RAFA May 2012 Meeting

I have been having lots of fun going to lots of meetings, and taking lots of pictures, but haven’t been sharing them with all of you.  The reason?  My desktop computer died, and that is the computer I used to edit photos.  I lost all sorts of programs and am now forced to use my laptop for everything.  I went from Windows 98 – yes my desktop was very old – to Windows 7, and everything is in different locations.  Always eager to learn anything and everything fiberly,  I’ve been dreading learning my way around Windows 7 and installing new software.

Tonight I finally got a grip, and started the process.  So here are some pictures from the May meeting of Rochester Area Fiber Artists:

That scarf was felted by Caris in a gridded design.  I’ve never seen anything like that before, and it was gorgeous.  She was lucky she walked out of the meeting with it, because several of us were interested in purchasing it.

Terryn is a new member, and she showed a couple of Zen inspired felted pieces.  I particuarly liked this one:

Another felted piece is this curvy, organic purse:

Margaret has been experimenting with small zentangle designs using cloth and thread instead of pen and paper, and this was her latest creation:

And last, but by no means least is some breath- taking applique by Mary:

We’re talking hand applique here people, and here’s a close up:

I am in awe of her skill.

Hugs…

Heart of America

I finished my first Quilt of Valor this month and today it started its journey to a military veteran who served in Kuwait.   Here’s a picture of the quilt:

Excuse the photo quality.  My desktop computer died and my photo editing program was on it.

The pattern was in an old issue of Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine.  I enlarged sections so it would meet the size requirements for a Quilt of Valor.

I thoroughly enjoyed each and every minute I spent making this quilt.  It’s the first project I made on my new sewing machine, and it seemed appropriate that it will go out in the world and spread a little happiness.

Hugs…

 

April Visitor

Wednesday morning I was happily wasting time playing Farmville on Facebook when I spotted movement at the window:

 

Can you believe how close that deer came to the house?  That dark wood at the bottom of the picture is a living room window frame.  That deer was practically inside with my husband and myself.

Mind you, I have been very careful to plant deer resistant plants in our landscaping, and yet with all the green grass, all the leafing trees, and a mild winter, that deer decided to chow down on my deer resistant perennials.  It’s no wonder that front floral bed is having such a difficult time thriving.  It’s a buffet table for the area deer.

Hugs…

Happy Easter

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to my blog.  We were on vacation with very limited internet, then got hit with a lot of medical emergencies when we got home, but we are now happily recovering and enjoying each and every day.

 

We had a wonderful brunch with my daughter, son-in-law, and his side of the family at Terry Hill Golf Club this morning.  The food is really good, and there is a very nice gentleman who dresses himself and decorates his car  in character for each holiday.  I do mean dress up, see:

 

Is that not a hoot?  The little kids love seeing him, and to be honest, so do I.  I guess the little kid in me is not buried very deeply.  All it takes is one look at this man, and she resurfaces to join in with all the fun.

 

I hope all you have a blessed and happy Easter with your family and friends.

 

Hugs…

TAST 2012 – Cretan Stitch

This week’s stitch sample is the Cretan stitch.  A couple of years ago, I was making an art quilt and attaching various types of quilt techniques to the main piece with copper wire.  It didn’t work out the way I envisioned, so I removed all the little quilts.  One was a crazy quilt example and it has some Cretan stitching on it on the upper left seam:

 

It was stitched with a variegated Sulky 12wt cotton thread which is hard to see in the photo.  There are also little bead cluster added to the point of every other stitch. 

To put the piece in perspective, it measures 2.75″ x 3.75″.  You can see the little copper wire loops at the top if you look at the picture closely.  Now to decide what to do with this little gem.  I do like how it came out, but can’t decide what to do with it.  Maybe this should be my crazy quilt journal project – 12 months of little crazy quilted gems.  Hmm, I’m liking that idea quite a bit.  Stayed tuned for further developments.  LOL

Hugs…

TAST 2012 – Feather Stitch

I’ve been thining and thinking and thinking about what to do with this week’s stitch and finally realized, I was over thinking.    Tonight I got down to business and started embroidering.  I dug through my thread collection looking for a wool thread and realized, nope, that wouldn’t work.  Then I got some YLI Candlelight and realized it was too thick for my idea.  Then I tried some sewing thread – yes, sewing thread – YLI metallic copper thread.

You see my idea was to embellish a beautiful embossed cotton fabric to add another layer of interest to the fabric.  And this is the result:

I’m really pleased with the effect.  I wouldn’t want to do this for yards and yards of fabric, but it would be lovely for a patch in a crazy quilt block, and I think it would be wonderful on a jacket band.  Not the entire length.  I’d scatter a bit towards the bottom on one side and up by the face on the other side.  A few inches of metallic thread embellishment would serve to draw attention to the areas on the jacket you desire.

So no fabulous art piece was created, but I did experiment with different fabric, different threads, and learned what worked and what wouldn’t for this idea, and I had fun doing it.  In my book, that makes for a successful TAST experience.

