3.30.2007

FINALLY!!


I humphed in my last entry because Blogger (please note my lady-like lack of single-syllable short-vowel fricatives (Anglo-Saxon)) would not put out my icons at the tope of the posting space. I was tres annoyed. So I humphed.





But Today I Have Icons.

Let's see what happens next...GASP!! My Botany Bookmark came through!!



And, in joyful celebration, I have the following announcement to make:

First, I have a regular flickr account now, at http://flickr.com/photos/txstitchermom/, which are all my general pix, plus we have started two new flickr groups.

Our first new addition is a public photo pool as an offshoot of our Needlelace and More Yahoo!Group (the NON-SPAM version). The photos may be viewed here, although we've all been quite busy and haven't had a chance to post much.

The second new flickr group is in the field of Pulled and Drawn Thread. If you are interested in either of those needlework media and have some work which you'd like to post, please get in touch with me either through this blog or through flickr.

More soon!

3.14.2007

Coming Attractions...

Well, it's late and I'm tired out of my mind, but here's what's up for tomorrow. I have several projects going, a quilting one of which is actually "done". And, although I generally shouldn't admit it, I sort of play Minesweep, AND I WON THE EXPERT LEVEL!!! Yes, you guessed it, I actually took a pic of the screen (I hope it came out!!) cuz I knew DH wouldn't believe me!!! So be good, be well, and I'll be back!

3.01.2007

The 22' Oriental Project and then some...




well, I got all these loaded up, it's after midnight and I'm tired out of my mind. So I'm just going to tell you quick what they are and tomorrow they will each have their own titles and paragraphs!
The top one requires a large para...it's a 22' long (I kid you not!) Oriental piece of fabric in panels. My wonderful Mom grabbed it from somewhere and we split it...you see my half!
Next is a tag project I'm working on with another group. What you see is three macrame dragonflies on side one. They'll be done finally in a couple days, at which you'll see front and back before I mail them out.
The third pic is a bee-yoo-tee-full miniature Goddess quiltlet wall hanging. It is an original, signed, Arlee Barr. I'm quite thrilled! Although I MUST say, shrieking in delight via email just does not have the same effect as shrieking into the phone and making the recipient hold her phone a foot away from her ear!!!
And the fourth pic is a wonderful pile of sparklies and thingies, including a darling little painted art doll head, which I need to get a close up of tomorrow to go with the sparklie pic. These are also from my awesome Canadian friend...again, the disappointment of email shrieks of delight!!
So that's it for now, y'all!! Behave, be good, and I'll be back!!

TAST Project 1


Well, my TASTing is not only experimenting with shaping of different stitches, but also combining stitches and ideas.
Project 1 here (not quite done) started with the centipedes. The fabric, as you can see from the top edging there, is a scrap of something received from one of my evenweave companies. I adore working with weird colors that no one else wants to touch and seeing how I can turn the fabric into a project to drool over. Well, I guess centipedes aren't exactly to drool over, but oh well!!
They started out as two little c's, crawling out in nice somewhat uneven buttonhole/blanket stitch form. Now come on, have you EVER heard of a centipede having uniform legs??!! Then I looked at the stitch and thought for a while. I added the curved seams on the side there -- the first and third are closely-worked buttonhole such as you'll find in whitework. The middle one (not finished) uses the detached chain. Not too bad so far...
I decided the c's needed something, so I filled them in with gradient pink glass beads down to the small rocaille beads at their tails. Their heads have French knots at the ends of the antennae, which is how you can tell which end is which. Just in case you ever need or want to know.
The blue leaves and tan branch tip were added and appliqued with very close, very small blanket/buttonhole stitch. I'll have to figure out how to get a better close-up, because I'm rather proud of the small size and consistency of those stitches, if I do say so myself!
Then, I wanted to fill out things a bit more, so I attached the periwinkle blue-and-white flower with detached chain stitch, also using periwinkle blue thread, in each of the white petals of the flower. The leaf is appliqued, again with blanket/buttonhole stitch, and some slight needlepainting in the dk green center veins.
Finally, at the bottom of the piece, there are two pieces of a "sample scrap" that is striped in pale and dark versions of the same olive drab type color of the background piece. So far, there is a pulled-thread eyelet in tan at the top of the vertical piece. There will be about a half dozen scattered throughout those two pieces.
I'm pleased with the quality of my work. I'm rather happy with how the colors have fallen together, although looking at the piece now, I would be happier if I had used a couple different shades. But this is a learning experience, and I'm enjoying it.
TAST stitches used: Buttonhole/blanket, and detached chain.