This piece was just pure fun to stitch – just the treat I needed after working on some intense goldwork projects! This lovely little piece is designed by Natalie Dupuis (Sew by Hand)! How can one resist this sweet little snail with his watch part shell? I could not!

Here’s a direct link to Natalie’s kit page on her website. What can I say, I’m an enabler! Get yours today – you won’t be disappointed!

https://dupuisnatalie.wixsite.com/mysite/kits

After all of the intense couching practice and Or Nue pieces, I was ready for some fun stitching! I’ve had this lovely kit in my stash for a while and have been itching to pull it out.

Natalie makes up beautiful kits! She includes beautifully written and illustrated instructions, a beautiful needle book, and more. All of the materials individually packaged in wax envelopes. The design came already transferred on the linen twill (the shell outline) and there are more than enough materials (rococco, pearl purl, passing, spangles, bright check, etc) provided to finish the piece with ease.

What are the two things I liked best in this kit?

Number One: the lovely (not so) little tin of watch parts – I have lots left over

Number Two: the extra large vintage spangles. I didn’t know you could get spangles this big – but they are perfect for my snail’s big googley eyes!

I particularly enjoyed playing with and positioning the watch parts. Steampunky fun! I added some of my own beads from stash to fill out the smallest parts of the shell.

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Adding a “snail trail” attaching different green metal thread “grass” was so much fun to do! Can you spot the gears behind the grass?

This piece was framed at Michael’s in Calgary (Deerfoot Meadows). I did the stretching, they did the framing. it was a reasonable price plus the frame they recommended was exactly perfect for this piece!