Happy Hearts' Day!

I've  loved Valentine's Day since I was a child.  I love the prettiness of the hearts and lace.  I love the bright red in the middle of a dreary month.   Hope you have a wonderful day. 

What I did in the Blizzard!

Living in the mid-Atlantic means we only get large snow storms about every 8-10  years.  But, when the storms do hit they really knock us out.  Snow removal equipment isn't the best, nor is there a lot of it. People don't know how to drive and don't understand what "stay inside and off the roads" means.  Well, this winter has really been unusual.  Not only did we have a major snow storm in December, but we've had two major storms within 5 days! 

This is our back yard after the second blizzard.  The fence is 6 feet tall!  So, you have some indication of what our world looks like.  But, even though we had no way of getting out for a few days, and no where to go because mostly everything was closed, I managed to keep busy.  Besides cooking and baking, which I always want to do when it snows, I also was busy in the studio. 

I had been working on a bead embroidered pendant before the storm, and I had plenty of time to finish it and it's necklace once the first storm hit.   I love doing bead embroidery, mostly because I like doing embroidery!  I try to let the beads tell me what to do.  I used a photograph from a catalog as the color inspiration for this piece.  The cabochon is one I had in my stash and it was the perfect color for what I wanted to do. 

Once I finished the embroidery I had to decide on a necklace for it.  I was going to stitch a spiral rope and make a bail for the pendant, but that seemed too busy.  What I decided to do was just string some of the seed beads and attach the necklace to the top  of the pendant.

  

The necklace I ended up making is fun to stitch.  You begin by stringing a given number of beads, in this case 34, and then stringing 4 more.  You pick up 4 beads in a contrasting color and go through the last 4 beads again.  You repeat that sequence 5 more times to create the barrel, then string another 34 beads.  By repeating that pattern, you can create a necklace any length you desire.  Once again, living by my motto of "life's too short not to embellish", I went back and put some fringe on the bottom of each barrel, using seed beads and drop beads.  I attached it to the pendant by stringing into two of the pendants edging beads on each side. 

I like the finished product.  The barrels add some weight to the necklace so that it supports the pendant, without competing with it. 

One project finished.  But, there was still almost 30 inches of snow on the ground and this was only the first blizzard!  After snow blowing and shoveling ourselves out of that one, the second one arrived 5 days later!  Well, no problem, because I always have more projects than time!  I was knitting a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend of mine.   They were a combination of two patterns and I liked them so much I knit myself a pair in a different color!  But, I needed a neat way to present them to her.  I love to come up with fun, interesting presentations, and  since I wasn't going to see her for a while I took the time to play.  I made a pillow box out of cardstock covered with fabric which I ultimately tied with a bow.  Notice the snow flake fabric!Then I decided to make a tag (more on tags  at a later time).   I wanted a way of reminding her to hand wash the gloves and making a tag seemed like a good idea since I love making them, and any excuse works!

 So, I created a tag that coordinates with the box.  The reverse side tells her to "Hand Wash Only".  The front uses some of Tim Holtz' techniques and some of his products.   My daughter, Carrie, and I are big fans of Tim Holtz.  His ideas and techniques for paper art are really cool.  A new one I tried for this tag is the "frosted" snowflake charm in the center of the tag. 

It's a fun and  easy way of modifing an acrylic charm.  The technique can be found on his website.  I learned it from his  "12 Tags of Christmas" tutorials.

I've enjoyed the time that these storms have given me.  I won't say I'm not fantasizing about spring and being out in my garden again, because I am.  But, it's been wonderful to be able to spend time in my studio without worrying about having somewhere else I needed to be. 

I hope those of you who have been snowed in have enjoyed the gift of creative time also.

Fusion

I've always loved fiber, fabric and beads,  and the more color the better!  I started this adventure in creating doing needlepoint.  Gradually I moved on to crocheting, knitting, quilting, counted cross stitch and beading.  It didn't take long for the desire to combine all these wonderful things began to take hold.  The first thing I thought of was needlepointing the front of a vest.  I never have done that, although I still might some day.  I think I'd use even count fabric rather than needlepoint canvas so it wouldn't be so stiff.  Eventually, I began making jackets knitting the back and sleeves and using fabric for the fronts.  The black one is the first one I did and it's still my favorite.  I also made one with linen yarn and fabric (the second picture), which was published in the Salon section of Stampington's Belle Armoire.   

