February is National Embroidery Month!

In honor of National Embroidery Month, I dedicate this post to all hand embroiderers. I personally love hand embroidery, which I learned from my mother. I get so much inspiration from the artful hand embroidery that I see on Pinterest (for example here),  and from the such sites as the fabulous Embroiderers' Guild of Victoria, and the Embroiderers' Guild of America, and the blog Feeling Stitchy.

I sell vintage embroidery transfer patterns in my shop, of course, which I enjoy very much. Floral, animal, and food motifs were (and still are) very popular. Here is a hodge podge of samples:

And here are some hand embroidered pieces that I own. This is a table runner that I hand embroidered back in the 1970s, It is inspired by Scandinavian motifs:

I love modern embroiderers who follow their own inspiration. This is a fabulous and inspired piece of embroidered whimsy that I bought from another seller on Etsy. She even included her recipe for cornbread, which I have to admit is the best cornbread ever. Really.

This table runner is embroidered completely in the tiniest of cross-stitches, quite amazing. You can see the individual cross-stitches in the close-up view.

I hope this small sample will inspire you to explore the current exciting work being done in needle arts of hand embroidery and perhaps start a project of your own!