Tangled Stitch

Sheep are simple animals that have symbolized  benevolence, honesty, nobility and peace. I think that sums up their place as my favorite animal to hand embroider.  The simple pleasure of dozens of French knots for those times when honesty and commerce meet.  They have always been my favorite thing to embroider and a favorite among my customers.  They are scattered in the mountains of Upstate New York in far lower numbers than their living counterparts. The holidays are a wee bit of a struggle for me as both of my parents died the first week of January a very long time ago.  I’m determined this year to be a bit different and sitting down to embroider some sheep with just a little background noise was just what my soul needed that day.  They are just so simple.  A little circle, a head and some black for the bottom of their legs.  But they give me hours of enjoyment as we all know French knots are the stitch that makes the tangled stitch heart go pi...

Today I added these three little sheep ornaments to my Etsy shop.  I took a picture and will share my process in this posting.  Each little sheep starts with a piece of tea-dyed muslin fabric.  I trace a heart onto the blank fabric.  The heart is the only template I will use.  After I have traced the template, I draw each sheep one at a time with an invisible ink pen which disappears in a few hours.  Then I hand embroider each one separately before finishing the ornaments.  When you put them in a row you can see that each one is different in some way.  They can be customized but each one has a look and a personality of their own.  The sheep vary in size, the heads are different sizes, the bodies are different and even their little legs and red ribbons vary.  They are one of my most popular ornaments at Valley Artisans Market where I sell them year round.  My fellow artists love them and have even purchased a few themselves.  No...