02 09 2010 Wonderfulness in the world!

Apologies to Kerry who left a comment. I have tried several times to get it to show up and tried several different things to see if they would work, but no luck. I appreciate your comment Kerry, and of course, all others who stop by and take the time to write some words. Thank you!

Western Pennsylvania has gotten hit by some heavy snow the last several days, with more predicted today and tonight, into tomorrow and through Friday. The area here did get 2 feet plus and with temps staying cold there would be no chance for it to melt off before the next bit came down…(yes, it is snowing as this is being written!)….so, i resigned myself to being snowed in for a week, maybe more. Not only had i given my snow shovel away, but i could not have dug myself out even if the thing were on the front porch. Wellll…..my reverend , Kyoki Roberts called me early this afternoon and came over with her two shovels….I did some( you know, some….as in just some, a little bit) and she did an amazing amount. Dug out all behind the car including all the snow that piled up when the snow plows came and cleared the streets, and then almost all of the way to my front door. And not only did she do it, but she did it fast! I love this woman…her physical strength is matched by her generosity of spirit and heart. Needless to say I am grateful to the core and amazed that anyone would think of doing that for me….she puts her practice into action. Thank you Kyoki, and thank you sangha for the existence of the Zen Center. And thank you Buddha for your teachings.

The Fabulous First Timers #12 round robin is coming right along. By March first 5 of us have to have blocks in the hands of the next person on the rotation. My little blue block is ready,  and it would have been mailed yesterday had it been possible to get to the post office. Of the five of us, this is the only blog, so naturally the the other four gals are welcome to share their blocks via this blog.

Cris has made a 10.5 inch block using a handkerchief in one corner. The colors are quite bold as you can see..and the piecing is wonderful. IT will be a joy to work on….alas, i am not going to be the first one to work on it….so hopefully there will be space for me!

If you have ideas of what YOU would do on this block, please feel free to comment. And of course tell Cris how pretty it is.!

be well, be safe…..love.

kaethejean

 

02 08 2010 FFT#12 My Block

This is the block i pieced for the Fabulous FirstTimers #12 Round Robin with the CQI group. The promote button is the sidebar and if you like to do crazyquilting and learn new techniques, this is definitely the list for you…..there is so much happening(all of which you may take at your own pace!) that there is no way to get stale or uninspired. The ladies on the list are generous and talented….wayyyyyyy wayyyyyy talented! ON thenext post i think i will collect some urls  and you will see what i mean.

This block is just about 5.5 inches…probably more like 5.5 by 6 inches . The lightest blue patch is a baby fabric, the next one is cotton chambray and the other two are “silkies” from different thrifted sources. It was hand pieced. First I drew it out, then scanned the drawing, and printed it…then cut one drawing apart and made templates which got numbered. Then i chose the fabrics and traced the template. Then the fabrics got cut with pretty good seam allowance. Then of course they got placed on the backing and sewn down. I like this block and am thinking that i will use this piecing diagram several times along with whatever i have left of the different fabrics. These are some of my favorite blues and if there are enough blocks at some point, a wall hanging may be born. There is just the place for it too in the dining room.

This is going to be a very fun RR….there are only 5 of us, and i don;t know the other gals, so along with stitching we will be getting to know each other as well. We are to do 1/4 of the block we recieve. That’s why this block only has 4 patches….one for each of the other folks.

hope you are enjoying what ever you are doing, and who ever you are with.

kaethejean

 

02 07 2010

I thought these were really pretty, it will print at 8 inches by 8 inches…

not sure what sort of embroidery would work for them, but maybe one of these days i will try to see what looks good. I keep thinking beads all the time now….but for these, especially the top one, i am thinking couched metalic thread and satin stitch.

Hope you all are having the kind f weather you like to be out in! I hear parts of Texas are downright balmy! Gimme some of that! We are under 2 feet plus of snow.

kaethejean

 

06 February 2010-more of Margaret’s work!

Everytime i type in the “2010″ it just really blows my mind. For a split second i wonder how it got to be this late!

Here are two more pics.They are of a center table mat that Margaret P. in Australia made for her sister. The process is interesting, but the colors to me do it completely. Those warm coppers and oranges seem to simmer . SInce we had 24 inces of snow overnight and more likely today and overnight into Sunday, seeing this centerpiece warms me up immediately.

Anyway, if anyone would like to tell Margaret what a lovely job she did you can leave a comment here and i will forward them to her! SHe doesn;t have a blog of her own and we sort of “share” this one.  :>)

And here’s a 1914 Georges Barbier print…it would make a lovely silkie!

 

05 February 2010

I have been stitching away on the two blocks .the beaded one and the non-beaded one. Both have been challenges in their own way, and neither are finished. Maybe I do too much stitching! After all the blocks are only about 6 inches sqayre and i have hours of work on them done!

Have also had the intense pleasure of doing some  hand sewing and showing someone else how to had sew a basic but strong seam. When you are sewing 15 back stitches to the inch and making sure that the tension is just right, it takes a lot of focus. Once you get the rhythm of the stitching the whole act of making each stitch becomes mesmerizing, until of course a thought gets in the way…when the concentration is broken it shows up in the stitches…and in that way shows you you wheere your mind was!

Anyway….till some more stitching is ready to be show, here is a line drawing of a north african motif . There is a single motif, and also the same motif tiled.

The single motif prints out a 5 by 5 inches. Once on your own computer of course it can be sized any way you want. I think it would be a wonderful all-over design embroidered in outline stitch on a curtain…or used as a single motif it would be great beaded! I can definitely see this on a crazy quilt.

It is snowing quite hard here in Western Pa…..we were predicted to have 4-8 inches and we are past the 4 inch mark. Needless to say the 8:30 am class that was being held in the morning is at the Zen Center of Pittsburgh is cancelled.Oh rats.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing things they enjoy, in the company of those they love.

kaethejean

 

02 February 2010-Margaret’s Postcard

Margaret P. in Australia made a series of winter postcards, one of which i have blogged recently….well.imagine my surprise and delight on getting one of them in the mail this morning. I am humbled and grateful Margaret that you have chosen me to recieve on of your art pieces.  This one too has all the elements of a great mystery…anticipation, unseen actors, motion and momentum…..make up your own story about what is happening in the hedges, and why is the dog straining at the leash!

 

01 February 2010

The work on the block cntinues….:>), and also continues to be a challenge with every bit that gets embroidered.  Won;t be any motifs, it’ll be all pattern. Still have no idea whether there will be beads or not ….but t is possible. One wonderful thing about scanning the work is that when you see it as a picture, the balance(or lack of) jumps right out at you….I can see that the very lightest color needs to be  placed in the upper left hand corner in , not sure how it will happen….french knots in the grid seem obvious, but i think i want to save those spaces. Any ideas out there anyone??????????

kaethejean

 

01 29 2010

Here is the second of the small blocks…….on layer 3 and i am still not quite sure what direction this block is going….however, of course at a certain point it will be obvious and then it will start to come together in different ways.

The first block(the heavily beaded one) is still evolvig….a corner that seemed quite finished has turned out not to be….and the whole block is moving up a notch in terms of embellishing with stitches. That’ll be the next scan, and the next post.

In the meantime, it has snowed again here and is quite chilly…i love looking at it but am shuddering a bit at going out into the cold.

You can see that the pistil stitches on the very bottom need to be completed and am in the midst of embroidering the royal blue “scales” on to the red patch. There will only be the two rows of scales and the rest of the red patch will be the green “lace” type stitching.  i can see that this block will be as complicated at the beaded block! Just in a different way…hmmmmmmmm. How do YOU  decide how to put the seam treatments on an empty block?

Till later,

be well, be happy

kaethejean

 

01 26 2010

Here is layer two on the seams for block 2- this was much tougher than i thought it would be….especially the herringbone stitched seam on the upper left…however, there was a nice surprise in doing the teal cross stitch seam on the right hand….i really liked the way the addition of the red buttonhole on either side of the cross stitches made it look self contained, and brought it much more to the fore, thus balancing that curved purple stitch on the left.

Started straightening up the embroidery room…and found some ufo hearts  that i started…….these are the size used in the chain of hearts group, although these won’t be posted there for swapping….i think i am going to steal an idea from Maureen B. and when they are done being embroidered on they will become needle cases for gifts. Thanks Maureen! At any rate, when these blocks are done(there is a set of 4!) the heart ufo’s are next up to get worked on. It’s so nice to have the energy, both physically and psychically(spelling???) to embroider.

 

January 25th,2010

Taking a break from the first block and all the beading, the second of the four blocks Janie J. pieced for me was a venture into a different way to approach doing a block. Normally i put down one seam, and start to work on it, doing the building of the seam treatment in two or three layers before going onto another seam…usually each of the seams has about 4-6 layers of work ..and they evolve in relation to each other…on this block i decided to put down the skeletons of the seam treatments on each seam first and go from there….also decided that an “outline” of sorts was necessary. I have no idea where this block is headed, but it will certainly be a challenge to  bring all the patches into play with the one on the lower left. I have no idea what hat stitch is that i did but it sure was fun! And, no it is not a lazy daisy…although it might be some kind of twisted variation. They were all done one after the other similar to a rosette stitch(i think i remember the name correctly!)

You can see that there are some things developing already. It was hard to stop my self from just keeping on working with the same seam treatment till there was a more developed idea expressing itself….

Anyway, it sure was fun doing this block while watching the PBS station…first was Masterpiece Theater…Jane Austin-Emma…definitely have to get the book out of the library! The second was a film called”The Audition” which was a documentary based on the National Auditions at the Metropolitan Opera House a couple of years ago. Very amazing music and fantastic human interest…i wish i knew someone who could have recorded it cause it is certainly worth watching several more times. Although I love opera i never much paid attention to the libretto or story line, preferring to just react to the music….but seeing the drama of the performers made knowing the story line more important . Guess there is more reading on the list!

 

Jan 24th, 2010

Am adding an image of a motif that was done in chain stitch. This was done several years ago, and then got forgotten. It’s about 2.5 inches wide and maybe 3 inches or a little more tall.  It will be appliqued on a cq at some point.

Also, just realized that the cq block that was posted on the 22nd didn;t have any information with it! This is a partially done block…it was pieced by Janie J.  as part of a 4 block set that she sent me as a gift . This is the first one that;s been worked on. It’s about 6 inches square.

 

friday 22 january 2010

 

Friday Jan 22 2010

What a great postcard that Margaret Made,,,,look hard and you will see her compositional genius at work—it’s all there, myster  y on the canvas, and of the cnvas….mood and atmosphere….it;s just wonderful to me.

 

Tuesday january 6th, 2009-02:40 am

Well, it has certainly been quite a while since i posted…..the body wasn;t functioning, the mind was doing other things.lol…..then the computer refused to do anything at all! Am on a borrowed laptop at the moment trying to figure out some of what is going on with Vista. And hoping that my desktop will be back soon……….vbg!

 

In the meantime, the weather is finally normal for this time of year out here in Western pa. a week or so ago it was between 50- and 70 degrees f for three days! Loved it but had to wonder what was going on. Global warming up front and personal.I actually saw  flying insects and wondered if i should use bug off!

 

I have been stitching although not really too much….mostly starting to pick up the sane quilting again….which i have never outgrown a fondness for. In the process of using up major scraps to make a few “tops”-they will be turned into little coverlets. i found that as summer made way to the chillier days of autumn that i didn;t have anything of an “in-between weight” to throw on the bed….a sheet was too light and my blankets were just a tad too heavy. So these totally scrapped up tops will be perfect once they get attached to a backing. i may put some flannel in them but i amy not……who knows! And, all the boxes of scraps are really getting a workout. There is no pattern, just so edges together till i get a panel about the right width for the twin bed i use…..it’s actually lots of fun…..using up some leftover small blocks and strips i had cut and small squares from an exchange in 2000.

 

Also practice continues with sitting zazen at least once on most days and deepening of my understanding of the triple treasure.

 

Have also continued to volunteer on the phones for the suicide hot line. So….all in all….days are pretty full of things to do, and things to pay attention to…..

 

in gassho

kaethejean

 

bow fiddle

bow fiddle

Originally uploaded by uniB

TRhis was taken by UniB…..actually the B has a line through it but my character set won;t make it…..anyway, i thought it was a ereally dramatic shot as he says in the caption. Of course if yiou clilck, you will go to the flickr page of the photographer!

 

Toy Boxes 3

Toy Boxes 3

Originally uploaded by kliebeans/Jensport

This was made by Kleibeans and if you click, you will see more of her stuff on flick….i love this quilt….love it!

 

Western Bluebird

Western Bluebird

Originally uploaded by hearman

Hearman takes some of the most awesome shots of birds…..click on the pic and you will end up on his flickr pages….you will see that i am not wrong! This is such a sweet shot of one of my favorite birds.

 

Western Bluebird

Western Bluebird

Originally uploaded by hearman

Hearman takes some of the most awesome shots of birds…..click on the pic and you will end up on his flickr pages….you will see that i am not wrong! This is such a sweet shot of one of my favorite birds.

 

Rainbow Bee-Eater

Rainbow Bee-Eater

Originally uploaded by Jon Thornton

This photo is by Jon Thointon-click on it and it will take you to his flickr page….is this not a gorgeous bird!

 

07 04 08-Cofee Too Late in the Day!

Having had coffee a little bit late in the day, staying up is the result! Not too bad either as I am at least not only up, but awake….doesn;t always happen that way when you have fibro etc etc. So many times the fog rolls in when the eyes open.

PC Stitch Pro is a cross stitch program that allows you to create charts digitally and it is so much fun to play with! Of course, if you are not basically a cross stitcher it is easy to make gorgeous charts that are not EVER going to be stitched(unless you think there is a BIGGGG market for charts that make T Wentzler look simple.lol) At any rate, some time ago i also purchased three books from Ruth Kern on cross stitch that are collections of antique designs put together by a Valerie LeJeune. Wonderful books and wonderful charts! Also, in the last few days I joined the cross stitch group over at Stitchin Fingers. The group is in the beginning statges of organizing a small card swap.
AHA she says………..a small motif from one of the Valerie;s books, good practice! What a bunch of lessons.

1. if you want to blend thread, test them together before using on your piece.
2.count, and then count a couple more times before making that first row of stitches.
3. think twice before deciding something is easy enough for you to do………..
4. i love complete coverage, but 3 strands is still too much for 14 count aida.

Hopefully this motif stitching will look good enough to use as a swap.

Of course it will be scanned and blogged when a little further along.

Also joined the 100 seams in 200 days..late but it’s ok…what a hopeful person I am….roflmao…one cup of coffee and the whole world seems do-able.

Tonight was surprisingly quiet considering it is the night before July 4th. Traditionally there are backyard fireworks for hours. Not tonight though.Good thing too, cause the pups would have been barking at every single pop!

Here’s the chart that i ended up making :

 

07 03 08 Round Robin Home again!

This is a block that i made a very long time ago and couldn;t figure out what to do with….so i finally decided to send it around to the Sewbuds group and see what all my talented sisters could come up with! Oh my, the stitching is wonderful. I have two scans to see, one without printing, and one with printing to show who did what. There is one seam that I don;t know who did it….it’s the one on the upper left that goes diagonal down the side of the block. I love this stitching and i love the threads that were used! Of course, click on the pictures and they will open quite large. You may have to click twice.

Here’s the same block with the printing!

Happy 4th of July for those who celebrate it!
In gassho
kaethejean

 

QANTAS 737-800 VH_VXB to Brisbane-01+

QANTAS 737-800 VH_VXB to Brisbane-01+

Originally uploaded by cindytoo

I love this airplane! How cool!

 

Young Bloom of Gaillardia aristata

Young Bloom of Gaillardia aristata

Originally uploaded by Rainer Fritz

Rainer Fritz is at it again with his superb flower photography!

 

06 25 08

Well, I have sort of given up and started with the detailed lists again, along with timers to remind me when it is time to stop and do something else. This is especially necessary when i am at rest, as i have a big ball of inertia that wraps around my knees and goes up to my brain……….lol….I am also seriously considering taking advantage(if i can) of a wellness program offered by a local physical therapists office. What I really need is the elliptical machine and some supervised time doing some good stretches. It is 25$ a month and hopefully i will be able to do it.

I read in the news that the price of rice world wide is due to go up, and fairly drastically at that. IT is such a basic staple that I can;t imagine how already poorer than poor people around the world, and in the US as well are going to be able to deal with it….between gas prices and every increasing food prices people will be eating nothing but bread if they can even get it. I stocked up on lentils today a little bit since they are one of the main things i eat, along with rice and wheat berries.

