Stitched hermit crab

For my next contribution to Connie’s Under the Sea crazy quilt block I stitched a little hermit crab.

Just four stitches are used in this little hermit crab.

I picked a salmon coloured perle 5 for his body and front claws. Then I added two lazy daisy stitches for his eyes. Chain stitched was used for his other legs.

I then picked a variegated thread for his shell. This I worked in blanket stitch, making each row shorter until I got to the top.

No pattern, just made him up as I went along. I love seeing how things turn out, and it isn’t always what I saw in my mind’s eye before I started.

Now to get this off in the post, I’m already a little late, oops.

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Under the sea – tatting and embroidery

I am participating in a Crazy Quilt round robin with a theme of Under the Sea. I have Connie’s block to work on at the moment, and a particular deep turquoise patch was crying out for a fish to swim into it.

I decided to tat a fish from a free pattern I found online at tat man’s site. The original was an Icthus symbol but I left out row 2 in the centre.

I used one of the thread’s I received in my Christmas in July parcel, a size 40 Olympus in soft blues and lavenders.

When the fish was finished I stitched it onto the block and added embroidered fins, scales and an eye using the same thread.

Simple but effective don’t you think?

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My earliest needlework project

Can you remember your very first piece of embroidery? Have you just completed it or did you stitch it many years ago?

Mine has been hiding in a drawer for over 40 years and it came to light yesterday so I thought I would share it with you.

I made this little huck embroidered needlecase when I was at junior school.

The fabric is backed with iron on interfacing (I see that I didn’t even cut off the printed words!) and has a piece of flannel sewn down the centre to make the pages for my needles. It even had five needles still in it, all of which are still useable with no sign of rust after all those years.

I used perle threads to darn in and out of the “floats” on the huck fabric, creating wavy coloured lines. My initials were drawn on in pencil (which is still visible and then stitched over.

Yes it is a very crude piece of needlework but even back then I enjoyed sewing, not knowing that I would end up running my own design business!

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