Flickr Mania

So I spend some time idly surfing around on the inet instead of stitching ;-). Sorry for leading you astray either.

I found an interesting blog, it is basically another hub for all things needlework, and stitches. the owner is dutch and stress seems to be on the local scene, but it is in English and worth a look for everyone. it is called and stitches

That aside, I spend a lazy evening idling on flickr and enjoying the eye candy.

Michelle Kingdom has beautiful realistic stitchery, and some of the pics really cracked me up.

Nutnhoney has more domestic, but likewise beautiful stitched pieces.

Pumora offers well-done surface embroidery, knitting, and photographs of super-sweet quail chicken!

Anna Scott does really yummy stump work and crewel, and knows how to make best use of her cam, obviously.

Daisy Fraser shows us some more surface embroidery and quilts.

Flaming Nora seems to do just about anything textile related, and her flickr is visually pleasing as a whole.

The flickr of Jules is worthwhile because of their photography alone, and there also is some very diverse and interesting embroidery.

Audrey B is another crafter extraordinaire, and she concentrates on needlework pics for the most part.

Annet of fat quarter blog fame uploads all her pics to her Flickr, so you can see her work in one place in all its glory.

Monika Kinner-Whalen is another needlewoman inspired by nature.

Follow the white bunny shows you whimsy at its best. the name alone is priceless and a good hint at what to expect.

Eye Candy

Recently, I gave my blog roll some love, deleted some obsolete links and added some I’ve meant to add for a long time. I leaved through a lot of blogs, trying to decide which ones to add or remove. Sometimes, when I’m blue or just bored, there’s nothing like eye candy to cheer me up and inspire me to pick up  the needle or paintbrush again. So blogs which are visually stunning have a special place in my heart. I want to point you to a few blogs which do this for me, and ended up in my blog roll recently. They were chosen rather randomly. If your blog is not here, then because I did not stumble over it these days, or because I value it for other reasons.

First thing, there is a voice through stitch, a very new but very beautiful blog. There is lots of creative embroidery inspired by nature.

Then there is Carolyn Manning designs. She does some cross stitch design which is interesting it it’s own right, but of late she has done a lot of dreamy, meditative freestyle work full of yummy colour and texture. Yes, that are more adjectives than you should use, but her work deserves them.

Flying Haystack by Tod Hensley is updated rather infrequently, but his embroideries are all the more lush and interesting.

Edit:I just learned that Tod Hensley passed away in April. I found an obituary when looking for more of his work. This is so sad, the fiber art world has lost a very distinct voice. My heart goes out to all who knew him in person.

I don’t think I need to introduce Barbara M alias Hopscotch to any embroidery folks. Much of her work is heaviely embellished in jewel colours, not exactly what I would create myself but looking at her work always makes my day. Her blogs are called more cold tea and stitch strata. To maximize the eye candy factor look at her flickr account.

Michala Gyetvai alias Kayla Coo is another needle artist who has been around for a long time and has had a constant output of needlework and paintings for years. A lot of her work is about landscape, which I adore. I have no idea why she didn’t make it onto my blog roll years ago.

Blogroll additions and other web finds

My Inet connection is kinda shaky today, it won’t let me upload pictures. So I’m contending myself with showing other people’s work. The blogs I’m introducing are all a bit on the poetic side, fall is always putting me in that mood. But I do read them year round.

Susan Lenz is a professional textile artist, her blog Art in Stitches is incredibly full of eye candy and wise words. Recently she has been on an organized artist’s residency program and produced many, many wonderful works. An absolute must see.

Another blog I love reading these days is Changeling things. It is about embroidery both modern and traditional, knitting and other crafts. The artist also has a very inspirational way of writing ab out her work, and many of her postings make people think and diskuss, so the comments are worth reading, too.

The writer of gerdiary only reveals about herself that she is German and female, her blog is a kind of literary diary. It features her own needlework (mainly quiling) and inspirational photographs, often together with a poem (by some professional author) that fits her mood. The main language is English, the occasional German texts are offered in translation either. It’s the ideal read for idle autumn hours.

Karen Ruane’s blog, Contemporary Embroidery, is all about her needlework. She has a very unique approach to embroidery, combining traditional whitework techniques with quilting, recycling used fabrics and a throghly modern aproach to presentation and topics of her work. She is inspireing me on so many levels.

There are two other links to things that caught my attention this week. I’m aware that these two don’t need promotion, but I loved them so much that I want to share them.

At the blog of colourlovers.com there’s a posting about Leaf Art which is either pictures made from dried leaves or miniature paintings done on dried leaves. I especially love the brown-in-brown japanese leaf paintings. Besides that, the colourlovers blog is a bit commercial, but it does often have useful or just beautiful content for those interested in design and any visual arts.

The last one is also a blog, but not a fiber art one. Urban Sketchers is a joint venture from many professional or semi-professional artists displaying their urban sketches. It really makes me want to go buy a moleskine or somesuch.

new additions to my blog roll

One of the good effects of the take it further challenge is that I get to see lots of blogs that are new to me. They are all interesting and give me loads of new ideas, and it is probably quite arbitrary which ones I decide to add to my blog roll. So don’t be sad if your blog is not here. Nevertheless, I want to introduce a few of my new additions and invite you to have a look at them.

Monica from red to white blogs about her participation in the take it further challenge. Her blog is quite new, but very nice. She does nice embroideries, and shares her techniques freely. She is also a good writer and has interesting memories to share.

Vivian of Vivian in stitches does quilts, most of them pictorial. The blog also has lots of posts which are a good read, and lots of beautiful and skillfully done nature photographs. She takes part in the take it further challenge.

Jenny of Jenny’s Australian needleart blogs about her needlework. I found her via the take it further challenge either. Her work is very varied, it ranges from modern to traditional, from machine stitching digitized images to traditional reticella. She also has some nature photographs.

Angela from The adventures of angelcat is another take it further challenge participant. Her blog has loads of cross stitch, but also forays into modern needlework, and lots of cat pictures. And yes, also some great nature photography. I do admit that I’m in the mood for looking at such photos these days.

Mixpix from fibrefan.blogspot.com displays nature in stitches rather than in photographs, but in a really gorgeous way. She also does bobbin lace and needlelace.