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

Try it Tuesday - Easy Transparency

Here is my experiment for this week’s Try it Tuesday challenge. First, I made a high contrast black and white image of an old picture of my Grandmom, scanned it and ran it through the laser printer. Then I transferred it to clear packing tape as per the directions. I cut a floral motif from an old gift bag and glued the transparent image on that with soft gel medium. I then glued everything on an old scrap of painted lutradur. I painted matte medium over the top to cut the shine down on the transparency and added a little embroidery and some beads - just for fun…

Vintage Memorial Day Postcard (Stash Sunday)

This week’s Stash Sunday theme is Memorial Day. I purchased this postcard (dated 1908) recently on EBAY (with the idea of using it to embellish a patriotic Santa).

What we now celebrate as Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day and began shortly after the American Civil War when flowers were placed on the graves of soldiers to honor them.

Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus)

Blackberries grow wild in the backyard.

Nature Journal Sketch: Blackberry blossom

Try it Tuesdays!

I was searching for altered book groups on Flickr last night and found a link to the coolest blog, Try it Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, a new art technique is demonstrated for everyone to try. There’s even a drawing for prizes every week, too! Here’s my first attempt at Karyn Gartel’s Easy Acrylic Backgrounds. What fun!!! Check out the Flickr group for some really yummy eye candy. And join in…

In the first sample, I used Karyn’s painting techniques on a gessoed page from a blank book of handmade paper that I purchased years ago.

In the sample below, I applied Karyn’s techniques to a page that had been previously collaged with torn papers.

My Belated Mother’s Day Present!

While surfing EBAY awhile back, I stumbled upon a pattern of gorgeous bohemian-looking outfits (just the kind of clothes I love!) for a doll named Marley Wentworth. I had never heard of the doll so I looked up information on her in Yahoo and - oh my gosh! - I had to have one! I found the exact one I wanted (the basic brunette brand new in the box!) on EBAY this week (DH stayed up until 2:30 or so in the morning to place the bid!). And we bought the clothing pattern, too! Everything arrived yesterday (Friday) – and I am over the moon! I know I don’t need any more projects but how could I resist? Here is the link to the pattern designer, d-zinerclothes4dolly. She has some wonderful designs available as “Buy it Now” auctions.

Meantime, I have one more Santa near completion and two more started… so I’m making a little progress.

Pattern and Marley

And Speaking of Sassafras Leaves…

I have been working on my mobile for the final Personal Symbols lesson. I chose the sassafras leaf as a starting point (just like I did for the Symbols painting – see March 2006 Archives). Here is the front and back of a decorated leaf (one of four units). The finished mobile will have three small leaves hanging from one large leaf (all with different facial expressions). I haven’t worked out the logistics of how the thing will go together, yet. Just decorating the leaves is taking forever! And to be honest, it’s also kind of strange looking! But I love playing with the materials. I painted Peltex for the backgrounds and sewed on painted lutradur with embroidery thread for the fronts. For the backs, I am just embroidering a design (like the one below) with a buttonhole stitch. Fronts and backs will be beaded and then whipstitched together.

Using Peltex on both sides creates a sturdy little piece. I must order more of that wonderful stuff!

"Baby" Sassafras Leaf (Front and Back View)

Baby Sassafras Tree

One of the things I love to see in spring is the baby trees sprouting up. Here is a sketch looking down on a little sassafras tree.

Nature Journal: Baby Sassafras Tree

Vetch

Here is a common weed called vetch. I love the shape of the leaflets on the stems and the delicate little lavender flowers. I just can’t bring myself to pull these out of the garden…

Nature Journal Sketch: Vetch

Katrina "All That Jazz" Quilts on EBAY!

I just read Sharon B’s blog entry for Tuesday and the Katrina “All That Jazz” quilts are up for auction on EBAY. Here is the link to the largest one. The other two are here and here. These quilts are exquisite and are going to such a worthy cause. All the artists really outdid themselves!

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

The lilac bush is blooming; filling the air with its heavenly fragrance… This Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucas) alighted only just long enough to have his picture taken. While the males are always yellow; the females can sometimes be black or brown. This is to mimic the coloration of the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) which is poisonous.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Today's Lunch!

This is one of my favorite meals, consisting of bow tie pasta, feta cheese, ripe olives and plum tomatoes mixed together with lots of fresh mint straight from the herb garden. Nothing is cooked except the pasta and you just add a little olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. I served a green salad on the side with apples and alfalfa sprouts…yum…

Lady's Mantle (Also Called Dewcup)

Here is a little sketch of a lady’s mantle plant in the perennial garden. The weather has been so warm and pleasant these past few days. We are still burning the woodstove at night, though.

