Wearing many hats

It has been (much) longer than intended and I think I have worn every single one of my many hats since I last showed you what I was up to.

Now where was I? ... oh, Yes

I stitched the second decoration with a sprig of Holly in addition to the Mistletoe, I showed you last.

 

... and now have: 

Happy Holly & Merry Mistletoe

After finishing my little Christmas decorations. I was so busy to start work on the kits, I completely forgot to show you the finished decorations. Sorry.

It is hard from the pictures to tell, but these ornaments are only small, just under 7cm (2 3/4") - the size of a medium size bauble, I guess. The pair of embroidery scissors might give you a bit of an idea.

As you may know, I usually like to 'play' with lots of different stitches. This time though, I wanted to keep it a bit more simple, so I have embroidered each using mostly very basic embroidery stitches and only simple raised embroidery techniques. 

Both decorations are embroidered very similarly with Wired Leaves added for dimension. I have also used the same colour scheme, only of course the Holly has cheery red berries and the Mistletoe glistening white berries. 

The berries are made by wrapping beads with silk thread - they are fun but a tad fiddely to make. You can find a picture step-by-step of how to make Wrapped Bead Berries HERE. 

As soon as I had put down my needle after finishing the decorations, I took off my 'Embroidery hat' and started working on all the other little bits and pieces that needs to be done to make the projects available as kits for you to make your own. Although I have now done this many times, I am always taken by surprise just how many 'loose ends' needs to be tied before it all comes together. This is a time when I wear my 'Writers-hat', my 'Graphics-hat' and my (not-so-well-fitting) 'Photography-hat'. I am always relieved when I can put those hats back on their hooks LOL.

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Midway though that part of 'the production', I dusted of my 'teaching-hat' (YEAH!) and headed to Canberra for quick weekend workshop. It was wonderful!  

Over the Pond,
Silk embroidery,  19cm (7 1/2”) in diameter.

The group at the Embroiderers' Guild of the ACT had invited me to guide them through OVER THE POND. I designed this project particularly to practice long & short stitch (soft shading) and satin stitch. For that I have put together a step-by-step explanation on Long & Short Stitch. You can Download it Here if you like. 

It was a lovely couple of days and at the end we had room full of happily hovering dragonflies. Still more to come, but everyone is well underway. 

I cannot tell you how nice it was to 'get back out there'. - Thank you so much Ladies for the invitation and for making me feel so welcome and at home !

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Back home & Back to the kits.

Most of the silks arrived from France in just under 3 weeks, which is amazing considering post is still unpredictable and often taking longer than usual. SO I have put on my 'Packing hat' and we are starting to put the kits together - yeah. 

It now feels like it is Christmas 'in a minute' and Oh, how I wish it has struck earlier and I had made these kit 2 months ago! It frustrates me to no end that the likelihood of getting kits shipped overseas and stitched in time for (this) Christmas, is not very, very poor  - I guess the only good thing is - it will be Christmas again next year. 

I hope you are all keeping safe and well in this strange and somewhat unpredictable time we live in. 

Look after your selves and each other.

Best Stitches,

Anna X