I used a 9" by 8" bar frame to embroider this rhino. I was using perle thread for the first time (in three shades of grey) and experimenting with it a bit. I used a little bit of stem stitch but mostly this is split stitch, chain stitch and French knots. Here's the original I was working from. It's from the Pearson Scott Foresman archive at Wikipedia.

I thought it would be nice to start 2022 with something small and sweet, so I used my favourite design from Pocurute Pocochiru's book of embroidery patterns, Peace, Love & Embroidery. I did adapt it somewhat, because I didn't use chain stitch and I left out some of the outlining. The original version of the hedgehog is on the cover of the book. It's only 7cm high and 6cm wide.

The next month I made another version which I simplified so it would be easier to make in a very small size on a handkerchief. It's only 4cm by 4cm and I embroidered it "in hand."

I made this over the three days of the UCU (University and College Union) strike action in December 2021, in an 8 inch hoop. I used the word "Strike!" from a 1918 war poster and tried to give the embroidery the feel of a vintage poster/banner, which is why I went for an allegorical snake, representing Unsafe Workload, Precarity, Inequality, Cuts and Intransigence, which is being attacked by the owl, claws extended, representing UCU.

The not-entirely successful landscape/seascape with seals embroidery that I mentioned underneath the entry for the rat was produced partly "in hand" (i.e. without using a hoop or frame). I'd wanted to try it again with this project because I thought it might help me avoid getting wrinkles in the fabric (that didn't work!) and also because if you're making something large, the hoop may at some point need to be placed on top of embroidery that's already been completed, and then it can squash it.

The rat is about 7cm from its nose to the side of its back. I was testing out the effect of working with strands of two different colours at the same time. I think it makes it much less noticeable that this is mostly split-stitch (the same as the rabbit). I ended up making it into a stuffed decoration and clearly, while I can embroider, I'm really bad at sewing shapes out of fabric. The next thing I made also involved some strange sewing decisions, but as they were preceded by some unfortunate embroidery outcomes, I'm not sure which type of stitching I was worse at on that occasion.

I made this thinking it could be a contribution to a charity auction so I made it small because I was trying to work fast, but I wasn't fast enough and the listings filled up and it was probably for the best since the postage would probably have cost more than anyone would bid on it. Anyway, it's a 4" hoop but as I discovered, small is not necessarily easier because you tend to end up making the stitches smaller too, and this also involved quite a lot of sewing with just one strand of embroidery floss.

This is another large piece, with the rabbit about as long as a sheet of A4 paper (since that's the size of the sheets of tracing paper I had). The hoop is 14" and I didn't embroider the rabbit inside that. The fabric is Makower Village Life - Grass. The rabbit is based on a photo I saw online. I checked some other photos to make sure I remembered the details of what daisies and dandelions looked like. I'm including a close-up of the dandelion, which is about 3.5cm high.

I'd made a few earlier attempts at hedgehogs and they hadn't worked, so I was really happy this one did. It's in an 8" hoop and was inspired by a road traffic symbol for hedgehogs crossing the road. Below are the failed hedgehogs. The first one was supposed to be a camouflaged hedgehog, and it was, but it was a bit too camouflaged and has a bulbous nose.

I was inspired by this and lots of photos I saw online of harvest mice. I used variegated thread for the wheat and used two layers of stitching on the mouse's body to try to create the impression of an undercoat of fur (not sure if that worked). It's a 8" hoop, and the fabric used was Makower Spraytime “Grass.”

These are based on a design made for Royal Crown Derby's porcelain birds. They're in an 8" hoop and I liked seeing how I could create lines just by how I aligned the edges of blocks of stitches, instead of sewing an outline. I also liked how the birds fit the berry bush print of the batik fabric.