Strawberry Thief Crewel Embroidery

This is my latest finish and I'm very happy with how this out.

I really love pinks and greens on this one, they are so soft and yummy and a delight to work with.

Developing the details on this one was loads of fun. Making the strawberries with the trellis is one of my favorite ways to make them and I always like how they turn out.

On the sidebar now I have a signup for my newsletter that I am finally going to start sending. Be sure to signup for it, so you get all the updates. I'll be making special offers in there.

A Sheepish Halloween Crewel Embroidery

A Sheepish Halloween is a project I've had completed for a long time, or maybe it wasn't quite complete. I knew it was missing something, so finally I picked up my needle and added french knots to it, even a bunch of them! (Hard to go wrong with french knots, isn't it?)

The little sheep looks so huggable there next to the scary pumpkin!

I really love the warm fall colors. They are so nice to look at and work with.

I'm still working on this blog thing, there is a lot more I want to do with it, but I'm still trying to find what it is exactly that I want to say. I probably just need to sit and really think it over, but I promise it's coming. I really do want to share what I've learned about inspiration and creativity with others. Right now I feel like I have more books in me. I really enjoyed writing the first two, and I know the next one will be even better. I learn a lot myself too as I write them.

For now, I will leave you with this thought! Don't let the negative thoughts win and kill your creativity (yep, I've been there!). Push them out of your life, it's way to short to let them limit you in any way.

WIP Wednesday

Nothing wrong with being a day late as usual here. I'm working on two projects, although one is on the sidelines while waiting for more crewel colors.

My new dragonfly stumpwork is getting all the attention while waiting. The camera pretty much hates focusing on the fabric when there is too much dimension, so I've done the best I could with some closeups!

You get the idea anyways, better photos coming soon! I'm pretty much ready to work on the leaves and dragonfly wings now.

I've also got a picture of the crewel squirrel. I've got to about getting better photos. It feels like my phone does better photos than the system camera, which is admittedly a little old now.

This project I really, really like and can't wait to get the rest of the wools in! Better pics of this will soon follow for this one too!

I've hopped on with Instagram! My id is theflossbox, of course.  I'm totally blown away by the fiber artists out there! Such amazing stitching! It's such fun browsing all the great work out there. I think I'm going to do a series spotlighting some fiber artists on this blog. Soon..soon. So much to do these days. :)

Keep on stitching!!

Swedish Wool Embroidery

This project was a reproduction kit I bought some years ago and made. It's from a design that was found in the south of Sweden. The fabric is a thick wool felt, really nice to feel, but less easy to push the needle through. I so loved working with the wool threads though! This is the project that brought me to crewel work which I really enjoy.

The size is about 20 inches square, so there is quite a bit of stitching in this!

 This should be made into a  pillow, which I still haven't done! In the old days, the embroidered pillow was meant to be used as a riding cushion, since there were no stuffed seats.

I love the naive folk art quality of the designs they used. Color were, of course, limited, but they made imaginative use of them to give the embroidery lots of life and fun.

Below is a selection of various antique wool embroidery from the Nordic Museum in Stockholm.

For embroidery lovers only

I think that must have been true then as it is now. You certainly have to love embroidery to make it through a project of this size!!!  This project is nearly 2' x 2'.

I have come back to my reproduction wool embroidery that has been pushed to the side for a very long time. I started this a year and a half ago, and I am determined that this year it will be done. To be honest I am a bit ashamed that it was left sitting so long. I will keep at it, although I do intend to go back to my other projects as well!

I've mentioned this project before, but I will again. It's been a long time. This project that I bought (it wasn't one of my own creations) is after an old pillow that was found in the south of Sweden. It's very typical with the colors and the folk-arty themes, as well as the black wool fabric too. Black was highly prized and a sign of wealth, since it was hard to make black.  The cushions were meant for use, not just for decoration like mine will be. The seats were hard wood, so a cushion was very welcome.

I've been a fan of these old embroideries for a while now. To me they tell a story of the joy of embroidery and decoration, as well as the joy in the creative process. I find them fascinating to look at and ponder.  The reproductions are fine and all, but the next one I do will be of my own design, because I think it's more important to use our arts and crafts to tell our own stories.

Now for some true cuteness. Around here, the little long-tailed tits are pretty much considered to be one of the cutest birds in existence! Whenever I hear them out there, I always stop to watch them because they are just so fun to watch!

February 2013: What is there to be afraid of?

That's the real title of my latest project but I will come back to that in a moment.

Last week I had a serious case of stitcher's block. Actually it's still there, but I can't let it stop me. It's not a lack of project ideas or designs or anything, but it's a matter of finding something that makes me want to actually pick up the needle. It's not a problem with motivation, it's a feeling that is grounded in something else.

So I tried a different approach. I picked up some materials that felt interesting to work with and used that as my start instead.

This is my free embroidery for February's journal project, and I call it Art from the heart. I didn't know what I was going to make when I started.  I started with a heart and went from there.

It wasn't at all inspired by Valentine's day. There was something else I was trying to remind myself of. And that is what is there to be afraid of? As the ongoing stitcher's block reminds me, what is stopping me from picking up my needles and materials and making something that flows out of me.

The lines on the heart represent how I feel about perfectionism. They trap us in, imprison us and prevent us from being ourselves. As I mentioned, I created this to remind myself not to let the mindless pursuit of perfection stop me.


I chose to do this project as a traditional Swedish style crewel embroidery, wool on wool. Thick wool felt is a popular material to do wool embroidery on here in Sweden. 

There is resistance where the thread meets the fabric, I can definitely say. And I won't say it's impossible, but exact, perfect stitches are hard to manage on this type of material. You have to accept that the overall effect is more important than the individual stitches.

