Yucca, Yucca, Yucca

The Lazy, Hazy, Daisy Days of Summer

June Goal Update

We're half way through 2018. I'm still sticking to my 18 in 2018 goals. It is, however, a bit of a slog right now. It's becoming clear that I won't complete all of my goals. That doesn't mean I'm giving up, though. This is the progress I made in June:


Goal 4: Stitch and finish/frame Letter Snow

I have a great start on this. I'll have the stitching done in one more day. I haven't decided how I'll do the finishing, though. I originally thought I was going to frame it. But this week I bought some nice bellpull hardware from a gal in town. So I might finish it like a banner.

Goal 8: Learn to use my new sewing machine

I've learned the basics and have used it to sew one project. There's so much more to learn, because there's an entire embroidery attachment to figure out, and I haven't begun to do that yet. But I can do just about as much with this machine as I did with my old machine, so I'm going to call this goal done. It's a constant learning process and I'm good with learning what I need to learn as each situation arises.

Goal 10: Make a pattern from my favorite t-shirt and use it to make some shirts.

Well, I've made and altered the pattern twice. I've made three shirts from it. The last one come out beautifully, but because of the fabric I used, it didn't fit me as well as I hoped. So I'm giving that shirt to my daughter Jeanne after I try a dyeing technique on it. I'll alter the pattern one more time and make another shirt for myself. It's a process. But I'm calling this goal complete, too.

Goal 11: New shelf paper in the kitchen

Technically, I finished this goal in May. But in June I also put the new shelf paper in the pantry (which is in an adjoining room).

Goal 12: The Artist's Way and It's Never Too Late to Begin Again, both by Julia Cameron

After six (or seven?) weeks, I finally finished "Week Nine" of The Artist's Way. There was a big stumbling block there that I had to work through. I'm on to "Week Ten" now, I've done the reading and started in on the exercises.

It's clear to me that I won't get to the second book this year, so I've moved It's Never Too Late onto my 2019 goal list. Overall score sheet:

• Goals completed: Seven
• Goals in progress: Seven
• Goals not started yet: Four

And ... that's it. Some of these goals just take weeks or months to go from start to finish. I find that if I can do a "boot camp" to get a good running start on one single goal, the finishing goes better. Right now, the boot camp is with Letter Snow. When I get done with that, I have a birthday card to make for my mother-in-law. Then I hope to plow back into The Artist's Way again.

But you know how it is. Life sure does get in the way of goals - and I don't want to miss out on Life.

Puzzle Time

I didn't sleep great last night, so had little energy ... even for stitching ... which was my planned activity for the day. So instead, I spent most of the day putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Actually, Dale and I started and finished it together. I poked around on it by myself in the middle.

This one was a bit of a challenge. Those birds are going every which direction and are so colorful that it wasn't easy to sort the pieces by color. In addition, there were no obvious horizontal or vertical pieces.

Spending quiet time with my guy this way is just right for the first day of vacation. Sometimes it's best to do the unplanned thing.

Wounded Winged Things

I had a strange series of encounters with flying animals today.

First, there was a bee or wasp sitting on my living room chair back. Using a custard cup and an envelope, I was able to catch it and take it outside, releasing it on the small cafe table on our front porch.

I went back inside to dress for my walk, and I found another winged bug of some kind ... like a super giant mosquito-looking thing ... sitting on the shade of our floor lamp. It was bigger that the bee/wasp and on a rounded surface, but my custard cup and envelope trick worked again, once I got it to fly into the cup. I took it out to the table on the porch, too, to release it. And the bee was still there!

Then I finished dressing for my walk. When I passed the table, both winged things were still just sitting there. I don't think they were well.

About a half mile into my walk, I came upon another distressed creature. This time it was this butterfly, sitting right in the middle of the sidewalk. It was so still, with the breeze batting its wings around. It appears the bottom of the wings are tattered. I didn't know how to help it, so took this photo and walked on.

