Embroidery Patterns : Hens and Cats

One of my goals is to digitize the embroideries I used to do in the past. I have been busy going through my archives from 2007 to 2014. The going is slow but I'm making progress.

In the past, whenever I drew something for an embroidery, I usually did it freehand on the fabric. Occasionally I sketched on paper. But I was never organised. I drew on small bits of paper, sometimes paper napkins. So you can imagine how messy everything is. To digitize these past embroideries, I'm doing it a super slow way. First, I use my wacom tablet to draw freehand on Illustrator (a graphic design software). I use a pencil tool to mimic the way I draw in real life. After that, I use Illustrator to tidy up the lines and that's it. The tidying takes up the most amount of time. I discovered I can get pretty anal about curves and lines.

I completed digitizing several patterns a few months ago but then I started asking myself what I should do with the patterns. Well, I decided to publish these for sale and I spent most of May writing up a little information to go with the pattern. Yep, most of May. Because you know I get distracted so easily. I'm glad all that is done and I've also finished sewing up samples for two patterns and these are the ones I've put up for sale.

They are available in my Etsy and Craftsy shop. I'm pricing them for very little. If you are interested, please take a look.

Maybe you remember Harriet the Hen? I love drawing hens because it's so easy and you can't go wrong. To buy Harriet the Hen embroidery pattern, please go to my Craftsy or Etsy shop.

Do you remember my fat cats inspired by Meow, the fattest cat in the world? The dancing fat cat doesn't give a hoot it is fat. The other fat cat loves to eat so much it eats anything, including yarn.
This pattern is available in my Craftsy and Etsy shop.

I must confess producing these embroidery patterns gave me a lot of fun and delight. Kinda brings back some sweet memories. I used to draw a lot during my teenage years and up till my late 20's I was still drawing and colouring with colour pencils. People used to ask me why I was so into something so childish. They could never understand. Well, well, well. Nowadays adults enjoying colouring with colour pencils is an acceptable hobby. Ha!

I'm a little sad that I gifted all my drawings and colourings to friends. Once I tried to get my bff to give some back(how crude of me!) because she was one of the lucky recipients but she refused to part with any! So I have nothing I created from that period. Not even a photograph because back then we use film. I used a very expensive set of Caran d'Ache colour pencils which a boyfriend gifted me. Then one day, I stopped drawing completely and even gave away the Caran d'Ache colour pencils. It wasn't until I started embroidering again in 2000 for my kids' blankets and handkerchiefs that the desire to draw/doodle came back. Somehow my drawings and embroidery became one.

Wow, that was some nostalgia. As I grow older and my memory starts to fade, I find it important to write them down because one day I may totally forget and I have this blog to retrieve my memories.

Next on my list are some cute animal motifs. The digital drawings are completed. Yes, I have already stopped fussing over the little details and will stitch up the samples real soon. I have also sketched out new embroideries ideas but you know me. I tend to go from one shiny object to another. So it's best I be disciplined and complete the archived series first. See ya.