Kristin's Present

So I didn't get to give Kristin her birthday present this past weekend in Atlantic City because I'm a dolt and forgot the embroidery hoop at home!! I had everything else I needed, I just had to finish embroidering the "Mother Hen" bit on the car ride down. I had the backing and all the supplies I needed except for the oh so crucial hoop. I was extremely pissed to say the least and let fly a few choice expletives.
Although, my allergies did erupt into a full blown attack about 1/3 of the way there so I doubt I would have had this ready to give to her had I brought the hoop. I was too busy sneezing, blowing my nose, searching for tissues and pressing on my sinuses to try and relieve the pressure.
Allergies are the bane of my existence and although I know there will never be a cure for them because doctors and pharmaceutical companys make FAR too much money, I have a pipe dream that one day I will be cured of this disorder.
Anyway...
Last night I put it all together and here it is. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out except that I think I am going to start filling in more of my embroidery pieces with satin stitch, instead of just having outlines.
This was my first try at stem stich and at first I was a little leary about it but eventually I got the hang of it.
This was also the first time I did not have a pattern already on the fabric and just eyeballed it. Looking for images of hens and baby chicks online, I found these amazing stamps on etsy by sideshowstamps
I used them for the most part, changed the designs on the chicks a bit, made up one of my own and stitched them all a little smaller.
This was also my first time embroidering on a patterned piece of fabric AND using maximumRABBIT's super awesome tutorial on how to frame embroidery in the hoop with a lovely finished back and puffy look.
I am in love with this now and will definitely be doing this with all my pieces that I plan to keep in the hoop.





The Hen is Kristin and there are 4 chicks (Jess, Shannon, Liz and I)
I am going to give this to her at our next book club meeting on August 2 when we'll all be at The Haskell.
I don't gamble but we went last year and despite the rain, had a lot of fun. I actually made a dress that I've yet to take pictures of...hmmmm....