Sunday, May 24, 2009

Embroidery Sampler Bears, part 1

Besides Tatting lessons yesterday, we looked through my cousin's piles of Inspirations Magazines. It is the most gorgeous, inspiring magazine from Australia for embroidery enthusiasts. Simply Gorgeous. Filled with so many beautiful things to create. They publish books and A-Z manuals too. Paula brought me the pattern to make this elephant (it's about 7" long x 4" when finished)!


She brought my Mom a book that she loved so much she'd bought two. It's a crazy quilt teddy bear that becomes an embroidery sampler to practice different embroidery stitches. While we were sitting there for hours, drooling over the amazing projects in the magazines, we became inspired to actually start our bears.


We decided to use three muted neutral colors of moire taffeta as the base of our bears. We did all the patchwork and cutting out, but we were too exhausted to sew them up since we'd stayed up 'til two a.m. the night before, by 10:30 we were drooping and had to stash the project until the next time Paula comes, in a month or so.


I may have to go over and finish sewing them up though, so we can do the stuffing and finishing and we'll be ready to embroider next time. I can hardly wait! The fun is going to be seeing how four bears, which start out basically the same, are going to end up so completely different when done by different artists.


It's totally fine that we're not finishing our bears right away. My mom had already bought me an Inspirations Magazine that contained the pattern and instructions for this bear (above). Then she decided to make one too. She has hers cut and sewn already. She's thinking that our sampler bears will be a great place to practice our stitches for this and my elephant.



Family history note on the tatting: Paula's grandma Curtis was famous for her tatting. Spencer W. Kimball spoke at her funeral and said, "If you're lucky enought to have a piece of her tatting, you really have a treasure." She tatted a baby bonnet for each baby in her family.

11 comments:

Mamarazzi said...

oh my goodness these are darling! i am all kinds of impressed with you...as always.

Rachel B said...

re-donk-ulously cute! (have you seen bolt yet? The pidgins are too funny!) I love the little elephant, and your bear is darling.
Rachel B

Kristina P. said...

The bear is completely adorable!

BeeCee said...

I'm glad that you knew someone who could teach you to tat! I taught myself everything, but could not teach myself to tat. Then, just at the right moment, an older lady at church gave a class on tatting. It seemed difficult at first, then I came to the realization that it was pretty much "mini-macrame" & it all fell into place for me. I bought the newest shuttles, but also used my great grandmother's shuttle & that felt so special.

Supercool Hotmama said...

Thanks for the encouragement!

BeeCee- How cool to have your Grandmother's shuttle! What a treasure! It will make your work even more special.

Are You Serious! said...

♥ Awesome history in your family! Can't wait to see your finished bear! :)

Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life said...

You will be creating treasures for future generations. The elefont and bare are charmning and grandkidds will luff them to deaf.

Michelle said...

Wow. You're a crafting maniac these days. I don't know how you find the time to get so many things done.

IVELISE said...

Awesome ork! I congratulate you! Very very nice!

Zinaida said...

Hi! Your elephant is very cute. I felt in love with the design. I'd like to make something similar, but I can't find which Inspirations magazine the design was presented in. Could you give me a clue on which number it was? Thanks a lot!

Unknown said...

My grandmother looooves elephants this would make a great gift for her. Where can i find this pattern?

Thank you,
Dana

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