So Sylvie

I had to check my archives several times over as I thought for sure I'd already raved about Bascom Hogue of Cottonwood Diner, embroiderer extraordinaire, but apparently it was one of those posts composed only in my mind. This is long overdue, but happily so, as now I can also introduce Johnny Murder of Manbroidery.

On the surface these two artists couldn't be more different. On Bascom's home page he quotes 1 Corinthians 13:4 — "Love is patient, love is kind, love it does not envy…", and on Johnny Murder's home page is a banner sporting Michael Caine with a sawed off shotgun (if I know my guns), albeit on a bubblegum pink background. But they share a common thread, so to speak. Embroidery! It's the tie that binds.

I love the whole new genre of this craft created by male embroidery artists. It's so refreshing, stimulating, and unpredictable. Let's investigate…

Je te presénte Monsieur Bascom Hogue:

and his work (the image titles lead to stories):

Red Work Tractor

Red Work Dog

Red Work Frog

Breathe

Collage

Red Dog Rag Rug

Maintenant, je te présente Monsieur Johnny Murder:

and his work:

I love the faux bois background.

to be found on Etsy:

Johnny also founded a Manbroidery group on Flickr full of talented stitchers for you to discover, like Brian Campbell:

I can't really post all that excites me about these two fascinating men — like this, and this. Please take some time to pay a visit to their sites. I should mention Johnny's "wife", Penny Nickels!  Also check out Mr.X Stitch, "The number one contemporary embroidery and needlecraft blog".

note: Bascom and Johnny have tall banners on their blogs, so you have to scroll down to notice that all of my links lead to specific posts.