On my way back home I saw a group of bicycle-riding boys stop to examine the butterfly. The tenderhearted boy (the one who was looking out for his little brother) was able to pick up the butterfly and at least put it in the cooler grass.

But how strange was that to come across three injured flying things in a row? I was stumped on how to help any of them, except to not kill the bugs outright who inhabited my living room.

Throwback Thursday - 2000 (Part 2 of 4)

I continue looking back on the year 2000 starting with projects I completed in July. Some of these stitcheries call up feelings of sadness because I remember who I stitched them for and why I stitched them, then the circumstances of how our relationships changed over time. I put a lot of hours and a bit of myself into each piece. When the pieces bring up past brokenness, well, it's just a little sad.

But I choose to savor the parts of the relationships that were good and whole. Plus, it is heartening to see how my stitching continued to progress over time.


A Friend!

With this piece, I used variegated floss for the first time. That is what gives the flowers and leaves that striped appearance. I used muted, neutral colors for the fence which helps the flowers pop. I finished this as a banner, with a sleeve on top in back for a rod to go in for hanging purposes. Then I fringed the bottom.

November Birthday Fairy

Back at the turn of the century, stitching fairies was all the rage. Flower fairies. Monthly fairies. Birthday fairies. So I got on the bandwagon. This is the second of three birthday fairies that I made for my daughters. This was for Jeanne.

Blending filament is used in the fairy's wings to add some sparkle. The buds in the border are beads.

Design Lesson

The purpose of the EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) is to teach/learn/share embroidery techniques. One week, we were challenged to design something -- to help all of us realize that design isn't a big mystery. Each of us is capable of creating something original, to a greater or lesser degree. We were given a bit of fabric, a handful of beads, and a variety of fibers.

Just when we had carefully selected our materials, our teacher had us exchange one of our fibers with the person on our left. Now we had to figure out how to incorporate the new fiber in with the other supplies we'd carefully selected.

Next we were to pick two "specialty stitches" ... and then just start stitching without a plan. Our designs were to grow organically as we stitched. Well, for a gal who loves a plan and likes to know where I'm supposed to end up before I start, this was quite a challenge.

I ended up choosing the diamond-shaped Queen Stitch and the leaf-shaped Lazy Daisy. After I arranged them, I tucked blue beads in between, and made fringe from the long bugle beads.

Doing this exercise was fun and challenging. It was quite interesting to see how different each of our group's designs came out.

A couple years after this experiment, I decided to do some finishing work on my little design. After several failed attempts, I was able to center my design on a covered button form and add the backing. I finished it off with a ring of seed beads in two sizes. I added a pin back so that this crazy little design can be worn on a lapel.

Rose Vertical Pincushion

I fell in love with this pretty tapestry-like design when I first saw it in a needlework catalog. I held off buying it for a while, but broke down when I saw that my local shop had the dark brown wooden Sudberry House base.

I kept this lovely piece for myself and it stands guard over my sewing machines in my Studio. The spool is pretty big! It's six-and-a-half inches tall, with a three-and-a-half inch diameter. I stitched it on a light pink ground cloth. The spool was a bit of a challenge to finish because there are layers of batting beneath the stitchery that needed to be smoothed so that the cushion didn't end up lumpy and bumpy. Plus I had to make sure there was plenty of batting that the pins could cling to. (I should take a new photo of this pincushion. It's so much prettier than it looks in this image).

Welcome

This little 4 inch square piece is one of my favorites. It came out so pretty when framed in gold.

EGA does community outreach by stitching Welcome samplers for each new recipient of a home from Habitat for Humanity. This is stitched with Japan Gold fibers and pearl beads, offset by the Hardanger motifs and filigree.

I was even able to present this stitchery to the owner of the new home. It was a very touching ceremony to see her accept the keys to her new home, this sampler, and other signs of welcoming.

More #throwbackthursday from the Year 2000 next week!

