Cate Anevski

Me&Stitches! (or Stitches&I?)

I was very excited a few months ago to be approached by the folks at &Stitches to put together an embroidery pattern for their latest e-zine on the subject of books. If you know me at all, you know that most of the things I do are inspired by books anyways, so it was easy for me to find inspiration.

The pattern I created is for two small embroidered ornaments, one of Little Red and one of Big Bad. They were fun to do, and being so small, they stitched up very quickly. For anyone who enjoys a good stitchy read, I highly recommend &Stitches. I look forward to seeing what they create in the future.

Cool, indeed

As it turns out, one of the best features of living in Portland proper is the ease with which one can visit Portland spots. This afternoon, I took a quick jaunt of an adventure to Cool Cottons, a most winsome fabric store, to pick up a supply for an embroidery I have in mind. If you're in the area and you haven't been, you really must visit. I assure you, the inspiration is well worth the trip.

Despite all the fun pretties, I was really there to find a simple gray fabric to start my submission to Home is Where the Needle Marks. I found myself very drawn to the theme of the show and am excited to continue work on my piece. I spent the better part of today stitching while watching Once Upon a Time (I'm hopelessly hooked!), which is my idea of a perfect Sunday.

Of course, I couldn't escape a fabric store without a little something fun. I'll be sure to take some photos of my find once I have a little sunshine in my neck of the woods.

Animal Expressions

Animals have thoughts, too, and I spend a good portion of my day wondering what they are. This series of embroideries is my best guess after hours of pondering.

The original embroideries and the embroidery patterns are both available in my shop, if you'd like to spend some time pondering the emotions of animals yourself.

Did you ask a question?

What do you get when you combine a friend who has a desire to take up crossstitch with an obsession with Douglas Adams? 42 and/or a sudden need to design a crossstitch pattern.

I made this for a friend for Christmas, but I thought perhaps some other folks might find some use in it, too, so I added it to the embroidery patterns on Bee's Knees Activities.

Weeping Skies

A few years ago, I created this illustration, Weeping Skies. It was inspired partly by my reading of Jane Eyre and partly by my impending move to rainy Portland. I always meant to do something more with it but never managed to figure out what.

Luckily, an Etsy customer decided for me when she requested an embroidery pattern of the design. I think this would make a great image to stitch, especially due to all those fun raindrops that would stitch up perfectly using isolated chain stitches.

You can find the pattern in my shop.

Ganesh

This holiday season, a good friend of mine commissioned me to create an embroidery from a Ganesh illustration. It was an unusual project for me, and I found it to be fun to work on. I certainly hope my friend enjoys it.

Here it is displayed in its embroidery hoop frame:

A Kitty Dot

So, the other day, when I was supposed to be doing some sort of "important" work with a group of friends (studying or some nonsense like that), I decided that I couldn't go a moment longer without embroidering one of my kitty dots.

I had a friend over who was also putting off "important" work by crafting and who has a wonderful orange grumpy-old-man cat, and she helped me pick out the colors and fabric for my slumbering kitty. She made me use colors I wouldn't normally have chosen, and I really like the way it turned out.

This is a pretty simple pattern to finish quickly. I managed to embroider this little guy while a second friend procrastinated his "important" work by running down the street to have a quick lunch with a friend.

We're quite the bunch of motivated folks.

Ghostly Paisley

Just in time for the holiday season, I've finished up a ghostly embroidery. Wait, no, that's not right. Well, I did it anyways.

From the Flickr Group

It's been a little while since I've posted any of the work that's been popping up in the Bee's Knees Embroideries Flickr group, and I'd like to share some things I've been admiring. Flickr user Lacer's Life (who also has a blog and an Etsy shop) is a very accomplished stitcher who has stitched quite a few of my patterns. I enjoy seeing the finished products she creates from these embroideries and wanted to share my favorites.

Gnome on a Tree Stump

Ghost Skirt (and check out those tights and boots!)

Paisley Ghosts Cushion

Since I'm having so much fun seeing what people create from my embroidery patterns, I decided to start two more Flickr groups. Bee's Knees Fabric, Please is a place to show crafts made with my fabric designs, and Bee's Knees Dollies is for showing off your Blythe dolls wearing my fashions. I'm excited to see what pops up!

From One Mutant to Another

I'm very excited to announce that my work has been included in a book, Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. Come meet me and other local artists involved with this book at the book signing at In Other Words (the feminist bookstore featured/mocked on Portlandia) on October 10 at 6:00 p.m.

In Other Words
14 NE Killingsworth St.
Portland, OR

Ever since I was a little girl, I've always dreamed of being published and doing a book signing event. I think that gives you a little insight into what kind of a nerdy little girl I was.

From the Heart

Last Tuesday was my boyfriend's birthday, which means that I can finally share the birthday present I made for him. A hand-embroidered heart on a thrifted shirt. So as not to overdo the sappiness, of course it's an anatomical heart.

I'm working on a pattern for the heart to go on Bee's Knees Activities, but it may take me a few days due to some other projects that need attention.

New Halloween Patterns

I'm excited to release my two latest sets of embroidery patterns. I figured I needed more Halloween-themed patterns.

I've had a few requests now to create patterns from my ghostly paisley fabric, and so here they are.

I picked my favorite ghosts from the fabric, and I just can't wait to stitch these haunting little fellows.

Cozy Up

I figured out how to make a pillow out of my snake embroidery, but of course I couldn't stop there. It's nice to have something useful to create from the scads of embroidered bits of fabric scattered around my home.

A new Flickr group

Since my favorite part of creating embroidery patterns is seeing what other folks do with them, I decided to create a Flickr group for pieces created using my patterns, called Bee's Knees Embroideries. Feel free to join in and share what you've created using any of my patterns. I can't wait to see it!

There are already some wonderful pieces in the group that I'd like to share:

Mustachioed Clutch, by binkiege

Radio Beastie, by Stitch & Famous

Fight Club Haiku, by beefranck (The bees are mine, the rest is her own pattern.)

Thanks for sharing, folks!

Frank's all done

I just finished my Frankenstein's monster embroidery, and I'm pretty pleased with him. I neglected to mention that the sketch I took this from (which I believe I originally drew in 2006) has the caption "Fred Gwynne loves you!" I really wonder what's running through my head sometimes...

This is my first Halloween embroidery of the season, but hopefully it won't be my last. Every year, I get started on Halloween a little too late, but the suddenly cool weather in Portland has me in just the right mood to work on spooky creations.

I thought you might like to see how I photograph my embroideries. The answer: cardboard and lots of pins. Works like a charm!