When I began making knitted jewelry I used beads and buttons as I told you in my last post.  But, soon I decided I had to use some fabric and possibly needlepoint canvas.  The first idea I came up with was to knit I-cords and make a pendant and bail out of fabric.  I decided to make folded fabric flowers and attach them to a base that I made from Timtex.  I fused silk fabric to  the Timtex  and stitched the flowers down with beaded centers. I also added leaf beads in between the flowers.  I fused the same fabric to Timtex for the bail.  Then I was left with unfinished edges!  Well, I decided to bind the edges with narrow bias binding.   I used the sewing machine to stitch the binding to the Timtex first and then turned it to the back and stitched it down by hand.  For a closure I picked up the ends of the I-cords on knitting needles and began a single I-cord,  knitting for about 3 inches.  I did this on each side.  I then cut triangles from the same purple silk that I used for the flowers and stitched them into a bell shape.  The bottom photo shows the closure.

  

Shortly after I finished this necklace I saw a posting about a wearable art show in California called Creative Expressions 2008.  I had never heard of the show, but I decided to send in photos of the necklace just for fun.  To my great surprise it was accepted!!  There was an opportunity to sell the piece, and so, once again, just for fun, I agreed to put it in that category.  Shortly before the show closed I recieved an email from the curator saying a collector of art jewelry had purchased the necklace!!  To say I was both humbled and thrilled at the same time is an understatement!  It was a wonderful experience!

Having used fabric, knitting and beads in that first necklace, I decided to make another piece and use some needlepoint canvas as well as knitting, fabric and beads!  I had this wonderful knitting ribbon which had gold leafing on the ribbon.  It's an interesting ribbon to knit with, but so cool I couldn't resist.  I knitted the i-cord and a flower which I  attached to the colored canvas with a dichroic button made by my friend TerrieVoigt (see my last post for a link to her website).  Once again I used Timtex as a base.  I covered it with a piece of gold lame fabric,  which is something I often did when I made needlepoint Christmas ornaments. When you aren't covering the canvas with solid stitching it looks nice to have a color or some glitz showing through the canvas.  I then covered the lame with the blue needlepoint canvas which I had stitched with a needle lace pattern and scattered beads.  The flower was stitched in the middle of the the circle.  For a backing I covered Timtex with a piece of the lame and hand stitched the two circles together.  I then stitched blue and green lentil beads to the edge.  I made the bail the same way I had made the other necklace, except that I used needlepoint canvas, and stitched an interlocking web pattern and scattered some beads on it. Once again, I lined Timtex with lame and covered it with the canvas.  I finished the edges with narrow bias binding made with a hand marbled fabric I had gotten at a quilt show.  I didn't want to leave the ends of the I-cord plain (life is too short not to embellish is my motto!) so I made stuffed tubes and attached them to the ends of the knitting.  I then used the lentil beads to create a collar around the top of the tubes where they attach to the I-cords. 

Both of the necklaces were really fun to create.  The ideas evolved as I worked on them.  I don't often have a completed design in mind when I start a project.  I just have a general idea of what I want to do and the materials I want to work with, and I go from there.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But that's all part of the fun!

Hope you enjoy seeing these pieces and thanks for visiting!

Pattern Writing

I really dislike writing patterns.  I've done it for wearable art jacket classes that I taught some years ago and I've written patterns for knitted accessories I've designed.   It's always the worst part of designing for me.  I've come to realize that my dislike of writing a pattern is what keeps me from designing. 

I enjoyed teaching the wearable art jacket classes at my local quilt shop.   It was fun getting to know the women and sharing a love of sewing fun garments that were wearable, but not run of the mill.  I had some students who became regulars in my classes.  Writing the patterns wasn't the entire reason I stopped teaching.  In fact I found producing the jacket patterns wasn't that difficult because I was there to explain each step.  But, I still liked to make the instructions as detailed as possible so, once at home, the student could continue working on the jacket without trouble understanding the next steps. 

This jacket was one of my first classes and one of the most popular.  I taught it several times over the course of two years.  I designed it so that each section was a unit that was then sewn together to create the back of the jacket and then the front.  The sleeves also had options for different embellishments or techniques.  That was basically what the class was about, taking the model and making it your own.  Once you had completed a section, having learned a fabric manipulation technique or embellishment technique, you could place it where you wanted it.  You could also use the technique on other garments or quilts or pillows.  It was popular because it gave the students options to personalize their work, while teaching them some new things.

Unfortunately, these photos aren't the best because, as I said, I was there to answer questions, and the model was in front of the students, so they really didn't need a spectacular photograph.  The written pattern came along with the class fee.

