embroidery and a threesome

my embroidery cravings have gone into overdrive here on linwood avenue. this is currently the view behind my computer and i love it! as i said in a previous post, i had a few vintage embroidery hoops lying around from a yard sale which i thought would be a great way to showcase some embroidered artwork.

this piece centers around a photo i took of a tulip magnolia tree last spring. these trees are beautiful and will always remind me of the south! i printed the photo onto transfer paper, ironed it onto canvas and went to work. i really didn't have a plan for the embroidery - just wanted to highlight the flower bits. this might be my favorite one, mainly because the composition of the flower/background turned out so right.

this daffodil is 8" circular and is created from a photo i took of a daffodil garden. this one took a bit of experimenting. i first tried to do the transfer onto some yellow and white polka dot fabric, but it didn't take the transfer too well. next, i tried transferring the photo to some oatmeal colored muslin. this just turned out too dark. in the end, i used the muslin piece for the background and cut the daffodil head out of the polka dot fabric and stitched it on top. the top flower is left loose at the end of the petals which turned out to be a great affect. in the end, i really love how it turned out - even if it is a bit too dark. just goes to show me that yet again, accidents can be a good thing.

the last hoop to round out the trio began as a lovely embroidered tea towel. i really had no business buying another tea towel, but i couldn't resist the cute ducks! to this fabric, i embroidered the word "Spring" and added little freehand flowers in hot pink and tangerine.

with spring just around the corner, i am dying to get some great floral photos so i can make more of these. they are the perfect project, because they don't take too much time, but make such a big impact.