Chloe Giordano

I discovered Chloe Giordano's work when I spotted her beautiful Wren on Flickr. I'm a little bit obsessed with (fill) stitched feathered and furry friends and Chloe's Wren made me squeal a little bit. I'm in awe of her detailed stitching on this Wren and love the subtle use of colour. I then started to explore Chloe's other work and you must too! It's all just so awesome! Besides nature themed work, Chloe has designed book covers and unique softies too.

book cover design 

ursa major

You can find Chloe's photos here and her blog here.

Alphabet Sampler from Fox & Feathers

 

We've come across a lovely alphabet sampler from Fox & Feathers. Isn't it great? I love the mix of different fonts - it's really nice to see a different take on the usual curly/Gothic fonts used in cross stitch alphabets.

Check out the Nursery Sampler Alphabet in the Fox & Feathers shop. And do check out the rest of Anthea's patterns, they're really fun - especially this one! :-)

Kamchatka

I learned something new today. I had never heard of Kamchatka before and this wonderful embroidery by Masha Novoselova is called Kamchatka and that made me curious! Kamchatka is a peninsula in the far eastern part or Russia. There are lots and lots of volcanos there and it's generally very cold. The landscape in the embroidery sure does look cold. To me, this embroidery seems to be stitched very much like some painters use quick, broad brushstrokes to make a painting. This stitching technique in combination with the wonderful use of colour makes this embroidery come to life. If you want to learn more about this piece you can visit Masha's blog (it's written in Russian and English). 

In other news: if you haven't treated yourself to a copy of the latest issue of &Stitches yet, you can try your luck at blogs of Hannah, Aimee and Paloma as they have copies to giveaway! 

Issue 2 of &Stitches is out now!

We are so happy to announce that the second issue of &Stitches is available as of today! 


And for the early birds: if you use the code BOOKWORM (he he early birds...bookworm) on checkout between now and Thursday the 19th of April 2012 you will receive 10% off this Issue (normal price is 4.50 GBP, about 7$)* .



If you have been following us on this blog (or Twitter or Facebook) then you have already caught some glimpses of what we have in store for you with Books&Stitches: our featured designer is Cate Anevski and besides her fabulous pattern set of Big Bad and Little Red, there are also patterns from us: a reading Polar Bear by Nicole and Carina's take on stitched lettering (see below). 

We have fun how to's by Jessica Kelly (stitching on Vintage paper) and Becka Rahn (project and tips for embroidering with young stitchers), stitch tutorials, interviews with Cate Anevski and Aimee Ray and readers talk about (craft)books that inspire them. 

We have also reviewed some books for you and made a fun round up of book inspired patterns.  


Hope you will enjoy this second issue of our e-zine!

Lucky Giveaway winner!!!

Congratulations to Rachel! Hope you've saved a place on your wall for this awesome Lucky Jackson piece because the ever reliable Random Generator has picked you as winner!

Please contact us within the next week at hello[at]andstitches.com for your name and address.

Many thanks to Lucky Jackson for making this giveaway possible. Please check out her shop with original artwork and fabulous patterns!

Giveaway time! Embroidered Art by Lucky Jackson!

As you probably know the second issue of &Stitches e-zine is available next week and it's all about books this time. To mark the happy occasion we have a fabulous giveaway for you! Lucky Jackson, stitcher extra-ordinaire, is generously offering one of her original embroidered pieces of art to give away on this blog.  Lucky is still busy with her 365 days project (stitch a work of art a day). Some of her art is available in her shop and for some pieces there is even a pattern available so you can make your own version! As you can tell from the photo, this piece (from the Take this job and shove it week) fits our book theme perfectly.

For a chance to win this lovely piece, leave a comment on this post and tell us why you would like to win this Lucky Jackson Original.... The giveaway ends this Saturday 8 PM Amsterdam time! And be sure to leave an e-mail address or to check back to see if you have won because we don't want to do a re-draw (but we will, after 5 days!).... Comments are closed!!

Good luck everyone!

close up of a lovely stack of books. :)

Ready for some awesomeness?

The next issue of &Stitches e-zine will be all about books (and stories, reading, lettering etc etc you get the idea) and is available on the 17th of April. We love books (and embroidery!) and we've tried to approach the subject from different angles. Our featured designer this time is the fabulously talented Cate Anevski. She made a wonderful set of patterns especially for &Stitches!

Books &Stitches also has some great tutorials; some are from our own hand (Carina tackles an 'exotic' stitch for example) and some are from guest contributors (including a kid-friendly project). We don't want to reveal too much of course but we'll be surely showing some more stuff next week!

Stitch Love

Stitch Love #3, a gallery on Flickr.

A few stitchy favourites found on Flickr recently! Click on the thumbnails to get automagically transported over to Flickr to see the larger version! :-)

And do add your own stitcheries to the &Stitches group - we'd love to see what you're making!