Bee's Knees Industries

My little beastie likes to play outside

My Spoonflower Swatches

Since I plan to share more projects made with Spoonflower swatches over the next few weeks, I thought I'd take a moment today to photograph and introduce you to some of the swatches that you will see.

Rainy Day:

Mushies:

Dandelion Puff in blue:

Dandelion Puff in pink:

Crocodile in Waiting:

Hi, Constellations:

Balloons:

Fun times were had by all

Exquisite corpsing with friends at Deschutes Brewery.

Spoonflower Swatch Ornaments

I've been a member of Spoonflower for quite some time now, and I've managed to amass quite a number of little swatches. For anyone who hasn't designed fabric at Spoonflower, the swatch is a small 6 inch by 6 inch test print of your fabric design to test colors and other elements on the fabric.

I can never bear to throw anything away, let alone something I created, (It feels like I'm abandoning it, and, yes, I am overly emotional about my work.) so these little swatches started taking over my studio. I decided I needed to find some alternative uses for them and thought that perhaps other Spoonflower designers might have the same issue, so I wanted to share my ideas.

First up are small ornaments. I had a couple of swatches that had a large image featured in the swatch (well, large compared to the 6 inch size of the swatch), so I just cut out the image, cut another piece of fabric the same shape, sewed the two together with a small ribbon loop, filled it with stuffing, and viola! Something useful out of a bit of scrap fabric. Huzzah!

The Humpty Dumpty ornament comes from this fabric, which is intended to be a cafe curtain:

And the unicycle-riding flea comes from this fabric:

Lion

Looking at this guy's face really makes me think of how much I've learned in this craft over the years just by sticking with it and trying new things. I used to be a backstitch-only kind of gal, and my how the times have changed. These days, my favorites are stem stitch and running stitch along with my new frontrunner, the satin stitch.

I remember the first time I ever tried satin stitch, on my Radio Beastie, I thought my stitches were the most hideous things I'd ever seen. I had no clue how people could stand to use such a difficult and frustrating stitch. Now, it's one of my best friends.

It just goes to show what sticktoitiveness can do for you. I hope the same method will eventually work for me with applique and French knots.

Best Bookend Ever

Triple Scoop

To give my poor fingers a break from stitching, I turned my attention today to fabric design. I've been playing with a lot of my old illustrations to create repeating patterns, and today's pattern is Triple Scoop. I can't wait to think up just the right project to use this design. Pillowcases, maybe?

Sunburst Lion

Does this look like a splotchy piece of quilting cotton to you? Take a closer look:

I don't really know why I spend so much time on intricate details for embroideries done on patterned fabric despite the fact that they will never show up as anything more than a subtle effect, but I suppose I just think it's fun. I wish I had a better way of capturing the texture of this piece. Hundreds of little running stitches combine into such a lovely tactile sensation.

Plus, they're really fun to do when you're obsessive compulsive disorder kicks in.

This embroidery was created using my Sunburst Lion pattern.

An Amazing Read

I'm actually convinced Pluto isn't a planet. Incredible!

The Duchess

As promised, here is a brand new embroidery. I wish I could say more about it, but I've been stitching non-stop for the past two weeks and my eyes lack the clarity to see what I'm doing and my fingers lack the strength to control their actions. And I'm loving every minute of it. A woman obsessed, I am.

For my In Other Words show, I'm working my way through patterns that I created in the past but never stitched. It's interesting because I'm getting a chance to see how differently my versions of these embroideries are from those of other people who have stitched them in the past. Seeing the individual creativity each person brings to the piece is the best part of creating patterns and other handmade supplies.

This piece is stitched from my Duchess pattern, which was in turn created from a drawing I did about a year ago. And the world comes full circle.

Snake & Mouse Are Friends

Last post was a snake. This time it's a mouse. Perhaps a mongoose or honey badger next?

I'm spending my days working hard on an upcoming show of embroideries (in April at In Other Words here in Portland). In traditional Cate fashion, I've waited way too long to really get to work on this show, so my fingers ache from all the hurried stitching and stitching, but it has given me a great opportunity to catch up on some television and movies.

So far, I've enjoyed Curb Your Enthusiasm, Spartacus, The Office, and Mad Men. What you see in the background here is Wizard People, Dear Reader, the most amazing retelling of Harry Potter known to man.