Finishing Touches

Today I set out to get a few things accomplished. I think I did much better than yesterday considering I spent it spinning my wheels *grin*


I started out with a huge pile of stuff that all needed something done to it.


First I finished off the Flower Paisley Purse. This one had given me much trouble. I put it together awhile back but never liked the way it looked. So I ripped it apart and added this yellow ruffle. I think it really sets it off...what do you think?


Next I made a lining for my ragbag and added some final flourishes to the front of it. It looks very fairyish doesn't it? ^__^
That's as far as I got today...at least so far. I know it doesnt seem like much but I'm happy.


I'm also including a shot of my progress made on the threadpainting. I know it's slow but this one is a hand killer. I am going to take breaks on this as my hands can't handle too much at a time. So now it's back to reducing that pile....

Overdrive

I had another 100-mile-an-hour night last night, you know, the ones where my body can't keep up with my brain and it jumps into hyper overdrive and blasts right on through to the other side...
yeah, one of those nights.
I'm not sure if I should hate these nights or love them. One thing is definite though, I do have a lot of brain storms on those nights. The ideas just shoot in every direction and I find myself scribbling feverishly in my notebook. Now if I only had the time to make everything I dream up, that and the materials. Many of my ideas just sit and molder for lack of the correct items. I am slowly rectifying that situation though!
I have been planning on doing some dyeing ever since I received my precious pack of soda ash from Karen. That is on my definite to do list! It has been a bit difficult to get anything done lately as I have class for most of the week. I find myself tired and slowed down each day after that. Spending a lot of off time cooking, cleaning, well you know the drill. Since D started his new job he has wanted to fill his off hours with activity so we have been out and about much more than usual also. I find my creative hours slowly dwindling.
One thing is for sure though, come hell or high water I am getting this shop up and running in the next week or so. Once that is done I will have one big weight off my chest. I don't even care if I sell one thing. Knowing I made the effort and it is out there will be enough. I imagine with the items I put in there I wont have any quick bites anyway. Most of my things have many, many hours invested in them. I have many ideas for smaller items that I want to work on. I get so lost on my slow pieces though. Its hard to switch gears.
So this week I want to devote to finishing everything that I want to post on the shop. It seems most things require a stitch or snap or something. Also as soon as the tags arrive I must attach them. I need to design a banner. I had planned a drawing but think I might just use a photo montage of some of my work. Then if I can squeeze in some dyeing that needs done I will be set!
This is what I have so far for my banner:


Now I am off to work on finishing up some of these things. YOu all have a great day!

Men can stitch

I just had to show you this extraordinary embroidery. Why, you might ask is this particular embroidery so special? Because this is my husbands FIRST piece!! Can you believe that he never did this before? I knew he was observant...and even asked me once if he could try a stitch on one of my pieces but I never thought his first results would be so great. I showed him some pictures recently in the manbroidery group on flickr and I guess they intrigued him because last night he asked me for a cloth and a needle. I showed him a few tricks such as how to tie an quick knot by wrapping the thread around the needle and away he went! Now...can you tell what it is?


Psst..it's a basketball.

Still Grey...

I really am starting to think it's a conspiracy! Each day I have class the sun shines so bright and glorious. Then as soon as we have some time off *poof* no sun. Yesterday was spent doing all those drudgerous chores that need to be done every weekend. Grocery shopping being the main one. It was a little more pleasant than usual though as we went shopping with our new friends, the new student in my French class and her husband. She is Russian and her husband is French but they just recently moved here from America...Washington to be exact. We were both a little surprised when we found out that we moved here from the same state in the U.S. She misses it just as much as I.
After they left I spent awhile reorganizing the shelves in my kitchen and doing general cleanup. I am now much happier with the state of my house as the bedroom and the kitchen had both slid into messiness.


I also talked with Anna from Lilla Lotta yesterday. She is going to design and print my labels for my work. I am quite excited as she does just wonderful work and she agreed to what I wanted with no problem. In fact she seems excited to design them so I cant wait to see what comes of it!

So last night my honey wanted to watch American Basketball. He has ordered a subscription on his computer to be able to watch the games there. The problem is that he has to sit there at his desk to watch them. Have I mentioned before that his chair is one of the most uncomfortable chairs on earth? It looks really nice, and you think when you see it that its great...but its not! So this is the contraption that he came up with last night to watch his game. I was getting lots of giggles out of it and couldn't resist a picture.


