Monoprinting with Susan Sorrell (at creativechick.com)

If you missed Susan Sorrell’s class on monoprinting at Joggles, she will be teaching it again from her web site starting August 14th. I can’t recommend it highly enough. She is such a gifted teacher and her classes are chockfull of wonderful techniques!

Painted and Heated Tyvek

This is my very first first attempt at playing with Tyvek. What took me so long? It’s such cool stuff! Now, I need to summon up some courage to cut into it for the wing-making class…

Nature Journal: Some Summer Leaves...

More Jolly Joggling!

I signed up for the Fanciful Fairy Wings class at Joggles. I know, I know, I’ve got about a million irons in the fire, but I just couldn’t resist - it looks so fascinating – lots of new materials and techniques to play with – and add to my doll making repertoire…

TAST: Buttonhole Wheels

Well, my wheels are a bit wonky, but I had a great time messing around with this. The background was made on the embellisher with silk scraps, wool roving and bits of a painted dryer sheet.

Changing Allegheny Serviceberry Leaf

I thought this was a particularly colorful Serviceberry leaf - photographed in late June.

Nature Journal: More Daisies

Here are more daisies from the border, looking a little spent but still fun to draw… I snipped off some blooms hoping to stimulate more flowering.

Nature Journal Sketch: Roses

Ooh La La...

Here’s a link to a fun little web page I just created for a friend who owns her own pastry business. For now, she only wanted a map and contact information – with a French country look…

TAST: Me and My Arrow...

I’m “cheating” a little and putting up my arrow stitch sampler from Sharon B’s Personal Library of Stitches course I took last fall. I had uploaded a wonkier scan to Flickr back then and never did post it to my blog. Here is a somewhat straighter version.

TAST: Sheaf Stitch

I was curious as to whether the wheat sheaf could be used to anchor a button and decided to combine it with bullions to give the stitch a bit more weight…

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I just received my copy of Australian Homespun Magazine’s Christmas in July issue, yesterday, with my Santa on the cover! Woohoo, I’m excited! I mentioned awhile back that I thought the magazine was coming out in late May. Don’t know where I got that idea – you’d think the July part of Christmas in July would have tipped me off…duh! Anyway, check it out if you get a chance and, by all means, give Santa Merril a try. There are lots of other nice holiday projects to make, too. You can order the magazine online here. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page It’s issue 8.7. And if you have any questions about my pattern, I’m just an e-mail away…

I’ve been busy working on my 2007 Santas. I’m really getting in the mood with The Christmas Radio Network providing the background music…

TAST: Another Bullion Rose

Here's another bullion rose from The A-Z of Bullions. Too much fun! I mentioned I’ve had this book for a year and was just too intimidated to try anything. How in the world did I think I was going to learn – through osmosis?

TAST: Bullion Stitch

Here’s another stitch I was dreading – but I can’t think why! I love it! Here is my first attempt using an idea from a very cool book I purchased last year, The A-Z of Bullions. I’m hoping to find some time to explore this a little further…

Stokesia

This is another easy-care flower from the perennial border. Stokesia is a native plant of the southeastern US.

Astilbe

Here are some astilbe plants blooming in the perennial garden. Despite their delicate and airy look, they are really solid and dependable – and the deer stay away from them!

TAST: Half Chevron Stitch

I used this week's stitch as couching in the background, oriented both horizontally and vertically (I think I like it vertically best). I wanted to use up some tiny pre-fused scraps, so I added those, along with stitching and beads. For the base, I used a small piece (ATC-sized) of the fabric I created on the embellisher the other day (posted June 28).