Let Go Of My Logo

Hello, readers! I know I still owe you one more stitching lesson, and I promise to get that posted this week.

Today's post really isn't embroidery related, but I feel like it's important. Two nights ago I googled "Early Bird Special" and this blog was the first return. That's pretty cool, right? But then I noticed image results with my logo were being displayed too. So I clicked on the image results to see what was going on.

I found 5 different companies using my logo without my permission to advertise for their "early bird special" sales. So yesterday I emailed each company, politely asking them to remove my logo, because I own the copyrights to this image, and I didn't want there to be any confusion as to where it belongs. I've had 3 responses. 2 willing, and 1 not so much.

I'm posting today to clarify, this logo is indeed mine. It was personally commissioned for me by David Bruehl in 2007. You can see that's when I uploaded this photo to my blog and to Flickr.

Logo with white background. This is the version I use most frequently.

With brownish background. This is the version others are currently using.

With blue background. Updated for Spring fun!

It does not matter what color the background is, the image above is mine and should not be used by anyone else without my permission. My concern is where are they finding the image with the brown background? I could only think of one place where it was visible with the brown background, on Indie Public. Before yesterday, I hadn't signed in to Indie Public for 2 years. Yesterday I deleted my account.

One of the people said she found it on a clip art site. I asked her if she could tell me what site she found it on, and she couldn't remember. She said she sometimes just pulls things from Google image search, and maybe that's where she found it. You can't just do an image search on Google and use whatever image you like.

Sorry to get all serious on you, but this is a serious issue to me. The issue I have has absolutely nothing to do with the phrase "early bird special" which is a common phrase and one people have every right to use. I am asking people to remove the COPYRIGHTED IMAGE that I OWN which they have used for their company's advertising.

If you have seen my logo being used by any other business or even being offered on a clip art website, please let me know. I can't police the entire internet, you know.

Next time I promise to have a happy and inspiring post all about embroidery.

xoxo,
Amy

Hand Embroidered Easter Gifts

Brace yourself, because I'm finally posting pictures of the snugglies I made for the girls. I made these for their Easter gifts, and they were a total hit.

I started with the bunny, and when Darcy found out it was for her, she said she'd rather have an elephant. Well then. So Harper got the bunny and Harper loves the bunny.


I just love her hair, don't you? That's the fancy chain stitch, you know. Which just so happens to be our last lesson for the "Embroidery 101" series.

The bunny pattern was a generous freebie from Helen Dardik of Orange You Lucky. I love her website and her art work, and can easily spend a ridiculous amount of time admiring her talent.

Next up, the elephant. Darcy loves the elephant. How can she not?




The elephant embroidery pattern is from Alyssa Thomas of Penguin and Fish. She has an entire alphabet of animal embroidery patterns that I would love to get. It was a little bit too much for me to spend at one time, so I went with the choice of five option. Alyssa made a pillow using her hedgehog design, and I almost died from the cuteness. So I copycatted her idea, and used the elephant, since that's what Darcy wanted. The original patterns are not this large, just so you know. ;-)


They're both pretty wonderful, and I'm so happy that both girls love them so much. I think a new addiction has been born.

xoxo,
Amy

Lesson 5: French Knot

Welcome back! Today I'm keeping things short and sweet, because that's pretty much the style of today's lesson, the French knot!

I l-o-v-e the French knot. It was one of the hardest stitches for me to figure out at first, but I hope that won't be the case for you after watching my video. Before you know it, you'll be going French knot crazy, just like me!

Made by me, for a personal swap with Stitchy Stitcherson.

Design: Sublime Stitching. Project: T-shirt for my daughter, Darcy.



For now, I'm only posting the video, because I need an assistant to take pictures for the step by step process. This is a two handed move, people. So this weekend, I'll get my bearded assistant to give me a hand, and update this post as soon as possible.





And to get you started, here's another free pattern for you to practice on!

Thank you so much for all your nice comments about the Country Mouse & the City Mouse embroidery patterns. I hope to eventually start selling pdf files in my Etsy shop, but until I get that worked out, my readers will reap the benefits of freebies from time to time. Luck you!

Now go, get knotty for the weekend!

Hugs & Stitches,
Amy

Extra Credit

Good Morning! I have a little something to share with you before posting the next lesson tomorrow. A free pattern!

I drew these mice a couple of weeks ago, and I've been stitching one of them up as an example. He's all finished, so I'm ready to share the pattern with you today.

Say hi to City Mouse and Country Mouse!

I think they're pretty darn cute, what do you think?

The pattern images are the flipped version, so if you'll be using the transfer paper technique, you'll want to flip the image.

I hope you like it!