I havbe finally called it DONE! A rectangular piece that was started way back when. All i need to do is scan the seams and then put the backing on it so that it can be a neck pillow. I will be happy to have it done, and to see it on the bed.

Have been busy designing some cross stitch and having a ball.

Here’s a freebie chart(color blocks that should print out at 7 inches square. It is for a 4 by 4 inch coaster and is fully covered with stitches. I really like my cloth covered!

 

Barn Owl

Another Hooter !!

Originally uploaded by Picture Taker 2

I thought this was such a clear and wonderful photo of this beautiful owl….what a subject for embroidery…the light is so good!

 

06 21 08

I am having some real trouble sticking to a schedule that i set. It seems my body has it’s own ideas of when to get up and when to stop whatever i am doing. However, I have noticed that i am not able to sit quietly and concentrate for very long. I don;t know if this is connected to the instantaneousness of surfing the web, my meds, or simply that i have not deepened my practice enough to tame the monkeys.

I have started to work on a small piece of cross stitch that i started when working…it was too hard to keep count of where i was while getting up and down all the time at work, so now, i am enjoying just doing it. I like my cross stitch completely filled, ie, no background fabric showing, unless the cross stitch is combined with Hardanger for instance. Aimee(sp)Bishop designs some lovely hardanger and used small cross stitch motifs with it.

When i get the little piece finished i will scan and blog it.

I have also started reading Nagarjuna, an early Indian Buddhist writer who is credited as being the most important thinker in Buddhism after the historical Buddha. I must say, it is not easy to make sense of when the mind is mired in western thought patterns.

Dainin Katagiri has a book that was published posthumously called Being Time. It is wonderful and deals with some very core ideas. I am thrilled to be reading it. The Nagarjuna was suggested as the basis for the ideas in Katagiri, but I am finding that i understand the Katagiri more easily. i suspect it will help me understand the Nagarjuna better.

in gassho
kaethejean

 

アジサイ/Hydrangea

アジサイ/Hydraｎgea

Originally uploaded by nobuflickr

Isn;t this just beautiful!

 

06 12 08

I am so glad that i had comments turned off as i have 64 comments in the spam queue from last night to today! Can you imagine…all those people wanting to make some money and not caring who or how many people they annoy , offend, or disrupt. What a shame to waste this life like that.

Sat zazen this morning at the zen center, then ate alittle breakfast, cleaned up and did some work on cleaning up some zafus. I really enjoy doing odds and ends around the center(assuming I can do them physically). They are never big things, the satisfaction meter pegs none-the-less. When you are not selling your labor power as a commodity in exchange for the money to go back to work again……lol…welll, then work becomes pleasure…doing thiongs that are productive, that help in some small way to ease the workload of someone else…well, that is when working for the sake of working is at ithighest form.

in gassho

 

06 10 08

I have been practicing a bit now(practice in the way that buddhism talks about practice) and have tried hard NOT to come to the conclusion that i am a lousy buddhist all the way around. The reason that i entered practice to begin with was not only broad and specific agreement with the precepts, but also to see if i could operate from my original nature and not from all the accumulated baggage of the years. Needless to say this is proving very difficult and even though i know in my bones it really is an all day every day lifelong effort, i wish sometimes that there was more congruity between the inside and the outside.

in gassho
kaethejean

 

06 06 08

Well, here it is, I am almost 60(next month) and this year was an intersting one, full of changes,growth and realizations.Also, my blogging attempt was miserable, but perhaps it will be more possible this year to use the blog in meaningful ways.

Ok, lost my job, went on disability….not an easy or assured process, and wouldn;t you know, they haven;t sent a check yet, but they did manage to mail out the program particulars for”Ticket to Work.” It’s some sort of partnership program that supposedly helps you find a job. And the carrot that got waved is that as long as you are working with the program they won;t review your medical records. Those reviews are probably as much of stress builder as the initial processing.

HAve been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to get some decent sleep habits. Overcoming years of shift work(rotation on all three shifts) has been difficult. As a youngster even i was a night person…..lol…used to stay up all night reading. My body tends to want to wake up about 10:30 pm and I get sleepy about 5 am.. how’s that for skewed! Of course, if i just sweat it out as much as possible, they say it takes only 8 weeks to change and make a habit. Getting enough sleep is one of the keys to lowering pain levels and boy is that a challenge!

Well, good wishes to all.
kaethejean

 

swan lake

swan lake

Originally uploaded by -liyen-

 

Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior) or Philippine waxflower

Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior) or Philippine waxflower

Originally uploaded by Uhlenhorst

 

Filigrane beauty

Filigrane beauty

Originally uploaded by Uhlenhorst

 

Mandala aquarellé

Mandala aquarellé

Originally uploaded by agnleg

 

Crassula ciliata détail-3

Crassula ciliata détail-3

Originally uploaded by agnleg

 

Echeveria pelusida

Echeveria pelusida

Originally uploaded by agnleg

 

Coruja das Torres – Barn Owl – Tyto alba

Coruja das Torres – Barn Owl – Tyto alba

Originally uploaded by JulioCaldas

 

buddha

IMG_5853

Originally uploaded by Dennis Kruyt

 

The Golden Mirror

The Golden Mirror

Originally uploaded by nkimadams

 

Baltimore Oriole By Mark Trabue

Baltimore Oriole By Mark Trabue

Originally uploaded by marktrabue

 

Lantana camara CV.

Lantana camara CV.

Originally uploaded by nobuflickr

 

Clematis patens CV.kakio

Clematis patens CV.kakio

Originally uploaded by nobuflickr

 

Sapori Umbri

Sapori Umbri

Originally uploaded by R.o.b.e.r.t.o.

 

Purple Echeveria

Purple Echeveria

Originally uploaded by rustyrabbit

 

Purple Echeveria

Purple Echeveria

Originally uploaded by rustyrabbit

 

Cygnus

Cygnus

Originally uploaded by garota60

this person is an amzing emroideress….do check out her flickr photo stream!

 

Little Apple

Little Apple

Originally uploaded by walking along

Be sure to click on this as it will take you to the flcikr page where you can read a fascinating description of the plant.

 

Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine

Originally uploaded by walking along

 

got away

got away

Originally uploaded by www.AhmadSuhaimi.com

 

red poppy

Originally uploaded by nano*

 

Europa

Europa

Originally uploaded by *labaronesa*

 

Like BUTTAH!!!

Like BUTTAH!!!

Originally uploaded by *labaronesa*

 

I’m Getting too Old for this

I’m Getting too Old for this

Originally uploaded by *labaronesa*

 

Colors and lines

Originally uploaded by carol murray

 

real landscape

real landscape

Originally uploaded by sadiemayhem

 

3 (Part 2)

3 (Part 2)

Originally uploaded by giles.breton

 

花菖蒲(iris）

花菖蒲(iris）

Originally uploaded by nobuflickr

 

Forget me nots

Forget me nots

Originally uploaded by tanakawho

 

03 19 08 Images

 

03 19 08 A Day of Reflection

So far this has been a wonderful day…quiet and in some way reverential. LIving each moment fully is not as easy as it might seem to be….I have to get control of my mind and live with a certain sense of intention and spontaneity at the same time. To do the next thing and understand that everything is my life, everything is me, nothing is a burden unless I make it one-that also requires a concious letting go of the stories I habitually use to get through the day and define

myself. In fact,it seems to me that letting go of self-definition is what frees me to meet the moment as it is, to be open to whatever happens and stand on the ground

of the moment.

in gassho

kaethejean

 

Monastere de Novodievitchi

Monastere de Novodievitchi

Originally uploaded by Ben MZ

so crisp and clean, the snow is the perfect wather and the sky is just stunning behind it!

 

The Colors of Calla

The Colors of Calla

Originally uploaded by Rainer Fritz

Flower photography doews not get better than Rainier Fritz!

 

Bellis

Bellis

Originally uploaded by Rainer Fritz

 

lovely colors

Originally uploaded by greenka

 

Bellis #2

Bellis #2

Originally uploaded by Rainer Fritz

 

Spring 2008

Spring 2008

Originally uploaded by mikonT

 

04 15 08 Janies black cq purse block

Here it is, my second patch on Janies block. I did the monogram.

 

03 26 08 Comments have been disabled!

Due to the incredible amount of spam

that has been showing up on my all too infrequent posts, even the older ones! i have disabled(I think) the ability to comment. Of course anyone who wishes to may email me directly(and if i don;t know you and it is nonsense, of course you will end up in the spam bucket and i will never see your email anyway, so why bother, ok) and i will be glad to reply.

Thanks for understanding!

ktj

Isn’t this fabric swatch pretty! It’s a Marcus Brothers print.

 

Daphne mezereum – the next day

Daphne mezereum – the next day

Originally uploaded by Dzwjedziak

 

Doodle Stitching project

Doodle Stitching project

Originally uploaded by merwing

 

SALMON PINK

SALMON PINK

Originally uploaded by franomilano

 

CORAL PINK

CORAL PINK

Originally uploaded by franomilano

 

Stevens House Sunset

Stevens House Sunset

Originally uploaded by mikonT

 

Walt Disney Concert Hall # 1

Walt Disney Concert Hall # 1

Originally uploaded by kulayphoto

 

On the road to Elgol in Skye

On the road to Elgol in Skye

Originally uploaded by kulayphoto

 

Ballet

Ballet

Originally uploaded by patzkid

 

20080304 Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina 001

20080304 Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina 001

Originally uploaded by gakout

 

20080308 Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

20080308 Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Originally uploaded by gakout

 

20080304 Viedma Glacier, Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina 003

20080304 Viedma Glacier, Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina 003

Originally uploaded by gakout

 

20050814 Bell Atlantic Tower, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1001

20050814 Bell Atlantic Tower, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1001

Originally uploaded by gakout

 

Nevado de Toluca

Nevado de Toluca

Originally uploaded by Eneas

 

Skogafoss1

Skogafoss1

Originally uploaded by hugeknot

 

03 15 08 Margaret’s small purple block

Here is Margaret.P.’s small purple block. It is to be the center of a small cushion.

There is some wonderful silk ribbon embroidery in one corner

by Carol L. in the shape of a heart. The colors she chose really complement the purples!

Margaret used a metallic thread to crochet a small shell strip and added into the seam on

one patch. That’s where I chose to work. I pulled the crochet in to make the scallops really

sharp, and then added pearls to the crest of each scallop. ON the very narrow strip next to the

crocheted shells i make little flowers using perle cotton and small white pearls. I hope you like

what i did Margaret. If you click the pic will open to a larger size.

 

Simple fusible

Simple fusible

Originally uploaded by curli

Here is something that Maureen C. is doing, and it just really caught my eye. I don;t have details as to the size or what is planned for it, but i do know that i really really like it….very peaceful.

 

Sunrise Clouds over Torrelit (not an HDR)

Sunrise Clouds over Torrelit (not an HDR)

Originally uploaded by Ricardo Carreon – 100,000 Views in my stream!

 

Panorama verso il Lago di Sabaudia (o di Paola)

Panorama verso il Lago di Sabaudia (o di Paola)

Originally uploaded by leosagnotti

 

Il deserto dei Tartari (The desert of the Tartars)

Il deserto dei Tartari (The desert of the Tartars)

Originally uploaded by leosagnotti

 

Fresh Snow

Fresh Snow

Originally uploaded by DreamValley

 

02 29 08 (03)

 

02 29 08 (02)

 

02 29 08 (01)

 

Macro

Macro

Originally uploaded by Poesia’s Picture’s

 

it wasn’t me

it wasn’t me

Originally uploaded by stoneth

 

i’m sorry

i’m sorry

Originally uploaded by stoneth

 

Until we Meet Again…..

Until we Meet Again…..

Originally uploaded by blackstarjewelry

 

Grain and Dunes

Grain and Dunes

Originally uploaded by SheldonBranford

 

Scoliosis Dune

Scoliosis Dune

Originally uploaded by SheldonBranford

 

Latourell Falls and Bridge

Latourell Falls and Bridge

Originally uploaded by SheldonBranford

 

39,000 feet above Bowknot Bend

39,000 feet above Bowknot Bend

Originally uploaded by SheldonBranford

 

Freedom

Freedom

Originally uploaded by Nikita Asimov

 

Red Mountain Falls

Red Mountain Falls

Originally uploaded by Fort Photo

 

June 6: Block the G8 !

June 6: Block the G8 !

Originally uploaded by Hugo*

 

Washed Away

Washed Away

Originally uploaded by "Mr. W"

 

Clustered Petals

Clustered Petals

Originally uploaded by "Mr. W"

 

The Small World

The Small World

Originally uploaded by "Mr. W"

 

Owl in flight

Owl in flight

Originally uploaded by Georgio’s Photography

 

Rainman

Rainman

Originally uploaded by Jordan_K

 

one fine day

one fine day

Originally uploaded by m o d e

In the Maldives—-this is maybe the one place i would like to be anytime! Of course Flickr has opened so much of the world that i had not seen. But every photo of the Maldives is missing ME in it!

 

Little hats

Little hats

Originally uploaded by ShamsD

 

tender touch

tender touch

Originally uploaded by durango99

 

02 19 08 Carol L.’s block and my seam treatment

You can click on this and it will open quite large. This is a very pretty block

with soe interesting fabrics. I love the color scheme. You can;t see the whole block

since it wouldn;t fit on the scanner. My work is the thin strip of ribbon on the bottom

of the brown patch, the appliqued butterfly and the chain stitch design in pink with green

beads that covers most of the brown patch.

 

Sunset on the Golden Gate Bridge

Sunset on the Golden Gate Bridge

Originally uploaded by Wiggum03

 

The Icelandic horse. This is a special amazing animal if you don’t know.

The Icelandic horse. This is a special amazing animal if you don’t know.

Originally uploaded by Mundilfari

See the link (I hope it is still working): www.hiddentrails.com/general/breeds/icela

 

Rest and be Thankful

Rest and be Thankful

Originally uploaded by Krasnyi Fotoapparat

 

deep forest(flickr favorite)

deep forest

Originally uploaded by alyssthomas

This looks great close up…just click on the photo and it will take you to the flickr page where you can enlarge it.

 

Wolf Eel(Flickr favorite)

CONTEST!

Originally uploaded by Polish Sausage Queen

Can you imagine coming up against this while swimming!

 

Bomba panna & arancio(Flickr Favorite)

Bomba panna & arancio

Originally uploaded by giancarvedsse

I am switching the images from my other blog to here.

 

11-12-07 Two more postcards

Well, I have finished the embroidery on another post card and decided to upload a scan of it, and a previous card….these are holiday postcards and are probably the only ones i will get done this year that have a strictly winter holiday theme…..

this one is actually quite bright and has beads in all the little squares of the plaid…

This one is also fairly bright and you may not be able to tell, but what looks like yellow thread in some places on the left side of the card is actually beads, you are seeing the reflection instead of the whole bead. I particularly like this because of the beading and the gold couched thread around the shapes in the second stripe. I continued out some of the shapes from the first stripe into the second all red one. The third stripe which is a darker red with gold snowflakes print i did the same thing …brought some of the lines out into the all red piece and beaded some of the snow flakes.and then beaded in some snowflakes.

 

11 01 07 thinking about stories

If you have not paid a visit to Jude Hill and her Spirit Cloth blog, you are missing a master storyteller in action. Her narrative pieces are truly wonderful, not only for the words she uses to tell about the pieces, but the embroidery and applique is visually wonderful. She tells stories that are mythical….and real at the same time.

I have been thinking a lot about that lately, stories, that is…and how they are told. And also I have been thinking about outsider art as well….as in, untrained people making art(that’s me-the untrained part) wondering if having training helps you tell your story better.I often think most of my stories would begin the same way..once upon a time there was a little girl.
And then what???? Do i put the words on the fabric? How could i illustrate in fabric the concept of Once? I want to say, Once(and only ONCE) Upon A Time and Far Away there was a very little girl named me…because to tell the truth, when i look back that far, it has the aura of being a fairy tale…of being something the “I” that i am now has no real connection to…it is remembered as a well loved story, a wish that it could be the same again in innocence and possibility.But then I always have wished that magic was real and that the rainbows in the oily water next to a street curb were a reflection of something wonderful just underneath, instead of just gritty rain water. And yes, I wanted to climb inside the bubbles that i blew and go all over the world and see it through curved rainbows.I used to think i lived a charmed life….then i realized i was just living my life as it came unrolling like a carpet toward me….or, to put it another way, the life i had by jumping always headlong into the future. And here I am….wanting to tell the story of how the unknown and always exciting tidbit of the future that the days always seemed…how they became THIS life, THIS set of circumstances. And how time has slowed down and speeded up. The days go slower and the years go faster. It’s not that i want to see how it all turns out, mostly because i think it has already been all turned out…..and anyway, we all know how it all turns out. Remembered by friends and family for a time, by works, for a time(maybe) and after that the only record is your name on paper or stone. So, would you rather be the grasshopper or the ant?

