Tea Towel Stitching

So the Craftster Tea Towel Tour that I mentioned a few posts back is well underway! I've already completed my first two designs for the other swappers and thought it was a good time to share.

My first design was for PearliePie, who requested a "wild west saloon" themed tea towel to use in her home bar. Her home bar (called Fat Can Candie's : ) has a wild west meets punk rock theme. Isn't that the coolest? Anyhow, I decided to stitch a buffalo image from one of my favorite online resources for embroidery designs, Andrea Zuill's Badbird blog. (The Badbird shop is a favorite of mine on Etsy, too):


I was very pleased with how this turned out. My favorite part? The little berries made from french knots of variegated thread.

Next, I received my good friend Rita's apron. I felt a lot of pressure on this one, because Rita is an amazing stitcher and all-around talented and crafty person, and I really wanted to pick a special design for her. Her theme is "kawaii / cute / anthropomorphic things" (yeah, I had to look them up, too : )

(By the way, Rita's celebrating the grand opening of her shop, Mochi Studios! Head on over there and show her some love.)

I searched high and low for inspiration and actually had several ideas, but knew that I found the perfect idea when I looked at another of my favorite Etsy shops, beethings. I fell in love with a series of prints featuring tanager birds atop smiling pieces of fruit.

Because I thought it was proper etiquette, I reached out to the artists and shop owners -- Jeff and Shay -- and asked permission to stitch their designs.Fortunately for me , they obliged! In fact, I think they were a bit tickled to see what I would do.

And here's what I did:


I had a bit of a time with this one, mostly because I tried to do some satin stitching and ... well, my satin stitching leaves a lot to be desired. I also had a rough time with their eyes ... I kept making them either too big or too small. Overall, though, I'm happy with the result.

And here's Rita's apron so far, on its way to the next stitcher:


This swap's a lot of fun, but the biggest challenge is that it's so fast-paced. You have one week to turn around each item from the time you receive it until you have to send it along. I think I have to learn to keep it simple and not bite off more than I can chew!