My First Embroidery Project

I made this needle book yesterday, and it's my first real attempt at embroidery. What I mean by that is I did this free-hand - not cross-stitching! I've certainly never hand-stitched on felt before either.

So I'm excited I did it! I'm planning a surprise for Serenity's birthday (or Christmas) and it will require a lot of embroidering on felt. The needle book is my practice piece, so ignore all the mistakes. It's a kinda whimsical (the flowers are as big as the bird!), so I don't think the mistakes look all that bad. Or not?!

I used lots of different guides (books & blogs) to learn how to embroidery and how to do it on felt.

Futuregirl has an wonderfully detailed tute how to sew felt together using a blanket stitch that is priceless.

AND I found the link from Futuregirl to the most magical knot-making tute EVER! If you haven't seen it yet, you really should. It's called My Favorite Knot. I think it should be call The Magic Knot!

Feeling Stitchy showed me how to use a water erasable pen to draw a picture directly on the felt.

These are the books I used: The Embroidery Stitch Bible, Start to Embroider, and Doodle-Stitching. All three of them were very helpful.

I found the Hand Embroidery Network from One Pretty Thing after I finished my needle book, but I definitely plan to follow her awesome tutes to make Serenity's surprise.

Have fun!