06-my-funny-valentine.mp306-my-funny-valentine.mp3

 

10 21 07 Sunday Morning with the NYPL Digital Archives

Anyone interested in design, or just plain interested in graphics should be making a bee-line to the New York Public Library Digital Archives.. Sharon B. mentioned this quite a while ago, and I have been digging around ever since….with amazing results. The latest find is under the Arts and Literture heading. If you scroll down the list of categories you will find one on posters of the turn of the century…..don’t pass this up…..getting to that page opens several more categories, all of them posters of one sort or another…..they are truly incredible. And, on top of that, if you are interested in history, reading the words is pretty interesting too!

As some of you may know, fibromyalgia causes amplified pain and fatique..so what i do is……..gggg …in between doing the things I have to do that sap my energy, i sit down at the archives and just go through them…saving images along the way that i might want to look at later, or send to someone.

Here’s a tidbit, just in case you need a nudge……

And another…

You wont be sorry you checked it out.

i was also thinking about Jude Hill’s exploration of dots and wondering where the term
“polka dot” came from…we all know exactly what polka dots are, no matter what the size or color….all you need are are regularly spaced dots of color on a ground….i think all the polka dots i have ever seen were in a half-drop pattern as opposed to be all lined up in row after row. Amazingly enough, wikipedia doesn;t seem to have a blurb on it, and pluggiong the tried and true entry of “define:xyz” into google doesn;t net a thing either…does anyone know ?

More on dots though, usually, the dot part is the positive space, if you make the dot the negative space, and then ..cut it out…you have a hole….so maybe transparent dots are really round windows? I think dots usually are of something………”the light dotted the carpet of leaves with gold”…”you have a dot of mustard on your chin”…”did you dot the i’s and cross the t’s”….. rather than of nothing…anyway, all this is to say that i was thinking about my next postcard and how to play around with dots, invisible or othewise.

 

10 19 07 Crazyquilting

On one of the cq lists i belong to there has been (from time to time) some discussion about piecing the patches onto the foundation. Most use the flip and sew method …..much like the paper piecing method used in sane quilting to create picture blocks.

I personally  don;t use it, but that is mostly becuase i

1. don;t like getting up and down from the sewing machine to sew each patch on.

a swivel chair would make that sooo much easier!

2. I don;t like the fact that you start in the middle and as you get out toward the edges

your seams tend to become quite long.

3. While others may know how to incorporate curved piecing into the flip and sew mwethod, i

don;t know how and it seems like a lot of trouble when applique-ing can do it in a minute or so.

At any rate, i love the look of the old cq’s where the patches are put down as they come…

here are some examples.

 

10 19 07 Pay It Forward

I was over on Jude Hill’s blog(spirit cloth) and she talked about paying it forward.This is a concept that has been around and been used in

many different contexts. I first became aware of it with a discussion in Letters to The Editor

in a local newspaper(of all places!) about putting money in parking meters that had run out. It seems that

in one of the upper midwest states an elderly woman was actually fined for doing that!It seems that the thousand points of light

don;t include actually DOING  anything…or at least not anything that might  actually HELP anyone……

I remember it causing quite a little stir. Since that time, I always put more money in the meter than I need and always put money in the meter next to me……. it also falls under the category of Random Acts of Kindness.

At any rate, the principle behind this variation of PIF is, if you comment on this blog entry, you get

to have me send you something! That means you have to include for me your email address…not necessarily in the comment

but it does have to be available in some way…..the choosing and the timing are up to me, but the

promise is that within a year of your comment, something gets sent to you by me…and of course,

you have to also do the same on your own blog…..ie,  make the same promise on your own blog.

 

10 12 07 Christmas Card-Snow people(cute overload)

Well here is my second holiday card…….such fun, although my finishing skills are not too good, in fact, they drive me crazy!

 

10 03 07 Completed Buttonhole ! Finally!!!!

i am so so happy to finally finish one of the 6 x 4  stitch studies i started who knows when….this one i really enjoyed finishing…and i really enjoy seeing it too…lots of times by the time i am finished with something I never want to see it again………this piece however is a little different for me…i actually like it!

 

09 23 07 An Amazing Dream

I stayed in bed most of the day and had an amazing dream. I often have intense dreams that are very visual and involve  being in spectacular places.

This  dream started out that i was on a piece of land with a a fence that had flowers around it…there was a very small little bear that had been dropped by its mom at the edge of the fence….she didn;t come back for hours and hours and it turned into the next day. I took the baby and nurtured it and then put it back after a few months…in the meantime i had a truck with a little white square “smoke hut” type construction on it..that i had used for the baby bear…i was travelling around with the truck using it as a home and camper when i noticed a large large black bear following me….i had seen tht bear as the one who dropped off her baby…i knew that i should get rid of the hut as it had all the smells of the baby in it….i backed down a hill and slammed into some trees so it would slide off and get stuck in the trees…that way the big bear would go to it and maybe stay there and i could get away…there were many people there and they advised me it was ok, but the black bear found me and the people sheltered me…two of them were a couple that was related to a work buddy … When we felt safe we left and i went on my way, minus the truck, just wandering. Somehow the time changed and i was a pioneer on a prairie with a tent wandering with other folks that i didn;t know…one of them was a young man with long blonde hair and very delicate features…we fell alseep near each other but as the night grew colder we shared our very thin blankets for warmth. Before i fully woke up the bear could be seen not too far from us and i became paralyzed with fright….i coldn;t move but the guy wanted me to move my head somewhat so that my very long red hair would be pinned under my head and not wave. The movement of my hair was attacting the bear.

I could not move and i couldn;t tell him that he had to move my head for me…eventually he did and eventually all was ok…we decided to be friends and travel together.

The  group travelled all over the united states, and it was wonderful, but then we travelled to Florida and there were dangerous animals…i was afraid again and hated it…then we ended up on the tip of south africa with more danger everywhere… we were with a very fierce tribe of people that we were all afraid of….and that we did not understand. they did not understand us either. one day i asked, are we staying here because we are afraid that if we leave we will be in even more danger? Somehow that question made me want to put my fear aside and try to make some way to communicate with this village of people….over a couple of years more all the women learned that all the village women were like them in many ways and we became part of the community…understanding each other and really forming bonds….i kept seeing the black bear and i kept being afraid of it and we decided that we needed to leave..in the meantime i had a wonderful woman friend that i did not want to leave, so she decided to come with us.

there was to be a ceremony for all who were leaving….it was called a marriage ceremony and meant that those who were leaving were still in the hearts of those who stayed, and would be remembered and revered, and welcomed back…..and those who were leaving promised to always be true and loyal to each other, and to those left behind…when it came time for my friend’s ceremonial part, we couldnt find her.She finally came up the long long road with people dragging her.It was not that she didn;t want to come with us, but that she didn;t want to leave her father . He was old, and without a wife or other children. He assured her it was fine, that he was with

his community where he truly belonged. He face kept shining as she smiled in love  at him.

It was as if you could see the stars and heavens through her skin.

and that at that point i woke up remembering her name…melise….and thought that it was a wonderful name and maybe i should have a name like that….ahmelise is what i chose. I think it means mother of melise.

I don;t know what it means, but i know this dream is full of meaning for me, and in some way, i am everyone in it . I know when i went to sleep i was thinking about crocodiles, snakes and bears which are the animals in the world that i am most afraid of.terrifed would be a more appropriate word actually. I do remember wondering if there could have been an alternate evolution where the snakes and crocodiles  come about.

 

09 16 07 A Little Pity Party

I feel somewhat guilty since i know there are soo sooooo many people way worse off than i in so many respects, and i even personally know some of them…my heart aches for them….but right, now this moment i have to just say, i am tired of being tired. I am tired of being in pain 24/7

I am tired of things seeming to get worse, not better. This afternoon there was some serious thought about whether i was going to have

top get a walker and wheelchair to keep in the car and whether i could find anything afffordable..

Oh well, it’ll pass and i’ll get back to the business at hand, whatever that is.

 

07 28 07 59-008

Written in 1971  to F.S. by me.

1971

Teach me how to love you, said he, and in his eyes a trust; and in his arms a nest.

Oh yes, to myself, not being brave enough for voice.With question half formed, I feared to look and see semantics. Did he mean what I would have meant? Coward not to ask. Head buried i wished for articulation, for ESP, to be an atom among his atoms, a million things just to know.

Dare I?

What if the world ends, or you walk out, or something drastic like that. One can never tell you know. I must take out the proper insurance .

And so without the least idea of what exactly I was doing, in the objective sense, in the

purely Descartian sense I went and fell in love with the sun.

It is said that someday the sun will stop shining.

I the moon.we shine at two different poles.

It is said we are two different things .

You give light, I merely reflect it.

Oh how depressing, internally I am on fire, can no one see it, do I not warm the surface of anybody’s soul?

In the flicker of your sunshine, come and tell me.

and we can dance round the earth and celebrate all the heathen holidays and all the unheathen ones too

and just in general betake ourselves out of the world

and into the starlight, moonlight, sunlight, reaching ever closer untill our wings

do melt.

Would you take that chance with me?

 

072807 59-008

I will be back with a story, wrote it several months ago and decided just now to decidicate it to Jude Hill and her story quilts.

In the meantime here is another one of Deb;s pieces…and a small  complaint..i do wish the blog software would be correct as far as the dates go…i have changed them several times and they always revert so to some incorrect default….the date that they are written is the date in the title.

Once again it;s clickable to a large size.

I live in a semi rural area…quickly becoming NOT so, along a road with single homes situated on lots of something less than

or something more than an acre. There are lots of trees and some families even have

children.

What we have most of however is truck traffic and motorcycle traffic…with lots of noise….it’s quite amazing really how much NOISE there is. LIke being screamed at all day in some harsh gutteral language. The motorcycles are a long drawn out buzzsaw above tolerable limits and the trucks are just belching smoke

and noise. The only time it is really nicely quiet is in the very very wee hours when

one can hear the crickets’ heartbeat….. and the gentle swish of fairies as they go from leaf to leaf singing……hushhhhhhhh hushhhhh, you will be beautiful again before you fall….you will be gazed upon with wonder….hush hush…..and sometimes i almost hear my mother singing

a lullaby again, or is that me hushing my own last son off to dreamland.

 

07 25 07 59-005

Well, I am almost finished with the small crocheted gifts for one of the gals at work. She is having her first baby and knows it is a girl…she and her husband were going to name her Olivia Rose which i just love, but they changed their minds and now she will be Taryn Rose.She now has a bib,(finished) a crocheted doll toy (needs stuffed and sewn together) and a small blanket. I also made a small crocheted purse to day ..which i actually sort of like….it’s small enough for a little girl and big enough to put things in…i want to line it and then mail it off to somewhere….of course i will take pictures as it isn ;t going to make it on the scanner………Sometimes I fall in love with the tackiest cheapest stuff……..especially crayon colored yarns! I bought a skein of this really amazing neon stuff…..i made two little flowers and glued them on my hard hat and then used some to practice making 3 dimensional shapes…with an eye to making toys…..needless to say what i came up with is so so silly, and completely non functional…so i put it on the jeep antennae where it will sit till it gets too dirty to look at.

The rest of the skein i brought home and decided to use as trims around the edges of select postcards. I just love silly things don;t you know…there is not enough sillliness -true sillliness, giggle, irreverant, fun type silliness….everything is sooooo serious……….in the business world everything MUST BE SERIOUS! (said in a deep sonorific voice). So many people think the world will will stop turning on it’s axis if the sacred cows get laughed at. Maybe that’s why i sometimes just must have the tackiest most outrageous this or that .

My promise to do something everything day that i actually plan is happening…even though it is small, it is significant to me…..have been doing some embroidery and some burning of cd’s. The music work has been put on hold till i get the program straightened out…for some reason Roxio Easy CD goes on strike and refuses to burn my discs all the way through….the collection of trashed discs grows… I have Nero 7 Ultra Edition but it has never worked on my system….the tech support from Nero, or Roxio is bqasically non-existent and even my tech can;t explain why Nero won;t work on my machine…but thee you have it….no cd burning for me for a while….onward to finishing up the patch i am doing on Janie J.’s cq!

005 Debs artwork

 

07 22 07 59-003#2 Sewbuds RR

This is the overview of Susan N.’s yellow block. It’s about 8-9 inches square and is really lovely. The work you see on it is Margaret P.’s and mine…..you can click and it will come up bigger in a new window.

Margaret did the silk ribbon iris and the chenille flowers, along with the chenille portugese stitch

along the seam. She also did the exquisite beading on the silk print of the lady. And she did the

ribbon with the wide herringbone on the seam running by the silk ribbon irises. She also did the very light buttonhole stitch in ecru just to the left of her bullion stitch flowers. The stitches are really really tiny, both on the flowers she did and

and that buttonhole seam.

I did the floral seam using feather stitch and french knots. I also did the green buttonhole seam

mimic-ing Margaret’s much smaller one in ecru. I did the small flowers with the beaded heads and

the beaded dragonflies in the same patch.This was a block that i could easily have just kept

going till it was filled! You all will love working on it….and when you see Margaret’s stitching

you will be just as awestruck as I was!

 

07 23 07 59-003

  #4 of Debs’ work.

I was thinking today of uncupped hearts….and approaching each moment  with quietness…

allowing situations to unfold before us without our egos making judgement  before hand. Or for that matter, afterword as well. easier said than done.  I think there is really very little in the world that

requires us to have an opinion about it, and after all, what makes our opinions

important in the first place. Does being intelligent really require that we spend brain

power on every single thing that crosses the senses? Isn;t it possible to recognize that perhaps we have an opinion and so what?

 

07 20 07 or…59-001

Well here it, my 59th birthday….in and of itself nothing particularly special(except for the wonderful greetings from my buds around the world!) but for me, it marks the start of the year leading to my 60th birthday…arghhhh!   I hope to spend the year preparing for it actually so that when 60t arrives it too is no

big deal, because this year was a good one. Does that make sense to anyone but me????

So…what shall i do today, ..well, catch up on snail mail for sure, i know the utility

companies would like to get some money…….and this evening am going out to dinner with a

friend, so i will probably have to hunt up some non-work clothes to wear.  I also want

do a little more stitching on the doll for DW….i have actually have done some since it was last

blogged, and over the weekend will scan the futher progress. I had originally wanted it

finished by August but it looks like the end of august is a more realistic time frame. In the

meantime here is another piece of work by my brother. I have had a friend

ask about the use of the color orange in his work and mine….since we do both seem to use

it freely … I can answer for myself…i can;t say that i like or dislike any color….i respond

to some in certain emotional ways  and to others in other ways….but mostly it is the color

relationships that i respond to….. pure orange can be explosive, happy, innocent, charming, hot like fire, sparkly, angy,cool like popsicles and on and on…..browny orange can be

autumnal, dying embers, decay, warm sweaters, old love, stable, solid like terra cotta..

and on and on…i think so much of color association is not only where we have seen it in nature

and our life, but in other art as well. Right now i need to get going so will have to persue this aspect of color another time….what do you all think??

 

07 18 07 #1(Debs title for this piece)

 

07 18 07 Dalis Cross-mixed media 30 by 40

Another of Debs’ paintings.

 

07 18 07 My brother’s artwork

My brother Debs has been painting for quite a while now and has just sent me an email with

pics of some of his stuff. I really really like it….i hope that some of it is still unsold so that i can

buy one….i like it that much!

 

07 16 07 Thread crochet and Irish rose crochet

  If you click on the picture it will open to a fairly large size.

The thread crochet piece(top) is done in crochet cotton #10. I forget what size hook,

but it was small. The pattern came from a book that was taken out of the local library-Crochet Gifts in a Weekend. This pattern was part of a bigger piece for a sachet. I am finding out as i work different pattern swatches from different books and designers that

there is not really a consistently standardized notation for lots of things.

In fact, the designer of this sachet used different notations for the same directions in the same pattern….it was a bit confusing but once i looked at the picture and re-read everything very carefully i was able to get the hang of what she meant.

