Yesterday Facebook reminded me that it was exactly 8 years ago that I first tried free motion embroidery. I celebrated by cutting up lots of little scraps of Liberty fabric for some new kits I will be listing in my Etsy shop hopefully later this week.
Whilst doing so I got thinking about all the different things I've created with free motion embroidery since that workshop and the different opportunities it's given me.
I don't think I imagined then that I'd still be doing as much free motion embroidery as I am, or still loving it as much as I did that very first time. If possible, I love it even more now, getting the seed of an idea for a new piece, searching out exactly the right fabrics to use, cutting and preparing everything, then finally sitting down to stitch. There isn't a part of the process I don't enjoy, I even love cutting out the sometimes very fiddly bits of fabric I use.
The two pieces below were the very first ones I created during the workshop. Piles or stacks of things seemed to catch my eye!
You can see in both these images I've used watercolour paint to add shading; something I tend not to do in my work now, although I have recently added acrylic paint to create backgrounds in a couple of pieces.
Since then I've experimented with all kinds of images, from bicycles and motorbikes to robins and Christmas wreaths through to a selection of portraits.
I've also taught lots of classes and workshops, including one at the Knitting and Stitching Show last year.
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I designed and stitched the cover of a book and was interviewed by it's author for her blog, and have given a talk to an Embroiderers Guild group, all things I could never have imagined doing. The photo above shows the book on sale in my local Waterstones. (No, I didn't tell anyone in there I was responsible for the cover).
Here's to the next 8 years!
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