2018 Journal Redux

I'll be using the last of the heart journal this week, so decided to prep the next one. It should last the majority of Summer and Fall for my daily writing.

While wandering the home decorating aisle of Dollar Tree, I got an idea for an unusual way to use their adhesive wall art. I picked this vibrant floral pattern. Then I moseyed over to the gift wrap aisle to find a coordinating wrapping paper. When I got home, I pulled out my washi tape and found this little stripe that worked with the rest.

I cut two pieces of wrapping paper to 13" x 9-1/2" then taped them to the covers with double-sided adhesive. One long edge butts up against the wire spiral. I wrapped the extra inch to the inside cover on the other three sides, and adhered the edges.

Then I started playing withe the floral decals. I was able to use some of them whole. Others I cut into smaller pieces, discarding the skull altogether. I overlapped some of the flowers to create little bouquets. The finished product is a bit of a mishmash with the flowers going in every direction, but it will serve its purpose.

I added washi tape along the edge near the spiral binding. It took two strips on the front cover to hide that last bit of purple peeking out from under the red wrapping paper.

It was fun to do a project with a quick finish in the midst of several multi-stage projects I'm working on.

Reflections

Lights on the water at twilight. What could be prettier?

Click for larger image

Rose Petal Heart

I wasn't feeling at my best last week. I recovered some energy over the weekend and was able to go out for my morning walk. It's warm and breezy outside today. A beautiful Idaho morning. I was so grateful to be out in the midst of it.

Walking on the asphalt on the way home, I walked by this heart-shaped petal that had recently detached itself from a dying rose. I also found a heart-shaped rock.

After a storm, love.

Letter Snow

While I was feeling under the weather last week, I started this counted cross-stitch design, Letter Snow by Hillside Samplings. This is one of my 18 in 2018 goals. I'm happy with my progress.

Here's what the finished piece will look like.

The Thinker

The Thinker by Rodin has been photographed over and over. I'm in good company.

Here's my take on the masterpiece.

Father's Day Card

I've seen variations of this design on Pinterest. Thought I'd give it a try.

Dale wears three-piece suits with white button-down collars to work. And adds a tie that matches his pocket handkerchief and cuff links. I tried to re-create the look in paper. Those are real buttons on the collar. The tie tack is a gem sticker. the pocket square can be removed from the pocket.

I even got to use a little hand-lettering on the inside. My practice is beginning to pay off.

There are lots of tutorials on YouTube to show the technique. This is the one I used:

Bloom Where You Are Planted

I am not feeling well today. #throwbackthursday of my past stitching projects will have to wait until tomorrow ... or next week. Today I plan to sit a lot and do quiet things. Stitch. Watch YouTube and recorded TV shows. Read. Rest.

I am carrying forth with my morning routine, though as a modified, shortened version. Write one page instead of three. Not think too hard about what I'm grateful for. Do a three minute meditation instead of one lasting 15 minutes. You get the idea.

Following was part of my morning devotional/reading. It certainly speaks to my station in life right now:

Being a late bloomer means that you have the time and the opportunity to revise and revamp if you experiment with life and fall short of your dreams. We late bloomers can risk more because at this point nobody really expects anything spectacular from us anymore. We can reinvent ourselves or give birth to our authentic selves as we rediscover and reclaim our essence.

We must bloom where we are planted.

~ Sarah Ban Breathnach 

Bluebells growing curbside

 

Worn Out

I'm tired today.

This boy touched my heart.

That's probably a non sequitur. But I swear, there was some kind of connection between the two in my head when I sat down to make this blog post.

Rodin

We had the opportunity to go to the Rodin museum while in Philadelphia. I found the anguish exhibited in this piece mesmerizing. Rodin's depiction of strong, huge hands fascinated me. Being at the museum and talking with the docent made me want to learn so much more.

This statue is one of the figures on "The Burghers of Calais."