The Irish Rose crochet piece is acrually my adaptation…..it’s about 3 inches square.

Originally I was thinnking of making  a baby afghan using these squares in an alternating pattern…but it would have taken me forever and the baby is due in September! I opeted for a simpler rectangular pattern with lots of lacy- type areas and put a wide shell border on it.

The bib is really pretty cute actually, the dark pink border is very even all around,

but it got turned under a it while in the scanner. The bottom is part of a pattern I wanted to try and when i got a few rows done  it made sense to  do some decreasing and add the single and half double crochet rows…i wanted to try out decreasing  and also doing shapes on one side and then the other, and a bib was born……….gggggg.

 

071507 Been a while

Haven;’t been keeping up with blogging although i have been embroidering and crocheting…and reading about knitting socks. I love hand knit socks and have a pair that Nikki in Canada sent me several years ago.

I finally crocheted a baby bib and finished a baby afghan  and started another one.

Also tried my hand at some thread crochet. Thread crochet was actually the impetus

for delving into crochet again in the first place. I wanted to be able to crochet all those

really pretty edgings that you see and use them in crazy quilting and send them to

friends!Will do some scanning soon and show you as much as will fit on the scanner.

Also did more embroidery on the doll for the PA that i was seeing.

Have changed Primary Care Physicians and i have to say that the office of the  place i am

leaving is one reason why. They are so inefficient that it takes them forever to do anything.

It is so bad that when i went to the notary to have my application for a handicapped placard,

the notary asked which physician;’s office would be signing it. When i told her, she said

not to leave at the desk or it would get lost…that i should make an appointment and give

it to the PA in person, have her sign it right then, and take it with me.  It didn;t get lost, but

it wasn;t easily found either.  And of course, getting records transferred from one place to

another has been  ridiculous…what was supposed to take 2 weeks has taken 6 and in the meantime i have no medical care. This inefficiency has been the hallmark for a long time and they have the nerve to wonder why i  had gotten to the point of not believing them.

Oh well. I think it must be the same prettty much all over. With medical care being a commodity itself, the patient becomes a commodity too, several rungs down the ladder from the staff.

 

07 05 07-in the wee hours

I had the absolute nicest thing happen a day or two ago…..or maybe it was Sunday… gggg

but i went to Sam’s club to get some things. I was really not feeling too well as my back really

really hurt but i was determined to get at least some of the things i needed.I was

parked in a handicapped spot near the store which my placard allows me to do. As i was

finishing putting things in the jeep a woman and her grandchild were walking by

on their way to their own vehicle. The woman told her granddaughter to wait for me to

finish putting things in mine and then take my cart over to where the carts are stored.

It was such a generous and nice gesture, it took me completely by surprise. I was so

elated it must have seemed strange to others to be so happy with such a small thing….but you

know, it really isn;t a small thing. Solidarity, empathy, just plain niceness  to others is not the

norm anymore really….at least not where i live…people are friendly, as long as it doesn;t involve

effort, or anything real. This is a very ingrown and family centered area and if you are

not born here, you remain a stranger forever. It can be quite lonely.

Earlier i watched a movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan….”You Have Mail”. It was delightful

little movie and Tom Hanks is never better than when he is playing a man in love. I thoroughly

enjoyed the happy ending.

Having to be at work in the morning by 6 am means that this is a very late night for me, so I will finish this post and hope you all had a wonderful day.  The photo is a collage of some work a friend of mine did…Nikki is an excellent stitcher…in fact she is an excellent craftsperson with all that she does. Knitting, sewing, embroidery….you name it…somewhere way down in the list of posts is a piece of weaving that she did in the Swedish Tapestry manner. It was her first piece!

 

07 02 07 Usenet Snag-Ireland

This is a usenet snag of Ballinskellig’s Bay in County Kerry, Ireland.

Lnadscape photos teach you so much, and of course you get to see

places you would not otherwise see. It;s not the same as in person,

but it is better than not seeing it at all.

Click on it and it will open to a very much larger photo and you will see some of the

beauty of the place.

 

July 2nd-In The Mirror

In the mirror

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

This is a 6 by 4 piece that i started and just about finished the day i got my Viking embellisher…..it was a lot of fun playing around with needlefelting all the yarns in place…i needlefelted the top purple piece(it’s the background here) onto a piece of stabilizer first then started playing. After i did some embroidery and beading, i let it sit for a while. Tonight I looked at it again and for some reason just had this urge to add buttons as the container. At first i thought it was a magic forrest and the buttons were the crumbs that showed you the way home….that’s what makes magic forrests safe , you know how to get home! Then it reminded me of belly dancing music….but in the end when it came time to name the file, In the Mirror is what it became. It just popped into the brain and seemed right.

 

yes, it is a little weird………… :>D

Jude and Tenar each commented on my previous post, and their comments helped me think out more concretely about this almost 60 stuff……….i guess really it is all about realizing that there are more years behind than in front. Having spent so many years alone….and really growing up very quickly and taking responsibility for many things early, one also realizes that there are no excuses….only reasons….and not always good ones either. What can I say….i see this year of being 59 as my prepatory year for turning 60….i think it might take me the whole year to prepare so that i don;t panic! ggggg..and also, so that i can feel satisfied a little bit at where i am….

it is one of the lessons of zazen….there is only NOW…and if not NOW, then when actually???? I want my nows to be meaningful and mindful and not keep slipping by because i am exhausted and not feeling well. Having fibromyalgia is possibly one of the best teachers and one of the most complete time sucks there is……..you never know from one day to the next what part of your body is going to hurt,and how bad… how tired you will or won;t be, whether you will be in a fog and barely remember the day it is, or whether you will be alert and feeling like life is “do-able”. It is difficult to make plans, even with myself, but not impossible….and it is possible to feel better than I do….so..now is the time to make it happen. Soooooooooooo…VBG-stay tuned….the weather is fabulous…warm, breezy….just a delight! The days are long on sunshine and it feels wonderful to be alive just now…JUST NOW! JUST DO IT!

 

JULY 2007

Well, well, well, amazingly enough it is july 2007 and here i am, almost 59 years old. This is my birthday month and i promised myself that i would try to chronicle the whole year of being 59…as in, the countdown to 60 will begin on July 20th…it;s odd…i loved turning 40, and l loved turning 45..i thought they were nice respectable ages….old enough to actually have some just on accounta……..gggg…but young enough to  maybe start having some fun.

Well, it;s been a long haul and to tell the truth i am suprised to be here but, 
here is where I am….as in, wherever you go, there you are……lol……

Also this month are the birthday of Maureen C. and Norma H. .

SO…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY to us…and anyone else out there having birthday in July.

 

fargo roses on janies purse

fargo roses on janies purse

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

this is part of a small patch on a purse block of Janie J.’s. We are in cq rr together and her rectangular block is all black. You should see the other work on it! At some point i will scan all the different patches. this part is in the upper left corner and everything to the right of the scrolly line is part of the next patch over..ie, not my work! Wish it were cause it is gorgeous. I really practiced more on the fargo roses and found some of the things i was not doing right..ie, the stitches i took back down the ribbon were teeny bites instead of big bites and i wasn;t pulling the ribbon around the needle before finishing the stitch. There area couple of roses here that i like very much, but i stil need much more practice. there will be more done on this patch, but not more roses.

 

My seam,Margaret’s block

My seam,Margaret’s block

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

Margaret hb and i are in a cq round robin. She sent a lovely lovely block all in blue and cream from silks and other fabrics. It’s small and delicate. I wanted to try my hand at Fargo roses. As you can see i didn;t quite get them down pat……. i added some buttonholing on the bottom petals to add a little color. also a french knot from rayon thread into the center of each rose for more color. above the roses is an arch of pearls and silk ribbon leaves. i wish i was as good at this stuff as Margaret’s block calls for.

 

couching-detail of a detail

couching-detail of a detail

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

This is a section of the earlier detail of the 15 by 15 piece. This section is about 4 by 3 i think….

 

06 07 07 unfinished french knot a

unfinished french knot a

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

This is a 6 by 4 piece that started out as buttonhole and satin stitch as you can tell from the parts that have not been reworked. I began to do french knots on the background and tree and realized that it would all have to be french knots to have any sort of balance . I felt strongly that the background in french knots would be wierd if the foreground were flat. At least in this piece i didn;t think it would work at all. So, here i am doing my beloved french knots and having a ball. I really do love french knots. Every single one is a challenge to make it like the last one….and of course it never happnes…or not very often.

This was done in between runs at work under sodium lights and i thought all the oranges adn yellows were actually darker…when i got under flourescent light and saw those neon oranges it was quite a shock. I like orange, but neon orange isone of my least favorite of colors…along with that really gross neon pink you can sometimes see.

 

15 x 15 unfinished couching b

15 x 15 unfinished couching b

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

This is part of a 15 by 15 square that is being couched onto. Eventually it will be completely covered. I had a great time going through my thread cuttings and twisting threads together to get some of the colors i liked, and also choosing from my stash. This is a piece i love so far and hope that i still love it when it is all done!

 

06 06 07 Unfinished doll for DW

Unfinished doll for DW a

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

this is the start of a small goddess doll for PA that i see instead of my PCP(Primary Care Physician) …she is an awesome person and i owe her a lot! One thing i was thinking of trying to do was changing the face part by adding a sculpted face. It would be soft sculpted from a piece of hosiery and then appliqued on. The reason i may do that is one, i would love to do it well, and two i am thinking that everything else on this doll is going be highly textural and it might look odd having a flatly embroidered face. We’ll have to see. I love making the bullion stitches out of perle thread. They work up so nicely. The back is probably going to be velvet or velveteen. What do you all think?

 

Buttonhole Stitch Practice(almost done) a

Buttonhole Stitch Practice(almost done) a

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

As you can see, this is ALMOST done..gggg….there is some toning down that i want to do of the very bright orange color, and the bright yellow too, and of course, the very lightly worked spaces along the top and bottom will be covered with more layers. I would guess that this piece has about 7 layers of stitching on it in various places. I actually like it a lot for a change! I am thinking of giving it a name…..how about:
Toward a Unified Theory of Space.

 

06 06 07 Post card from Margaret

Post card from Margaret

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

Margaret HB from Australia and i are in the same CQ rr and when she sent me her block to work on, this lovely piece, titled Autumn in Australia was with it…..

This is the second postcard i have from her. I will post the other one and you will be able to see how she is talented in diverse techniques! I am so thrilled to have these small works from her.

 

06 06 07 Jane C. block-the lower two thirds

Jane C. block-the lower two thirds

Originally uploaded by katiejayinpa

This is Jane C.’s block. I did several things. I really treid to keep to the delicate balance of the block. As you all know..ggggg.delicate is something i appreciate, but never can achieve much in my own stuff…i tend to do bold and heavy! At any rate..this is what i did..

1. the scrolly leaves and berries under and around the large lace motif in the left bottom corner. Sue CQ. added the lace motif which she had hand-dyed. It is really really gorgeous.
2. I did the letter J with the simple flower…..it was very hard for me not to keep working on that and fill up the whole space. If i had, it would have completely undone the balance of the block though. However, if Jane would like more stitching there, i am willing to get the block back and do it.it was such agreat block to work on!
3. I did the seam that runs at the top across the block, ending just above the green tatted circle. That was done by Susan H. So beautiful! I love the color.
4. I also did the motif that you see in the green mottled triangular patch….the one with the pruple flower and the scrolly fern and leaves.

I hope you like it Jane!

 

Pinup’s PC for Roz

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Pinup’s PC for Roz, originally uploaded by curli.

I just found this on Maureen C’s flickr pages…..i would like to dedicate this to Maureen B. who does not see the talent she has!

 

TAG Sunshine and Flowers

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TAG Sunshine and Flowers, originally uploaded by katiejayinpa.

Just a small little thing that was so much fun….it took all of an hour….i still have to do the back….the front here is crayoned and embellished with just the simplest of embroidery…..it;s how i want to see relations between people, how I wish we all felt as we enter the day…..

 

05 18 07 Postcard for Christmas-tree

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Postcard for Christmas-tree, originally uploaded by katiejayinpa.

This is the front of a Christmas postcard. It definitely is going to get more stuff on the background….i wasn;t going to do it…but i just can;t stand all the white space!

 

05 18 07 Postcard-Leaves

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Postcard-Leaves, originally uploaded by katiejayinpa.

This was originally meant to be a breather between working on as yet unfinished postcards. The others are very complex and i wanted something simple. I was going to use it as the front of a birthday card. Everytime i see it -it looks so empty….lol….it may get more stitching.

 

05 18 07 Postcard- TAST-Fly stitch

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Postcard- TAST-Fly stitch, originally uploaded by katiejayinpa.

Just something i played around with in dribs and drabs as i could find the time in between running the line at work…..

 

Playing with Textiles..(.05 18-07)

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Playing with Textiles…, originally uploaded by Ribbonwiz.

Ribbonwiz is otherwise known as Julia….and this is probably my most favortie one of her pieces…..to me it looks like an old painting that has accrued patina and meaning…..i can’t wait to see it finished…it is being beaded(as you can see)…it’s a largish piece . Truly I am in love with this!

 

05 08 07 Susan H’s block

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ON the left is Janie J/s silk ribbon flower spray and on the right Susan’s initial done by me. I also did the top patch on the block.

This is an overview of the whole block.

This is the fan that Janie J. put on the block. It is really cool! I love the tassel. She also embroidered a small fan on the other sie of the block and Susan N and i added a little bit to it.

These are the fargo roses and the spider web roses that Sue CQ did….you gotta see them in person!

Susan Nixon’s work..she did the filed of flowers and the ruffly silk ribbon border to the print that Susan H. pieced in. The ribbon on the ruffles is actually a much darker shade of yellow, a real true sunflower yellow. I wish I was better at taking pictures with my camera.

 

05 08 07 CQ Round Robin-Susan H’s block

 

When a friend dies…tragic picture-get out the hankie.

 

Crazy Quilt 1

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Crazy Quilt 1, originally uploaded by Pixie Dust.

 

Crazy Quilt 2

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Crazy Quilt 2, originally uploaded by Pixie Dust.

 

04 04 07 Iris Susan’s block, Sue CQ’s work

ahhh….more work by Sue CQ…she just sent me this block and it will be lovely to work on….Iris Susan just seemed to know when she pieced this block that i would love the fabrics and colors!

 

040307 CQ RR-Jane C.s work on SueCQ’s block

Isn;t this just gorgeous! Jane C. hand-dyed the lace and did everything else as well except for the roses on the right side…..that lace is so great on there…just picks up the colors in the print !
This round robin is going so nicely…I’m so happy to be doing it…some of us have known each other for about 10 years now and a couple of us are newly found friends.
I hope we can keep doing the rr for a long long time…just keep sending blocks around till they are full..lol…….

for my friends that are getting redy to celebrate Easter…good wishes to you.

ktj

 

032407 TAST -Couching

This is 6 by 4 inches, with navy blue flannel for the background. The fuzzy threads have all been couched with beads, fly stitch, herringbone stitch and a french knot here and there. The french knot couching is not very visible due to the fuzziness of the threads. Pretty fun……. VBG

 

03 22 07 In Memory of Jesse Fur-kid

Below are some pictures and a memoriam to the beloved cat of a friend.She includes the url to the Petloss page containing the poem”Rainbow Bridge”. I know all of us that have had the companionship of a four-legged friend cry when we read this. Check out the rest of the site too…. and while you are at it, pop over to Kenmaur’s Corner and let Maureen C. know you sympathise.The link is on the sidebar.

ktj

The Rainbow Bridge

Last evening I had to make the heartbreaking decision to send Jesse across the Rainbow Bridge……..
The report from his Vet was that he had a particularly aggresive tumour on his lower left jaw, which would require particularly severe surgery just to try and remove it.I felt it was unfair to cause him more trauma and discomfort …..he deserved to die with dignity.
Our caring and sympathetic Vet sent Jesse on his final journey as he snuggled in my arms .

Jesse was a major part of our family for nearly 16 years,being first saved from being a street kid as a young kitten by our daughter,and then as her circumstances changed,coming to live with us some eight years ago.

Jesse was an incredible personality………totally cool about everything;nothing fazed him and he didnt have a mean bone in his body; cheeky,mischevious and King of our other three cats.
If he had one fetish,it was shoes!
As soon as one of his humans shed their shoes,Jesse was into them—-rolling, wrestling, cuddling, and finally sleeping on them.
He was true foreman material.whatever his humans were doing,he had to check out that it was being done properly.

