I’ve been following the White Bunny for a while now – back when she was a polka dot bunny. Nicole…a.k.a. “The White Bunny”, is Dutch, and loves to sew, draw and – of course – embroider. She combines her drawing and embroidery skills to create some wonderful patterns. She has many available in her shop, but she also offers a lot of freebie patterns – the latest for readers of her blog is this super-cute skiing koala – I think he’d make a perfect ornament!

So go pass the blog love and Follow the White Bunny today!

I have been trying to keep myself from going overboard on Christmas ornaments. They can make a quick, easy project. In fact, I might keep craftin’ on ornaments throughout the year whenever I need a quick project – I’d love to do a bird series, for instance. Anyway…

My sister-in-law reminded me that we were invited to an ornament swap in a couple of weeks, and I (of course) wanted to make my own. I finally settled on my own design, and opted for simple and elegant:

I am not fond of working with the metallic thread, but that gold metallic makes a difference, doesn’t it? I mean, if you can’t go all-out on Christmas ornaments, really, when can you?

Are you busy craftin’ for Christmas?

Today’s Vintage Monday – appearing on the dress of my sister-in-law’s old Raggedy Ann doll – comes courtesy of my in-laws:

I think sometimes with embroidery we try to think about how elaborate we can be – how big can we go? How many tricks can we pull out of the stitch bag? And while all that is beautiful, I think the above is a statement that meaningful embroidery can also be very simple.

And – please, PLEASE join and post to the Vintage Monday pool on flickr! I’d love to feature your special heirlooms.

Well, I promised that Great Idea Thursday would have a vintage feel to it, and I’m delivering today.

I inherited a vintage table runner, capped at both ends with (I assume) a beautiful bird of paradise. I just love embroidered birds, and this has so much color to it too! However, vintage table runners would meet an unfortunate end in my house – the Monkey and the Bear would see to that. I didn’t really have any available table space for the piece.

So I decided I would enjoy it more on the wall. Hobby Lobby is a great resource for framing – they run 50% off framing just about every other week, and they have a LOT of selection. I could only display one end of my table runner, so I bought a shadowbox* to take care of the excess bulk. Some of the shadow boxes came with batting – mine did not, so I just ran over to the fabric dept. and purchased 1/3 yard of batting.

I tried attaching my piece to the back of the shadowbox using the pins, but it came out looking like I had framed a warped pillow. Then I just started tucking things in, and it came out much better. Here it is:

How do you display your vintage (or other embroidered) pieces? Share your great ideas for vintage display in the comments!

*Shadowboxes were not on sale last week with the regular frames. They’re on sale through Saturday at Hobby Lobby. I got a $30 shadowbox for just $15…and no, Hobby Lobby is not paying me for promotion. I’m just a Hobby Lobby addict.

Didn’t this make a stinkin’ cute little ornament? I can’t wait to put it on our tree:

I outlined in stem stitch (except feet, which I outlined split stitch). I filled the feet and eyes with satin stitch; remaining filler was chain stitch. And TONS of french knots for his hat!

Want to make one of your own? Here’s the pattern.

Sorry folks, but due to work obligations I’ve got to postpone Vintage Monday and Blog Love Tuesday. A gal’s gotta get paid!

Great Idea Thursday just might have a vintage tone to it…so stay tuned.

These features will return next week. Please, if you haven’t already, please go and join the Vintage Monday flickr group and post your vintage embroidery, linen, decor, art, etc… goodness! I’d love to feature them here on this blog!

Ya’ll, it’s amazing what you can do with a little creativity. As much as I love my cotton fabric, Julia Livi proves you don’t have to restrict yourself to it:

Julia did this work on the cover of a magazine! Straight through the paper!

Julia’s a die-hard Mad Men fan (me too!) and is fascinated by Betty. She says:

Betty is fascinating to me because she represents a woman’s quest for identity and purpose in life. She is so flawed. I find January Jones so amazing, I believe her more than any other actor, which says a lot considering how breathtaking everyone is on the show.

On my way home from a concert, I forgot my iphone so I bought the magazine with Betty Draper on the cover. The article about her kept me entertained while waiting for the train and on the ride home. I was surprised to read about January Jones, she’s the opposite of Betty, free and self spoken.

Regarding technique, Julia doodled with her thread, using all the leftover thread she had, and avoiding complicated stitches. Julia says the doodles at the end were “just for kicks”.

I picked a heart, key and bird cage because I think it reflects Betty’s struggle. I have no technique, I use what I have around and I have fun.

Julia blogs at From the Same Cloth, where she blogs about embroidery (her own, as well as its history and practice – fascinating stuff), her art, and teaching at Rikers Island.

She also sells pieces at her etsy shop, JuJu Livi (this embroidered tee is gorgeous!)

There’s more photos of this project, and another doodle of Zooey Deschanel, here at Julia’s flickr.

Instead of my standard intro + Youtube link, today’s mid-week music features a book review.

We bought Story of the Orchestra two weeks ago and my kids LOVE it. Especially my 5 year old Monkey.

The book includes a CD, and the book functions like a musical guided tour. First, chronologically through the composers – Vivaldi through Bernstein (I don’t agree with the omission of Chopin and Rimsky-Korsakov but am otherwise very happy). All but the most recent composers (perhaps due to publishing rights for Copland/Gershin/Berstein?) feature at least one song, and discuss the music they composed. Then you get to the instruments, and it goes through each instrument in the orchestra, and each instrument gets its own track on the CD.

This book has inspired Monkey to pick his own instrument – the violin. His favorite composer is now Vivaldi – a gifted violinist. We have an old violin that he “practices” at least once a day now.

So if you have a budding musician you want to inspire, I’d recommend picking up this book.

And now I have to find a jazz book – Monkey’s request.

I’ve started a flickr pool called – aptly – “Vintage Monday”. Please join and post your vintage embroidery, linens, home decor, and art. I’ll be choosing one (or more) to feature each “Vintage Monday” right here on this blog!

I don’t remember how I first came across Bad Bird, but I check her blog daily. Not only is she a great resource for free embroidery patterns, but she also features prints like these birds and she quilts! Yesterday she showed the full results to her Magpie & Hex Quilt that I just love – as someone who wants to learn to quilt (I plan to purchase a sewing machine very soon), it’s inspiring to see her work.

Speaking of those embroidery patterns, Andrea features a free one every month – this month’s is this turkey. I’m working through some of her Christmas patterns now for ornaments. So here’s my current WIP – Bad Bird’s “freakishly cute penguin”:

Have you stitched a Bad Bird design? Pass the blog love and visit her today.