Here’s another reinvention. The grumpy toad design was always a dilemma as to be silk or cotton. So I try both and here is the cotton version.

I have been really perfecting my single-strand cotton split stitch with the two Boxing Hares and very pleased with the swirly-wirly patterns on Mr. Toad. I like his eyes better too, and he even has french-knot warts.

You may notice I have gone back to using my little 6″ hoop instead of my roller frame. I did like using the roller for printing up 6 designs and stitching them through, but as I was working through them so quickly I was wanting to take the fabric off and make up the embroideries to jewellery before I’d finish all 6. Plus always rolling it down meant I did sometimes have tension problems. So using the hoop means I can still print up 6, but they are widely spaced apart enough that I never hoop over the work, plus because each miniature only takes a few hours I always have drum-tight tension.