Billie,his “brother” for 14 years would have been waiting for him last night at Rainbow Bridge.

Thanks Jesse for your company;you will be sadly missed

 

Happy Face

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, originally uploaded by -gadgetgirl-.

 

03 11 07 Penny Candy Postcard

 

03 03 07 Maureen C.’s postcard-Spring Circus

Spring Circus
postcard for Maureen C.

Maureen, I hope you like this postcard….it is the fouth or fifth one i have made with intentions of having it be yours, the first one got to someone else by mistake…….gggggg..the second i mailed and it didn;t arrive :
Love you much…
ktj

 

03 02 07 Just some cllips for fun

 

Check out this baby boy!

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, originally uploaded by -gadgetgirl-.

 

03 01 07 On Being a High Priestess of the Tarot

Well, I took the tarot quiz to see which card i was..these things are always so much fun….we get to see if some pop-psych quiz comes close to our inner fantasy of ourselves….gggggg………i KNOW my furkids think of me as the high priestess because…..i control the food dish…and since there is not a doggie door in my kitchen back door….and they are in crates while i am at work………guess that means i also contol when they get to go to the bathroom…ahhhhhhhh, what POWER!lol….so now we know….i am the high priestess of (what did you say????, I heard that!)STUFF that goes in and comes out of my furkids! Anyway, if you would like to take this fun little test the link is on the sidebar for now.

 

02 26 07-line drawing scarab beetle in a frame

 

02 26 07 CQ RR- Sue CQ’s block

This is the work i did on Sue T.’s blocl(Sue CQ). She asked for a muted victorian look…and i have to say, that was almost as much a challenge as doing NO PINK stitching on Susan N.’s block….i am getting a real work out here! Muted is not my strong suit..gggggg… I had a piece of very wide lace and chose to re-embroider the roses and leaves that were on it….i worried that it might be too “old” looking for that lovely young girl that is peeking out….the print that was used is quite lovely and fresh looking… a young girl in a pinafore carrying hydrangeas in a basket….i originally was thinking of carrying the very pale spring green and buttery yellow that is in that print, but then i read Sue’s booklet …..so dusty roses are accompanying the young ladies girlhood years! I actually like these roses a lot, and when you see them in a thumbnail version they look pretty good…..i hope everyone else thinks so too.

 

02 26 07 CQ RR-Susan N.’s block

This is a detail from Susan N.’s crazyquilted block. We are in a cq round robin together and this block is called the “Pink Lady”. The piecing is very very nice, lots of nice easy seams to work on! And the scan does not do that print justice. It is a very clear print and the colors are bright and perfect! The roses on that hat look like they were just picked. Susan requested no pink stitching so i decided that maybe this pink lady actually was not as innocent as she looked. I made what i hope looks like black net lace on the maroon velvety patch above her and then added the very dark red bow along the seam line. The netting is made from stacked herringbone stitches with french knots at the junctions.
Hope you like it Susan!

 

02 26 07 Postcard from Margaret P.

On the crazyquilting yahoo group this past christmas we had a postcard swap. I got my addresses mixed up and sent Margaret a postcard, even though she was not in my list of swappees……….she very graciously sent me a card in return wven though she was not expected to make more than she had agreed to make. We just said do it whenever…well, whenever came today and my day was brightened by such a gorgeous card. The weather here is cold and rainy, with a little snow….this card with all it;s bright flowers is surely the boost i need! What a thrilling surprise to come home to!

 

02 26 07 Catching Up-Postcard From Susan N.

Susan N. sent me the top postcard about a month ago….the center patch is a piece of embroidered silk that she recieved along the way and the other wonderful stitching and beading is what she did ! I think it is so beautiful. Susan;s stitching is so good! I can;t believe she would use a treasured piece of embroidery in a postcard for me.The back is printed just like a real postcard with a place for a stamp and everything. As if! (I would actually mail this to someone…i am too too greedy for that…….

The bottom postcard is one i made her….it;s not mailed yet…..i was waiting to be inspired on how to finish the back but in the end i just embroidered it with my name and hers and the year….i had to do this after the post card was all put together and it was pretty tough to do…..

 

Valentine’s Day Bouquet

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Valentine’s Day Bouquet, originally uploaded by linda yvonne.

 

For my friends Maureen and Maureen.

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Contorted, originally uploaded by resinacacia.

Contorted..taken by resinacasica, from her flickr stream. Click on her name under the poicture to go there. It is worh the visit.

For my friends that like trees as much as I do!

 

01-26-07 Happy Chinese New Year

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Happy Chinese New Year, originally uploaded by gooseflesh.

Gooseflesh is doing a series on Year of the Pig, and her embroideries are really wonderful. Have you EVER seen a better way to use a simple pink button! does this capture the essense of PIG or what. Do check out her photostream, and in the meantime, i will be doing some embroidery and getting back to the blog later this evening!
If you click on the links under the picture it will take you to her photostream in flickr.

ktj

 

01 22 07 A couple of usenet snags

Here’s a couple of snags from usenet(not the web)for valentines…enjoy

 

012207 vertical water band graph(02)

Ok, here is a water band done vertically…i think this will be quite the challenge to stitch out but may well be worth it as long as i can match the colors pretty well. I designed it for 14 count over 1 but that doesn;t mean anything in the long run…..it can always be tweaked a little bit to accomodate another size.

 

01 21 07 Water band for band rr

Ok..here it is…a band graph with a water theme. Had a heck of a time with the space in between the two mirrored motifs…..i originally wanted an urn type vessel pouring out the water but none of the urn shapes i came up with were pleasing to me so i gave that up after several tries and came up with what you see there now…a sort of free form water-ish thing…….gggggg

 

01 20 07 Possible band for band rr

This is a graph of a motif i designed as a possibility for using in a band sampler round robin that i am in. It’s not cross stitch, it’s not black work, but it is counted work………lol……of course there will be other elements added(if i do decide to use it) in the blank spaces and i think other stitches besides the straight stitches and half crosses. And naturally the colors are variable. Since this is my own design, it is copyrighted to me but i am giving permission to use it for personal use…as long as the design is credited to me. thanks!

 

01 20 07 CQ round robin blocks

Here are three unembellished blocks from the CQ round robin I am in ….blocks need to be to the next person by the 1stof February and some folks have already recieved theirs, others are in the process of mailing. Here are the three that i have gotten scans of….i think they are just gorgeous!

Sue T.’s block

Susan N.’s block

Jane C.’s block

 

01 16 07 Sandie W-calling all WIPS,FITS,UFO’s and WISPS

Sandie is having quite the time being able to post to her blog at all…..and apparently there is no help forthcoming…..sooooo…she is looking around for another blogging venue…in the meantime..keep plugging away and getting those unfinished projects closer to where you want them………ggggg(i keep thinking someone is going to be shouting..yea, right, the trash can!)…..i will try to do a round up for Sandie as soon as i know from her that it is ok…and who all i should be checking….
in the meantime..happy stitching.

ktj

oh, and, on the no new blogger support theme, i am still without the comments capacity on this blog..so if there is anyone who would like to contact me my email address in on the sidebar………

 

01 13 07 Herringbone stitch on evenweave

On the cotton block 001 I used herringbone stitch on one corner and it made a pattern that i wanted to play with. i duplicated here and then tried to see how else it would look if it was repeated in more rows. Next i want to try it on plain weave again and perfect some of the spacing . My favorite result is the variegated sample of several rows.

 

01 13 07-Stitch Practice Chain stitch

here is the chain stitch practice piece finally finished….i started it so long ago that i didn;t know whether to label it under UFO’s or not…. but at any rate..here it is.
I call these things stitch practices because i am not really exploring all the variations of a sttich, I am just practicing making the stitch with ONE thread and ONE parameter. In this case it was using DMC 6 stand-one strand and figuring out what that would look like covering a solid area, or making lines….how tight of a curve or a point could i make with this stitch and what adjustments in the sttich would i need to make in order to do what i wanted….now i know! First i drew out the words…Chains of thread and chain stitched the letters..then i kept chain stitching lines with curves and made some shapes. Then I made some more lines within the shapes to make some patterns and started filling in the areas with chain stitch. 99% of the surface on this piece is chain stitch and there is some long and short and satin stitch filling in. I did that not becuase i couldn;t have used the chain stitch but because by this time i was a little tired of doing it…….lol…..you can see how that might happen I am sure.

Next up for my exploration of the chain stitch is to use a larger diameter fiber.I know this will result in open spaces in the stitch unless i pull it tight or make short sttiches so one of the challenges will be to decide to fill in the open space or leave it as is.

Bloggere still has not fixed the comments thing so if you are so inclined…here is my email: katiejayinpaATgmailDOTcom

 

01 09 07 FIT 001 Embroidery Done!

Here it is ! The embroidery is done on this block. i am determined tht i am adding nothing else to it..although i wassssss thinking about beads….lol…..
now all i have to do is make the fabric book and applique this onto the cover. I am vry pleased to have the embroidery done. I had no idea that i would be adding that much to it. I rmemeber the original intention of the cotton blocks was to make them simple and direct. So much for that.

this is a detail of the leaves that i ended up putting in one corner. I worked from a little booklet that showed the closed cretan stitch and used that stitch for them. The lighter green that you see are straight stitches inbetween the legs of the cretan stitch. While doing it all i could think of was that really the closed cretan could just as easily be called an alternating buttonhole stitch.

This is a detail of the heart motif. I added a straight stitch to the lazy daisy vine around the heart and i think it really added a little oomph. I like it quite a bit and am pleased with it!

Happy stitching y’all.

 

Recipe for Blog Helper Dave!

This is not my recipe but i have made it and it is pretty good!The only thing i changed was the pecans…..i didn;t use them, and i put the filling OVEr the first noodle in the bottom of the pan instead of under it…
Spinach Lasagne with Feta Cheese

Serves 4

Spinach ( Frozen will do)
1/2 teaspoon of grated Nutmeg
Garlic ( 1 large clove, crushed)
1 oz. Pecan Nuts ( grated)
1 1/2 oz. Plain Flour
1 1/2 oz. Butter
1 pint of Milk
Lasagne
Paprika
Pepper
8 oz. of Feta ( crumbled)
Breadcrumbs
1 large Tomato
6 Olives
Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of Mustard

Wash the spinach, don’t drain it, and put it in a saucepan together with the
nutmeg, nuts and the crushed garlic. To a second saucepan, add the butter, flour
and the milk and slowly bring to the boil stirring all the time over a low heat.
‘Cook the flour out’ for at least three minutes then add 6 oz. of the crumbled
feta, the mustard and the pepper. In an ovenproof dish, spread the spinach over
the base and top with the remaining feta. Cover the feta with the lasagne
sheets. Finish off by spreading the Bechamel sauce over the top then sprinkle
with breadcrumbs and the paprika. Arrange the tomato slices, sprinkled with
dried basil and olive oil, over the sauce and add the olives. Bake on the top
shelf of a moderately hot oven ( Gas Mark 6 / 400F / 200 C) for at least 25
minutes. As feta is a salty cheese, there is no need to add more to this recipe.

 

01 05 07 CQ Round Robin and just stuff

Susan Nixon;s Pink Lady

Seven of us are in a private crazyquilting round robin. Several of us have known each other for years and have done quite a bit of stitching together, and others are newly met friends. One of those newly met friends is Susan Nixon. She has her block all ready to go. It’s a lovely block …don;t know what size it is but I do know that the things you see on it are not attached. They are being auditioned and she will be sending around this block to us completly empty! What this means is that there is going to be room for us to stitch and i can;t wait…the ideas have already begun to flow. I just hope that by the time it gets to me, there will be some space left!

One of the other women in the rr asked what sort of things we were doing….my answer was that i was going to pick the first 20 fabric scraps i had laying around and i would put the first 7 of those that were big enough on a foundation. That will be a far cry from this wonderfully pieced block!

On another note, i have been stitching some on the little FIT block i posted yesterday and have also done more on the one corner with herringbone wide band. If this block were not going to be used on a book cover i think i would bead that seam, but i don’t like using beads on things that will see heavy? use.However, I have decided to get out a piece of evenweave and do this band again and see what i can come up with.

And yet again…on yet another note, a friend from Canada (Nikki) and I have been talking about making January our month to celebrate and to share with each other what we are celebrating. I love New Year’s for the very reason that it signifies beginning, trying again….and in a sense, a re-committment to values, and value-ing yourself, life, and by extension other’s lives and selves.Even though every moment is a beginning, it helps me to have a symbol…it reminds me to live NOW…not to wait till i have “time” not tow ait till i am done with the housework, or wait till i feel better, or wait till……whatever…….but I think it is important to be engaged in the moment you are in….and every moment is NOW….there is no other moment and so….i have realized that i have many things to celebrate just today.
1. I went to the Zen center this morning and recieved instructions on doing chiden in the center. That means that once a week I help take care of the various altars that are in different rooms. Since steps are very difficult for me, another person is also doing chiden for the upstairs altars. They must be dusted, and vessels for offering incense must be sifted and cleaned of debris. The candle holders must be cleaned, pictures dusted and flowers must be refreshed. The altars are different sizes and some are simply small small shelves attached to a wall with a picture, an incense holder, candle and small vase for a single flower and a piece of greenery. There are larger surfaces also that serve as altars and in the Zendo itself there is a beautiful free-standing altar. We learned how to arrange the flowers so that they lean forward in front of the greens that are placed in the vase with them. We also learned placement of various articles on the surfaces and it was all very wonderful to learn. This will be a three month assignment.

I am also celebrating today two rather mundane but related things….one i resisted the very strong urge to go food shopping! I recognized that i would was using it as an excuse to get next to the candy aisle…..oh that chocolate has my name on it!
The other thing i did was COOK! amazing….yes, me, i actually chopped and seasoned food, then put it on a burner….and yes, it was good!Of course it was a simple thing and took all of five minutes to get into the pan……but you know what, for the most part of the last 12 years i considered heating water in the microwave to be cooking………ggggggg.So who knows, it’s January 5th 2007, aqnd if i can repeat this scenario with the food, i just might lose weight and have less pressure on the joints…and feel better too-what could be bad?????

 

01-03-07 FIT progress and more herringbone

Before I talk about the pics below I want to say that on the Stitching Post blog:

here.

There have been some new posts for the Paisley challenge. Mandy H. has been learning how to wet felt and also free motion embroider…you should see the three paiselies she has come up with. One is a very bright wet felted motif, another piece has two paisely the same done with FME and the third piece used machine stitched paiselies as a repeat on the background and a slipped paisely for the foreground….i won;t spoil it by describing any of them in detail….just go see for yourself! Mandy also has her own blog

here.

Also, try as I may, i cannot seem to get the comments turned back on for the posts….have a post in blogger help about it so maybe it will get figured out. In the meantime, any comments can be directed to me through my email address at the right in the sidebar.

The first pic below shows the further working on the first cotton block i have chosen to work on for Sandie’s
UFO challenge.
I have done some work on the motif in the middle adding some running stitches and then some filled lazy-daisies around the circles. I also did some work on the seam with the orange-y flowers but i am not nuts about it and it either needs ripped out(the yellow stitches) or added to. I also added some chain stitch lines around some of the edges which i think adds a certain sense of boundary to it. And, i have been adding another set of wide band border type stitches in the upper left. It is based on the herringbone and is not finished by a long shot. There is a detail of it in the second pic.

This wide band stitched border is based on the herringbone…with some straight stitches at the little crossed intersection and then horizontal straight stitches in between the crossed parts to give it an overall look of being tiled….then i did some fly stitches…to me it makes a great looking lattice just as it is.And I can certainly see filling a larger area with this as an allover pattern. However, i won;t be filling the orange patch with this, but i will be working more on it. Haven;t decided exactly what to do but there will be much more done in the spaces and possibly on the inside edges. Stay tuned…lol……

 

Herringbone Stitch

Sharon’ s Take A Stitch Tuesday has started off with the herringbone stitch and she provided a number of really attractive ways of using this stitch to make combination stitch bands as seam treatments for cq. It is a fortuitoous coiincidence that the first FIT that i have chosen to work on this year as part of Sandie W.’s challenge is a block with a wide band seam treatment made up of stacked herringbone stitch and “embellishers” in the spaces.

The detail is above and the full block it was taken from was posted on Dec 15th.

 

Stitching on break-pt 4-Blackwork design

I really really liked that snowflake (see previous posts from this evening) and decided I just had to try developing a blackwork band from it. What i came up with is really a border design and i like it very much.I actually charted this one out before trying to stitch it. It takes a lot of concentration!

