Category: on my work table

Let’s start with the embroidery template. It started as  a drawing, become a daily painting and then my first  embroidery pattern.

You can download the fleeing hen template here.

And a guide to some basic embroidery stitches here.

I used backstitch for the little hen scene. This would be so sweet on a tea towel – super gifty…

*this post contains an affiliate link – meaning I get a small commission if you purchase through the link – it’s marked with an asterisk

How can you transfer the template to your fabric? You can trace it- use a window or a light box – or- I have been using *transfer paper.

The paper comes with little ball headed styluses in a variety of sizes that work beautifully. My plan is to have templates available in the shop as pdf and iron transfers soon.

If you try it I’d love to see! You can tag me on instagram @annwood or email an image to ann at ann wood handmade dot com.

crow progress

My wings and tail are pinned and ready to stitch. You can hand or machine stitch the feathers, I’m going to machine stitch. I did use a vintage tie for some shiny black accents with my dark blue striped crow.

Check out a couple sew-along crows below – the winner (1 year of stitch club membership) will be announced right here on Friday!

UPDATE 10/31: The winner of the up cycled crow contest is – Ruth! 

Counter clock wise from top – wings with hand written text by Ana, crow by Ruth and crow by Kelsey

on my work table

I’m just gonna go ahead and say it- I love the calendar. I love it hard. I love thinking about it, choosing the collection and seeing it come together. It’s a mysterious and intuitive feeling around process. I change my mind a thousand times but when it’s just right I know it for sure.

PRE-ORDER YOU 2026 CALENDAR HERE

I’ve already started the 2027 calendar. This year’s addition is in the shop now for pre-order. As of this moment it’s about to sell through the first printing. I will be doing a second (probably shipping 11/19-ish).

I’m also working on the stitch club autumn journal project. For me it’s an improvisational, yes and process. I cut some blank pages and play with a pile of scraps. You can check out last years here.

and ornaments

One of the things that attracted me to ceramics was the idea of forcing myself into more simple and gestural painting. Immediate and loose – these ornaments are headed for the kiln this week. Stoneware also involves a lot of letting go – fingers crossed for a good firing.

What’s on your worktable this October- are you making ornaments? Is there an embroidered hen in your future? Let us know in the comments.

happy cozy season!

ann

Happy October! We’ve got a lot to talk about : a crow sew-along, embroidery designs, and the French General retreat in Vermont.

I took this crow to Vermont with me for an autumnal portrait. If you look closely you can see how I’ve discreetly attached him to the tree with black ribbon wrapped around his ankle and then anchored to a branch behind.

Jump down to the bottom for the crow sew-along details (there’s a prize and everything). And let’s get into Vermont and embroidery.

For the past few weeks I’ve been turning imagery from my daily paintings into embroidery designs. In a couple weeks I’ll share some tips I’ve picked up along the way and a design for you to try. Serendipitously, French General offered me a last minute opportunity to teach at their Vermont retreat. I almost never rush for anything but the stars aligned and it was the perfect opportunity to teach my first embroidery focused project.

It’s a little stitch workbook and also has places for collecting textile treasures.

The students made beautiful, personal and imaginative stitched books with their own designs and the templates I brought. The stitch club community is also test driving designs with great results. It has left me feeling like this is going to be a thing.

Check out some more  textile books from the retreat below

the crow sew along

What’s a sew-along? It could be many things, in this case it’s lots of people working on the same project at once and sharing their work.

The project is  – a crow – with a focus on using thrifted materials. I’ve started a one made from a XL men’s shirt I got at goodwill. The striped shirt is darker on the inside and I’m using that side. I’ll mix in some of the lighter side too and play with the angle of the stripes for feathers. My crow might be made entirely of the shirt, or, I’m going to look around this weekend for ties to incorporate in the feathers. I’ll be posting progress in the facebook sew-along group, insta stories and in stitch club.

Where can you share? In the face book sew-along group, on instagram and the stitch club community. Or you can email an image of your finished crow to me at – ann @ ann wood handmade dot com

And to make it interesting there is a prize for best crow – a one year membership to the aforementioned stitch club community. Please post your finished crow by October 29th and the winner will be announced on Halloween.

When you share on instagram please tag @annwood and use the hashtag #annwoodpattern (The hashtag by itself is not enough – you gotta be sure to tag me please.)

For some extra crow sewing tips check out the 2022 crow sew-along – all posts are linked at the bottom.

in other news

Look for an email next week for new cards, stickers and the 2026 calendar.

Save the date- there will be a large daily painting sale Thursday October 23rd – noon-ish eastern time.

I’m about halfway through Lonesome Dove and don’t want it to end.

I’ll leave you with a late bouquet for the little garden. and some embroidery in progress.

Will you join us in the crow sew-along? Are you an embroidery addict? (I’m surprised at how much I enjoy it.)

Let us know in the comments.

onward!

ann

Stitching vessels is a pretty satisfying and addictive process.  Adding wool to the mix takes it next level. It surprised me. The form is so perfect.  The edge trim is a pretty heavy cotton that gives even more structure. I used scrap from menswear mostly, pants, suit jackets etc.

