Itchin' to Stitch

First of all, let me share some news: Sharon Boggon has moved her blog and all of her great resource material to PinTangle.com. There are links to all of the tips and tutorials and eye candy on her sidebar as well as links to the various challenges and activities she has or is hosting. This woman is a walking, talking, blogging font of embroidery and textile information and is constantly on the hunt for something new to share with us. I stitch in awe of her.

And speaking of stitching, here's where I am so far with my Sumptuous Surfaces piece:

Can you see the bits of turkey work I added? That's the fuzzy Whisper thread I bought on my last shopping excursion. I also did a bit of feather stitching with it to sort of fill in the shrubbery on the top right side.

It needs more but I'm afraid to go any further. It's simply a fear of the unknown. I am not fluent in the language of embroidery stitches so I don't know what can be achieved. Seeing pictures of what others have done is one thing. To make those stitches yourself is another. Only after you have stitched them can you begin to fully comprehend the possibilities they hold. To that end I have made up my mind to begin a band sampler a la Sharon's and Annie's:

Sharon's is the wider, longer version on the right, Annie's narrower sampler is on the left. Sharon has been teaching for some time so she had lots of little bits of stitching that she had been hauling around in folders and things. The folders got to be heavy and at least one piece of stitching got lost along the way so she decided to piece them all together into one long strip. Now she just rolls up her sampler and takes it with her. Students can still see and touch but it's much easier to transport and much harder to lose!

Annie's sampler is unique because she has included references to historic or meaningful events inbetween her stitch samples. You can see in the photo I lifted below that she has documented the Australian government's apology to the Aborigines. (There are more detail shots on Sharon's blog post. Just click on the link above.)

Annie blogs at Annies Crazy World. You can see all of her stitching there, usually in great detail.

The idea for a stitch sampler that incorporates personal history has been tickling my brain ever since I first read about this pair of samplers. When I was introduced to embroidery it was through kits and charted projects. Samplers were a static thing that someone else had designed and really didn't perform the function of giving experience with a lot of different stitches. (Can you say 'boooring'?) I played around with a greater variety of stitches when I was doing needlepoint, and that kept me interested for several years. Now that I have a desire for a working knowledge of embroidery stitches I have the perfect excuse to start a band sampler of my own! :- )

Early Delivery From One of Santa's Helpers

So the guild Christmas party was on Tuesday and now I can show you what I made for the gift exchange:


This pillow was really fun to make. It's a combination of a couple of really old prints and the new ones I bought recently. To make it even more fun I used rickrack to create jingle bell "tassels" for the four corners. I may even make one of these for our house!

My friend C~ brought over the gift I received in the exchange:



They're all things I'll use: The box of snowpeople notecards has two different designs in it (and they're very cute!), the notepad is magnetic and is the size I normally use for my shopping lists, and the little potholder is to protect fingers from hot dishes coming out of the microwave oven.

Apparently there was a big turnout for the party so it's probably a good thing I decided not to go. The hostess was the one who ended up with my pillow; that pleases me. I know she'll enjoy it. She has grandchildren who will have fun playing with it too!

C~ also loaned me her copy of the PBS video "The Art of Quilting." I may have to invest in a copy of my own! One of my favorite quilt artists of all time is the first quilter featured: Jane Burch Cochran. As she talked about her quilts and the way she works I felt like she and I could be kindred spirits. The segment about Laura Wasilowski and the Chicago School of Fusing is a hoot. I had no idea the CSoF was so well developed! They even have a school song and everything! When I first heard about this production I was a little afraid it would be all about all the artsy-phartsy art quilters whose work is impressive but not necessarily inspiring for me. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

One more note: I'm on Fabric.com's email list. They sent me a notice of their "Just Be-claus" sale. There are some totally cute flannels on sale for a little more than $3.00 a yard. There are other fabrics on sale as well (they carry a full range of fabric types and sewing notions). I have no affiliation with them, etc., just wanted to pass along the good news.

The Darling Granddaughters were over here yesterday afternoon. As delightful as they are, they wore me out! At least that's my excuse for not doing any of the things I'm supposed to be doing and I'm stickin' to it ;- )

Blogger Junkie

It's official. Six weeks after discovering blogs I'm now a blogger junkie. (Has it even been 6 weeks?) DH was working at the computer station here at home yesterday and I got all put out because I couldn't get to the computer myself to check the blogs I read every day or to post to my own. {sigh} Guess we're going to have to find a set up for my studio so this sort of thing won't happen again ;- )

Fortunately I'm in a much better mood now, partly because I was able to get together with a few like-minded souls in a safe environment. Said like-minded souls are fellow fiber artists who live in the area. One of them lives in a rural setting atop a high hill at the edge of the valley in which we live (up above most of the contaminants). She is also very conscientious about keeping fragrance and other toxins out of her studio when she knows I'm coming, bless her heart (and the rest of her too!). The five of us commiserate about the things that keep us from being more creative/prolific, we support each other in our individual endeavors, and we work to keep each other on track or accountable for the things we've said we're going to do. As far as I'm concerned, we don't meet nearly often enough! We do check in with each other every two weeks via the internet but the face-to-face meetings are so much more rewarding. At least for me. The rest of them have lives to live (jobs, younger children at home, community service, etc.); I have the luxury of time. Not that I use it any better than anyone else. Squander might be a good word to use for my consumption of time... or fritter (and I'm not talking apple here either). I console myself that when I appear to be doing little with my hands I am very busy in my head. To that end I'd like to announce that I believe I have come up with the topic of my next journal quilt. I don't think I'll tell you exactly what it is - although my compadres already know - but rather let you wait and see what develops. You may have to wait a few days as I have to put the binding on the dorm quilt I've been helping to create. Or maybe I'll create the journal top and stew over the embellishments while I apply and stitch down the binding... It's so wonderful to have options! (And to finally feel good again. It's been a rough week physically.)

The sun has been shining. I love it when the sun shines :- ) Reilly doesn't care one way or the other. He just looks cute standing in my patch of buttercups. These buttercups are technically a weed in this part of the country but they're much prettier than most of the other weeds in my yard.