Wednesday

So a very late start to the day today. I've proposed some classes to both the Kimball-Jenkins school of Art and the League of NH Craftsmen and then went home and crashed.

There is a call for fiber art entries in February, if I can find the link, I'll post it here. It looks interesting, it's based on the urban environment, which to me is a lot of fun.

I'm going to try and get some solid stitching done tonight, if my guts will let me (the C. Diff has flared up again, bacteria are such fun). See you tomorrow.
Happy stitching!

Laying in some heavy gold

Well, I'm at the point in this project where I'm couching down 8 to 10 strands of gold thread at a time. I'm using this to evoke mermaid's hair, so there will be strands of this throughout the piece. I'm using a thread that is very very close to the background fabric color, that way it will be as if the hair appears and disappears. I think it's a nice effect, and it casts a good shadow.

I apologize for the quality of my photos, I'm using my phone to photograph and write these posts It's easier for me to do this every day if I'm using tools that are readily at hand (like the bluetooth keyboard I use for typing this out, spiffy little thing)

I'm not entirely comfortable being outgoing on the internet yet, but I hope other folks can use the way I work as a jump off point for their own creative endeavors. We all see further by standing on the shoulders of giants, or even each other. It's a way to support the next generation of artists and craftspeople.

So, please, feel free to stand on my shoulders and see what you can make.

Happy stitching!

Monday

I've begun laying out the areas for more gold couching and the third panel of the vest. I first drew everything out with a large piece of sidewalk chalk (useful stuff!) and then quick basting stitches to outline so that way when I'm working I don't care that the chalk has rubbed off.
I've stapled rope to the edges of a stretching frame so that I can pin the work in place as I'm doing quick stitches. It's not taut enough for me to be comfortable doing elaborate embroidery, but it's enough for this kind of thing.
Happy Stitching!

Some more pearls

Well, I've added more pearls and another piece of beetle wing. And it's starting to look like a thing.
What has helped is that I've found the story for this piece. It's how I work all my art pieces. There needs to be a story, and mystery. I won't bore you all with the details of the story, since I'm the only one that needs to know it, but it has a revised title. "Ripples: or, Mermaids and the sailors that, briefly, loved them." That's enough of a story to carry over in to a couple of differentt pieces, a brooch, possibly a bracelet and hopefully a neckpiece.
Happy Stitching!

Progress

There is progress on the vest! I like how the pearls are working on this. I'm using size 15 beading needles for the little 2mm freshwater pearls. and for the rest of the embroidery, I'm mostly using size 12 quilting needles. It's a lot of fun.

Not much added, yesterday.

Beetle wing added.

This is the first of many beetle wings to go on the vest. I'm cutting them into smaller pieces and sanding the edges to shape. After the sanding, I use a teeny-tiny drill to make some holes to stitch it down.

If I wanted the effect, I could gently steam them, and gently flatten them out a bit.

It's been a while

Hello, it's been a while (a long while) since I've updated what's going on with my projects. I'm going to be posting more regularly. I think that writing out what I'm doing may help me to think more clearly about what I'm doing.

So, the current big project is an embroidered vest. The theme for it is "Ripples" and I'm using couched gold threads for the actual ripples, which I think will give a flat, more reflective area on the vest. Around that I'm doing a kind of marbelized effect, with chain, split and outline stitch.

This is the first of three panels (left, right and back) when this layer is done, I may be adding 3 dimensional fish, or leaves and flowers, I'm not sure yet.

For now, Ciao!

Back to the large projects.

Hi folks! I am now working on a very large project. I'm stitching on a shirt and I am doing the text of Beowulf on it. So far, it's coming along very nicely, and stitching over paint has been interesting. More later.

Sharing something I found

I don't often share links, but this struck me as interesting.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/06/12/what-does-mindfulness-meditation-do-to-your-brain/?WT.mc_id=SA_facebook

Stage 2 done!

Well, my goal of finishing this piece in 24 hours, has sailed off into the distance. I had an epiphany last night, and I'm adding in some leaves. I'll have a picture, later.
Happy stitching, everyone!

Main part done, 26 hours

I've given the stitching a nice bath. That spiffed (no auto correct,  I will never want to type 'spiff ed') up the french knots, nicely. Time to add the pearls, and maybe some opals.

Hour 19 of the 24 hour project

Hi folks! I'm back at the studio, and feeling better.  The gold border is done, and the dark purple french knots are put in next to the fleurs-de-lis. Time to finish up the black french knots,  and the black border, and it's into its bath. (After its bathtime I'll add the pearls, and maybe opals.)

24 hour project

Well, this project is going to take 24 hours total. So far there are 12 and a half hours of stitching in this. Today the goal is to get it done, or at least mostly done. Wish me luck.

5 & 1/2 hours of stitching

This is coming along nicely. My goal for the day is to finish the fronts.

New project

Hi folks! I'm starting a new, quickish piece. I start with a couple constraints. 1- it has to include squares and circles. And, 2- I want to use green, orange and turquoise.  There's a default constraint, that this will be a brooch.
There should be more posts during the day.

Whelp, back to the drawing board

Occasionally, I do goof up on an idea. I spent yesterday working on the second layer of leaves. The color is right, but the size and shape are wrong. So today I'm working on the redesign.

Must stitch faster!

Stage 2 done!

Good afternoon folks! The brooch is coming along very nicely. Stage one of the petals is finished and now it's time for me to mount it on to some organza, and add some pearls and some leaves and then see how far it goes.

I like this process of stitching. I'm not sure what the end product is going to look like, but I'm having a lot of fun getting there.

The brooch is coming along.

Well the piece is coming along very nicely. I really like how the picots are coming along, both on the link sections, and on the leaves themselves. I'm looking forward to seeing this completed.

Happy Monday!

This weekend I started a largish piece of lace for a large project. The spine of the lace is nearly done.

I prefer to work on 2 or 3 projects at the same time. That way, if I get stuck I have something else to work on, while I figure out a solution.

Happy stitching!