I am someone who thinks change is good. I love a good change. I think in this life I have found that saying yes to the Universe is the best way, rather than trying to keep everything the same. And that is a poncey way of saying I made something new this week.

Love that I do making the mini miniature embroidery jewellery, I look through my big chest of fabric and other stash and realise I have a lot of thrifted and handed-down antique, mostly hand made lace doilies. Here’s what I did:

I had a couple of small, 6″ squareish cotton (it might be linen) lace doilies, and I took my little heart design and transferred the design to the centre with my transfer heat pen. This doily is about 50-odd years old.

As the doily was just within the fave 6″ hoop’s diameter, and because I wanted to protect the lace edge from too aggressive stretching, I tacked it onto a bit of pillowcase.

I then hooped it up, getting it all nice and tight, and then cut an aperture through the pillowcase, like a ham-fisted butcher.

Then I can begin the embroidery – essentially a larger version of my mini jewellery ones. Using electric blue silk I satin-stitched the Vena cava and such.

Then continued in blood-red silk to do the pulmonary artery and aorta. I am using a Sharps needle FYI.

That done I switch to my fave variegated Poppy silk for the muscle. I am split stitching this bit.

Now finished and time for some overstitched details:

I used a burgundy silk to back-stitch some veins, some darker shades to add dimension to the arteries and veins, and then used fine cotton to outline the lot in backstitch. Forgive the crap photo, will fetch a frame and do some glamour shots ASAP. And I will be adding this to my shop, as a one-of-a-kind piece.

What do you think please? My heart most definitely is in this.