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So is this really art show time? No, we don’t have many exhibitions here in the winter months, and the really big events aren’t until summer or autumn. But last year I realised that, because I hadn’t prepared early, when the time did come I didn’t have many pieces suitable for exhibition. So this year it’s going to be a really early start, and I’ve recently been working on the kind of large pieces that I need to enter shows with. Which explains, incidentally, why I haven’t posted here recently – these exhibition pieces take quite a long time to design, digitise and stitch out. But this is my first attempt for this year.

Some Green Escher birds

I’ve always been fascinated by the work of the Dutch artist Escher, and have been inspired by him in many ways. This is a sort of Escheresque composition – yes, I know it’s not done in the true Escher style, but I tried to give them the same feeling that he gives his animals, of fitting nicely into the shape of their neighbours. Long-term blog readers may recognise this as something I lifted from one of my past designs featuring birds in a tree. But these birds should be good enough on their own when they’re nicely framed

Last August I posted a design of an elaborate feathery bird, which I was lucky enough to sell later at our September exhibition. This bird started me thinking about ways that birds (always my favourite subject) could be made elaborate and decorative – almost in a baroque style. The result was a collection of 12 “baroque birds”. OK, the style isn’t really “baroque” in the usual meaning of the word, but they’re certainly elaborately decorated, which is what I had in mind

Two rather baroquish bird designs

So now there are 10 more decorated birds in the files, not unlike these in general feeling, and now all I have to do is to find a way to use them!

A few weeks ago I posted some designs of decorative bugs here. Now, of course not everybody likes bugs so I thought I might get some upset comments. But it was just the opposite – most people said that they actually liked them! Which was wonderful to hear, of course, and encouraged me to put up a bug collection on my Secrets of Embroidery store – 

https://secretsof.com/machine-embroidery/designs/The-Accidental-Embroiderer

But meanwhile, perhaps you could find a home for a couple of free bugs – a ladybird (or ladybug, if you’re in America) and a floral beetle, both with appliqueed fabric backs.

A ladybird

A flowery beetle

They’re both for the 4 x 4 inch (100 mm x 100 mm) hoop. Now, that’s actually VERY big for bugs, so you might find it best to shrink them a bit to something like 2×2 inches (about 50 x 50 mm). I haven’t actually tested them at these small sizes, but I should think that they would be OK even when shrunk

So click HERE to request the ladybird and/or the flowery beetle file, in .pes v.6. As always, let me know if you have any problems

When I was searching through some old files looking for things I could post here, I came across a BIG piece from several years ago. It’s not entirely mine, of course, but was made in collaboration with my friend Cherri, (at Instagram @cherriberi1) who I’ve worked with for several years. She had the ideas, I did the designs and the digitising according to her instructions, and then thankfully left to her the monumental job of stitching everything out

Mermaid and friends

It’s a really huge piece, as you can see. I have to say that I’m not always enthusiastic about designing and digitising the human figure, but she didn’t turn out too badly. But I just loved doing all the fish, and it was the first time I’d ever attempted a jellyfish

Cherri called it “When We Believed in Mermaids” and entered it in the Hoffman competition, where we were pleased to learn that it won two second place prizes – one in “Mixed Techniques” and one in “Best Use of Aurifil thread”. 

It’s true that I always try to post freebies around the first of the month, but life has been a bit hectic recently so this one is a bit late. It’s been hanging around in my files for ages and I have no idea where the idea came from. I think it must have been taken from some sketches of ”baroque birds” I did some time ago

A Baroque Bird?

Anyway it’s a nice cheerful image which helps me to brighten up these cold Scottish winter months. HERE it is, in .pes v.6, and it’s for the 5×8 inch (130 x 180 mm) hoop

As always, if you have problems downloading it, or if you have problems with the stitching, just drop me a line and I’ll try to sort things out

I know that many people don’t like bugs and beetles, and I’m not all that fond of them myself. But sometimes they are so unusual and distinctive in shape that I can’t help sketching them, and even using them in in designs.

Some time ago I got carried away and did a lot of funny-looking beetles embellished with various flower and leaf designs. Goodness knows where the ideas came from, and I can’t say that I’d ever use them myself in a quilt or a shirt, but I couldn’t resist doing them anyway.  Who knows – they might come in handy for some eccentric project

 

Three flower bugs

Now, I know I’m late with February’s freebie, but what with one thing and another things have been pretty busy here. Anyway I’ll do my best to get something up next week – and don’t worry – it won’t be a bug!

