A Start on Lesson 1

Here is my first attempt at a Guilloche stitch border for a linen postcard-sized sampler for the embroidery class. I may use this to further explore variations of this particular stitch or I may add samples of other border stitches – not sure…

Yancy and Leverett are Going Home…

Yancy, my patriotic Santa, was auctioned on EBAY last night with 100% of the proceeds to go to Homes for Our Troops. This is a wonderful organization that builds and then donates custom homes for handicapped veterans. They also retrofit existing homes to make them more handicap-accessible. The sacrifices that our military families make are truly humbling and I was happy for this opportunity to express, in some small way, my gratitude.

And Leverett was sold from my web site early this morning.

Coming Up for Air…

Sharon’s embroidery class has started and, judging from lesson one, it is going to be wonderful!

And I’m still trying to get a few more Santas done. Here is a vintage postcard that I am attempting to interpret in doll form…

Postmarked 1912

Vintage Halloween Postcards and New Book

There have been quite a few really charming old Halloween postcards added to the pool in my Flickr group, Vintage Holiday Greetings Postcards. I didn’t even realize that people sent Halloween greetings...

I treated myself to an interesting book, Beading on Fabric: Encyclopedia of Bead Stitch Techniques, by Larkin Jean Van Horn. Lots of eye-candy and inspiration there…

Zinnias: Nature Journal Drawing

The Zinnias are still blooming…

More Faux Leather

Here’s yet another version of the faux tooled leather technique. I wanted to try red paint but, this time, instead of collaging the textured papers; I just used a single sheet.

A Quick Check in...

Things are a bit chaotic here on the business front – well, more chaotic than usual, anyway. Burning the candle at both ends! And I just signed up for Joggle’s Personal Library of Stitches with Sharon B - so I hope things calm down a little by the time class gets underway. I’m just going to have to try to follow along as best I can… Have I mentioned before how much I hate it when work interferes with my playtime?

Goodbye Winslow - Hello Moleskine...

Winslow was sold and will be going home tomorrow! I will miss his wistful little face… I am currently working on a new Santa named Walter, also dressed in vintage pink chenille.

And I christened my first Moleskine sketchbook today with a little watercolor drawing of some dogwood leaves and bright red berries. It’s not the greatest surface for watercolor paints, and Moleskine does manufacture a sketchbook dedicated to watercolor. Might have to give that a try if I can find one. Anyway, now I can join the "Moleskinerie" group on Flickr. That was on my “to do” list for this year.

Stitchin' Right Along...

I worked another seam detail on the CQ lingerie case. This is one from day 98, consisting of chevron, fly and chain stitches – and beads. It was a fun treatment to stitch on a long seam, although my stitches are kinda sorta wonky.

All of Winslow...

We photographed Winslow for my web site, today. More images can be seen can be seen here.

Meet Winslow

Here’s my latest Santa, Winslow. His name is Old English for “victory.” He still needs his pictures taken for the Shanty Clauses web site.

It’s still warm outside, but it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in here; working on Santas and listening to Amy Grant’s Christmas music. I especially love her songs, “Emmanuel, God with Us” and “Breath of Heaven.”

I sold my first Santa (Irwin) of the season, today. I think I’ve said before that it’s hard to let them go, but it’s wonderfully gratifying to know that they go on to become a part of people’s holiday traditions.

Winslow...

And Another Seam...

This is another seam from day 90, consisting of fly stitches, straight stitches and beads.

Another Seam...

Here is one of the seam treatments for day 90, consisting of herringbone stitches, bugle and seed beads.

Not Exactly One of the 100 Details, Detail

…But this buttonhole seam treatment is on the same block of Sharon’s as the chain stitch detail for day 58.

Another Embellished Seam a la SharonB…

This is my interpretation of the detail for day 47, consisting of chevron, detached chain and straight stitches. I think I’m probably the world’s slowest embroiderer, but I have been savoring every second…

Pizza, Ice-cream, New Book and Yancy…

We went to the boardwalk in Ocean City again Saturday night for Mack and Manco’s pizza (drool…) and Shriver’s Gelato (the most wonderful ice-cream we’ve ever tasted!!!) Oh, I don’t want summer to be over…not yet…

We stopped in at the Atlantic Bookstore and I bought an intriguing-looking embroidery book called THE A-Z OF BULLIONS. I got it for $8.96 – yay!!! The list price is 26.95!

Yesterday, we photographed Yancy’s whole self. You can see more pictures and details here. I’m currently working on a new Santa named “Winslow.”

Yancy!

Yancy is finally finished - just have to photograph him for the web site.

Another Seam Embellished…

Here is my interpretation of Sharon’s day 71 detail, consisting of herringbone, chevron, detached chain stitches and beads.

There's a Frog in My Blog!

More Stitchery with SharonB

This is the Detail for Day 69, consisting of a row of herringbone stitches laced with silk ribbon. Above that row are detached chain stitches and fly stitches anchored with a bugle bead.

