Every Inchie Monday - Ladybird

Hope you all had a very Happy Easter - kids are all back at school today  - well I should really say the grandchildren are all back at school today!! so peace and quiet again!!  This Monday's challenge word on Every Inchie Monday is Ladybird and we have had a few hatching in our bedroom!  I keep seeing them climbing up the curtain!  So I have tried to do a stumpwork ladybird and followed a tutorial I found on the internet however I didn't have a lovely dark kreiner thread for the legs and the beads I had, which I thought were a mix of black and gold, turned out to be all the same - half black and half gold so it was quite hard getting them to sit with the black side facing!!!  But it was a lovely inchie to do this time and I really enjoyed it.  Hope you are all enjoying this lovely weather we are having and thanks for stopping by and any comments you leave.

Every Inchie Monday - Crow

This week on Every Inchie Monday the subject to do a one inch square of marvellous art is - Crow!  We have so many around here where I live but to do one in embroidery on an inch for me wasn't very inspiring and I chose a black felt crow which then was quite difficult to sew on to highlight the wings etc.  In the end I had to add "tail feathers and wing feathers" by adding embroidery thread as the black bit of tail felt broke off!!!!  Also the beak doesn't look as large as it should because I had to sew inside the beak.  Oh well you can't win them all and to be honest I'm up to my eyes in getting the house ready for the influx of family for Easter.  Hope you all have a very Happy Easter and enjoy the long weekend and thanks for looking and any comments you leave and make sure you check out all the other crow inchies by clicking the link.

Every Inchie Monday - Parrot

We used to have parrots - we had 2 blue and gold's - Fred and George plus a blue wing called Harry and we also had an Umbrella cockatoo called DeeDee, which we still have and she is 24 this year, and a Moluccan Cockatoo called Mutley - but boy was he noisy!! Unfortunately we had to rehome them so the only one we have now is our DeeDee, I think I've posted a picture of her before as I used one of her feathers!  Anyway I thought I'd put a picture of my boys on for you to see how beautiful they were.

 

So guess what?  Yes I've done a blue and gold parrot for my inchie, I used the same technique as my duck using the waxing strip to draw my image and colour it with promarkers and then embroidered over it however the only mistake I made was using the thicker rayon black thread, I should have stuck to the thin black I used for the beak so the eye lines are a bit thick and heavy and I was a bit disappointed but I couldn't unpick it - just too tiny! 

 

Anyway please click here to view the other marvellous inchie parrots and thanks for dropping by and any comments you leave.

 

Every Inchie Monday - Peacock

What a beautiful bird the peacock is and it is the subject for this week's challenge at Every Inchie Monday.  Such gorgeous colours to work with and I wanted to bring the lusciousness of the feathers into my inchie this week but unfortunately I couldn't find my rayon embroidery threads which have that beautiful lustre so I have had to work with cotton but I still really enjoyed doing this one.  I had it already to sew on Saturday but my daughter turned up unexpectedly with her 2 year old so you can imagine everything planned went out the window!!!  I was expecting her anyway for Sunday - for Mother's Day - but she came for her husband's mother on the Saturday and as they were busy she decided to leave them to it and bring Milly to see me - only ten minutes away!!  So I got a double whammy which put paid to Sunday as well and then her cousin arrived with her 2 year old and it was the first time the two 2 year old second cousins have ever met so it was wonderful seeing these two little blonde girls the same height skipping along holding hands!!  A truly magical family weekend with my sister's-in-law family who stayed for Monday as well! Plus the weather was stunning - not so today as it is overcast and grey now and we started with a low lying mist that hasn't been burnt off by the sun.  It truly feels like Spring now that the clocks have gone forward as well. Anyway here is my Peacock:

Thanks for visiting my page and for any comments you leave and may you have a lovely week till next time.

Every Inchie Monday - Woodpecker

Well it seems I'm back to Every Inchie Wednesday!!!  Try as I do I can never seem to get my inchie done by Monday - I think Tuesday and Wednesday are my best days for sewing so I am trying to get next week's done at the same time!  However this week's challenge on EIM was woodpecker and because we get loads of the greater spotted woodpeckers on our bird table I decided that's what I'd do.  I really enjoyed doing this one and even had a woodpecker on the bird hanger whilst I was sewing!  So here is Woody Woodpecker, I photographed it under the lamp so there's a bit of glare:

We've had snow this week - it's ridiculous how cold it has gone again just when the little lambs are about, not fair to them.  Anyway thankfully it's gone again as quickly as it came but there is still a keen wind so not gardening time yet even though I have spied a few weeds!  But the kites are back and she's back on her nest again so it is looking like Spring is here.  Clocks go forward to Summer Time this Saturday night so more time in the evening for doing things!  Thanks for calling in and for any comments you leave and have a lovely weekend all.

Every Inchie Monday - Heron

Good afternoon - I know, I'm back to Wednesday - tried so hard to be earlier but hey ho.  Heron is this weeks challenge on EIM and a very tall bird to fit in an inch square!  On paper I had a great image but trying to fit it on material with thread all of which are a lot bulkier - well need I say more - however here is my result complete with bulrush  having used the same technique as last week!

 

Thanks for calling in and please visit the other superb inchies over at EIM by clicking the link.  The sun is shining so I'd best go make the most of it - after all it may not be there tomorrow!!!

EMI - Duck

So this week's challenge word on Every Inchie Monday is Duck and although I was going to do a little yellow bath tub duck with a red bill I decided to challenge myself and went for a male mallard duck!  Very colourful!  I knew I had a very shiny green rayon embroidery thread which I thought I could use.  It was quite a difficult thing putting it onto an inch square, however I tried a new technique today - well I made it up but I've never done this before!  I found a piece of variegated blue material which looked like water and I have some plain linen strips left over from leg waxing!!!  So I drew the duck onto this having put some bondaweb behind it and coloured the duck in with pro-markers then cut it out and ironed it on!!  It looked pretty good just like that but I did want to embroider it so I just embroidered over the top of the colours I'd marked out - it was really enjoyable and I think worked.  I also left the tail feathers free and wet them to bring them into a peak for the tail peak.  Here is my duck:

We have an arduous time ahead of us now, a very dear old friend's very unexpected funeral on Thursday, a 6 hour drive away, so we are leaving tomorrow to stay with mutual friends to go down together on Thursday morning.  Then would you believe it my husband is working at a hotel very nearby the next day for lunch so it has saved us two long 12 hour round trips.  With the same drive back in Friday afternoon/evening traffic it will probably be midnight before we get home!  I just hate being sat in the car for that long!  So I shall enjoy a relaxing weekend.  Hope your week will be nicer than mine. Thanks for visiting my blog and for any comments you leave.