Archive for 2013/04

BSP and I had such a great weekend! Dinner and a show, luxuriating in bed all day Saturday, live music, golf, cocktails with friends... it felt like a mini-vacation!

There was no time to stitch and truthfully - I didn't give it a thought until last night - and I was all "Oh well. The blog will have to wait!"

So I have nothing to post today but I hope your weekend was filled with as much love and goodness as mine was and that we're all refreshed and renewed for our new week of work.

See you Wednesday!

So, since we spoke last, I've been busy!

I remembered from being in this spot that there were some little purple flowers - not exactly under the tree (artistic license!); but nearby. I assumed they were violets, so made some violet-shaped flowers; but I was thinking about when I went to my studio last night after work, and remembered that I was at this spot in late summer. August or perhaps early September.

And violets are spring flowers.

Hmmm.... some research was in order...

It's funny you know...

As I've been stitching away on these leaves, I've been thinking about all kinds of things: my childhood in Northern Ontario; the sun dappled summer leaves that brought me so much pleasure; about how, in adulthood, that I *still* stroke leaves whenever I get the chance, and that both the stroking of the leaves and the hugging of trees (yes, I hug trees... what? :D ) brings peace and sweetness back to my life; and I thought that it was no wonder that trees have figured so largely in my development as an artist.

(I wonder, do Hostas bring the same pleasure to Elaine Quehl? Is that why she's been making hostas for lo these many years?)

But.

Back to these hand-stitched leaves... they've also made me think about my development as an artist... 'cuz whoa - if you've been with me for more than a year (and it's hard to tell - my followers list waxes and wanes and I never know whether it's people who used to be with me coming back, or if it's just new people), but, I digress - if you've been with me for more than a year - you know that even as recently as a year ago, I was all... "I HATE handwork".

And now, well... I kind of like it. *shhh!*

That was me, this weekend.

One of those little bees has antennae going the wrong way, so that will need to be fixed, and one of the ladybugs needs to be picked out 'cuz she's looking a bit lumpy; but I'm loving this little green beetle...

Still working on it - you can see from this little mosaic that I added a fourth and fifth layer of leaves (and who knows, I may add another before it's all done) and then...

Some of you may remember this tree from a couple of years back. I was waist-deep in my "obsession with trees" phase (a phase I don't think I've quite moved out of, actually); and had just begun looking at new ways of making them in fabric. In this case, painting the fabric with watercolour paints, and then quilting it.

I got this far - and HATED it. So it's been sitting in a box of "I hate these" ever since then. But after I finished Hiraeth, I thought about this tree again, and ways that I could improve it. (more on this piece, plus the news and info - after the jump!)

My first series is done! Not that I'll never make another bird - I'm sure I will (they're kind of addictive, actually); but this particular six by six, ten piece challenge I set myself is done. Yay!

Originally, I hadn't made a decision "I'm going to do a series"; but the show I was making them for had requested ten pieces in the six by six size. I thought it would be fun to make them all "match" rather than have them be disparate subjects.

Continued after the jump...

Mes voila!

The really for real final bird in the series, so we end where we began, with Green Headed Tanager.

See you on Friday with the really, really for real LAST bird in the series.

(Okay, nearly wordless...)

So, as you may have guessed- I just HAD to make that green headed tanager again.

For purposes of the series and charting my growth - it's in. But for purposes of the show? It's out! :)

So, we start with...

Ta da! Bird Number Ten!

This one's a red-bellied woodpecker and is what started the whole bird series in the first place. The reference photo (which I don't have permission to post, here) is what inspired it all.

But he came last, because I couldn't figure out how to make the snow. Turns out - it was french knots!

I was supposed to be working on my bird, but then I got this idea for something crafty. (More on that, later)...

But eventually, I got back to my bird.

P.S. Don't forget about the giveaway. Comment for a chance to win, HERE.

The bird I'm working on this week is one that I've wanted to make since the beginning - but I didn't know how. After having done the Fairy Wren, I sure know how to make a french knot -and realized that that was what I needed to know to make all the snow on those branches.

More on the berries and the giveaway, after the jump!

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