What Katydid...

What???

Lesson Three - Creative Embroidery Course

I stitched Lesson 3 of the Creative Embroidery course on a piece of painted and stamped Peltex. My design was based on a magnification of the area on the upper left of a photograph I made of a partially buried wicker basket in the woods.

Stitchin’ with Sharon (Day 58)

Here is my interpretation of Sharon’s day 58 detail, consisting of chain, detached chain, straight and (new to me) pistil stitches. This was a fun combination to stitch, and something I would have never dreamed of on my own.

Torn Paper Collage Revisited...

“Try it Tuesdays” has been on hiatus for awhile and so I thought I’d revisit the torn paper collage technique. This time I painted the textured papers with teal acrylic and used antiquing gel on top. This technique really makes paper look and feel like old tooled leather…

While My Sitar Gently Weeps...

Well, I couldn’t resist. Here’s my first attempt at a paisley design (on a little scrap of painted peltex). What fun! I could distinctly hear Ravi Shankar playing in the background while I was stitching. Thanks, Jo, for the great tutorial.

Irwin

Here’s a sneak preview of “Irwin,” my latest Santa. I finished him today.

Painting, Stamping and Glazing…

I spent a little time out in the screenhouse this afternoon playing with paint on Peltex. Here are two possible backgrounds for my Creative Embroidery lessons. I’m sure getting my money’s worth out of my dollar stamps!

More Stitchin' with Sharon...

This is the Day 34 detail: feather stitch and beads.

Beach Peas Gone Wild (WIP)

I've only just started stitching my pea pods... and I signed up for Joggles ATC mini course - don't know how I'm going to fit everything in!

More Work on the Wedding Project…

Here’s my interpretation of Sharon’s Day 40 detail. I used it to embellish a plain grosgrain ribbon. I thought I'd have this little wedding project finished in no time, but the seams seem to be multiplying on this baby...

Beach Peas Gone Wild

This is just the start of lesson 2 of the Creative Embroidery course. I’m a bit behind…

Freeform Embroidery Sampler (WIP)

This is where I am so far with lesson 1 of Susan Sorrell’s Creative Embroidery class. And I still have miles of stitching to go! I’m thinking it could use some beads, too. I’m going to let it percolate for a little bit, though, and move on to the next lesson. This sure ain’t your mama’s embroidery sampler…

Scrunching...

Here are a couple of pieces of permanently scrunched fabric from the Machine Embellishment course just waiting to be stitched and beaded. I can’t look at fabric, now, without wanting to scrunch it! I’ll probably get myself banned from the local Jo-Ann’s…

Yet More Details…

Here’s the detail from day 19 – Cretan stitch with woven ribbon (I auditioned several cords and they were either too fine or too heavy – the ribbon seemed right.)


Next, I embellished previously sewn chevron stitches a la Sharon’s day 25 detail. I know I should have worked the stitches below the seam line (like Sharon’s example) but I couldn’t because I already had decorated that side. Also, I wanted to add flowers to the top of the stems but the only ones I could find locally were gold metallic and they just called too much attention to themselves way over on the far right of my piece. So I used the same “pearls” I’ve been using and kept the threads really neutral – so it just looks like added texture on the plain fabric.

Lower the Feed Dogs, Darn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead!

Here is my first attempt at needlelace "leaves" from the Machine Embellishment class at Quilt U. Free motion stitching is new to me and I think I like it – I’m beginning to really “bond” with my machine!

A Few More Details…

Got a chance to do a little more stitching on my cq wedding project. On this seam, I added beads to the body of the lace - and detached chain, straight stitches and beads to the top. Adding stitches and beads to lace trim really gives it more of a presence.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

The Creative Embroidery course started this morning (but you can still sign up). It looks like fun! Lots of work, but fun! I’m in the middle of the Machine Embellishment course at Quilt U and have been enjoying that, too, although I’m having a little trouble with my free motion zigzag stitching (FM ZZs). I think part of the problem is that I can’t see where I’m going to follow my lines. I’m wondering whether a larger darning foot would help… (?)

And it’s nearly the middle of July and my poor Santa Claus dolls are sitting here, buck naked, shivering in the air-conditioning…so I really need to get busy dressing them!

Tinted Brass Button (Stash Sunday)

Here’s another old button from my collection. I love these little works of art…

More Work on the Wedding Collage...

