Surfing the web one evening I came across this site promoting a musical about a transvestite vampire (or transvespire!).  LOVE!
The clip of the song on the site makes it totally worth the visit http://www.dragulathemusical.com/
I thought the logo was all kinds of awesome, so I KNEW I had to do something with it.
I emailed Vellum Publishing to ask permission to use it as an embroidery pattern (and to publish it online as a finished piece).  They agreed. yay!



I accidentally reversed the leg.  I had reversed the image to print and make an iron-on transfer, but printer died, so I drew it out by hand onto the fabric.  I forgot to flip the image back until it came time to draw the letters 

It is stitched in 2 ply floss in seed, split, and satin stitch.  The fishnet hose are done in a long woven stitch.
This was my first real go at satin stitching  (the book Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart helped me FINALLY understand how to do it!). 



I think Dragula is going to get framed and displayed on my wall of misfit art 

I won this adorable pink gingham seersucker and eyelet lace apron from a blog giveaway http://www.DuskyLedoux.com recently.  I decided to have a bit of fun with it using one of mindboggld's domestic ninja embroidery patterns.  I chose the Monday design because I love how she is "armed" with her feather duster and spray bottle.

modelled here on my chubby self


laying flat

I stitched up Johannes Vermeer's famous portrait Girl With A Pearl Earring last night.
She is done in 2 strand cotton thread on a Joel Dewberry celery woodgrain fabric.
I think she is destined to be on a pillow (she is around 11" tall).

I have a set of wall paneling samples (approx 6" x 6" , maybe a touch bigger).  They are thick and heavily textured to resemble rock, rugged tree bark, brick, aluminum and wood.

I was originally going to finish the edges in paint and hang them together as a study in texture, but I know that the creative minds here can help me come up with a more fun idea(s).

I was already thinking that the rock one would be a good base for a tiny diorama of a moon landing or something similar (with polymer clay bits).



all 6 together



profile to show thickness

I made this piece to send to moster8me for her stitch project http://www.flickr.com/photos/skunkbutt/3855026856/
I found an adorable beaver image last night on Google, so I decided to stitch him to represent Canada! The finished piece is approx 4x6 (plus border for seam allowance), stitched in split stitch 2 thread.

To follow up the Einstein, I opted to go with one of my favorite geniuses: the irreplaceable George Carlin.
When I mentioned that I wanted to stitch his portrait, AlwaysInspired immediately insisted that if I did, it must go to her husband.
And so it shall.
Aaron, this dude's for you!


Carlin was stitched with 2 strands of black, outlined in split stitch, but "thread sketched" in random stitches.  The eyes accented with a single strand of green.  Hoop is 8".  I worked on him for 2 nights off and on.


This pic shows my WIP including the sketch I worked from.  The sketch became very important for details as I could no longer see most of the eyes.  Turns out that I have a very hard time mentally reversing an image.  That tiny card of black is all the thread I had to work with.  I have about 7" left LOL!
I need to find a local source for embroidery floss.  I have lots of colors in my stash, but NO BLACK!

I have only been embroidering for a week now, and I am already an addict.  I have filled a folder with sketches for future pieces.

Tonight I stitched piece #3.  Instead of another nude, I decided to try a portrait (and I think I should stick with nudes....or maybe stick men...sigh).

I have much love for Albert here, so I HAD to give this a try.
He is embroidered mostly in split stitch (2 strand black), with hair randomly stitched in some crazy fuzzy eyelash yarn.  I separated the plys of the yarn and fuzzed it up when I was done stitching to give it the crazy look for which Einstein is known. 
Note: stitching with yarn using a regular embroidery needle = not fun!
Tongue was lightly shaded with the same transfer pencil I use for the outline because it was the perfect color!
In the end, I can see he is not perfect, but I still love him and his crazy 'do.

This is my 2nd embroidery piece (first one posted a couple of days ago). This one is also a female nude, but in a more traditional style.
The image was also found via Google Images (I am afraid I cannot credit the original artist as I forgot to save the found image, and there are a million of human nude studies in similar poses on there).
It is stitched in solid dark brown on the same awesome heavy cotton-linen ecru fabric as the first piece (scored about 3 yrds of this stuff at a garage sale months ago for 50cents).  I was going for a sepia pencil sketch style.  Entirely split-stitch with 2 strands.

 
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This is the back of the piece.  I only show it because I am excited that there are no huge spider nest blobs on it.  I am a noob, so I do knot off each new length of thread.

Ok, I admit to knowing very little about the various kinds of feet out there, but this one REALLY has me stumped.  I have done some googling, but have not come across one like this.
I found it in a drawer where my mom keeps some random bits of old stuff, most of which belonged to my dad. 

Woot! I get to post my first piece in this category!
I have done tiny bits of needlework on various projects as accent, but this is my first full embroidered piece ever.
I love retro nudes and old hollywood glamor, so I went googling for the right image to work with.  This is my adaptation of Nude and Mirror, 1990 by Tom Wesselman.  Some small changes have been made to the original artwork, namely because my printer doesnt work, so I had to sketch out the design myself, and because some aspects were not translating well in thread.

 
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I used Aunt Martha's iron-on pencil (over the first pencil sketch) on a sturdy but translucent paper for easy repositioning in case the design didnt transfer fully the first time (which it didnt).

It is hardly a perfect piece, but I am still thrilled with it.  I opted out of the lips after trying 3 variations, all of which looked odd.
Just don't look at the back.  Some spots look like a connect-the-dot page being attacked by tarantulas.