EMBROIDERY LOVE

I found this embroidery gem at a vintage shop over the summer and could not put it down.

What are these animals? A deer and tiger? Reindeer? Panther, leopard, cheetah? Why is it mirrored, but not symmetrical? Is the tiger attacking the deer, are those fangs? Or is it just jumping in for a friendly 'ta da!'... ? I think it's the latter.
Who made it?! Is it a practice piece? A finished piece? I have so many questions. I could stare at it for ages. It's one of the most delightful and more odd things I've found.

You know how things start to catch you eye, and you think, oh that's nice, and then they crop up with more frequency, and you start to pay a little more attention, and then BLAM! it's everywhere you look? This is how I feel about embroidery.

Maybe it's because I'm obsessed with this deer-tiger piece that I'm just now really paying attention to embroidery, but in any case, I'm totally hooked.

I found Sarah K. Benning's work a couple of months ago.

And a friend recently shared the work of Lisa Smirnova...

I can't remember how I stumbled across the work of Liz Payne, but oh my!

And of course there are SO many more amazing embroidery artists; I am just now beginning to skim the surface. It's very inspiring. And it's probably good that I don't have any extra time to take on a new hobby. Or do I???