 

Stitching On Breaks-pt.3

This is another small piece of Aida that i had in the workbox and i decided after doing the band sampler band that i better practice….this is a sort of design as you go thing(as were the three small motifs on the previous piece). As you can see it’s not done but i sure have learned a lot about what NOT to do! The green buttonholing was put around the edge to keep it from unravelling more than it had. It will be taken off when i am done but it did give me ideas for doing other small pieces.More than likely I will make a coaster out of this and keep it as a reminder of all the ways you can mess up something as simple as crossing two pieces of thread in an X .

 

Stitching on Breaks-pt. 2

I SAID i was going to start on next year’s postcards(this year’s now.lol) early!
I had a small sqaure of Aida and decided to cross stitch some small motifs to use on the next batch of holiday postcards.

#1 is the first one I did….did the word first and decided it needed a border. Then decided it needed snowflakes.

#2 is what happened when i looked at the snowflakes and wondered what they would look like if they were all in a row.

#3 is what happened when i wanted to use the basic design for the snowflake and see if it would make a good blackwork motif.

 

What I do on breaks at work-pt.1

Neck Pillow block 3

a number of years ago i put together 3 5 inch blocks in a horizontal row and machine buttonhooled the patches in black thread. My idea was to concentrate on filling each patch with something and not worry about the seam treatments. It got put away and i took it out not more than a couple of weeks ago while rummaging in the FITS drawer….took it to work and have been working on it on the breaks. The other two blocks are fully embroidered but this one is what needed done.

This is a detail iimage of one of the patches…it was so much fun and i consider it the best patch on the block…I took crochet thread and stacked three running stitches and interlaced them..(ala the center of the guilloche stitch-)after that i did buttonholing on the interlaced threads and this is what i came up with.

 

Band Sampler

This is the band i did for my own sampler….the Stitching Post is doing a band sampler(counted work on even weave) round robin…we each do the first band on our own sampler then pass it on to the next person…..it didn;t take all that long to do but i sure made some mistakes and must have unstitched a section about three times before i finally got the count right.

 

FITS challenge-project for January

Well, here it is..lol…..the FITS(UFO) project that i am going to finish in January.
I have an odd assortment of smallish cotton blocks that are part way embroidered. This one is actually most of the way embroidered but still needs some work in various areas. I have indicated on the scan where i am going to do the work and after that I am going to turn this block into the cover for a small fabric booklet. Just something with a few pages that i can fill with various things. I want to make so that i can send like a multipaged card of good wishes to a friend of mine. The part that i am committing to for January is to get the front cover done, and then make the booklet itself. The inner pages will be done one at a time as I can….but definitely they will be a priority and probably will end up being the thing i do each month as a ufo…..hopefully it won;t take very many months!

 

The postcards I made for the swap

Here are the five postcards that i made for the swap…I feel so guilty cause none of them are the caliber of what i recieved. I have one more to do cause i made a mistake and sent one to someone who was not on my list. I don;t want to say which one it was in case she has not recieved it yet. I learned so much making these cards….especially about finishing the edges of them….that is the one part i am very pleased with.

 

To CrazyquiltingFriends,Learn to Embroider and Stitching Post members

I was working the day Thanksgiving was celebrated in the United States, but that happens to be one holiday that i can celebrate anywhere, no matter what. It’s my favorite because it really is about connection…..connection with friends, with family….and with yourself as well……understanding that we are connected by being alive….and if we allow it….we have have much to offer and much to receive….to be simply and deeply grateful is not necessarily a religious idea…all one needs is to recognize that no accomplishment is made individually alone……food is available because others grow it, yet others pick it, and someone else probably packaged it and drove the truck the brought it…..the clothes we wear, the furniture we use is the embodiment of the labor of countless others….and no matter what we subscribe to as the reason for life…..we are in fact connected;it is simply a matter of opening the heart and recognizing that no one succeeds alone..we share the planet and each moment connected to each other.
I would like to take this particular moment to thank the members of the Crazyquiltingfriends list, and the Learn to Embroider list…and the Stitching Post list for being open to the connections that we have made…for whatever reason and on whatever basis. My life is enriched and my heart is glad. So many of us are going through some pretty tough times right now….if not we ourselves, then someone we love dearly.

The CQF is different than the LTE and the Sp lists….having as it’s basis the friendship that has formed between a number of people who have known each other quite a while. It is also similar to the LTE and SP in that it opens itself with arms wide to newcomers. On all three of these lists I have met people that care about me and check on me if i am not around…..they try to cheer me up when i am blue and feel bad if i feel bad…..and the same is true in reverse…..there are many many cyber hugs passing back and forth between here (????-where IS here when you are on the internet???) and Australia…and England, and California….and North Carolina….and much appreciation for the willingness to share what we know and love with each other..

To all the members of these three lists…..i wish to thank you for accepting me…for being willing to read posts, put up with my ups and downs and lack of organziation…..i want to thank you for confiding in me when you have…trusting me to care, and caring back.I thank you all for the opportunity to be connected.

 

Treasures

This has been the month from hell physically…..it’s too long a story and very boring on top of that, but suffice it to say it will take a long time for the pain levels to go down to more or less tolerable. However…..it has eased up quite a bit and my computer is back up to speed as well….so here i am……finally!

ONe thing i have to say though, it hasn;t been the month from hell for friendship…quite the wonderful opposite. I have been on the recieving end of beautiful fiber postcards that were exchanged in a swap on the CrazyquiltingFriends list on Yahoo. Sandie does such a great job on that list….it really is like an e-home!

Take a look at the postcards below and see if you don;t agree with me that they are just incredible and wonderful.,…and every other superlative that i can find.No amount of physical pain can take away or dampen the wonderfullness that they are!

Sandie Wilmott

Sandie Wilmott

This is Sandie’s card…the finest most even stitching..a single strand of thread and just perfect…..Sandie made all her cards in white with stunning accents and all of us who have been lucky enough to recieve one have had the same reaction-pure elegance!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Catherine Scott

This is such a warm and inviting card…isn;t it lovely….take a good look at that Santa face..is that the kindest,gentlest look you have ever seen…..it’s like he’s saying..that’s ok…I know you’ve REALLY been good…..i love the SRE flowers and the red bugle beads inverting the colors on the foliage. Very very cool!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Maureen Curlewis

Maureen says she doesn’t like the red lacy knit, but i think it is perfect. I hope she finds yards and yards of it in her stash somewhere and decides it needs a new home………..gggggg….well, ok, one yard ought to do me for a few years…this is such a well put together card…i love the balance of the colors and the stitching….ok…i love everything about it….

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ulla F.

This card is such a treasure…..i adore cross stitch, especially when it is pieced into cq….and this angel is just the right amount of detail without being fussy. The card is just gorgeous. I have such a long way to go to be good enough for these cards.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Maureen Bond

If you look closely and really take notice you will see the most delicate curl to the flower petals in the upper left hand corner….this flower was made with the finest silk gauze…it;s amazing…Maureen cut the petals out of silk teabags! That tells you the size she was working with. There is something so elegant about the simplicity of the compositiion..I can;t really put it into words why it affects me so much, but i just find myself reacting to it so positively.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
Maureen Curlewis-Winter Haiku

I saved this one for last although if I had been able to scan them as the cards came in, it would have been the first image..this is the first fiber postcard I ever recieved….I wish you all could see it in person….the sheer overlay has angelina fibers in it so that it sparkles….there are ab bugle beads stitched on to represent ice and sleet…this is truly a winter card. When i first saw this card on Maureen’s blog it was love at first sight….the single tree and the sloping lines have such a sense of space…and endurance.This tree, bowed but not broken….
and maureen was kind enough to send it to me as a sort of swap in trust.

 

11- 05-06 Postcard 2 finished/thoughts on UFO’s

TheCQF group on yahoo is doing a holiday postcard swap and this the second one i have done. The third.fourth and fifth ones are in the works, with #3 almost done. I am glad to say that cause they have to be in the mail no later than 17th of this month…..needless to say i am pushing the deadline here….lol….

The white part on the left side is stuffed to look like mounds of snow…and the pinkish stitches you see are not really pink, it;s an ab specialty thread that reflects light in different ways. For the life of me i had no idea how to make a little cottage in the country with all the trimmings in such a small space. After i did the outline i went nuts looking for a wee wee miniature wreath…it would have had to be about 1/8th inch wide all told…..and no way could i find one in the usual stores…..then i went looking for fabric that might have tiny houses on it that i could applique…nope, all too big….soooo, this little brown country saltbox is stranded there in the snow.
===================================================================================

Sandie W. has put out a challenge to the rest of the stitching world….on her blog,
ABeautifulCraft
are more details, but the upshot is to try to finish those undone as yet projects in 2007 and blog our progress. These undone as yet projects are also known as:

WIPS-works in progress
WISPS-Works in SLOW progress
UFO’s-unfinished objects……….
and for some of us…. formerly interesting things(FITS)

On her blog Sandie explains why she has a collection of UFO’s and in an email conversation I enumerated the reasons why i have a drawerful of FITS…..and starts. And with encouragement from her…i now post them….(not in order of importance.)

1. once i learn the technique i get bored with the project sometimes.
2. sometimes while learning a technique i jump way ahead of it and want to try the next step asap!
3. sometimes if it doesn;t come out the way i think i want it and it is taking longer than i thought..or is harder than i thought then i put it aside till i either have time or patience…and then it sits!
4. My finishing skills are lousy..and i often will set something aside becuase i don;t know how to finish it and have it look nice too.
5. by the time i am near done with something, i am often so bored with it i don;t even want to see it again…unless it is for someone else….
6.I really have been impatient at times and jump from project to project.
7. i have so little time to stitch most of the time that i really coulnd;t finish anything but committments ..but i love to try things.

how’s that for a fistfull of reasons……..and i think one of the main things is that i need to leverage a little discipline into it!

 

10-27-06 Piecework Magazine

I wish i could show you some of the contents of this issue of Piecework magazine….it is chock full of stuff that stitchers love…information about various types of stitching..history, some how-two and some patterns, but for crazyquilters and others who use things other than threads alone, this is an especially wonderful issue cause is tells you how to make crochet covered buttons! They are gorgeous! I can see them on almmost anything…a cq, an embroidered piece that wants texture and suggestion of shape….and of course, clothing.

There is also a project for a knitted, embroidered and then finally felted pillow.
It can be found on on their website.

PW MAG

There is also an ad for the 2007 costume calendar that sounds just full of eyecandy! That can be bought from the Texas Tech University Press-the Costume Society of America is putting out these calendars yearly as part of a Historic Fashion Series.
PO BOX 41037 Lubbock Texas 79409-1036(TTUPress)

Does anyone here remember all the felt kits you could(and probably still can) buy for things like christmas ornaments and such….all the tiny figures you had to cut out and embellish with sequins and tiny stitches? Well, there is a full article on a tree skirt that was made like this and it is gorgeous. The only time i ever had the money to buy one of those kits, i was so disappointed in my lack of patience and skill…i just couldn;t get those tiny figures stitched! Here is someone who actually got the whole thing done and the results are so nice.And of course there is a pattern for a gret bird ornament. My favorite kind!

I don;t want to spoil everything, but there are more and more and more wonderful articles…beading…needlelace, some Chinese embroidery with a pattern…the whole issue is just wonderful.

 

10 27 06 2nd Postcard-WIP

Have the second postcard started..I have begun to use a timer in the sewing room….and i found that it took 1/2 our start to finish to get a postcard pieced and with the basting stitch all around the outside. This will help me figure out a time frame to get the others done.

ktj

 

10 25 06 Xmas Post card done!(1)

Below are the two sides of the First Xmas postcard i finished to my satisfaction. I am so pleased with it.lol…..
I fused the front and back to their own seperate pieces of heavyweight interfacing and then fused them together, then whipstitched the edges all around and added a puurely decorative buttonhole stitch to the front.

 

10 24 06 Re-embroidered butterfly

I have been going nuts trying to make fabric postcards that have a finished edge i can accept for myself….i like having a nice, neat edge with no little hairs or fuzzies….and i don;t mind at all having a nice machine satin stitch as long as it doesn;t end up all fuzzy…………welllll…..it just may take me a long time to get that down pat with my machine. So instead of the fiber postcard i wanted to post, here is a piece of work from the past……….a re-embroidered butterfly. It’s part of the weave of the fabric and i used single strand metallics and other threads on it.

 

Eve’s Dragonfly scissors bag

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Dragonfly scissors bag, originally uploaded by dreamdress2.

On the LTE we have been doing small bags and Eve is on a roll! This is her second one and i can see her doing these forever! They are very easy to make and the creative possibilites are endless, as Eve so well shows us!

ktj

 

10-22-06 More of Nikki’s Work

This is some cross stitch and beading as a seam treatment that Nikki did on a round robin many years ago….isn;t it great!All of her stitching is such a treat to see.

ktj

 

10-19 06 Nikki’s woven tapestry

This is a tapestry done by my friend Nikki Y. from Canada. It is her first one. Everything she does is perfect. She is incredibly talented and pays attention to details like nobody else I know.

ktj

 

10-16-06 Kate L’s heart!

Well, it has certainly been longer than i expected to get back to blogging …
Here is a picture of the heart i recieved from Kate L. from Denmark….the scan really doens;t show how vibrant the green color is…and how wonderful the little oblong pearl-type beads look in the row..they are so soft and have such a nice sheen. It’s a delightful contrast that you see in this block up close…the gold on the fabric and the shiny sequins….I am so happy to have recieved this heart!

I need to hurry up and make some more hearts!

happy stitching to all…

 

10 05 06 Tagged! 5 weird things…………

well, I am tagged! Not once, but twice,
first

Jo from NZ

of paisley and sequin flowers fame, but also Sandie W. from

A Beautiful Craft

.
Hearing from

Norma

and she had also been tagged so those three are definitely out! So, what i decided to do was tag some folks that don’t really know me from Adam but whose work i really like and whose blogs i enjoy seeing. I hope you agree with me that they are worth the visit!
First up is

Alma Stoller

who has such playful and delightful work…today she is featuring a tutorial on polymer clay. If you are at all interested, this is a must-see.

Next is

Annie W.

who is doing a tut of sorts on chickens…you’ll just have to go visit and see it for yourself…and whiile you are there…check everyhting else out too!

I don’t know how many folks know

Cecelia from Brazil

but she does some fantastic redwork and quilting…she is also crazyquilting and has some lovely seam treatments going!

Gail’s blog

is a wonderful mix of things, but what i love the most is that everyone is smiling! She is SO upbeat it’s a pleasure to read and she does awesome fiber ATC’s. She even has a cool tut about them as well.

This is Gerry’s blog

which is visually beautiful and chock full of interesting things if you take the time to read the sidebars and the entries….if you scroll down a bit you can see the links to last several years of Hoffman Challenge winners…that;’s some serious eye candy!

Now, 5 weird things about me….well, ummm….lets see…..how to pick….

well, my coworkers think everything is weird about me, from my name to my furkids names…. is that 1???

I have lived at my present home for about 10 years and have no rugs….most people would think that;’s weird, but it makes cleaning up so so much easier…..lol..and easy is what i am after!

Ok, here’s number three….I am the only buddhist in my county….i think that is amazing, but maybe it also qualifies as weird….

I have one small mirror in the bathroom, a little hand held one to make sure my hair is not sticking out all over the place .

And….#5..I guess, speaking about hair, it’s very very short…very very short….did I mention that it was short….and i cut it myself.Except for the ones that are bald, everyone I know has longer hair than me.

I would have loved to tag everyone I know…..

like Susan N.the traveller

and

Barbara C.

who has some really interesting things on her blog all the time.

and Julia C’s blog

Camille’s Place

that showcases some exquisite embroidery and hand dyed laces.

If I keep going…the list will be too too long….enjoy!

 

10 05 06 Moving things around day

What a total mess….am moving things around in theroom i use for an office and i can;t believe what an ordeal it is….running extension cords, putting in lightbulbs, which means finding the step stool, figuring out how to untangle the cables into the PC tower….moving the peripherals…..arghhhh….now all i have to do is the major clean up! I know you all wanted to know this….lol…

happy stitching.
ktj

 

10 03 06 Bonnard

Every time I see this image, I imagine it interpreted in french knots and silk ribbon…this is Bonnard’s “Garden in the Midi”, painted about 1943.

