calvin and hobbes embroidery piece

i actually finished this piece back in march, but because it was for a swap, i had to wait to post it, and then i got distracted, as per usual!

this was for the third Phat Quarter swap on flickr, and the theme was comics/cartoons. usually the Phat Quarter swaps are really random, people just make whatever they feel like (and that creates some truly amazing pieces), but i've swapped on craftster.org for so long that i NEED to make something my partner will like!

so i sent a little message to the person that i was sending to, asking what their favourite comics, etc were. among other answers, my partner really liked calvin and hobbes.

i hummed and hawed, trying to decide what to stitch, and at the last minute, i came across this. it was just so perfect!



it took me a lot longer to stitch then i thought it would, but since there are so many little details, my stitching was really fine.



i totally didn't have time to hand embroider the back, so i digitized the info i wanted to include and machine embroidered it onto a piece of white felt. i framed it the same way that i framed the needlework vulva that i made for the NSFW Phat Quarter Swap, though Maximum Rabbit Designs has written up an awesome tutorial for a different technique as well.

if you're being super observant, you may note that the backdrop in the photos above is actually the passenger side door of my car... i obviously didn't take proper pictures before i mailed it, those were taken in the parking lot!

however, i did try to scan the piece, so that the detail would be really clear, and it turned out well enough.