Green Hibiscus - Fan #4

I don't know that this is really a stylized hibiscus, but that was my first impression when I bought the fan.



The flowers look like they are wearing crowns of gold.

The Red and the Gold - Fan #3

Fan week continues with more scallops, floral, glitter, and gold.



The gold detail around the white flowers is scrumptious.

Blue Scallops - Fan #2

It's ornamental Fan Week on my blog. I'll be posting several of the fans in my collection.



Because I like pretty, lacy, floral sparkly things.

Cookie Therapy

When my daughter Jeanne is having a rough week, we sometimes don't hear from her for several days running. When she pops back up, she'll tell us that she took some time for "Kitchen Therapy." She doesn't necessarily follow recipes. For her, time in the kitchen means creativity and making a mess and restoring order and having something special and yummy to eat. It helps her feel more centered and ready to take on life again.

I sometimes wish I was more like Jeanne.

Me? I don't much like to cook. But I do like to bake.

I had a short, restless night of sleep again. I woke up to falling barometric pressure and rain. I felt sad for no good reason. Those are all sure signs of a low-level depressive day for me. On days like this, I usually need to sit very still and do a quiet, creative activity.



But I had a hankering for oatmeal cookies. And not just any old store-bought cookies. Our favorite family recipe cookies (not an "original family recipe," per se, but the recipe we use most often in our family). So I made some. For no good reason. No special occasion. Just because.



Now I feel better. Dale says it's because it's not only cookie therapy -- it's aromatherapy.

Throwback Thursday - 2006 Part 3

If it's Thursday, it's time to take another trip in the wayback machine. This week we'll look at the first six ornaments that I finished in April 2006  - The Year of the Ornament.


Wooly Ornaments

I saw these adorable ornaments in the Mary Maxim catalog and just couldn't resist purchasing the kit.

I love the old-fashioned colors and sweet designs.

Wooly Tree
for Jodie

In my first session, I cut out all the pieces from the felt.

Wooly Cat
for Julie

The next session, I lightly glued the pieces together.

Wooly Santa
for Jeanne's husband

After that, each ornament took about three hours to embroider.

Wooly Snowman
for Jeanne

Pieces are attached to each other with buttonhole and straight stitch. Embellishments are made with lazy daisy, chain stitch and French (or Colonial) Knots.

Wolly Sheep
for Dale

These ornaments were great fun to make. 

Wolly Holly
for Margaret

I kept them for my family. They were to be our "2005" ornaments, since I didn't get personalized ornaments made for the previous Christmas.

Needlework Book Cover

I finished another of my 19 in 2019 goals last weekend! I did the finishing work on one of six needlework pieces from years gone by. I decided to make another journal cover.

This is for my "Many Small Dreams" journal. It's a place where I can write down and flesh out my daydreams. Many people have one passion, one dream they want to fulfill, whether it be a dream job,  owning a business, travel, adventure, writing a book, etc. I've never had that kind of passion for one single thing. I have many small dreams instead. In this journal, I'll let my imagination run wild and write details that can help these dreams come true.

The needlework piece I used is a stitch sampler that I made in 2001. I have no photographs of it in my archives. I can't recall the name of the piece. I happened across it in my box of completed stitchery. It has a 2001 date on it. 

I vaguely remember starting this when I was part of the Embroiderer's Guild, because we were learning new stitches. The design has various stitches repeated four times, and combining tints and shades of the four colors used.

Most guild members made this on canvas. But I don't enjoy stitching on canvas, so I used linen instead. I learned that wasn't the best choice for this design. These stitches needed a firmer base. I stitched it, but did not enjoy the process. This is one project where it took a lot of dedication to get to the end.

Apparently when I got there, I didn't even celebrate it with a post!

The construction of the book cover was a lesson in problem-solving ... one problem after another. Thank goodness my daughter Jeanne was visiting. I used her brain power to help me come up with the solutions. (Love that young woman!)

I thought I'd continue my Whittle a Little when turning this needlework into a book cover by using fabric that I re-purposed from a thrift store skirt which I bought five years ago. That was not a good idea. 

It was cheap fabric that got all stretched out and wonky as I used it -- even though I'd interfaced the two layers to give the fabric some stability. I ended up having to trim it down so much that by the time it was ready to wrap around the edge of the notebook it was too short. 

I solved the problem by adding the lace flaps. It ... works. Sort of.

I trimmed down the ground fabric of the needlework to a half inch beyond the stitching. Then I surged the edge of the linen. 

I rummaged through my stash to find something decorative to cover the edge of the linen. I auditioned lace, trims, bias tape, and lots of different ribbons. The ribbon that worked best by color was a one inch mauve grosgrain ribbon. But it was far too wide. 