 

10 02 06 Frernch Knots and Dover Publishers

There was a small discussion on the Stitching Post list about french knots. These three images from some antique Chinese embroidery are what has inspired me to try to do french knots as well and evenly as i possibly can. It’s not till you get to the detail image that you realize that the shading is not from shaded satin stitching but from french knots!

overview of the panel

A little closer

Closest

This work is all done in silk.Till I can do something anywhere near this, i consider that i don;t know how to do a french knot!
===============

Nothing new just a bunch of appointments all this week and squeezing in time for stuff is getting a little harder……..but I will be posting a little bit of a tut on satin stitching….just a few pictures of beginning to cover an area.

This is from the Dover Sampler series, which you can get mailed to you each week from Dover Publishing. The link is on the sidebar and what happens is that every week they send you a selection of titles and samples from thsoe books. Some of them are pages of text, but many are illustrations. They are free to download and Dover even includes the download instructions with the sampler. It’s a wonderful way to not only actually get some graphics, but also to see what is out there. Dover Publishing is one of the places that artists and craftspeople can count on for affordable sources for designs and motifs.

happy stitching

ktj
================================================================================

 

10 01 06 World Peace Day

Today is a major Buddhist holiday..it is World Peace Day,when Buddhists of many countries have special ceremonies in conjunction with sitting zazen.

This is not an image I have made, but to me it says peace and tranquility.

I wish you all peace, serenity, and a way out of the dark places.
ktj

 

09 30 06

Nothing new, just uploaded a nice nostalgia image to print, or use as inspiration.Even if i have no embroidery to upload here, i will almost always make sure that i change the Motif A Day image. And of course i try very hard to add more links every day from the interesting places i come across.

Janie—–i have just gotten up(late late late) and will have to get in gear to take that little walk.

OK JANIE! i did, it;s pouring rain here now so i am glad that i got it in before it really started, although it did start pouring while i was out…that;s ok, at least i got some in> Thanks for doing this with me.

By the way, for anyone interested in fibromyalgia, the best website on the net for information is The Orgeon Fibromyalgia Foundation. The link is on the sidebar.

ktj

 

09 29 06 Me and Janie J.

What a nice day for me…i actually got things done. I finally decided that I actually must do some excercizing and walking if I am going to get the fibromyalgia under control…and that’s what i have ben doing for the past couple of days. Nothing major mind you, and i don;t walk very far and certainly not very fast but it is being done.Janie J. and I have decided to check in with each other every day and make sure we are doing what we need to do to keep our health from spiralling down.So, Janie…..yes! I did it ……gggggg.

Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to walk, exercize AND go up and down the stairs a few times before getting worn out.

Anyway, nothing on the embroidery front today, have spent the dayso far doing chores and having a lunch with an elderly friend at the local family restaraunt chain.

ok, back to work!
==================================================================================

 

09 27 06 Can she get any more ladylike??

Took this one last night and dl’d it to the computer a little bit ago…i was struck by the easy elegance of this pose…..she is SUCH a lady.

 

09 27 06 Redwork Piece

This is a piece of redwork I did several years ago for an overseas friend. It is an adaptation of a plant illustration from a coloring book and because it was so detailed with so many small areas it got done in maroon sewing thread…one good thing was that i didn;t worry about running out of the thread!It was 8.5 by 11.

 

09 26 06 WIP small embroidery

A small embroidery for the fun of it…lots of shapes and textures.There are some things that will look very different in the finished piece. In the oval empty spaces near to the right side i want to do some stitching that will be reminiscent of leaves. The purply blob on the left needs something to make it less.ummm. aggressive in the piece, but not sure what i will do.

 

09 25 06 100 details-002

When I finally did the first one, I had to laugh cause it ws so late in the game, and right after I got this one done, the scanner and the computer decided to quit talkiing to each other(AGAIN!)so now it is even later……..but here it is. The same folk art colors and this time i did add a little wooden seed bead.

======================================================

And just because they are so much fun, here’s another color swatch………

and another color block…lol….

 

09 24 06 Sunday Already

It seems like just yesterday that I was wondering if i would get anything done this week…and now i know….and the answer isssssssssssssssss..not much..unfortunately!

Of course playing around on the computer doesn;t interfere at all!

Having so much fun doodling in Paint.

The M.A.Day is a line drawing of a grey scale image that has been posted previously. It is two birds on a very leafy ranch. It is copyright free.

Happy stitching.

 

For 09 23 06 Two Paislies on M.A.D. and Mija pic

Here is a picture of my female pup. She is so incredibly sweet. She is far more eager and willing to please that her brother Sin Huevos and wags her tail ALL the time. Both she and her bro have beautiful smiles and maybe one day i will be able to capture them.

And here is another of the two of them. i have this terrible feeling that now that i have a digital camera i am going to end up one of those people that just has a million pics of the babies and shares them at the drop of a hat….lol………..

Also, on the Motif a Day page (under “collections” in the sidebar) there are two paislies. They are adaptations of paislies from a Dover collection.If you read the sidebar on the M.A.Day Series you will know that the previous entries are deleted when the new one goes up.

And finally…more of the Easy Share software…i love it…it allows you to edit a picture(or graphic) in “coloring book” mode…………which means it makes black and white outline graphics of pics….this is a great feature.You can easily begin to embroider a photo of…oh, let’s say my dogs! Here’s one from the bunch of photos I took this evening.

Some of the lines need to be darkened but otherwise this is just a great thing. I did this as well to some color vector clips i had of birds and the outlines are dark, sharp and clear. I don;t know if you can get this software without buying the camera, but if you can, and it is not exhorbitantly priced, this feature is just the greatest!

I have been having a lot of fun with my programs as you can see, so i thought i would share another color swatch..these are more fun than jelly beans……..lol…..so here’s “golden glow” for want of a better name.

 

09 22 06 Color Swatch-Peach

The Motif A Day can be found under “Collection” on the side bar, and today is a greyscale of two birds on a leafy branch. It was greyscaled from photo and i thought this would be an easier way to see the basic shapoes and outlines.

Got the scanner back running and even have figured out some things on the new digital camera..i am pretty excited about the new ways of capturing and keeping images!
Have also been playing around in MS Paint and my PSP program just to remind myself of the tools available. Here’s a color swatch i came up with in PSP. It was made by using the airbrush tool at its largest(and therefore most diffuse spray of color) setting. I thought it would make a really pretty piece of fabric so i saved the basic swatch.

 

009 21 06 Paisley Challenge and a pic of Sin Huevos

Sin Huevos! Here’s a pic of the male puppy and one of the two lights of my life!

Paisley Challenge in progress report………lol
Stitched more on the Stitching Post Paisley Challenge piece and made many design decision and laid out more of the main areas.

Overview

Detail

 

09 21 06 Motif a day for today and stuff…

The Motif a Day can be found on the side bar under “collections’

Todays graphic is one i did and it is of course marked with a copyright and is for personl use only. It is a 4by6 landscape. It’s just basic outlines and i thoutt it would be cool to use as the starting point for a fabric postcard. Or even for paper arts….the line drawing could easily be fused to some non woven interfacing and cut a part for templates.
I f any decided to try using this drawing in any way, i would love to see the results. Just give me an email to the link and i will be happy to include it here! :>)

Otherwise, not much, still waiting to see if the scanner is amont the living, or do i need to get a new one.I have the camera that i am slowly figureing out to use but i am not sure it will ever be as convenient as a scanner. Guess we’ll see. Have been busily sleeping trying to get rid of some aches and pains……..lol…and embroidering on on the Stitching post Paisley challenge.

I have also started and am just about done with a 4×6 size piece that i thought for sure would be going thorugh the mails…but as usual, i got very carried away with texture and i have a feeling this one is staying home with me….

ktj

 

09 20 06 Two Small Spot Motifs CF

Today there are two small spot motifs in color. Check in the sidebar under “collections”.
have fun.

ktj

 

09 19 06

The Motif A Day series for today is a copyright free goldfish from a stencil.You can access it by clicking on the “collections” link in the sidebar.
enjoy.

 

09 18 06 Motif a day series info/links etc

The Motif A Day Series can be accessed by using the side bar and clicking on it under the word “Collections”.When I add a new pic, the old one will be deleted. It seems that blogger occasionally changes the extension from .gif to.png.
I will try to catch these before publishing, but if you find a png, it will still save and you can then do a conversion to jpg or whatever you like in your editing program.

Irfan view is free and easy and does it.

Irfanview

And thanks to Lou Anne S. for bringing it to my attention that some of the graphics were .pngs and that the email address i put in the welcome section didn;t have the .com on it.

I add links every single day to the sidebar to the various categories. They are not labelled “new” or anything, but if you know of a place that you think would fit in one of the categories very well, please don;t hesitate to let me know. I’ll check it out. My email is in the side bar.

 

09 14 06 Satin Stitched Flowers

Ati asked a question of the LTE list about what threads to use for satin stitching. In the discussion i mentioned that i would put up this photo of using sewing thread for satin stitches. Here it is. The threads used for the flowers are for the most part rayon40/3 and some 30/3 along with some flower thread and cotton sewing thread. The piece measure 3 inches top to botton and just under 3.5 inches across.

 

Update on the Paisley Challenge

Here’s the url to the SP blog, where members are busy stitching.
The Stitching Post Blog: Paisley Challenge For Stitching Post Members

Over on the Stitching Post blog members are posting their versions of a paisley designed by Sharon B.The link above takes you to the post that explains the challenge and also the pictures of the member’s work. It also included the link to the original designs as posted by Sharon on herblog

. Scroll down a bit and you will see them.
My scanner is still not being recognized by the computer AGAIN! so i have to wait to post any pics of what i have been doing recently!

ktj

 

A book that is a must have!

For the discriminating gift giver and person with a sense of humor: go check this out and see if you don;t have the wild urge to buy this book!It’s called

Killer Slippers and How to Make Them

the link is the side bar as it is too long to show up here…..

ktj

 

09 08 06 Sandie W.’s Heart arrived!

This wonderful piece of stiching arrived in the mail with a lovely note and some goodies…oooh the lace butterfly, and the gold one………AND the piece of hand-dyed silk ribbon….thanks you so much Sandie for the work you put into the heart and for being so thoughtful to include little lovely bits!

I really am living among the angels!

ktj

 

09 07 06 Susan N.’s heart recieved!

Here is Susan Nixon’s heart that i got in the mail today! Along of course with a wonderful note and some lovely bits and pieces…..especially mind boggling were the extremely small seed beads……gggggg….will have to look for a needle small enough and a magnifying glass big enough! Thank you Susan for this lovely treat!

 

09 07 06 Seam 001 -100 details in HOW may days(old post edited)

I am so late getting to do this….gggggggg, it;s more like 100 details in a couple of years for me….but here it is, the first one, from day one…

This is actually based on Sharon’s 100 details, day one. If you look closely at it you can see that it really is a series of alternating tirangles, slightly off set because of the bead along the central line….. i drew out the basic lines so that i could go into my sewing room and still remember it! The thread i chose didn;t seem to go well with beads, although now that i have done the seam, i think that some small wooden seed -type beads in bright colors would have done very well. At any rate, what I did was stitch the central horizontal line in blue, add the triangle lines and decided to put a french knot in orangey brown where Sharon had a bead. Pearls just would not have made it here..lol….anyway, i then whipped the lines and the french knot disappeared visually! So of course, i had to find a way to bring it back out, so I wrapped the knot in purple round and round, putting a straight stitch on either side to hold the threads. ok, fine….what next???? Well, in place of the bugle beads(which I had EVERY intention of putting in the seam when i started it) i ended up with bullions. No heart beads, no candy colored flower buttons which i thought would be pretty cool actually, so french knots it was in bright yellow. I really was tired of the values by the time the bright yellow came round and it was a natural choice to brighten it all up…and then, because there there were so many colors by this time, i decided to add the extra line of yellow along the triangles. I think it works very well and looks like a folk art seam to me….so that is what i am calling it, folk art seam 001.

Sharon’s day one seam treatment can be found here-just scroll to the bottom of the page!

Day One

ktj

 

09 07 06 Hearts recieved

When I first joined the COH Susie Watts sent me a heart without seeing anything I had embroidered. I love this heart, it is so quiet and peaceful..neat and calm. When I scanned the hearts not too long ago i put them on flickr thinking that they would get more exposure that way, but I have decided that they belong here as well….after all this is getting to be the real record of my stitching experiencec, and the swap is part of that.

This is Susie’s heart for me.

TRhis next heart is from Belinda Sweeney and i think there is already a picture of it on the blog, but since i like to be organized( roflmao) i want to keep all the hearts i have recieved so far in a row…..ggg..this is the second heart I got and it was a surprise. WOW! Can you imagine getting this unexpectedly…isn;t it gorgeous?

The next two hearts I recieved on the same day…I opened the one from Norma Harris first, so i will show it first….i love hardanger, and this is just the perfect heart for me.. her work is so lovely…it couldn;t be more elegant in my book!

And this wonderful heart is from Kathleen Casey for whom i shall always have a soft spot…..look closely and you will see all the buttonholes stitch flowers behind the ribbon sunflower, and you will also see the other buttonhole on the right side. I think it is a fence, but what it REALLY is is a supreme effort to master a stitch and put something wonderful on a heart. I adore this effort, and i adore the end result.

If you like these hearts, please visit the sites of the gals that made them and let them know-

Susie W’s site

Bear’s Den

Norma’s Blog

Not sure if Kathleen has a url for a blog or flickr account or not, am waiting to hear from her, so in the meantime, if you wouldlike, please comment under her picture and i will make sure she gets the compliments! OF COURSE they will be complements!

ktj

 

09 06 06 Paisley Challenge Begun

This is the begining of a 6 by 4 postcard of a paisley design challenge in the Stitching Post group. Sharon B. graciously allowed use of her paisley designs for us to embroider and interpret. The challenge is to take one of the three designs she posted on her blog and interpret it in any size and any technique. We can add design lines but not take any of Sharon’s original lines out. This one has lines added, but i have a feeling that they will be changing as the embroidery progresses.

You can see Sharon’s designs

here

 

09 02 06 Fake Gold check on rr patch

This is a detail from a rr i worked on about 6 years ago…this was some fake gold check that i saw at some chain crafts store and had no idea what to do with it. What a major pain it was to couch down without having it completely flatten out.

ktj

 

08 25 06 Center Stitching on Small Bag

In Learn To Embroider, One of my Yahoo stitching groups,
LTE

we are making a small bag using black felt and simple stitches. The black felt is cut into a square and then put on point. You embroider down the central diagonal and then on each side of that line of stitching you do the same thing….when the piece is covered it gets fused to another piece of felt to stiffen it, then folder and sewn in such a way that you have a kite shaped little bag. Here is the beginning of mine. I am using worsted weight knitting yarn that is variegated in colors that i especially like and to me they look pretty great against the felt. I will definitely be making more of thee, but hope to find some heavier weight felt next time.

Let me know what you think.

 

0-8 07 06 More Victorian CQ(old post)

 

08 07 06 Victorian CQ’s(old blog post)

 

08 02 06 Fabric PC tutorial on Calidore’s blog(old blog post)

Calidore’s Garden Ramblings: Crazy Quilted Postcards Tutorial

You will find a wonderful wonderful tutorial on making a fabric postcard on Catherine of the Garden’s Blog It is thorough, good pictures, simple to follow and full of good tips! Is there more you could ask for?

I am working on the Chain Stitch practice piece(see below several entries down)and getting ready to start a small project for the beginner list -

Learn To Embroider

this is not really a Learn to CQ list, or Learn to do this or that, it really is what is sounds like…Learn to Embroider…basic stitches, threads, fabrics etc etc….and there will of course be stuff about particulars ——-gggggg…if i know any or any of the members know something particular to teach….although if you are that good in any one technique, LTE might be pretty basic….the sister list,

Stitching Post

might be a better place.

Check them out and join if you are interested…the more the merrier, and of course you know you are welcome!

ktj

 

08 01 06 Stumpwork in the Stitching Post Group(old post)

Celeste Chalasani of

the Stitching Post

has graciously and energetically created a beginner project in stumpwork for the group. She has posted the first lesson, which is the suppllies list and the diagrams for the background embroidery and the detached slips. Because this project is Celeste’s own creation just for the Stitching Post, she is making available only to us! That means that it won;t be posted on the blog for the group, only pictures of the completed projects. If there is anyone at all interested in learning this age old and beautiful technique with a short and small piece, this is is the time. It is suitable for beginners to embroidery, and beginners to stumpwork! Please consider joining the group(all group guidelines apply) and taking part in this wonderful oppportunity!

ktj

 

07 30 06 Thank YOU SO much!(old blog post)

Thank you very much to all of you that commented on the Pathfinder block.Your comments mean a lot to me, and I appreciate them very much! Here are a few letters from a very nice alphabet. I hope thatyou can use them in your stitching in some way!
ktj

 

07 29 06 Here It is

Here it is finally!
This is the block for the Chains of Hearts quilt that will be raffled as a fundraiser for Pathfinders. PAthfinders is an organization in England that is helping to match service dogs with those who need them. Pathfinders can be found

here.

