Hoop Up - text for Jill

Hoop Up - text for Jill, originally uploaded by badskirt - amy.

This is my last embroidery piece for the Hoop Up Embroidery Swap. I learned quite a bit about embroidery through this group, as I'm very much an embroidery novice. Jill asked for something with words and sent some gorgeous linen to stitch on. I wanted to try out the tick mark stitch style. When I finished the sketch of the words, it looked like sprinkles. Perfect inspiration! I added the hippos with their cupcakes and ice cream in matching bandanas. I like that the hippos want to share their food. (I personally might have devoured the cupcake before stealing the ice cream cone.)

The hippo design comes from a Japanese embroidery book. I freehanded them based on the book's pattern instead of tracing it. I used DMC fill fleur (flower thread) which is now discontinued, but is perfect for linen.

I can't remember blogging the other pieces from the swap, but it's possible that I did. If you missed them, you can find my pieces on flickr including John's moose, Alyssa's dachshund (in progress photo, I finished stitching flowers in the entire frame) and Cara's bluebird.

The pieces made for me are slowly rolling in. When they've all arrived, I'll give you a peek.