In 1346 the English king Edward III laid siege to the French port of Calais. Eleven months later, Edward demanded the surrender of six of the town's leading men, or burghers, in return for sparing its citizens.

Rodin's sculpture commemorates this episode and emphasized the internal struggle of each man as he walked toward his fate wearing a sackcloth and rope halter. The burghers were later spared thanks to the intervention of the English queen, who feared that their deaths would bring bad luck to her unborn child.

Columbine

I have a purple columbine in my yard (hiding under some weeds right now). This bright red columbine is in a flower bed I pass on my morning walk. Gorgeous!

Over-the-Top Cuteness

Grandpa said it. It must be true.

Melody on her first birthday last month.

Suppertime

Independence Hall, the upper room
Philadelphia, PA

Flowers for Friday

I saw these on my daily walk through the neighbourhood and they stopped me in my tracks. Gorgeous.

Throwback Thursday - 2000 (Part 1 of 4)

The year 2000 started out rather slowly on the stitching front, but picked up in October. Altogether, I finished 19 small projects.


Monogram Lace Hardanger Sachet

January started out with another small foray into the Hardanger technique. This cutwork technique was a challenge for me, and I never did quite get the hang of it or use it often. However I'd been given a gift of this small kit, so thought I'd give the ol' Kloster blocks a try again.

In Hardanger, after you stitch a series of satin stitches, you can then cut the fabric close to the stitching to create holes for a lacy look. The inside of each Kloster block is open. I lined the finished sachet with a pink fabric that shows through those holes. The top of the sachet has kind of a scalloped edge.

I still use this sachet in my sock drawer -- and it still smells good. The finished item is about six inches tall.

Valentine Heart

This pretty heart was stitched in February as a thank you gift for my EGA secret sister who had given me many lovely items throughout the previous year. I finished it as a pillow -- a first for me. The design was a freebie from Candamar designs. I think I may still have this chart in my stash. It's so cute that I may stitch it for myself, since I like hearts so much.

To make the pillow, I used some wonderful soft dark brown Ultrasuede to frame the stitchery, then added some piping around the edge that mimicked the pink in the stitching. (See the truly sad photo of the finished pillow below).

Victorian Heart

By April, I was ready to attempt Hardanger again. This may be the last piece I stitched with this technique. I love the combination of Hardanger lacy bits, silk ribbon embroidery, beading (small white beads in the intersections of the lacy bits), and metal heart charm. The design was from a kit by Lorri Birmingham. All the materials in the kit were lovely and very nice to work with. The fabric is an evenweave called Monaco.

Believe it or not, this beautiful heart lies in a box in my Studio, still waiting to be finished. I even have the backing fabric. I think I eventually want to frame it and display it in our guest room which we call The Love Nest. The room is decorated in all manner of heart decor.

I'm thinking that one of my 19 in 2019 Goals will be to do the finishing work on the many projects where the stitching is done, but the projects are not yet ready to display. That is an ambitious goal!

Cherished Teddies -- Bob

I won this adorable Sailor Bear kit as a door prize at a stitcher's gathering in May 1999. I stitched it for my brother-in-law. He and my sister collect bears. My brother-in-law was a Navy man. I thought this bear was fitting. I'd intended to use this piece as part of a three-panel bell pull and present it as a gift to my sister.

Alas, the other two sailor bears never did get stitched. Little Bob sits in the box with the Victorian Heart (above), abandoned. Now my sister is downsizing ... so I'm not sure such a gift would be welcome. I'll come up with some idea to give Bob a home.

God's Promises

This little pillow was from another kit I received as a gift. The finished piece is about 4 inches square. I made small alterations to the original design, such as the yellow bars on the sides and the sky made of half-cross stitches in a vertical zig-zag pattern. I thought that helped it look like rain.

I completed the piece in June and gave the finished pillow to a friend from church who was moving to the Seattle, WA area to begin a new job. I thought the message on the pillow and the fact that she was moving to rainy Seattle made this an apt gift.