So I folded the ribbon in half, steamed it really well, and sewed it into place around the edge of the linen. The corners were a problem. I tried mitering the corners, but the ribbon was too thick. I settled for overlaping the ribbon. In the end, the corners look OK.

Next I used a fusible web to "glue" the stitchery to the book cover using the heat of an iron to activate the web. I vacillated with that decision. Usually, once so much energy and time is put into a piece of needlework, I don't want to use glue or tape on the back. Over time, the adhesive can bleed through and ruin the piece. 

So I had to remind myself, "THIS IS A BOOK COVER. THE NEEDLEWORK IS FROM 2001. YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO USE IT AND ENJOY IT FOR A WHILE."

Once the needlework was adhered to the fabric, I sewed down the outer edge of the ribbon to assure that the stitchery stayed in place. 

The notebook I'm using is also a Whittle a Little object. I bought it for about 10 cents at a thrift store and thought this would be a good way to use it up. It's not quite thick enough for the cover. But when I tried a 5-subject notebook, that was too thick for the cover. So I settled on using the thrifted notebook.

---

The entire construction of this book cover was frustrating. But I suppose that's fitting for a piece of stitching that was frustrating to complete. 

I'm not entirely satisfied with the outcome. It feels wonky. I just keep reminding myself that this stitchery has been hidden for nearly two decades. It finally gets to see the light of day. It's not fine art. It's a book cover. 

Not every item I make needs to come to an ideal end. It can be a pretty, serviceable object instead.

It's Only Words

Do you remember when you were a kid, and playmates would sometimes treat you poorly and call you nasty names? We had a retort ready,

Sticks and stones will break my bones,
but names will never hurt me.

Yeah...


No, I never believed it. I have thin skin. Those words stung! I was criticized for being "too sensitive." It took me decades to realize that this hyper-sensitivity is a superpower, not something to be used for derision. Being sensitive allows me to have empathy, sympathy, compassion.





.
Four to five years ago, while dealing with some very nasty family business, I was having all kinds of hurtful and untruthful words hurled at me. In large part, I simply refused to push back with words of my own. I remained largely silent, publicly.

Privately, I did a lot of soul searching and reading to make my way through the onslaught. I found this quotation, which I wrote down. But I don't remember who said it. In part:

Words are things.
You can put some words together and make people want to go to war.
Put another few words together and make them long for peace.
Words are so important ... they inform ...
so be careful how you use them,
because they carry power.

I found this graphic the other day while doing my weekly Whittle a Little.

I'd made it and kept it where I could see it to help me have courage during that hellish time. I seared it into my memory to steel me against the waves of vitriol.

I made it to remind myself that the words contained herein are the words that describe the reality of who I am and how I choose to enter the world. These are the people and characteristics I value.



Sure. Name-calling hurts. But I refuse to allow that spiteful language to do fatal damage, and be the closing words of my life story.

Easily Distracted - Fan #1

I've been easily distracted by shiny objects for most of my life. When I was a little girl, it was fans like this that I craved. The one I saw had an ivory handle and fine rice paper. It was the idea of the pretty fan that was more important than its composition.

Recently I was distracted by this fan, and bought it.

It's super cheaply made, but I don't care. This is all about the sparkle and embroidery and prints and lace and sequins and gold that catches my eye.

I've now got nearly a dozen of these fans ... precisely for the simple pleasure they bring me. Perhaps I'll share more of them over the coming days and weeks.

Like I say, easily distracted by shiny objects!

August Goal Update

August was a good month for progress on my annual goals! I had to reassess my list now that I'm more than half way through the year. Several of my original 19 are now moot, as life in the Davaz household changes over time. I knew I would likely have to switch some up, which is why I have a nice juicy list of alternate goals to choose from. Here's what I completed this month.


Goal #17: Blog at least 25 weeks of #throwbackthursday posts of my 1997 - 2007 projects.

Though I already completed this goal of 25 in July, I wrote four more in August, bringing my total to 30 #throwbackthursday blog posts.

Goal #19: Finish at least one of seven courses

I finished The Creative License by Danny Gregory and wrote some of my thoughts on the book in an earlier post.

Alternate Goal: 50 movies/series from my Netflix and Amazon Prime queues

I completed this goal with these:

44. The Conspirator
45. The Music Never Stopped
46. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
47. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
48. Mary Poppins Returns
49. The Great British Baking Show
50. Far from the Madding Crowd

I suppose my favorite of the bunch was Mary Poppins Returns. The Great British Baking Show is a close second. Both are completely charming and make for a sweet way to end a day.

