Hoop Inspiration

I mentioned a few weeks back that I have signed up for way too many swaps on Flickr.
In fact I am so busy making stuff for them that I haven't had a chance to tell you about them! I am going to try and do a few quick mini posts about 3 of them before I go away to Birmingham for a big trade fair at the weekend.
I must re-iterate the word 'TRY' in that last sentence...

So first up is the 'Hoop Up! Stitch and Send Swap' embroidery swap. In this swap you are grouped with 2 other sewers and we each make a piece for the other 2. We first have to make an inspiration piece so that they understand the 'theme' we are going for. The idea is that you will have 3 matching embroidered pieces at the end.

This is my first time with this swap and I am relatively new to embroidery, so I had to spend a lot of time researching before I found the direction I wanted to go with. This is my inspiration mosaic. I am hoping for  a 'magical forest' vibe. With trees, flowers and woodland animals - but with a magical, surreal, slightly disturbing atmosphere.

I love the illustrations of Aya Kakeda. They are cute and disturbing in equal measures and a lot of them are set in forests. So this was my starting point. And along with lots of other inspiring illustrations and embroideries I found on Flickr, I drew this design.

I then started embroidering it. This is really like VERY slow colouring in, but SO much fun! I mentioned in this post how much I loved making an embroidery hoop for a class, and how it was going to be a new passion. Well I feel this even more now.

I loved making this little picture and am so pleased with how it turned out.
I also can't wait to see what my partners will come up with! I was very lucky to have been paired with Dolores and Leila, both such talented stitchers!

Now what do you think, is the bear type creature gazing lovingly at his chicken pet? Or is he about to tear him limb from limb and eat him?