We've had a little visitor a couple weeks ago!! This was exciting since owl-sightings are so rare.

This little pygmy owl stopped by one morning and sat in the bird box for about 10 minutes. I saw it go in. 

The owl is smaller than a cardinal. So small, but yet this bird is a predator of other little birds and small mammals.

No doubt it was here looking for breakfast. The peanuts and sunflower seeds flow freely here, so the little birds are always at hand.

More Crewel Embroidery

Here I am once again with a new finish. The first for the new year! Although I have cheated by working on this during December too.

It's already been nearly a week since I finished this.

The color choices caused me great pains. I somehow managed to pull it together well enough for it to look alright, but my problem isn't that I don't know the colors I want to use, it's that I don't have them! I will keep collecting crewel colors until I have want I need!

Peace n Love!

I had this design idea sitting around for weeks before I finally came around and decided it was time to make it. I'm glad I did! Really glad even.

I can honestly say this one was fun, very fun even. Soft wools, bright colors, fun shapes. I think I shouldn't have waited so long! Now I have another idea brewing that's in a similar style. Maybe even more shades!

This will be another square in my crewel squares project.

Under the Roses Crewel Embroidery

My latest finish:

I borrowed the center of the art exhibit project I have been working on (which is finished and shipped off!) to make this project. I thought it was a fun a design and I wanted to have it as a "memory" of the art project for my stack of crewel squares I am making.

What I like best is that it's pretty far away from what you think of when you think of "crewel embroidery". It's still a fairly tame subject, but who knows what is coming next!!

Magazine Feature and WIP

The ezine &Stitches has just published their 4th edition and have been kind enough to feature me this month! There are lots of great photos and projects and eye candy in this issue so go check it out!! Just click here to visit their blog with information. A big thanks to Nicole and Carina for their work putting this together.

I'm busy, busy this week working to get my art exhibit project done. The exhibit opens November 3rd and is in Brigham City, Utah. If you just happen to be in the neighborhood, you should definitely stop by. The local quilt guild is hosting this, so there will likely be many quilts, but I know they are taking other types of artwork too, including this embroidery.

Halloween is not the theme!! I will say more about this when the time comes.

Embroidery Projects

Here I finally am with a short summary of recent projects.

 This is the crewel version of my fruit wreath. The original fruit wreath was stumpwork:

 This is the footstool that the fruit wreath was made for. It's about 10 inches in diameter. This is part of my effort to bring embroidery "off the wall".  The wool is resilient and suited to take a little handling. I've been thinking hard of new ways to bring embroidery closer, we shall see which turn out to be interesting!

 Another square for my crewel bed cover.

I am up to 12 now!!  They are each different, but I think they look great together.  I have a new design just waiting to be started now.

A free embroidery texture study. It isn't "anything". It's just what you see (although it was inspired by natural colors), an experiment trying out some different ways to make interesting textures.

Little White Flowers

I love the little flowers that spring brings. They are so pretty and delicate and quiet. I made a little photo collection of them. Perhaps you will find them to be inspirational. I will start off with my stitched white flowers. Stitched in wool, perhaps it is not the essence of delicate beauty, but white stitching on tan fabric is always pretty.

Weekend Update!

It's been a few days now since the weekend passed, it's almost the next one now, but I am finally sitting down to write this in any case. 

First, I wanted to rephrase myself from my last post. I realized later that I hadn't expressed myself really well. I said I have seen other stitchers try and fail with their free embroideries. I didn't mean fail in any absolute sense, because trying something new is not failing. I meant they fail according to their own expectations, you can hear the disappointment in their words.

Now to the weekend. We went down to family summer house on the Baltic Sea coast for 4 beautiful days. There was walking, riding, photographing, drawing, bird-watching, grilling, and embroidery. Sounds like a perfect life. It was, so I was a bit sorry to leave. But home is where the heart is, and it was good to be home too.

I have just collected a few of the photos for showing. I will try to work in a few more in the days ahead.

A great view we found - the property is even for sale!

The blackthorn is so beautiful. This time most of the flowers were passed, but we found one big bush that was still in full bloom.

The elusive nightingale. It really does sing all night long, and what a song it has. We had to chase them around the island to be able to find one willing to show itself to us. This one was nice enough to sit long enough and close enough for a bunch of photos.

The color of new oak leaves is special.  The whole island is covered with oaks, some young some old, and they are all amazing.

Often heard, but not so often seen.  This pheasant sat still long enough for me to get some photos! I find him to be a fascinating creature, so I am happy every time he shows himself.

Small visitors were waiting at home!  They have already gone off now, headed down to the coast probably.

The photos aren't enough to convey the beauty and the feeling of being there. Photos are just fleeting moments. If you look around you, you will see the world is full of fleeting moments, just waiting for you to notice them. Take time to see the beauty even in the tiniest and most ordinary things!

I was thinking to break up this post, but it feels wrong. So I continue! My drawing then. I have mentioned that I began to draw last summer. I haven't given it as much time as I really want to so far, I keep at it, even if slowly. This is my first picture I am showing here then:

I really enjoy working with the colors. I take the time to carefully layer on the colors. It takes some practice to look at the photo and really see the colors, not the object. Sometimes when I am finished and I look again at the photo, then I see the colors even more clearly, which isn't so much help for the drawing!!

And finally the embroidery. I finally started the crewel fruit wreath project intended for the little footstool. I ordered some pretty new colors to work with.

I'm making steady progress on it!

I'm doing all the greenery first, saving the fruits for after. The colors are going to be fun to work with!