If yoou click on the block it will open to a large sizze. I still hate that (&*) dog, but not enough to spend a week dealing with taking him out, or applique-ing over him at this point.

Let me know what you think!

ktj

 

07 24 06 Two Stitch Challeng Pics(old blog post)

Here are two pics of some very small embroidered “tiles” using crochet cotton. One variegated and one white. This was for a stitch challenge on the Yahoo group-The Stitching Post(my group. The idea was to use only the two stitches-blanket and chain with only two colors and just play around with how the stitches interact. The background had to be a medium blue.We could use as many different types of threads as we could, but i found that i simply enjoyed using the cotton.

The simpler piece is just the two stitches and works pretty well i think. There is one place i would lilke to add a bit of white, but other than that glaring omission(to me) i think it is done done DONE!

the second, nore complicated piece was a lot of fun, but more troublesome. I kept wanting it to be done and it woudn;t stay finished! Every thing i did led to the percieved need to balance it somewhere else which…and on and on……finally i realized that it really needed were dots and lines…and so i added french knots and straight stitches. So much for being able to stay with in the challenge guidelines!

Let me know what you all think, ok? Negative is ok, tactful is good.
ktj

 

07 24 06 Events of Note (old blog post)

In my hands is the July August issue of Piecework Magazine, published by

Interweave Press.

It is one of my all time favorite magazines because of the variety of needle-techniques that are showcased. This issue is no different.

There is a wonderful article on blue and white counted embroideries of Szichan China. The design incorporates a little bit of cross stitch and a lot of what we would call blackwork. It is executed in double running stitch(Holbein)and the article gives us a chart for the design, another chart with the thread paths, and a lot of history!

There is also an artcle on the color mauve and the discoveery of aniline dyes. The article is accompanied by a full color full page photo of a piece of antique silk kimono fabric. It is quite different from what you might be imagining.In the same article it shows a picture of a section of a crazy quilt. While not mentioning that it is a crazy quilt, look for yourself and see what you think it is…lol. At the end of the article is a list of resources for dye-ing fabrics, and some recommended books.

Earthguild

Jacquard

Dharma

AlJoDye

Prochem

As I went through the magazine i noted a great diagram on the cretan stitch, an article on Mountmellick Embroidery, along with a project to try,and three articles on embroidery from other nations and other times.

Last but not least is the list of events that are calling for entries….
here are the urls to those events- there just may be one of interest to you……..and if you get into Pittsburgh for one of them, drop me a line and maybe we can meet up there!

Fiberartinternational

QuiltNational

plus there are a few places that have what look to be fantastic exhibitions! Wish I could go to all of them-

In Berkely,

the Lacis museum

is having an exhibit on Dress into the Jazz Age…that ends on the firstof August. Not too far away!

Closer to home here, in hartford Conn. through August 13th is costume exhibit called”Revivals,Costumes for Song and Dance”at the

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum

.

There are more listed and i guess you’ll just have to check out the issue to see where they are if nothing else!

happy stitching..ktj

 

07? 06 language, art-notart-permission(old post)

How about giving ourselves persmission to follow “our” voice….and the permission to make the inevitable mistakes we make while looking for words and building sentences. To me, art is the vocabulary of truth…and we have to have words in a language we know in order to tell the truth we see,feel,know.

I think it takes time to decide which languages you want to explore! And then, having found it, it takes time and energy to actually learn it…..one is not necessarily fluent in painting the first time one picks up the brush…that much is obvious.

To tell you the truth, fibers are my second language(and late exploring/learning it too!)…the first is clay….i would love love love to be able to work in large clay…and one of these days i will….but for the moment fiber is good..i have it, i love it, and it works.

Permit me a digression here………this is a subject near and dear to my heart….
this permission to explore the vocabulary of creation, and in the act of doing that, find also, what it is we want to say.

The following are some questions i have had so far on what art actually is, in the end.Very undeveloped as you will see, but i would be most interested to know what others think…please jump into this discussion if you wish.

Art being the vocabulary of truth….any art, any truth……if the piece is not telling the truth, i don;t care how tecnically brilliant it is etc etc(or even how wonderfully it follows the art principles-it is not art, but merely a high technical achievement.Perhaps artistic, perhaps high craft……. Worthy of respect, admiration etc etc, yes, but can it be called art?. At least that;s my question. I have been thinking of this a great deal over the last year or so in deciding what i wanted to do myself…and this is what i have come up with as far as figuring out the difference between art and not art…………lol…..
Are the decorative arts-art? If there is good art, and bad art, what is the difference…..does one follow laid down principles of compostition etc etc and the other not?

One thing art is…..is an artifact of human existence…not only are the pieces themselves an artifact, but the existence of the activity itself is an artifact of
human culture. That said, what is it that art does for humanity? Can it be defined by it;s effects?

Let me know what you think?

 

07 16 06 Comments and pics(old blog post,edited)

First, i want to thank everyone who comes by, whether you leave a comment or not. Of course I love reading what you have to say, so please, if you have a minute, do let me know you visited.And if you have a blog…please put it in your signature so i can come visit too!

These are my two pups….or they were pups when the pic was taken..the white one is the male and his name is….SinHuevos(get a friend that speaks Spanish to translate.lol) and the brown on is my female..Mija. They are sibs and were the last two of the litter. I couldn;t stand to seperate them when i saw them in the shelter!

My beloved and much missed Smokey
Smokey was a shelter dog,got him when he was about 4 and I had him for 13 years.
He was without a doubt the smartest dog, the most gentle, and the most patient dog i have known. It is hard to see a pic of him without getting emotional.

And this is me many moons ago….don;t have the car still but am still renting the house.

And yes, I still wear jeans and sweatshirts as the wardrobe of choice. My hair though is much shorter and i am quite a bit heftier.alas.

ktj

 

07 14 06 Some Seam Treatments(old post)

I can;t keep up with Sharon’s 100 details in 100 days but i do have some seam treatments that I have done in the past, and the not so distant past. One of these days i will do her 100 details and enjoy every minute of it. In the meantime….here are just some plain old uncategroized treatments.lol….(I tried putting in the code
but kept getting an error message….sorry..)
These two are from an old block …RedHotBlues block….

Beaded Block Seam

Another older block seam

And on the same block…..

More later….
let me know what you think…and if you are coming by for the first time….please consider putting yourself on the map at the right!

ktj

 

07 13 06 Bear’s Heart(old post)

Here’s the heart Bear made for me!
Isn;t it just scrumptious?

Let me know what you think!

 

07 04 06 Stitching Post Challenge(old post)

The

Stitching Post

is doing a Two Stitch Challenge right now.It’s a further exploration of the chain stitch and blanket sttich on one piece.. The design area is 8 by 10 and those in the group who are participating are doing it on a medium-blue piece of plain weave fabric. Further, we are limited to using only two colors of thread. We aren’t limited in the number of different types of thread to use so there will be lots of ways to explore what the stitches look like and ways they can be used with each other to create pattern and texture.

The line drawing below is one i just finished. If you click on it will open bigger and then if you click again it opens to the original size. This can be saved and will print out to 8×10. This is for personal use only please, and i would love to see what anyone does with it. One of the members of the list and I are tossing around the idea of doing a one by one rr with a small design and i thought this might be something we could use. After finishing it i thought maybe folks on my list would enjoy it, and maybe others as well. I think it lends itself to all sorts of treatments….many of the shapes can be altered all left out all-together and you could use the bigger shapes to make a needle-lace or point lace design practice piece. I think it would also lend itself quite well to practicing crewel fillings of all kinds.And then, last but not least, i also think it could easily be adapted to all sorts of free-surface embroidery combinations.

let me know what you think..

ktj

 

07 01 06 The QUILT(old blog post)

OverView of The Quilt

A number of years ago Diane Karr put together a quilt top for me that was made up of a number of crazy-quilt blocks set around a central medallian. The blocks had been made by members of the now defunct ACQL list, which was then the first crazyquilt related list on Yahoo. I am still in touch with a number of the folks who made blocks for this quilt top. The top never made it into a finished quilt (long story) and was finally given to me unfinished. It is a beauty and one of my priorities is to get it backed and tacked(or tied) with the names of folks embroidered on the backing. Along withthe quilt top itself came a spiral bound book made by Nikki Young who, along with Deb Tuffree and Diane Karr organized the whole effort. The book has a picture of each block along with a message from each of the block-creators. I have the book in full view in a cupboard in the dining room. If there were someone in my family to inherit the book and the quilt, they would both be heirlooms.
This quilt is an incredibly special piece of work, not only because of the quality of the stitching but because of the incredible efforts and warmth of the people who made it.I often think that one of these days I would like to have NOTHING in my living room but a few pieces of furniture…and this quilt.

The Central Medallian
Debbie Tuffree

Anita Pennington(Neets)

Betty Densford

Carole Miesenhelter

Carolyn Adams

Daphne Secker

Dian Moore

Dorothy Matheson

Helen Thorkelson

Ida Billig

Jane Cunningham

Janet Killups

Janie Jones

Linda Knott

Mae Vernon

Nikki Young

Patti Schreiner

Sandy Fields

Sharon Brewer

Sue Trautman

Valentina Burbank

 

06 30 06 Red as A Neutral(old blog post)

Quite some time ago I started a piece in response to a discussion about what really constituted a neutral color…..what i came up with was round cq all pieced with red patches.It’s about 20 inches across and I have scanned some sections of it. OF COURSE!!!!!!! it’s not done…(I mean, what were you thinking!)If you click on the pictures they will open up to quite large sizes.

Blackberry Bush with Coneflower Seam

Coneflower Seam(close-up)

Vine with Woven Spider Flowers
this goes across two patches

Curved Seam with Flowers

Bird and two seam treatments

Spider web flower(close-up)

 

06 12 06 Chain stitch practice( old blog post)

The next picture is of the chain stitch practice as it is evolving…i LOVE LOVE LOVE chain stitch! I love the raised texture of it, the sinuousness of it, the way is just seems to slide from color to color…it can be dense, or light and airy..and i love what it looks like when it is uniform..with all the little individual chains as near to the same size as you can get them. yea, okay, i’mm probably a little over the top when it comes to the stitches but to me they are the voacabulary of embroidery..If you don;t know what they can do how can they be fully used in a hand worked piece..the embroiderer will have less “words” at her disposal to use. Can you imagine speaking with a vocabulary of only 100 words or so….and not even know all the connotations of the words? Yep, that’s how I feel about stitches and why i am happy doing this stitch practice even if it’s not the most overtly creative work i have ever done.

 

05 18 06 Ida’s Block(old blog post)

This is a small log cabin block i did(about 4 inches square) i did as a little block to include in a card for a friend that was not feeling well. Each log has a differnt treatment. The threads are all fairly large, either craft thread or cotton crochet thread. The very top log is a simple buttonhole wheel with some staight stitches and two lazy daisies. on the left in yellow and red is a buttonhole done twice(once in each thread color) andthen some crossed stitches in the blocks of the buttonhole. and of course, the inevitable lazy daisy…

to the very right(as you look) is just chain stitching in some bright colors. Not the best, but at the time, it’s what i could do.

in the very center are some buttonhole wheels with straight stitches and some lazy daisies aboe them on the left-hand log. the log right above the center is large cross stitches with vvarious other stitches in the open spaces.

The right hand log next to the center has a buttonhole base, then some fly sitches with extremely short catches….(the darker blue) and the long pink stitches are straight stitches made to look like the catch stitch of a fly.

the lower log is a fly stitch line with some french knots and lazy daisies extended off the fathers.

 

05 18 06 cretan stitch (old blog post)

well, you are probably tired of all these composite sttiches by now since they are so basic….this is a double cretan with lazy daisies and a little straight stitch above the catch stitch of the lazy daisy.
the hearts are satin sttich. You can barely see a double chevron stitch with a little french knot rose on the top.

 

05 18 06 Beaded block detail 3(old blog)

This is one of the simplest seam treatments i have ever done, and one i really like. it is a feather stitch with a lazy daisy on alternate “feathers”. Inside the lazy daisy is a bead, and at the base, is another bead. Could it be simpler????

 

05 18 06 Beaded Block detail one(old blog post)

the seam above the couched ribbon is a double chevron stitch combination. IIt is very very easy to work the chevron stitch and then play with it. It is definitly one of my favorite of the basic surface stitches. as you can see..it is simply one chevron stitch stacked on another. at the cross bars, you just do what you want….in this case i put on the lower edge a lazy daisy with a pearl bead at the top of the catch stitch. the other two stitches are straight stitches with beads…couldn;t be simpler. On the top chevron i added some fly stitches with beads. it took time, and also paying attention to spacing so that you have enough rom to add the other stitches, but other than those considerations….i think you get a wonderful stitch for very little.

 

06 11 06 Stitch Practice in Progress(old blog post)

Boy! It really takes a lot of stitching to cover even a small space like 6 by 4 when you are using only a single strand of floss. I have been quite challenged to find ways to use the blanket/buttonhole in enough different ways to make an interesting piece that doesn’t rely solely on color changes to give it visual direction. I find that I have to leave more of the design area blank that i am used to, or comfortable with. Below is the practice cloth as it was last night. Tonight it is much more developed and with the addition of more areas comes more decisions. It is quite interesting to see what is resulting, even if i can;t say the piece is particularly
“artistic”………ggggg

I have been reading “Victorian Needlework, Techniques and Designs” edited by Flora Klickman.
Here’s the blurb from the inside front cover…

“This Dover edition, first published in 2002, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published in”The Home Art Series by the office of “the Girl’s Own Paper & Women’s Magazine, London,n.d. under the title “The Cult of the Needle”. edited by Flora Klickmann.

I love some of the pictures and for someone who knows nothing about making lace, i was able to visualize myself using some of the techniques shown. There are also included some descriptions of lace-types I have not seen mentioned elsewhere.
The best picture for me was the one that showed actual laying on of the braid for Brussels lace. However, the most delightful part of the the book is in Ms? Klickmann’s editorial comments.On page 58, her article”the Value of the Doll” is priceless for it’s glimpse into the mind-set of how to train young girls into the tedium(my word, not hers)of being fully responsible for and only interested in the running of a household. I can’t resist, here’s a small piece of it…….

“…………In this way you will not only be instilling in your child a love of housewifely things, and fostering the instinct for home-making that is born in most baby girls, but you will be teaching her the right way to do things, and what is required in a properly conducted household”

This is by no means the most startling(to modern ears) of the editorial comments of the author, but it was the shortest.
Sooooooooooo, while we are all adoring things Victorian, let’s remember, that some of the things that Victorian’s themselves loved required an emotional and mental servitude of women we ourselves could not begin to put up with. If I hadn;t understood as I was reading these passages what very real and continuing damage these ideas do to us, i would have been laughing.

 

06 11 06 A gift from Janie Jones(old blog post)

This is a sewing caddy that was made by Janie Jones as a gift for me several years ago. I was so overwhlemed with how beautiful it was, and the thought that some one could make something like that and then give it to ME no less…well, you can imagine i was afraid to use it. Recently however, I decided that i couldn;pt take it with me when i go, so, like the special chine, it’s getting used. And believer me, i use it evry day and think of Janie’s incredible generosity every day. The insides hold a scissors, small needlebook, thimble in a little pocket, and there is a pincushion, plus a couple of bigger pockets which i am using for threads and extra needles.

When i say this sewing caddy holds so many gifts, i am not talking about what is inside the pockets, but what is inside me when i look at it..thank you so much again Janie for such a beautiful gift, and such beautiful feelings. Below the over-view are details of the various parts of the outside. It folds in three with the dragon part being the inside flap.

If you click on the photos, all but the overview opens to another fairly large view. You can really see her stitching in these views.

TOP

BOTTOM

Fan Detail(guess you could tell , huh?)

Punchneedle tree

Stamped velvet with paint

Dragon applique with embroidery

Isn’t Janie’s work just wonderful? I am so proud that she made this for me. Janie doesn;t have a blog or site, so any commments you want to make to her, i will make sure she gets them!

happy stitching

ktj