Alternate Goal: Deal with the yellow basket on the chair in my bedroom

The basket had been sitting there for years, containing costumes and make-up for half-baked self-portrait ideas. The ideas had potential when I thought them up, but they haven't aged well. I may do only one of the four or five I had planned. What is left over has been absorbed into my collections or tossed out. It feels good to have finally made those decisions -- and have a chair I can sit in to boot!

Whittle a Little

Dale and I have been going whole hog this month! We've pared down quite a lot -- including many, many more books. I found good homes for them, along with some quilts, blankets, most of my bead stash, some musical instruments, and a couple more pairs of shoes. But my biggest focus was on the kitchen. I donated quite a few small appliances and dishes that we seldom used. All in all, we whittled well over 100 items. It's feeling lighter around here!

Fondue, anyone?

2019 Totals as of August 31

SIXTEEN GOALS!
11 of the original goals finished
3 original goals in progress
5 of the alternate goals finished
4 alternate goals in progress

Only 3 more goals to complete my 19 for the year. I hope to have them done by the end of September.

And then, as you might guess, I'll follow through on the goals I have in progress because ... well ... why simply achieve when you can over-achieve?   😉

Grandpa Ed

I was sorting through a bin of vintage linens yesterday and ran across this photo. The linens belonged to my mother, my maternal grandmother, and my 1st husband's mother.

This photo is my mother's daddy, Edwin. He held me once when I was an infant, but died within my first year of life. I don't know the year this photo was taken. Maybe 1948?



The back of the photo has this notation:



On a family trip across the country that we took in 1976, as part of our country's bicentennial celebration, we spent one night in Prescott, AZ. I wonder now if my parents planned that stop as a remembrance of an earlier trip. The trip on which this photo is taken is a part of family history that I don't know. I don't recognize the handwriting, either. It doesn't look like my mom's.

This is such a cool treasure to have unearthed!

A New Favorite Fragrance

I was introduced to Rose Water through my women's circle. We use it to fragrance the room where we meet. It's light and fresh and cooling.

So I bought some on Amazon and have been using it daily -- sometimes several times a day. It's refreshing.

It wasn't until I'd been using it a while that I realized what memory it evokes. It reminds me of my grandma, Mary.

I look a lot like her. Now, as I'm entering Chapter Three of my life, I smell as yummy as she did, too. Maybe my granddaughters Melody and Annalee will also come to associate this aroma with their Mimi.

Throwback Thursday - 2006 Part 2

The wayback machine is taking me to March 2006 this week. I was a busy little beaver with some crochet hats and cross-stitch finishes. Let's take a look:


More Winter Hats

My hats were such a hit, that I just had to make more.

Actually, a gal that knew me from church ran into me in the grocery store. Both my daughter and I were wearing our new hats. Like me, this woman has thinning hair and needs a hat in the winter just to stay warm.

She asked me if I made the hats.

I told her I did.

She asked me if I sold my hats.

I told her I did not, but that I'd be happy to make one for her. I asked her what color she would like, and what alternate color she'd like if I didn't have yarn in her first color choice.

She said she'd like a soft pink hat. And if I didn't have any pink yarn, could I make her a white or lilac hat. That worked for me!

When I got home, I found that I had all three colors of yarn ... so I made her one of each.

I stopped by her home with a gift bag to give her a hat. She was pleased to get a pink one.

I told her, "Keep looking."

She pulled out the white hat.

I told her, "Keep looking."

She pulled out the lilac hat. She was absolutely pleased as punch. We had to go peek in a mirror so that she could model all three hats.

It's awfully fun to have an opportunity to surprise someone like that. And I made a new friend in the process.

(That's Jodie modeling all the hats).


Joy Assisi Ornament

This is the second time I stitched this ornament, but this time I kept it for myself instead of giving it away. I also stitched it on red aida instead of perforated paper so that it would match the Love and Peace ornaments that I made earlier.

I did use a different fiber than the other two ornaments, though. I'd received some Eva Rosenstand 6 strand cotton in a grab bag, so gave it a try on this ornament. I found it to be much softer in texture than DMC stranded cotton. It also frayed a bit faster, so I needed to use shorter strands to keep the floss crisp.

It's nice having some extra Peace, Joy, and Love for the Christmas tree each year.

Cheri Blum

This project took a long time for me to stitch. I started it in January 2005, but didn't finish it until April, 2006. It wasn't that it was difficult to stitch. It was just so different for me.

I saw this kit advertised in The Stitchery catalog. I fell in love with the rose, the background, the colors. They would look just right in the new look I had envisioned for our dining room. Dale bought the kit for me as a gift — complete with the mat and frame.

When I looked at the catalog, I hadn't realized that this was an embellished cross-stitch kit. That means that the image of the rose and the background was already printed on the aida fabric. As a stitcher, all you do is use one strand of floss to do some cross-stitch and half-cross stitch on top of the printing.