Nature Journal Sketch: Lady's Mantle

Floral Plissé (Stash Sunday)

Here’s a piece of vintage plissé for this week’s Stash Sunday theme, “Spring.” I love the colors in this… and the texture. It reminds me of a pair of jammies I had when I was little (in the fifties!).

Dogwood Blossoms

My late-blooming dogwood tree is in full bloom!

Nature Journal Sketch: Dogwood Blossoms

Painted Quiltlet in Progress (Stash Sunday)

In an attempt to reduce my huge (and growing!) pile of UFOs, I’ve begun to stitch some of my projects from the Monoprinting and Personal Symbols courses. I’ve outlined the main components on this monoprint painting with stem, back and running stitches and will be adding lots more stitching and beads.

This week’s theme for Stash Sunday is Orange and Yellow, so I thought it would be apropos.

I’ve also been busy working on the final lesson for the Personal Symbols course – creating a mobile. I’ll be posting my progress on that soon, hopefully…

Working Title: "I Got You Babe"

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”

As a belated Easter treat, DH and I finally got around to renting the “The Chronicles of Narnia” DVD. What a great film! Watching it got me thinking how the Gospel message has really been disseminated around the world (even in places where it wouldn’t normally be welcome) just in recent years; first, literally, in “The Passion” and then, allegorically, in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Aslan surely must be “on the move.”

Allegheny Serviceberry Flowers

Here are the Serviceberry blossoms close-up. Last year, I posted a photograph of these flowers on April 21st. They were just beginning to bloom according to my blog entry. I remember last spring as being exceptionally cold and it looks like it must have set the plants back by about a week (compared to this year). Interesting…

I also heard the unmistakable song of the male Rufous-sided Towhee this morning. He usually doesn’t arrive here until the end of April. DH said he heard him last week…

The Allegheny Serviceberry Tree is in Bloom!

Here is the Allegheny Serviceberry tree in full bloom. Just beyond that is the screen house. I have plastic covering the picnic table so I can paint fabric out there without making a mess in the house.

"Here We Come..."

Last April 7th, I posted a picture of the monkshood plants sprouting. Here they are again as photographed yesterday (April 16th). These seem to thrive on neglect (my kind of plant!).

Hey, hey, we're the Monkshoods...

Spring is Here...

These beautiful little blossoms belong to an unidentified tree that has "volunteered" in my foundation plantings.

Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

I’ve just uploaded a few more Easter postcards to my Flickr group (five members strong, so far). And here’s a link to a brief but informative article about the symbols found on Easter postcards – just in case anyone was wondering what baby chicks have to do with anything…

Postmarked 1912

And More Bargains (Stash Sunday)

I visited my favorite antique store in Mt. Holly, NJ, the other day and found this box of treasures – yards and yards of vintage trim! The dealer had brought it in fifteen minutes before I arrived. Talk about serendipity…

The entire lot cost $45.00 but there's enough there to trim a bazillion Santas, pillows and more!

Vintage Trim

Bargains (Stash Sunday)

Here are some stamps I purchased recently on sale. The prices were fifty cents to one dollar each. Couldn’t pass them up…

A New Flickr Group for Vintage Postcards

I started a Flickr group last night called “Vintage Holiday Greetings Postcards.” I only started it because, unbelievably, there were no groups dedicated exclusively to this subject. So far, I’m the only member – and feeling a bit self-conscious about that, I must say! Please join in if you love old postcards. I only have five posted so far, but plan to add more as I find the time…

Here’s a sneak preview:

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It’s the one year anniversary of my blog today! (And they said it wouldn't last - hehe...) I have met so many wonderful people - from all over the world! Ain’t the internet grand? I’m hoping more people who visit my little corner of the web will comment and say “Hi.”

Leverett’s close-up shots were finished this afternoon and he decided he wanted to go to Shanty Clauses since it’s getting a little too close to Easter (the 16th!) for timely shipping after an auction. I made an interesting discovery today at the bookstore. I was looking at a book on vintage postcards and found the exact rabbit card (see previous post) valued at $10.00 to $12.00. WOW! Now I wonder what other little treasures I have in my old postcard stash…

Antique Postcard

Here is a scan of the antique (postmarked 1910) Easter postcard that Santa Leverett will be displaying. Isn’t it just the sweetest thing? I purchased this on Ebay a couple of months ago along with some other old postcards and was delighted with all of them - the graphics are so charming. This one is lightly embossed.

I love these little pieces of the past...

Postcard (1910)