Then finally I was able to settle down for awhile to do my work. I painted some more on the moons face. He is finally starting to round out a little and not look as flat. I still have quite a bit of work to do on him though. Hopefully I will get a chance to do a bit more today...

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

The dust bunnies won...

So I decided to take a quick nap yesterday before I tackled the house. I slept THREE hours. I woke up and felt like a zombie. When D came home from work I was still sleepwalking. I managed to get nothing done at all.
Last night I was unable to fall asleep, that'll teach me to nap in the middle of the day. I sat up till 5 am. While I was up I worked on fulling out the face of my moon. I reworked my original sketch filling in some shadows and trying to make the features a little more distinct.


Then I started thread painting the surface. I didn't get a lot done of the stitching but already I can see him rounding out. I so wanted to jump in and start working on him when I got up this morning...but since I didn't get anything done yesterday I knew I had to today.
I'm in the middle of a huge mess in the bedroom as I am rearranging the furniture and setting up my DH's turntables and mixing equipment today. He had packed them away a while back stating he was no longer going to do anymore music mixing.


I was so glad when he reconsidered as I find him full of amazing talent. I'm not the only one...he already has an offer to do a gig at our favorite wine bar. I cant wait! My honey has more musical talent in his little finger than I do in my whole body...and I can play a tune ^__^

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Dust Bunny Revolution

I am home from class finally. Today the professor just seemed to drone on and on. Maybe because I already knew what he was teaching. I only know I am glad to be home, even if it has been taken over by dust bunnies! Today I clean. NO time to sew until its done. I want my house nice and clean for the weekend. Then I can relax to my hearts content. So I am off now to scrub away...I leave you with the bits I finished last night. I am giving the sun a rest and have turned my eye to the moon. He sleeps and dreams of a bright vibrant sun...peeking over the trees in this small world.

Stars galore!

So I had to take a break from my sun rays. I love them, really I do. I need a bit of a color change though, so I am focusing my attention down further.


Today I make stars, sleepy little stars...

Update

So I promised an update and here it is. I was up half the night last night so I stitched until my eyes grew heavy and finally sweet sleep took me away.


Today the sun was bright and the air feels warm.


I was able to take some nice shots.


I hate when it is grey and all my pictures look flat.


My sun is coming along nicely too. A phantasmagoric color surge of a sun peeking over my small world...

Bon Jour!

Hello Everyone, I am quite happy today as I did well on my test! I worried so much over it that I couldn't sleep last night and finally rose at 5 am to study more. My teacher says I am well on my way. That is high praise as far as I'm concerned. I was so exhausted after class that I came home and slept over three hours! My day just slipped away. I can finally breathe easy though and take some time to stitch again. I will try to have some progress photos up tomorrow. In the meantime I leave you with this:


Bovey Lee is an amazing paper artist. Her work takes my breath away! Please go visit her site and take in her delicate touch with intricate detail. A truly spectacular individual!


This is just a small portion of the picture shown above. What unbelievable detail!!!

Until tomorrow...hope you all have a joyous day!

No more room at the inn

I'm afraid my brain is occupied. Fully. There is no sewing being done here. My fingers cry out for the needle but I must resist. Today I am busy conjugating verbs. Practicing my French at full roar, as tomorrow is my first test. It isn't the BIG test, it is only the half-way test that the teacher gives to evaluate my progression in the class. I am still nervous. I want to do well. Last night we went to visit friends. They are a very nice couple but the wife speaks only a smattering of english. It has always been a little boring when we go there as D will chatter away with the husband and I would sit there and smile at the wife. This time we actually had a conversation. It was slow as I had to search to pick out my words, but there WERE words. Thats what's important. So I may be slow but I can actually speak in french now. The wife told D that she thought I was doing very well and I was happy. Finally my hard work is starting to pay off, if only just a little. So, no goodies to show you today my friends. I am away in book land.After tomorrows class I plan on sitting down and stitching till my fingers hurt! I so miss it. I am right in the fun part. Where I get to go wild with detail like I so love to do, and I can't! It sits here on my side table looking forlorn. No worries though. I wont neglect it for long!