Hugs & Stitches,
Amy

Progress Report

I just got a great email from my new gal pal Jaime of Sew She Sews. She wrote to tell me about a project she just finished, and she was able to incorporate the stem stitch, thanks to my tutorial!

I'm so proud of her! She's a natural.

Photo courtesy of Jaime Young.

I am seriously swooning over this piece. I adore her color selection, and the little violet sequins kill me. I haven't even covered the French knot, and she's already got it down. She even painted her wooden hoop a lovely shade of green to match the fern stitch. I die!

The pattern she used is one from Embroidered Effects, and she's done it justice.

Another progress report came in from reader m0relia. Here is what she made after watching my tutorials:

Photo courtesty of m0relia.

I love it! So sweet and pretty.

It really does make me happy to see your projects and to know that so many of you are benefiting from these tutorials. This is the information that fuels me to keep going, and the reason why I do this. :-)

Hugs & Stitches,
Amy

Lesson 4: Split Stitch

You're getting a double whammy of stitchy lessons this weekend, because you're all such fast learners and you've got projects to make! Let's keep things going today with the split stitch. :-)



I've blogged previously about my love / hate relationship with the split stitch. But since so many of you may have missed out on that post, I'll talk about it again.

The first stitch I ever learned was the split stitch, and I thought that was the stitch I had to use for embroidery projects. It seems like everything I made was adorned in split stitch. Now the split stitch is one of my least favorite stitches to work with.

Sure it has charm and beauty, but it's moody. (Just like me!) If you don't get the split just right, or if you go a little bit too far to the left or too far to the right when following your line, it can look wonky.

Oh split stitch, you're so unforgiving, but I forgive you, and we can still hang out sometimes.

I've come to accept the reality that I just don't get a clean and even split every time I make this stitch. You'll see that in the video. One stitch might only have 2 strands of thread on one side and 4 strands on the other. That's ok with me!

Remember, pictures & written instructions first, followed by the video.

Now the video!




See? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Over time, I've developed little habits that seem to help with my split stitching. I find myself placing my fingers (of my hoop hand) very close to where I'm stitching, and holding the thread that hangs underneath in the direction that I'm stitching. You can kind of see what I'm talking about from the pictures and the video. Even though I'm actually pushing my fabric up a little bit when I do this, for some reason it seems to help keep the stitch straighter.

I feel like I should mention that it's totally normal for your fabric to get a little loose when you're stitching. Just take a minute to stop, pull the fabric, and tighten your hoop again.

So now you've learned over half the stitches on our 5 stitch lesson plan! You are awesome. If you're working on a project now, I would love to see your progress!

Next up: French knot. Ooh la la!

Hugs & Stitches,
Amy

Lesson 3: Stem Stitch

I know you're all ready to learn a new move, so let's get right to it! This lesson is all about the stem stitch. I avoided this stitch in my early days of embroidery because it seemed complicated, and my results never looked pretty like the pictures I admired. Mine just looked wonky and like I had been embroidering while wearing an eye patch AND dark sunglasses.

So I just gave up on it. I told myself, 'Nope. Can't use that stitch. It's too advanced for me.' Then I decided to brave it again, and thank goodness I did. I disregarded traditional instructions, because that's what was complicating me, and had a complete and total "A-ha!" moment.

If you can do the back stitch, you can do the stem stitch. The way I do it is just a slight variation of the back stitch.

Again, I'll post photos with written instructions, followed by a quick video.

Step 1: Basically, this step will always be the same. Pick a starting point, and poke your needle up from the back side of your fabric. You can see I've already started a line of stitches, so the last complete stitch you see behind my needle is where I'm starting the instructions from. ;-)

Step 2: When you bring your needle down, you want to insert it right next to the outer edge of your previous stitch. This is the move that I do that differs from traditional instructions, and my method is just a slight variation of the back stitch.

Step 3: Repeat step 1. This photo is just a visual reference for you to see the rhythm.

Step 4: Repeat step 2. Again, more visual reference. ;-)

And now for the video!
Disclaimer: I have the shakiest hands EVER, and sometimes you might hear little ones in the background. ;-)




For just a brief second, I demonstrate the alternate way to do a stem stitch, but for some reason, it just never clicked with me. I realize that my method uses up a little bit more floss, but that's the price I choose to pay for the beauty of a stem stitch.

Stem stitch is just lovely for well, stems, and other foliage, hair, animals with spiky or textured fur, and recently I've been using it when embroidering words / letters. If I'm using it for letters, I like to use only 3 or 4 strands of floss. I think this tends to give a more delicate appearance.

I hope you're inspired and ready to try the stem stitch! I just might surprise you and post another lesson this weekend, since I fell behind this week.

Next up: Split stitch.

Hugs & Stitches,
Amy