Alphabet Challenge #5 -- Enthusiasms: Embroidery and Etsy

Back before I got all re-enthused about knitting (I had done some as a teenager and then a bit right before and after my daughter was born), I was really hooked on counted cross-stitch and counted embroidery. I still have some pieces hanging around the house. Like Joseph:

I really fall into the Godless Heathen category when it comes to religion and don't have much use for it at all. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I think organized religion has a lot to do with the mess this world is in. But I loved this little guy's face...and his toes, which you can't see here but which are adorable.

And there was a moon sampler:

Here you can see that I was getting away from just cross-stitches and into different kinds of embroidery stitches. Also some embellishment going on here, with pearls and little turquoise stars. I thought, at one point, of designing a companion sampler (I didn't design this one) that would be a sun sampler. With some sort of quote like "Fear not the heat of the sun..." I may still do that someday. (Altered to take my name out...no reason to be completely stupid on the internet.)

But the fanciest piece of counted embroidery I did was this bell pull style sampler.


One of my cousins and I tool a class together to do this sampler. Every week we did a new section. Here's a close-up.


You can see I couldn't resist embellishing this one with beads, too. This sampler had all sorts of interesting stitches and cut-work and Hardanger. It's backed with lavender linen, which shows through the cut-work sections. Looking at this stuff again, I almost want to pick up the embroidery needles again. But then, as my mother always said, "How many samplers does one person need?"

Another enthusiasm....Etsy! This consortium of (for the most part) very talented craftspeople is a wonder to browse through. I've gotten some lovely hand-dyed yarn off Etsy. From Black Bunny Fibers...and Kindred Spirits...and some gloriously bright and wonderful yarn from Karen's Heavenly Creations. And another shop there, which I will talk about tomorrow. (Guess what letter the shop name starts with!)