Well, after doing a lot of sewing and designing I began knitting again.  Since I had some success with my jackets I thought writing and selling some of my ideas for knitted jewelry would be fun.  Well, the first problem comes with my reticence to market myself.  I have a terrible time putting myself out there.  I've always been shy and marketing and shyness aren't really that compatible!  But, I also found that writing patterns that were going to be sold for people to work on on their own was another challenge altogether.  I wouldn't be there to explain how I did what they were trying to reproduce.  Well, with the encouragement of my family and a dear friend,  Terrie Voigt, I decided to go ahead with knitting patterns. They are fun, different accessories that are quick to make. But, writing, formatting, and photographing the patterns was not something I enjoyed.  My computer skills are not good, and my dear husband helped me tremendously, making a template for the patterns and photographing the pieces.  Without his help the patterns wouldn't have happened.  As it turned out we produced some nice looking patterns,  given that we were amateurs at the whole procedure.  I have to say that Terrie helped a great deal with the first pattern which was a scarf using her beautiful dichroic glass buttons in the center of the roses. 

This pattern led to five others, one of which was featured in the second issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry.  I posted a picture of that piece in my first blog post.  I was emailing Ellen Sandin,  one day about a kit on her website, Earthfaire, and decided to ask if she'd be interested in the patterns.  I was delighted when she saw them and emailed back to say she would like to carry them.  All of the patterns she has have done quite well.

The Falling Leaves necklace was the first of the knitted necklace patterns.  What can't be seen in the photo is the peyote stitched tubes that are around the I-cord.  Also, I used my history as a sewer to create a closure for the necklace.  I ended the I-cord with a leaf.  I sewed a snap to the under side of the leaf and the opposite I-cord and that's how I solved the problem of a clasp for the necklace. 

The Belle Flower Lariat pattern, on the left, is the most popular one on the site.  It's a beaded I-cord that is fun to knit.  There are many variations possible with this pattern. Color, yarn, beads, and the way it's worn are all up to the knitter.  The last pattern that Ellen carries it the one to the right.  Once again I used the leaf pattern (I love leaves!) knitted into an I-cord and closed it with a snap.  Instead of knitting the beads into the I-cord, I embroidered them on in clusters around the necklace. 

I have one other pattern, a belt, written up and a few in mind.  I don't know if I'll write them out or not.  I'm considering it.  It's gratifing to have people like your work enough to want to recreate it.  I love the act of designing the knitting or sewing and then making what I've designed.  Its the writing and producing that makes it work!

I hope you enjoy your day and have time to create something you love.

Settling in for winter

Well, the holidays are well and truly over at our house.  My birthday is shortly after New Year's and it seems that we no sooner finish celebrating Christmas and New Year's then it's my birtday!  Now, I don't have a problem with that, but I never really feel that I can take a deep breath and settle in for a winter of creating until the big day is over.  This year, because it was a "milestone" birthday the festivities took a little longer to complete.  My wonderful husband, with help from our daughter and suggestions from our son, gave me a surprise party over the weekend!  It was a wonderful time, with family (our son and daughter-in-law came down  from Boston after just being here for Christmas!) and good friends to share the evening.  But, now, I can say it's winter and I can stay in and work in the studio!  I'm also hoping to post more to the blog.  So, this is just "note to say Hello" and I'm still here and you'll be hearing more from me now that life has calmed down, decorations are put away and the house is back in order. 

Hope you all are enjoying the calm after the holiday rush.  I'll say good bye for now with this picture of the birdfeeder out my kitchen window the day after our December blizzard.  It looks like a cherry tart to me!

Christmas Memories

Well, for the first time in memory we may actually have a white Christmas.  It snowed for 24 hours here yesterday and we ended up with about 20 inches of snow.  For December that's a record and it looks like its going to stick around for the week!  What fun!  Family and snow for Christmas!
My daughter and I spent the afternoon decorating the tree, listening to Christmas carols on the CD player and taking breaks to marvel at all the snow!  I love decorating the tree because all the ornaments have memories.  I used to make most of the ornaments for our tree.  I rarely make ornaments now, but I'm seriously thinking of trying to make at least one ornament a year once again.  I enjoy opening the boxes and seeing them, and remembering where we were or what was happening in our lives when I was making a particular ornament.   Many friends have given us ornaments over the years, and that brings those special people to mind.  Some of those dear friends are not with us anymore and seeing their gift brings them into our lives and our home at this special time of year once again. 