I started it, but was just out-of-sorts every time I worked on it. The embellishment barely seemed to show. I just didn't "get it." Why add floss to a piece if it barely makes a difference? So I put this piece aside for months at a time. I would pick it up now and then. I even made a goal to complete it by Dec. 31, 2005. But nothing could get me motivated to work on it.

Finally, early in 2006, my husband and I had a long talk about redecorating the living room / dining room area of our home. After years of planning, it was really going to happen. That seemed to be enough motivation for me to complete this piece.

Now that the piece is finished and framed, I find I like it more and more. The rose is growing on me! The embellishments add just a touch of color and depth and shine to the printed aida. It's really quite pretty! Still, I don't think I want to stitch another embellished cross-stitch piece.

Here's a recent detail image. In it, you can better see how the stitching embellishes the printed fabric.

Click for larger image

Cheri Blum has a place of honor in the dining room. My mother-in-law even made a companion piece for it in the form of an oil painting.

Score!

Go me! Hooray!

I completed another of my 19 in 2019 goals today!

Goal #19:  "Finish at least one of these courses" ... and I gave 7 possibilities. I worked through The Creative License by Danny Gregory.

At the start of the year, I was gung-ho about taking this course and finally learning to draw. My early efforts were good. But then drawing got hard. It made my head hurt to try. I didn't want to pick up my pencil. So I switched gears and used some online tutorials to draw some of my favorite cartoon characters. I liked that better. But I was finding excuses to do anything except draw. Honestly, I'd rather clean the kitchen or do laundry. Instant satisfaction from a job well done!

So I switched gears again. I decided to carefully read through the book, and absorb some of the concepts offered, then use them to apply to the arts I enjoy more. So here are my final thoughts on this book.

Though there are some basic guides to learn to draw in the beginning of the book, that is not the book's primary thrust. The subtitle to The Creative License is "Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are." 

That means giving yourself permission to try and fail at drawing. Then to try and fail at any other art form you choose to attempt.

Danny Gregory uses drawing as his entry point into a creative life. He annoys me sometimes by presuming it's the best entry point ... mostly because of its convenience, I guess. All you need is a pen and a notebook. 

Of course, I take issue with that presumption because the concepts he presents can easily be adapted to any creative medium. After all, with a smartphone in your pocket, I'd say that photography is equally or more convenient than drawing. But that is my bias.

He does get around to talking about other artistic mediums toward the end of the book.

What I learned for sure is what I truly already knew: drawing is not something I really want to do, or I would have been compelled to try it a lot earlier in my 61 years on the planet.

I also learned that I'm capable of learning to draw, and can have some success at it if I put the time and effort into it. But it hurts my head right now. I don't itch to pick up a pencil and draw the way my fingers itch for a needle, floss, crochet hook, yarn, or camera.

Will I ever learn to draw? Maybe. If I find the right teacher at the right time in my life. 

So I had to ask myself, "Why did you think you wanted to learn to draw at the start of 2019?" That answer is easy. 

Whenever someone asks me, "What do you do?" I find that a tricky question. Being an at-home mom and a homemaker for most of my life has been rewarding, but those occupations are not generally satisfying to questioners who are looking for a profession as an answer. 

But if I say, "I'm an artist," the response is usually, "Oh! You draw and paint? I wish I could do that." Then I have to say, "No. I can't draw. I'm a needle artist." That always gets a weird look and I have to explain more. Saying "I'm a photographer" is easier to understand, but then people want me to take photos of people or events, and that's not my preferred subject. To me, taking those kinds of photos can hurt my head as much as drawing does. 

I took up The Creative License hoping to learn to draw to simply have an easier, truthful answer to a banal question. Honestly, that's an awfully insubstantial reason to want to learn to draw.

At the end of the book, Danny has a  l-o-n-g  list of other art forms to try. I counted 50 that I've already done, most with a degree of success. I'll own that achievement and proudly display those gold stars.

So for now, I'll call this goal reached. I'll return to some of my many other more favored art forms. I have a plethora awaiting my attention in my Studio. Tending to some of those will help me mark off more entries from my 19 in 2019 list of goals.

Melody's Great Love

We took Melody three huge boxes of books. Many were her mom's childhood books. One or two were books I had as a child!



Melody started devouring them right away. She began with one of my very favorites.

Papa and Annie

I so love watching these two interact!

Thanks to Julie (mommy) for the photo.

Four

Look who's four months old!

Annalee!

Pretty Little Teacup

I took a stroll through my china cabinet recently, visiting some of my pretty wares.

Isn't she charming?



The dainty handle



The gorgeous color pallet

The flower pattern



The gold edges and base

This is a "one off" piece of bone china. I don't collect teacups. I have this one unique and beautiful piece of art.