There is also a lot of straight stitching through everything after it was assembled. I like the way it looks and it helps compress the layers of wool together.

I like it so much I took way too many pictures and  I’m pulling out the big box of wool scraps to make more. I think this will be a wool  stitched vessel winter for me. #thriftysewingchallenge

I’m also making  little owls-  this guy is made from a suit jacket and thrifted curtains. He’s the smallest from the little owls sewing pattern. This little fellow took about 2 hours to make. I did leave off one pattern piece because I liked his white breast showing. Pro tip – I put three nickels in his bottom when stuffing to help him stand on his own.

I’ll use the same wool for a larger owl. I love an owl with a bold head to toe look like this houndstooth guy (dastardly owl sewing pattern).

sneak peek

Check out some new things coming to the shop soon. Including the 2026 Calendar! So excited to offer it in a more timely fashion this year. I’m also hoping to have enough ( but not too many – it’s expensive to produce) It will be available for pre-order soon and they will start shipping before November.

There are also some new cards and little items including journal stickers. I’ll let you know when it’s all listed in the shop.

And I’m looking forward to little bramble pots from the kiln soon. More about those and last week’s Squam Art Retreat in the next post.

Happy National Sewing Month!

ann

PS – thanks for all the great book recommendations and I am loving Lonesome Dove – it’ really takes off around page 100.

PPS – Checkout Meg’s (Sew Liberated) beautiful fleet of paper mache ships

The sides of the linen strip are unfinished and frayed, when it’s rolled up it has a plush, carpet feel I like.

And the size of this scroll project was magic for me. It was such a low pressure, pleasure to stitch. The small, consistent effort kept my hands moving and ideas flowing. You know the rule:

“A middle aged craft lady in motion tends to stay in motion and a middle aged craft lady at rest tends to stay at rest.”

Don’t see a video above? Click here to view.

I approached it improvisationally and the imagery evolved in a fabley direction I like. It could have gone on forever but I felt like the ideal size was reached at about 4 feet.

Another has already begun, this time experimenting with staying abstract. I usually fail at this (some image creeps in…) but that does not matter, the shift in thinking is valuable, it wakes up different parts of my imagination. This would be a great kid/beginner project to start a little stitcher.

The scroll was inspired by Artist Aitor Saraiba. If you don’t already know of his work please go have a look- you will be enchanted.

Check out some scrolls from Stitch Club members – so energetic, personal and imaginative. Excellent work.

Barbara

Heather

Roberta

Laine

Laine

the august special

All owl patterns are 25% off through August!

whats next

Get ready for the fall thrifted fabric challenge. It’s less about what you make and more about what you make it with. Stay tuned for details in the next newsletter. For now have your eyes open for thrifted clothing (menswear is rich territory) you could transform into owls or crows or elephants or vessels etc.

Did you make a summer scroll? Are you up for a thrifty challenge? Let us know in the comments.

What’s your UFO situation? I’ve got tons of them (unfinished objects). They are all resting quietly in neatly labeled boxes in a closet waiting for their shot. My plan is to work my way through everything this summer. So ambitious. And working my way through does not necessarily mean finishing. Abandoning/letting go is also a valid choice. Finished or permanently let go they will be removed from the shadowy edges of my mind. Forever.

It’s a good thing I’m in a very sewy mood because the pile of stuff to finish is huge.

Let’s start with birds. I’ve got lots of almost done birds plus a little collection I’m making for Fortuny (they’ll be available there this fall).

find the songbird sewing pattern here

Pro Tip: I’ve been coloring the beaks with sharpy. The wood absorbs the color really well and it has a little translucency. After it’s dry just a little polishing with a soft cloth gives it a beautiful waxy sheen – super realistic.

And the summer scroll continues. I love this project and I’m probably going to end up with 2 or three scrolls by labor day. Committing to a thing but not putting a lot of pressure on it is a creativity sweet spot. The mini size helps too. Stitch club members are making lots of super imaginative scrolls – I’ll share some on the blog soon.

The latest entry in my scroll commemorates the soggiest spring ever. The garden is so sad. I added fertilizer a couple days ago – organic fish fertilizer. It’s the worst thing I ever smelled in my life. By far. It’s as if somebody mixed up all the bad smells in a bucket and then left it out in the sun for a week. I hope it helps the pale pole beans and stunted peppers and tomatoes.

More UFO’s – rag dolls. Mostly circus folk and captains. These are super fun to finish – they just need little details. And as I work on patterns this summer I’ll be producing lots more (the elephant pattern is already available and all the other animal patterns and the captain are in progress now). As dolls get finished I’ll add them to the shop.

The first sample sale will be next week ( I’m thinking Thursday and I’ll update this post with the time and date when I know for sure). And I’ll send an email when the shop is stocked

UPDATE – the doll sale will be noonish- eastern time on Monday 6/30

Do you have some UFO’s in your closet? Is your garden soggy? Let us know in the comments.