Hugs…

TAST 2012 – Buttonhole Stitch

I’m so proud of myself.  I experimented with week two’s TAST stitch – the buttonhole stitch earlier this week.  In fact, the only reason I didn’t post earlier was because my pictures came out too dark.  We had a snow storm yesterday and it was hard to get a decent photo.

Here is this week’s sample:

 
For some reason, I was thinking about spirals, so decided to draw one on my fabric and follow around the line with the buttonhole stitch.  I wanted the spiral drawn line to stand out, so added dimension and strength to the line by adding glass seed beads (Mill Hill Color # 330).

And for those of you who would like to see how I added them, I took some additional photos of the stitching in progress.

Even though this is in the middle of my stitching, imagine this first picture is the start of your buttonhole stitch.  The needle thread is coming up from the back – on the drawn line – and this is the time to add a bead to the needle:

Slide the bead down the thread:

Make a the buttonhole stitch with the needle, and nestle the bead into place with the needle tip:

If you like, you can hold the bead in place with your thumb:

Pull the needle through the fabric, and that’s all there is to it.  Add another bead on the needle, slide it into place, take another stitch and before you know it, you have a beautifully embroidered spiral design. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I did with the buttonhole stitch, and my little mini tutorial is helpful.

Hugs…

TAST 2012 – The Fly Stitch

Nothing like being a week late, but here is my example of the first week for the TAST 2012 sample:

 
This was my take on the classic fly stitch.  I elongated the stitch and made a very short tail on it – much like a stab stitch, so that it disappears in the embroidery.  I worked one row, turned the hoop, and sewed in the opposite direction for the second row, making sure the needle went in the same holes at the top of the stitch as the previous row.

There are lots of variations for this.  If I had made the stitch the same width, but halved the length, I would have ended up with a squatter, rounder effect.  I like this diamond effect though, and plan on adding at least 2 more layers of stitching to this piece.  Something will be added to the middle of each diamond, and where the little stab stitch is will have either a bead or a rounded stitch sewed with metallic thread.

What I learned:

I don’t like using a hoop.  That stitch lay beautifully in the hoop.  The thread tension was perfect, and the stitches were nice and even.  The minute I released the fabric from the hoop, the threads loosened and it wasn’t perfectly straight anymore.  Obviously, I had the fabric stretched too tightly in the hoop.  It was a spring hoop, so there wasn’t much I could do to loosen the tension.

It was awkward for me to hold the hoop and sew at the same time too, but saying that, I will try a different hoop for this week’s stitch.  This time I’ll try a hoop where I can adjust the fabric tension – a screw hoop.  And I’ll make two samples – one with a hoop, and one without so I can compare results.

Thanks so much to Sharon Boggins for offering this challenge again.  I’m experimenting with lots of different ideas and the “what if I try this” concept will help me learn a lot more about embroidery.

Hugs…

Happy New Year

One of the things I do annually on New Year’s Day is to try and remember what I accomplished in the previous year, but today,  found myself looking forward to what the new year will bring instead.

Two major creative challenges I’m participating in  during 2012 are the  Crazy Quilt Journal Project and Take a Stitch Tuesday.   I enjoy hand stitching and am looking forward to both these activities.

I’ve also signed up for a World Wide Crazy Quilt Round Robin – Build a Seam.

Ricky Tims, Alex Anderson and Libby Lehman are coming to town this summer, and I sent in my registration for that.  I’m going just for the experience of being part of one of their seminars.  I’ve been a member of The Quilt Show since the beginning and would love to meet Ricky and Alex in person, plus I love Libby Lehman’s thread work.

Another art quilt is in progress, and last but not least, my destashing is slowly but surely progressing.

Regular blog readers know that I have a lot of “stuff” in my house.  In my defense, I still have a business, and half of my ”stuff” is my inventory.  The thing is, I have a LOT of everything.  I’ve been trying to lighten the load since 2005 and am proud to say another 229 pounds of my treasures have left the building.  That makes for a grand total of  2,733 pounds out of here.

This slow but steady progress isn’t very visible in my home.  The shelves are still full and the closets too, but I’m going in the right direction.  I honestly think it’ll take me another few years to make a serious dent in this endeavor, but who knows?  I just might reach my goal of 5,000 pounds out of here before 2020. 

I wish a very Happy and Healthy New Year to all of you.

Hugs…

Crazy Quilt Secret Sister Present

This has been another mixed week.  My Aunt passed away December 22, and her funeral service was December 27.  She is at peace now. She was on our minds a lot, but we still managed to appreciate our family – more so than usual. 

Family members didn’t exchange a lot of gifts this year, so the special present I received from my WorldWide Crazy Quilt Yahoo Secret Sister was extra special.  Can you believe the beautiful tin Jacque made for me?

 

It was filled with Snickers Fudge – yum.  And here is another picture of the other goodies Jacque sent:

The little Cloisonne hummingbird on the right was inside the ornament in the center – at the top of the picture.  And the beautiful copper bracelet on the left actually fits.  I’m thrilled.  I just love copper.

There are two copper animal cookie cutters, a book mark, a cross stitch design, and some trim.  Thank-you ever so much for all the goodies, Jacque.

Hugs…