Embroidery: A New Venture

Remember last week when I mentioned I needed a craft that didn't require a lot of attention and one I could do while relaxing? I think I found my craft. :)

I used to embroider with my grandma a looooong time ago. Lately a lot of crafts and things I used to do at my grandma's house has been coming back to me. I could spend hours looking at all the pretty colors of embroidery thread at the craft store and I have been wanting to make a wall mural of embroidery hoops for a while like these:

I perused Pinterest to find some more inspiration in this upcoming hobby of mine. I think I'll head to JoAnn tomorrow to get that little hobby started! Until then, here are some awesome embroidery works of art to admire:

Here are two works of art from two fellow bloggers who's blogs I follow daily!
The one on top is Katy from Sweet Verbena and the one on the right is Allison's from Crafted Love.

 Do any of you embroider? Do you have any tips on how to get started? I'm wondering what material to use as the background/base? What do you think?