Here's another seam treatment on the wedding collage. It’s Sharon’s Day 11 combination of herringbone, detached chain, oyster stitches and beads. I had never tried the oyster stitch before so I had to spend a little time studying it in Sharon’s stitch dictionary. And, being a southpaw, I had to change the direction of a few steps…sigh… but I finally got it! I was delighted to find some vintage silk twist thread spools tucked in among some vintage fabric pieces given to me by a friend. I used the silk to make the oyster stitches. It was such a pleasure embroidering with the silk – it’s so smooth! Anyway, I am really excited to be learning some new stitches and (slowly but surely) making some progress on this project.

herringbone, detached chain, oyster stitches and beads

Moss on Metal

Here is some “moss” growing on my “rusty metal.” The thread “moss” was created in the wonderful Machine Embellished Surfaces course (taught by Susan Brittingham) I’m taking at Quilt U. The “rusty metal” was a Try it Tuesdays challenge.

Stitchin’ with Sharon!

Here’s another seam on the lingerie case. What fun (“a fun of a stitch” hehe!). I have been embroidering with floss (just because it’s all I had on hand) and wanted something with more oomph for the half pinwheels so I went to Michael’s Crafts to buy some perle cotton - and it was on sale for fifty cents a skein – woohoo! Of course, the temptation is to go back and redo some of the previous stitching – argh!

Half Pinwheels, detached chains, straight stitches and beads

New Classes

I signed up for Quilt University’s Machine Embellished Surfaces class. It starts tomorrow morning – can’t wait to play! It should be a really busy month as Susan Sorrell’s Creative Embroidery class at Joggles is starting July 11th and I’m definitely signing up for that, too! Her classes are always such a delight – and really get the old creative juices flowing…

And Now for Something Completely Different…

In my profile, I mentioned that I enjoyed composing music. I have finally gotten an MP3 file uploaded to the Links page on my web site. Click on Strange Attraction under Original Music – and get ready to samba!

All of the istruments are digital. No analog instruments were harmed during the recording of this track...

Playing with Buttons

I was surfing the web for some information on champleve buttons (I only have one of these treasures). Anyway, I got sidetracked by this this cute article for sewing buttons (outside the holes) with embroidery floss.

My only champleve button...

Below is a small vintage MOP button (with beads and embroidery) added to the wedding collage this morning:

Vintage MOP button with carved chevron design

Embroidery with SharonB (It Rhymes!)

As everyone must know by now, SharonB of In a Minute Ago is very generously posting crazy quilt embroidery stitches everyday for one hundred days. I know I won’t have time to work on them everyday but I’m going to try to follow along as best I can and see if I can’t get a couple of UFOs finished (during the reign of the present monarch)!

Detail (detached chain stitches with straight stitches and beads) of a cq wedding collage I started over a year ago…


Detail (quarter buttonhole wheels) of a cq lingerie case...

More Books!

We went to the boardwalk in Ocean City the other night (for the best pizza in the world at Mack and Manco’s – super thin and crispy crust – yum!). And, of course, we stopped in the Atlantic Bookstore for deeply discounted books. I added these to my stitch library: Easy Heirloom Embroidery (with lots of nice full-sized floral redwork patterns) and The Embroiderer’s Floral – beautiful and useful books at $7.98 each!

Try it Tuesdays - Corroded Metal

This week’s Try it Tuesdays challenge is to attempt to recreate rusting and corroding metal using aluminum foil and paint. Here are my first two attempts:

Patriotic Santa in Progress

I’ve been busy working on Santas. Last year, I mentioned I was creating a patriotic Santa but was “stuck” on how to construct the hat from the pattern I drafted. I put it aside until now. I’m pleased to say the hat is finally finished (!) although I may decide to add some blanket stitching around the edge of the brim. Anyway, here it is on Yancy, my patriotic African-American Santa in progress. I just won an auction on EBAY for a sweet little vintage (48 star) flag for him to hold. I need to add his beard and a few more buttons to his outfit and he’ll be good to go.

Top Hat (Front and Back)

Try it Tuesdays - Collaged Background

The current Try it Tuesday project is to create an altered background collage with painted and antiqued torn paper. This is just too much fun! This technique can be used on all kinds of surfaces: altered book pages (like mine), old CDs, cookie tins, etc. Check out the group pool on Flickr for some terrific examples.

I used both smooth and textured papers for my collage. Then I painted the surface with a combination of yellow acrylic and russet Lumiere paint. After the paint had dried. I applied antiquing gel.

Try it Tuesdays - Papermaking

Here is my Try it Tuesdays effort for this week - papermaking. I used some really old construction paper and odds and ends of other papers and mixed them to a pulp in my old VitaMix blender. I bought that thing twenty-five years ago promising to make ice-cream for DH with it. Every once in a while he reminds me he’s still waiting for his ice-cream. But I digress… Then I added some cornflower, coreopsis and wild geranium petals – and some mica flakes. The mica doesn’t show up in the scan, but it really sparkles.

I would have never been tempted to even try papermaking if it hadn’t been for Try it Tuesdays. And I loved it! And will be playing with this some more!

Serviceberry Berries!

The berries are ripening on the serviceberry tree. These disappear quickly as the mockingbirds love to eat them.

Nature Journal Sketch: Serviceberry Berries