A wealth of stitches

I have finally finished my first purse! It took me a lot longer than I expected, but I attribute that to a LOT of hand stitching. Since I did a big part of the piecework by hand even before I started the embroidery it was a little more time consuming than it could have been. I know that the next one will go quicker. Mainly because YAY! I have a new machine but also because I wont take so long deciding which stitch to put where. I can be so silly worrying about what color to put next to another, and trying not to do the same stitch twice in one area. I think it turned out being really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.


I have already started a second one and I also did the front piece for a different type of purse, although after I put this together I realized I dont have any material to complete the body of this one. I am setting it aside till I can either pick up a piece of nice dark blue denim, or throw the lighter piece I have here into a dark blue dye bath.

P.S. I used pieces from two of the materials I just dyed. I just love the bright colors! I have the blue piece and the blue and green mix that I can also make into a block like this. I'm planning on doing some more dyeing experiments this week as after Thursday I have A WHOLE WEEK OFF from class! *big grin*

Dye Experiment #3

I was quite satisfied with my first two dyeing experiences. Quite simple really, but then they were just solid color baths. They didnt dye evenly but that didnt matter to me. They will be cut into strips and a little variation will only add to the rugs beauty in my opinion. The two shirts I dyed came out fine. The sweater did dye evenly and I was quite happy about that. The shirt...well who could tell with that pattern on it? This picture does not do the color justice. It looks faded and instead its a really nice soft blue. I probably would have liked them darker but the shade is quite fine.
So now that I feel comfortable with the simple procedures I decided to venture out into new territory. I chose someting called a crystal wash method from the Dharma Dye website http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/653691-AA.shtml
I have this wonderful old heavy sheet that D's mother gave me that had a few holes and stains on it. So I tore it into four pieces and started with one of those. First I soaked it in a soda ash solution, scrunched it and stuffed it into the bottom of this plastic lined bucket...


Then I took two small squirt bottles and placed a spoonful of sapphire dye in one and cotton candy dye in the other (making sure I wore a mask for this part!) Then I added warm water and shook the dyes well. After they were thoroughly mixed I just squirted away till the cloth was completely covered and the bottles were empty.


I squished the material around a little to push the dye deeper in areas then wrapped the plastic around the top tightly (to help keep the cloth moist) and I let this sit for 24 hours. This morning I rinsed it, threw it in the machine to wash and voila! my beautiful new material. This picture was taken with the cloth hanging in front of the window so its kinda hard to see the true colors but I will take another pic tomorrow when it is dry so you can see the piece better. Isn't it pretty though?

Deep Thoughts

I read other peoples blogs and I feel like I am such a child on this journey. My attempts to express myself seem so amateurish. I see no depth in my work. Only superficial markings. I have so much more to say than what is there in front of me. I have lost the art of expressing myself. I guess these are my baby steps. Shaky legs faltering forward. I will not be subdued. I will continue to press forward even though I am aware that I am only a wrinkle on this cloth. I have so little time. It runs through my fingers and there is no bringing it back. I want each day to stretch onward. More time! Time to stitch, to dye, to design...time to cook and clean and practice French and most of all time to cuddle with my honey and let him know how much I appreciate this opportunity to know myself again.

Pressies!

Yesterday shortly after I arrived home from school there was a buzz at the door. Guess what I finally got?


My new sewing machine! YAY! I'm so happy to finally have a machine again. No more sore fingers *hehe* WHen I woke up this morning I started in on this...


and by afternoon had this...


I am so happy to finally have a space set up to work in. I had to pull things out of every closet and storage chest in the house. Now they are all together in one place and I can see what I have to work with. D didn't even mind that I took over this whole corner and made off with the bookshelf *grin*
I had to try out my machine right off, so I sewed a few seams on my purse. I think toonight I wil cozy up on the couch and finish embroidering it. Maybe by this weekend I will have a finished product :)

On hold

I decided to put my wall hanging on hold for awhile. I wanted to explore another area. Since I have been creating again I have also been visiting many blogs out there of other artists which has fanned the creative spark.
One thing I noticed was that so many of these blogs had a link to their personal etsy shop. Now I had never explored etsy before. I had heard of it but never really looked into it. When I did finally go and start looking I was amazed! A place where people could actually sell their own handmade goods?!?! They dont charge you an arm and a leg to do it?!?! This was sounding very interesting.


As many of you already know, my husband is a student in his final year to get his masters degree. He works long and hard at Uni and doesnt work outside of this. We live on a very tight budget. I have been unwilling to look for work here as I do not speak French well enough to communicate. I have considered trying to find someone who sends out piecework but D seems to think that is not a common practice here in France. GIving that the items that people wish to have rewoven are usually quite expensive I can understand that.


I began to have ideas about selling some of my work on etsy BUT I didnt have a sewing machine and the few things I thought about making really required one. Then out of the blue last week we were told that D's grandfather had sold his car (he is unable to drive anymore) and he bought us both a gift, a larger monitor for D to code on (programming can be quite a pain on a small one) AND...AND...a sewing machine for me!!!!! He is just the sweetest man on earth. I really adore him and he is so generous to us. I made him promise me that he had to stick around here on earth until I can speak French fluently so we can have long conversations over a vert de Creme d'armagnac. ^_^
Anyway...I have started on my first item for Etsy and I think it will be quite cute. I am only doing the embroidery part now and still have quite a bit to do there..but my machine should be here by the end of the week! Then I will post some pics of the finished product.