Dreams

Sometimes I think I want to much. I don't mean material things. I am not a material girl. (that is unless you are talking about ACTUAL material...that doesnt count *hehe*) I just want to DO so much. I swear my mind is constantly flitting off in all directions and reading all the blogs I do doesnt help that one bit. ^__^ I read well over 100 blogs. Some of them I just skim, others I take the time to carefully read every word. They are a wealth of information and never fail to inspire another head over heels jump into another direction. I want to do TOO MUCH!!!! I have so many ideas crammed into my head right now that sometimes I just Cant. Sleep. At. Night. My brain wont shut down. This is why I found myself in my room tearing everything out of my closet and pouring over my fabric selections because I decided that I just HAVE to have new clothes. It is true. I do need new clothes. I came here two years ago with a very limited selection of clothes. I prefered to pack treasures into my suitcases (including material Shhh!) The problem is I dont have the material to make what I want and I have altered and reconditioned my clothes to death. I know somewhere in there is the solution though...so my brain will continue to spin until an idea POPS to the front and then I'm off! Until then I will keep that one spinning in the back waiting...


Today I decided to show you a few more pics of the card my sis made. I never told you before but I come from an extremely talented family. It seems that everyone of us (all 6) kids ended up with a little of the creative spark...if not a lot. The boys chose to use it to build houses. The elder coming up with some beautiful designs at the beginning of his career, the younger chosing fine craftmanship to show his talents. We four sisters have all dipped our fingers in the fabric pool..one of us basically drowned *hehe* My one sis is, I swear, chained to her sewing machine, owning a wedding and prom shop, a fabric store AND a costume shop. The youngest above me (I am the baby) has such magic in her fingers when she weaves and quilts, its just amazing. This is a shot of the one weaving I own that she did, a treasure I brought with me across the ocean in my suitcase.


My oldest is in love with paper crafting.


It is rare that I have an opportunity to show any of my sisters work so I cant pass this up. I wish they would all start blogs so the rest of you could enjoy their creativity.

I love surprises!

I have been stitching away at my latest project whenever I get a chance. Things have been so busy lately though. What is it about spring that ties you up in so many ways? I always get that undeniable itch to spring clean and then, of course, the sun is calling to me. Also I am back at class now so that is keeping me busy. My pre-test is Monday so I must study this weekend. Busy, busy busy! I have done a little though and I am happy with that.


Yesterday I received a package in the mail. It was a package from my sisters in America. They sent me a wonderful birthday present. When I opened it this is what I saw....


The customs men must have had a ball with this box as they tangled all the yarns together.

was such fun digging into this box! They had filled it to overflowing with yarns, ribbons, beads, special fabrics and all kinds of other little goodies. It is the perfect gift! Now I have all the more goodies to keep me occupied!


And look at the beautiful card that was enclosed.

It has several pages, each more beautiful than the last. I feel very blessed. Thank you to my sisters. It was a wonderful surprise!

I'm still here

Really I am...
Sorry for the short absence. See, my keyboard broke last week. I still havent had the chance to buy one and I keep borrowing my DH's. Well, this weekend he was using the keyboard everytime I went to post so I just kept putting it off...but he is at work now so I stole it *hehe* I really have to go find one somewhere soon!

Dear Karen over at Contemporary Embroidery had found some soda ash that she was no longer using and offered to send it to me since I have had such a problem finding it here. When the package arrived look what else she enclosed!


She is such a dear heart to send me the soda ash...and then to send the rest..I just feel so privileged to have something that she made. I have long been an admirer of her work! Thank you so much Karen! I will definitely have to get some dyeing done this week ^__^


I found some time to sit down and work on this during the weekend. It was so nice to just take it easy and stitch away for a few evenings. I am having fun with the sun rays!

Hope you are all well and had a wonderful Easter!

busy stitchin'

I'm busy stitching today so I thought I would show you something for your viewing pleasure.


I stumbled across Yulia Brodskaya's work and found it amazing.


I just had to share a few photos with you and encourage you all to go look at the rest of her work. It is well worth the click ;)

Have a great weekend!

