Hand Embroidery and Beading

I am feeling quite nervous about this set of cards that I have been working on. It will be the first time that I have participated in a swap with the Surface Design group. First time swapping on a group is always difficult as you don't yet have a feel for what sort of thing is expected. I only know that this group seems to be for more advanced stitchers and you are expected to spend more time thinking about the design of your cards.

To top it all off I have gone for a non traditional construction method on these cards which I just hope will be acceptable to the other swap members.

Ever since I saw the article in the Fall 2005 edition of QA mag by Julia Caprara, I have been itching to have a go at some eyelet stitching. This swap on Surface Design is Hand Embroidery and beading so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.Here are the results. I've made four hand stitched cards in the same way just using different coloured threads and yarns.I stitched over a background of coarse hessian fabric. Lots of eyelets, some french knots and added a few beads here and there, you can't spot the beads in the pictures too well though.As the eyelet stitching created quite a lot of bulk on the back as well as the front. I decided to mount them straight onto a card backing missing out the layer of Timtex that I usually add to the middle of my cards.I had great fun making these and even though I was only covering a relatively small area each took several hours to stitch. It was a great excuse to sit in front of the TV and catch up with some of my favourite shows!