Easter being right around the corner, and days flying by as they always do, I’ve fallen behind a bit on my egg embroidery!
Do you ever have those grand visions of preparing hand-made gifts for a whole list of people, only to find that you have run out of time? Well, that’s the case here.
I wanted to finish five more eggs before Easter, but I have judiciously narrowed that down to two possible finishes. The others will have to wait!
This egg is one that I just had to get to. I’m inexplicably drawn towards swirls, and I really like how they look on the eggs. They can be subtle and delicate – or they can be bold and bright, depending on the threads chosen.
This particular egg is a blue Rouen duck egg – the softest, palest blue. And on it, I’m using a white-silver metallic thread (DMC Light Effects), to keep the effect somewhat subtle.
Then, I plan to plant pearls on the surface – at the tips of all the swirls, and at the junction of most of them.
The pearl beads in the photo above are a little large (3mm). Finding 2mm pearl beads locally might be a bit challenging, but I’m going to try!
I find swirl stitching on the eggs very relaxing. I love the movement of the swirls, and they way they swoop about, intertwine, and cover the whole surface.
And I love, love, love the feel of duck eggs. They are strong eggs, and they feel like porcelain. I wish I had a whole flock of them! Alas, this is the last one.
And the other egg on the finish line before Easter is the basket egg we touched on when discussing raised and woven stitches in egg embroidery. This fellow is kind of tough. I lost the sketch of the original design layout, so figuring out what all those holes mean is somewhat of a challenge. But, eventually I’ll get there!
As the final touch on this egg, imagine a ribbon woven up through the basket handles on each side and tied in a bow on top. Can’t wait to get to that part!
Probably my favorite aspect of this egg is the fact that it stands up by itself, because of the “basket” embroidery around the base. Not that I’ll necessarily leave it standing up alone in the middle of the table, but I think it’s kind of neat that it is self-supporting.
So those are my two definite finishes by the end of this week. Here’s hopin’! Keep your fingers crossed for me!
If you’re interested in embroidery on egg shells and you’d like to try it out, feel free to check out the Embroidery on Eggs Index, where you can find a list of articles on the subject, with tips and techniques for taking up egg embroidery.
Oh Mary, your second sentence did make me laugh. ALL THE TIME is the answer from here. Every year I say THIS YEAR is going to be the year where I make everyone’s Christmas presents. Two years ago I managed two … 🙂
These eggs look fabulous. No intention of trying one in the near future but I love reading about them. Good luck with your Easter deadlines.
Your creativity and skill levels are eggceptional. Happy Easter.
Mary,
These embroidered eggs are delightful! I am enjoying your series and updates on them; thank you for sharing! Have a Blessed Easter!
Carla
Dear Mary
The swirls are lovely and the metallic and pearls really set off the design. I was also supposed to finish off more eggsembroidery but they take time to complete and Easter is nearly upon us so I don’t think I will finish as many as I had hoped. I love the basket and I am in the process of completing a basket myself, hopefully by Saturday as I have volunteered to decorate a Church window and I want to add my eggsembroidery to the decoration, I hope I can complete at least 2 more and I thought I would paint some of those I have left over to add to the window by Saturday wish me luck!. I’ve really enjoyed eggexperience and thank you for sharing your expertise with us and helping me with my journey of eggsexperience.
Regards Anita Simmance
Mary, I really like the silver and pearls on the egg. So pretty! The basket one is going to be so perfect with the woven ribbon in the handle with a bow on top. I’d really like to watch you do these. It must take incredible patience and skill to not break the eggs.
SJDesigns carries faux 2 mm pearls. I know getting small pearls locally will be a challenge almost anywhere.
These are stunning! I love the swirls! The idea of weaving ribbon through the basket is amazing. Can’t wait to see your finishes.
Both eggs look amazing.
Thank you for misplacing your egg diagram! That is something I continually do: misplace those darn diagrams! They eggs are so cute! I hope to see finished pictures of them all one of these days.
Yes, those darned diagrams – and I think I even warned against that. I just realized today that I took photos, though, so I think that will work! Yippee! Much easier than guessing what I was trying to do!
These are so cool. I’ll probably never try this technique myself (too many other things to learn; then what would I DO with them?) but the results are pretty and I love watching your experiments. Also they remind me of a collection my Grandmother’s fried Alice had, of eggshells cut open with little scenes inside them – delicately pretty and they filled a glass-front cabinet in her house, fascinating for a little girl to stare at while the grownups talked.
These eggs are so beautiful, Mary!
Hello mary,
It looks so lovely. I like the colours, silver on pale blue, really nice. Wish you all the best to complete the eggs before easter. Why not consider giving these embroidered eggs as a giveaway for easter?
Mary,
I am so excited about finding your website. I have been an heirloom sewer for about 25 years, a costumer for many years and most recently opened a custom drapery workroom about 7 years ago. I LOVE hand embroidery and especially religious embroidery. I bought your ebook today and cant wait to syart my next christening gown. You are truly gifted and God bless you for sharing your talent. Looking forward to scouring the rest of your site for your knowledge of handwork. In todays world what everyone calls is done on a machine – I will never give in to that shortcut. Thank you again.
Thanks, Allison! Welcome aboard! I’m glad you enjoy Needle ‘n Thread! ~Mary
I tried egg embroidery a few years ago with some success. I wasn’t confident enough in my chicken eggs to go with a lot of holes, and I cut out the back, but after reading all of your articles, I have so many more ideas, and now I have to find some of those beading neeedles!