It’s been far too long since I’ve posted here, which was because of some health problems that stopped me from sitting at a computer. But luckily things seem to be getting better, so here I am again! Unfortunately just at the moment I don’t have much to show here, but there is a BIG project that’s been preoccupying me for a long time.

I don’t suppose many readers will know the city of Dundee, in Scotland, but if you do, you might have visited the little port town of Broughty Ferry, which isn’t far from the big city. There, not far from the banks of the river Tay, is a little cafe where we often have lunch. What I really love about this cafe is that the entrance hall is lined with shelves, which are stuffed with pot plants of every description  

 

The Wall of Plants (or parts of it)

This is only a small section of the wall, but you can see what it’s like, and see that a whole room lined with this kind of display would be spectacular!

So I got to work. I drew a big collection of plants in pots, all of different sizes and proportions, digitised and stitched them, and fitted them together into a rectangle. All together I used 19 little designs which, when stitched together, made a wall hanging of about 24 inches wide by 16 inches tall (61 x 40 cm)

And here is the result – at least the result as it is at present

 

Well, it’s a start…

You can see there’s a lot still to do. A few of the squares need straightening, the little boundaries between the individual designs need to be stitched in, and there needs to be a wide binding around the whole thing.

And one other thing is niggling at me. Since this has involved such a lot of design and digitising work, perhaps I should have made the whole thing a lot bigger. It wouldn’t have involved much extra work, and the result would have been a lot more eye-catching. Oh well, there’s time yet and I might just get round to doing a big version. Meanwhile there’s a lot of other things to catch up on, and a lot of new blog posts to plan. I hope it won’t be so long next time!

 

Well, that’s another holiday season over for another year. I always enjoy the celebrations but all the same, it’s good to get back to Real Life again, even though it’s been snowing continually for several days here, so we’re pretty much snowed in. But we’re used to that up here in the Scottish Highlands! Anyway it’s time again for a freebie

This is a little Art Nouveau inspired square – it’s a simple design but it could find a home in many different kinds of projects – quilts, decorative hangings, purses, table linen, – whatever your imagination suggests. It’s for the 4 x 4 inch (100 100 mm) hoop and it’s embroidery only, with no applique

 

An Art Nouveau square for 2025

Click HERE to email me and request this design, in .pes v.6  Incidentally, I’d really love to be able to feature more free designs on this blog in 2025, so if you have any ideas for designs you’d like to see, please do let me know. I can’t promise to do everything, but I always love to have new thoughts of what people want from this kind of embroidery

Oh – and a Very Happy New Year to all of my readers. All best wishes for 2025, and thanks so much for your support

 I hope you’ve just received my message with the two free designs. Actually there were supposed to be THREE free Christmas designs, but Typepad refused to let me post images of all three, so I’ve had to put the third one in this separate message. It’s just a simple Christmas star, but none the worse for being simple

 

If you want to make a card out of it, you will need a blank with an opening of 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches (80 x 80 mm), and the design itself will need to be stitched in a 4×4 inch (100 x 100 mm) hoop

HERE’S the design, in .pes v.6, and again. I really recommend that you stitch it all out in metallic thread. And I hope that’s the last free design I’ll be sending for a while now!

I’ve been getting more than a little anxious about this year’s Christmas cards. It’s not as if we have a huge list of people to send cards to, but I do like to send nice embroidered cards to as many people as I can. So the past week or so has been spent frantically painting fabric and stitching things out, and I thought perhaps other people might also like some new Christmas ideas. These are designed to be used on cards though of course you can do whatever you like with them

When I make cards, I buy blank cards of what are called “Tri-fold aperture cards” – if you Google the term you should find lots of suppliers. These are blank cards in which you glue your stitchouts behind a cut-out window and then fold the card together. These designs are designed to be used in cards with an oval opening of 3 x 4 1/2 inches (76 x 114 mm)  The digitised designs are surrounded by a vermilion “frame” in basting stitch, which shows where the opening of the card should fit. If this is of no use to you, just leave the frame out

HERE are the ornaments, and HERE is the poinsettia. Both designs are in .pes v.6, and will need to be stitched in a 5×7 inch (130 x 180 mm) hoop.  I very strongly suggest that you use metallic threads for the ornaments  – this really adds to the festive look of the design. The poinsettia should really be stitched mostly in ordinary thread, but you can use metallic gold for the ribbon (which is colour 2, Deep Gold)

Well, good luck if you try these! And I wish you a very happy holiday season. I’ll be back in January, with a freebie for the New Year.

Oh, and as always, if you have problems downloading these designs, just let me know through the “Comments” section of the blog