Rainy day

Well I had a wonderful time last night. Everyone seemed to get along splendidly and even my new student friend showed up. This morning I am a little groggier than usual but not too bad ;)

It has been a slow quiet day though. Grey skies and rain, rain, rain.
I have spent the day working on Small World and slowly the trees and bushes have fallen into place. The fields are filling with their crops and all is well in the world, at least all is well in the small world ^__^

of little trees

Yesterday was a busy, busy day. I spent the whole day cleaning, washing clothes, shopping. All the fun stuff that gets away from you when you go away for a weekend and then have class as soon as you get back home. Well, my house is spic'n'span now ^__^

I spent last evening working on the trees in Small World. First I needle felted a whole pile of them


Then I placed them on the piece...


and now I am working on attaching them.


Slow work but I am loving the texture and the three dimensional quality of the needle felted pieces. I am finding this piece very satisfying in many ways. It will be a slower piece, but thats ok. I like slow cloth :)

Tonight my honey and I are going out to a wine bar with a whole group of our friends. First they are all meeting here for appero. A small get together to celebrate my birthday. It will be an interesting evening as they are all good firends of ours, yet none of them have ever met any of the others. Also the new girl in my language class may join us. She is Russian but speaks perfect English AND she just moved here from...Washington State! Hard to believe I would meet someone who lived so close to me over there. Ah I miss Seattle....

I am quite happy as after today I dont have class again until TUESDAY! YAY! Long weekend here I come....I plan on getting lots done ^__^
Hope you are all having a stupendous day!!!

The days run by fast...

Hello Everyone! I hope this week is finding you all well. I have had a whirlwind weekend and have barely had time to even look at my project I am working on. Friday I woke up with the 'cold from hell' I didn't let it stop me though and went on to have a wonderful weekend. I had such fun with the family and look at the two beautiful plants they gave me...




My MIL also sent this beautiful bouquet home with me:


I didn't realize just how exhausted I was till I came home from French class yesterday and fell asleep. I slept the whole afternoon away! I am glad I did though as I am hoping that after this I get on top of this dreadful cold.
I did manage to sit down for a bit last night and do this small part on the fields. Today I plan on getting a lot more done though!

I picked up some more silver thread so I can finish the clouds and I want to finish these fields. I tried needle felting one of the trees and I think they will look real nice that way. So I picked out a few shades of green to use and think I might even blend the wools to have more variety. I have many plans for today and tomorrow as I have NO CLASS tomorrow. YAY!
Hope you all have a great day!!

I love...

Dear Karen at Contemporary Embroidery gave me this award yesterday. She is the most innovative artist with thread and I encourage you to go visit her and keep visiting. She is amazing!

I now have to tell you seven things I love and pass this on although really I'm just going to pass you on...to some great blogs to visit!

7 things I love


I love long road trips to places I have never been before, with many stops along the way to see 'the giant ball of string and every other thing.

photo from http://www.sailusfood.com/

I love curry! Thia curry or Indian curry, it doesn't matter, just bring on the curry!!!



I love snuggling at night with my hubby in bed, where I scratch his back, and he scratches mine ^_^


I love all things celestial, truly I am a sun, moon and star freak! My work takes me there over and over again and I have finally decided to give in and let the muse take me where it will!


I love spring flowers. If I could, I would have them all year round, lilac and hyacinths are some of the most wonderful smells ever but my all time favorite is tuberrose.


I can remember my mother clipping just ONE bloom and placing it on the table in the house. When you waked up to the door, before you even entered the house you could smell that wonderful smell. I have never been able to grow one.


I love Ruby Beach out on the peninsula in Washington State. I love the lush wild forest that leads down to it. I love the towering rocks that thrust themselves from the surf, I love the round smooth stones that people stack about on the driftwood making towers to the sky. I love the smell of the sea and the sound of the birds. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth in my mind. Sometimes I ache for it, I miss it so much.


I love cobalt blue. It is my favorite color ever. I love it in glass and kept the six beer bottles our friend brought over...long after the beer was gone.

Now here are a few tidbits to savor. Wander on over and visit these amazing blogs...

Alma Stoller
does the most wonderful things with thread and bits of fabric...go see!

The Hermitage
A wonderful fairy wandering the countryside with her sweetheart

Ullabenulla
looks at things in such a wonderful way. I love the treats I find there.

Folk and Fairy
A veritable treasure chest of all things fairy!

Field Trips in Fiber
Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber is a human dynamo. This woman never stops! She has a gazillion projects going all at once...and she just finished the most wonderful dye gradient project. Good stuff.