The Amazing Stitching of Kunderwood

If you have never seen Kunderwood's stitching, you are in for a real treat! She is AMAZING! I first came across her work on Flickr and was blown away. She is just too adorable and super sweet to boot. Wanna know what else-this girl is the Kung Fu master of French knots! She kicks butt and takes names!

Who is the real kunderwood?
This is kind of hard for me to answer, since I am still
trying to figure it out for myself, lol. The real kunderwood
is a wife and mother, first and foremost. I tend to be shy
around people I don't know. I have an off-beat sense of
humor and can be very sarcastic. Oh, and I curse too much.
:-)

I love your embroidery. How did you get started?
First of all, thank you! I love your work, too. I got
started a couple years ago. I'd been an avid cross-stitcher
since 1996, but had grown a bit tired of it. I was online
one night and stumbled upon Sublime Stitching's website and
thought, "Hey, now that's cool! I want to try that!" Then I
found various embroidery blogs, which led to Flickr, where I
discovered that there are tons and tons of people who
embroider. I fell in love with the vintage patterns,
especially the ones with anthropomorphic fruits & veggies,
and once I started stitching I was hooked!

What or who inspires you?
Flickr is a great source of inspiration for me, along with
blogs. Floresita and Early Bird Special were the first to
really catch my eye and make me long to be able to do what
they do! There's a long list of people who inspire me,
including Wild Olive, Sewsew-a-Gogo, sewitsforyou, Amanda
Panda Pants, and you, kittykill. That shag glow in the dark
piece you did is amazing!

Any advice for the masses?
If someone is just starting out with embroidery, I'd advise
them to take it slow and easy, and start off with a small
project. I think a lot of beginners try to tackle
complicated projects before they've had much practice and
tend to get frustrated and want to give up. Or maybe that
was just me, lol...

Seriously though, I would say persevere. Keep trying! Don't
give up on French knots just because they're not turning out
the way they're supposed to. Also, if it ain't fun, don't
do it! I have lots of UFO's in my closet. Embroidery is
supposed to be a fun, relaxing activity, and if I am hating
the piece I am working on, then it defeats the purpose of
stitching! Chuck it and try something new...you never know,
you may rediscover it a few months down the road and see it
through different eyes, so to speak. And don't be afraid to
ask questions. Stitchers are a nice bunch of people who like
to talk about their craft. :)

What other crafts do you like to do?
I'm not a big crafter, believe it or not. I LOVE stitching
and it comes easily to me, but crafting takes a kind of
effort that I find exhausting. I recently did a
collage/paper project that I really like, using paper
embellishments that I bought from greenbeanbaby
(http://www.etsy.com/shop/greenbeanbaby). It took me forever
to figure out the placement of the pieces, which background
color best suited the embellishments, etc. Whew! Talk about
tiring! I have such admiration for people who are crafty. I
wish I were more so.

BONUS QUESTION!
French knots-friend or foe. Discuss!
Oh, French knots are *definitely* your friend! I adore
French knots. It took me a looooong time to master those
suckers, but once I did, I was unstoppable! I think they're
so cute and versatile, and can really add dimension to a
project. Last year, I stitched a Sublime Stitching piece of
a mod lady and I did her hair entirely in French knots. I
called it a French Knot 'Fro, and I think it's totally rad!
There's a rhythm to doing a large number of French knots
that can be very soothing.

So awesome! kunderwood attention to detail can not be surpassed! I simply adore her stitching. I just love her outlook on life. She is a great inspiration to so many stitchers out there. Make sure you check out her blog.
She has all of her amazing projects in one place. I hope she makes it up my way one of these days-Portland would never be the same!