Onward!

ann

PS – I got the wordle in 2 today!

a roof over miss thistle’s head

Big news in tiny world: Miss Thistle’s house finally has a roof! Fully shingled (with cardboard, of course). I’ll be sharing all the DIY details soon—it was super easy. Still to come: a few charming touches on the exterior and shutters (I think) stay tuned for a dedicated cardboard doll house post.

aroma- a layered approach

I’m all about a good smell, nothing too loud or perfumy, I describe it as earthy and fresh. After years of experimenting I think I’ve perfected it:

• A bunch of fresh eucalyptus – I get one every Friday.
• This handmade soap by Saipua. All the scents are glorious but my top pick is clay and dill.
• Santa Maria Novella Potpourri – I’ve got little dishes of it all over the place. I’ve had the same bag for over a year and it’s still going strong. It’s pricy but good.
• Lavender cleaner. So simple. There are lots of ways to make it, I used equal parts vinegar and distilled water and about 20 drops of lavender oil.

bramble

It gets me through the winter. I get an outsized amount of joy from wandering around outside looking for exquisite little sticks and dead plants to bring home and put in my tiny vases.

happy plants

You know I love a houseplant. My collection has officially tipped into “plant lady” territory—and I’m fine with that.

new story bottles

New little delft /early american inspired rustic bottles. After a few more get fired I’ll put them in the shop. There is a giant artwork shop update in the works.

daffodils

They almost don’t look real! A magical occurrence every time. It’s still so wintery when they make their magnificent appearance.

NYT puzzles

Now I’m also a puzzle lady. My goodness. But I can’t help it – I love wordle, connections and strands. Obsessed. A huge amount of my discretionary time budget is spent on them. Who knows – maybe it’s helping my rapidly aging brain.

the stitch book home stretch

Friends! We are less than 20 days away from the finish line!! I will be a little bit happy and a little bit sad when this is finished. I’m excited about putting the book together and overflowing with ideas for my last pages. The process builds idea generating momentum and I don’t have enough pages left for all the things I’d like to try. It’s exactly the problem I hoped to have.  The official end is Saturday 4/26.

 What’s bringing you joy this spring? Are you a puzzle lady? A plant lady?!? Let us know in the comments and a very happy spring to you!

Let’s start with the foundation quilt. There has been a missing ingredient – something just wasn’t gelling for me. The goal is super simple, a scrap quilt with fleamarket vibes but sturdy enough to really use. I love pulling out random scraps and not thinking much about the composition of the blocks. It’s definitely driven by chance. But some element of texture or color or something was missing. The scraps from making circus animals were the answer – yarn dyes.

I love the mix of yarn dyes and vintage prints. and the washed yarn dyes have a super soft feel. They are a combination of linen and cotton that’s just right. Robert Kaufman – Essex Yarn Dyed  – PS this is not an affiliate situation – it’s been a favorite for years.

I gave the quilt a solid chunk of time this week – ironing and stitching on auto pilot. I can see the finish line from here and it will get a couple more chunks this weekend. Still not sure about the size- something throw-ish probably.

the next sewing pattern – sneak peek

To date, all my sewing patterns have seam allowance included in the pattern. The Circus Elephant will not and here’s why: It works better that way. The elephant (as well as the other circus animals) are not gusseted.

The construction is simple so the pieces are cut together and stay together. In the case of birds and owls it’s very important that the edges of the fabric match repeatedly so perfect seam allowance is key. For the circus animals the silhouette is everything so I focus on everybody getting a perfect seam line. The resulting dolls have had 100 % accuracy and it’s faster.

What’s the best way to add allowance? It is a fact that some people just magically have an internal ¼ inch seam allowance. They can just cut. For most of us I think it’s a best practice to measure – make little dots every inch or so to guide cutting. I find it easiest and super quick to use a little paper with a ¼ inch mark. It takes very little time and makes a perfect result.

other elephant rag doll supplies

*This post contains affiliate links – meaning I get a small commission if you purchase through the link – affiliate links are below and marked with an *asterisks

It really helps to have a turning tube for the trunk. You can use a big straw and chopstick or get a set-  *this is the set I have. If you haven’t tried turning tubes check out how they work here.

And disappearing markers for marking the seam line – there are lots of different options- I like all of these. I came to disappearing markers late in life and I’m totally sold on them- so much smoother than a pencil or tailor’s pencil and you get a nice clear line.

*mark be gone – I love the dual option – air and water soluble

*leonis – super handy size and some to give to friends

*sewline air erase – I love this pen – the only downside is it does disappear on its own- but if you’re working quickly it’s great. It was my first and it’s still my favorite.

And fabric- I used Robert Kaufman – Essex Yarn Dyed- Graphite for the body- you can find it in lots of shops. Thrifted clothes are a great source of fabric too. 1/4 yard gets it done but I would get 1/2 yard.

And the elephant uses about 2 and 1/2 ounces of wool stuffing.

the october creative spark

You may recall that there is a new creative prompt every month in the stitch club community. This October prompt was “potion”. I love everything about Pam Q’s hand stitched interpretation.

@cloverwonder

What does potion inspire for you?

And are you ready to make a dancing circus elephant? How do you add your seam allowance? Let us know in the comments and happy October.

PS – I keep thinking that I’ve had my last bouquet of the season and I keep being wrong. The flowers just keep coming.