Download in my Etsy shop today 

for those that may want to try their hand at Humble Embroidery…

If you don't embroider, 

you can use the design for needlepunch or rug hooking too

 :)

*please note*

Since Monday was a holiday, and yesterday was a weather-induced mess,

shipping of orders will be Today.

again,

thanks for your patience.

Hoping you all have a day filled with colorful little stitches!

~ Blessings from the Farm ~

 Lori