Of course, I have my favorites.  This cube is stitched on perforated paper.  Each side is a different color embroidery floss.  My son and daughter love this ornament and, when they were younger,  they would take turns putting it on the tree, very carefully, so it would hang  perfectly, and out of reach, so no one could grab it and accidentally crush it.

These are some of the other favorites.  The hot air balloon saying "Cheer" is one of the early ornaments, made when my husband and I were living in Jacksonville, Florida.  I can still remember sitting in our apartment watching TV in the evenings and stitching this balloon.  I loved it because I love hot air balloons!  The coral bargello ball was stitched a few years later, when we lived in Maine.  It was made in segments, each stitched with the same pattern, then carefully cut out of the canvas leaving a 1/8" margin.  Each segment was glued to a styrofoam ball and ribbon was glued down to cover the seams.  I made loops of ribbon and a finial out of a bead and pearl and pinned it to the top and bottom of the ball.  I liked this one so much I made another, in blue and silver!  The snowman peeking into the photo was one of my very first ornaments, a painted canvas I found in a needlepoint shop in Atlanta, Georgia back in the '70's.  Yes, some of these ornaments are over 30 years old!   So many memories.  There other needlepoint ornaments in this picture.  The red and green one, a yellow one stitched with a special overdyed floss that I loved, a flat bargello ornament peeking in at the side.  I have a lot of flat bargello ornaments.  They were great for "car projects" when we were traveling.  I would pick a color family of Paternayan yarn and either gold or silver metallic embroidery thread and put them together as kits to take along. I would decide on a bargello motif and stitch it on canvas.  When I was finished I would cut them out and glue or stitch them to matching felt. I would then edge them with the metallic thread.  One year I stitched about 10 of them and even did a workshop in bargello ornaments for my Southern Maine EGA chapter. 

Once needlepoint canvas became available in colors new possibilites opened up!  And, my techniques improved!    I used the lavendar canvas for this ornament.  I mounted it on a piece of cardboard covered with purple lame which glimmers through the open canvas.  I then coverd another piece of cardboard with lame and glued the front and back together.  I stitched a beaded looped fringe to the bottom with a small purple bead hanging from the point. 

And then there are the ornaments from home.  My mother bought this little elf at a craft fair many years ago.  She has a little brother who is dressed all in white.  My daughter has always loved these little charmers and she always puts them on the tree in a place of honor where they can be seen right away. 

Decorating the tree is always a special time for us.  My husband puts the tree up and gets it ready for us to perform magic on it, as he says.  This year it was a little more magical than usual because of the snow.  Another memory to add to the many we already have.  We'll take the decorations out next year and say, "Remember last year, all that snow"!  Christmas is so special for so many reasons, but mostly because of the memories it conjures up of wonderful Christmases past.  I hope you all have a most wonderful and blessed Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, my decorating is done.  I always love decorating the house for the holidays and I do a lot of it!  This photo is of the hutch in the family room.  It contains all my mother's blue willow and ironstone.  The blue willow dishes were our everyday dishes when I was growing up.  My mom would pick up pieces wherever she came across them.  So, the set was not matching and I love the fact that everything is a different shape and size.  Some of the pieces were "new" at the time and some she found in antique stores.  My mother and aunt used to go antiquing before it became the thing to do.  Consequently, they found some real bargains.   The ironstone is one such bargain.  They would buy pieces for a few dollars.  Now I see those same pieces in magazines and the prices are so high, at least for what the ones I own cost!  I love this hutch because it's home to so many memories. I would go on a lot of the antiquing excursions when I was a child and I remember when and where some of the pieces were bought. 

I always take great care in getting the hutch ready for Christmas.  Over the years I've decorated it in many different ways.  I've begun to simplify my decorating the last few years (my family and friends will laugh when they read that!), but I really have!  I also have discovered the joys of using the small Christmas balls that you can find in boxes at Michael's.  I have quite a collection of them in all different colors and finishes.  I use them all over the house, in arrangements of greens and in candy dishes on tables.  I also love to lay some fresh greens on a table or shelf and put a group of the ornaments on the greens.  So, right now that's my method of choice for the hutch.  This year I didn't even remove any of the dishware.  I just put greens in some of the bowls and added different size ornaments on top.  The greens are a nice cushion for the ornaments.

I don't get much accomplished in the studio once Thanksgiving comes, but decorating the house and wrapping gifts is my creative outlet for December!  I love doing it and my family loves seeing the results!  There are so many ways of being creative at this time of  year.  I hope you enjoy your days leading up to Christmas.  Make time each day for a break, have a cup of tea, look through a seasonal book or magazine, and enjoy the sights and smells of this wonderful time of year!