Finished Snakes and a Giveaway

(ETA: You can find the pattern for all these snakes in Sara's shop here.)

Sara is wrapping up her "Stitching Angels" series tomorrow, but I'm showing you all four finished snakes here today--plus I'm hosting a little giveaway to celebrate. First up, the Emerald Tree Boa, properly ironed and everything!

I think this guy would look great as an applique or stitched onto some green fabric. Since I was using natural muslin, I lightly shaded the snake with a green colored pencil. Those white patches were my first ever attempts at satin stitch. I learned I don't like doing it much!

Next is, I think, my favorite--the rattlesnake.

For this one, I used seed stitch as the fill stitch, and I really think it was worth it! I was worried for a bit there that the browns weren't going to contrast enough, but they did (whew!) and I'm pretty impressed with the end result. Also, if you don't embroider, I'll let you in on a secret--all this takes is patience. It's not hard at all.

For the next two snakes, I departed from reality and let my kids pick the colors. My seven-year-old chose the colors for the striped snake. I limited him to five, plus one more for the head.

Isn't he colorful!

The final pattern I stitched was a cobra, and I chose to do the small size, mainly to try to show the variation in sizes for the patterns (although you can't really see that in the photos anyway), and I did struggle with it a bit.

I let my two-year-old choose the colors for this one, by the way. I'm pleased with the basket. I wanted to find a stitch to use in there that would look basket-like but not be overwhelming for me to learn in this rather short time period. I looked through my copy of Mary Thomas’s Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches and chose spaced buttonhole filling. The directions have you work buttonhole stitch from left to right—which is the way I’m used to doing it—and then, on the row below, from right to left. You just work it back and forth until you’re done. Working buttonhole stitch in the opposite direction like that was a little trickier than I thought it would be—our hands gets so used to doing the same things in the same ways! I very much like the effect, though, even if it's a bit wonky in places.

Sara drew little ovals down the side of the cobra's flared neck, and they seemed to want to be chain stitches. But at that size, everything got close together and this is where I really struggled on the stitching. I wish I could say I like this one better, but mainly I was glad he was done. I feel I didn't quite do the drawing justice.

So what are we going to do with these snakes?! Alas, if you were hoping, I'm not giving any of them away. My kids would never forgive me. I'm not sure what they'll become--patches on a kid's totebag? A wall hanging? I'm sure we'll know it when we see it. Meanwhile, I hope to encourage anybody out there who is considering trying embroidery--or who knows somebody who could benefit from some starter supplies (a child? a neighbor?)--by giving away some basics that are enough to get you started, assuming you have some fabric scraps at your disposal.

Two hoops--a 5-inch and a 7-inch, which are the sizes I've been using--a package of embroidery needles, and a whole bunch of floss--thirty-six skeins. All brand new. Take a closer look at the floss...

That will keep you stitching for a while. Just leave a comment here before noon on Monday, August 15, to be eligible, and yup, I'll mail it overseas. Make sure that if I don't already know your email address, it's either in your Blogger profile or you leave it somehow in your comment, because if I don't have an email address to let you know you've won, your comment doesn't count.

And my latest embroidery project? The flowers have it.

Happy stitching!

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