The Rose Journal

TAST Notation

2012-02-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

Here’s week 5 progress for the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) Challenge run by Sharon from PinTangle.

Herringbone Stitch Sampler

This stitch is the herringbone stitch, part of the cross stitch family and for me not that difficult of a stitch.

The first row is a non counted one with exaggerated lines.

The second row was done actually counting the threads and trying to make the stitches even.

The third row left hand side is a regular herringbone that was done in one color and then a second herringbone done in between it using a different color.

The right side of the third row is a closed herringbone stitch.

Chevron stitch is the fourth row and you can tell I wasn’t counting threads!

The fifth row is a Breton stitch.

The last row is a threaded herringbone. Again I did the herringbone in one color and threaded it with a second color. I’m still using the variegated thread as in the other samples I’m just cutting the thread so that there is a difference in color.

CQ2012 January Block with TAST stitches

The CQ January block which is still a WIP (Work In Progress) has all of the TAST stitches on it. I just have a few more small seams to embellish and then some small embroidery to stitch and buttons to sew on. Where does the time go? I really should be working on my February block.

Happy stitching!

Rose

TAST Weeks 3 and 4

2012-01-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to add my week three and four progress for the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) Challenge run by Sharon from PinTangle.

Feather stitch and variations

The feather stitch is one of my favorites. I like the airiness of it. I must confess though that I haven’t used it very much. I tend to stick to a few basic stitches in my work. That is changing as I work on my other projects. Here is what I have for the feather stitch (left to right). Single feather, double feather, chained feather, closed feather, Spanish knotted feather, and maidenhair stitch. My favorite of these is the Spanish knotted feather although it doesn’t show that good in the photo. As I’ve stated before I am left-handed and sometimes have trouble figuring out how to do the stitch. The advice given by others especially right-handed embroiderers does not work very well for me. So I have to experiment and as you can see from my samplers I don’t always get it right to begin with. The other thing I have noticed in the written books that I have is they don’t always tell you how to end a row. Again I don’t do my best when I am trying to follow the holes in the weave of the cloth.

Cretan stitch and variations

This week we were given the Cretan stitch to play with. I did the basic and a few variations. Included in my sampler are the Cretan stitch, open Cretan stitch, Scottish Cretan stitch, knotted Cretan, and raised Cretan. I really like these last two. I had some difficulty with the Scottish one so will have to practice it some more. You can work it as a single stand alone stitch or in a group. The end of the sampler shows my practice using the Cretan stitch on a sort of leaf shape and then the bottom has an open Cretan filling stitch which I like.

I haven’t used these stitches on an actual piece of work yet like I did the fly stitch and the buttonhole stitch. I plan to use the first four stitches on my first crazy quilt block for the CQ challenge. It’s due up by Tuesday so I’d better get to stitching. Be back later with the results of that plus some WIP’s to show you.

Happy stitching!

Rose

Popping In with TAST

2012-01-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to add my week two progress for the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) Challenge run by Sharon from PinTangle. The buttonhole/blanket stitch is one that I’m familiar with. I have used it on the crazy quilt block I started in Sharon’s online class. No it isn’t finished yet but I haven’t given up on it. I tend to bounce from project to project putting aside something I’m working on when I’m not sure what to do next on it or I’m just tired of it. The elephant block is hanging near my stitching work area reminding me I need to add some more to it.

Elephant Crazy Quilt Block

Meanwhile I started a CQ (Crazy Quilt) block a month challenge which I have cut the base fabric for and am busy collecting my fabrics for January, mainly white and blue for a snowy wintry day. And as if that isn’t enough I’ve decided to take another online class in embroidery given by Karen Ruane. So I’m playing catch up with that one. As the work progresses I will add photos and notes about them.

Here’s my buttonhole/blanket sampler so far.

Buttonhole Sampler

On the sampler there are a variety of variations of the buttonhole stitch. There are more variations but I am not a fan of precise stitching (well I enjoy looking at it but not doing it) so I tend to stop working on the sampler and go to my doodling instead. You’ll notice on the white on white piece that some of the stitches are closer together than others and some are shorter than others. I like the organic look this gives. I would love to here your comments on my work.

Buttonhole Doodle

And here is my random work using the buttonhole stitch on one of my wandering doodles. I used white floss and a creamy white background to test out working white on white. While doing this project I realized that I needed to hold my fabric sideways in order to stitch. The sampler was started trying to do the stitches top to bottom (or bottom to top) vertically in other words. If I work horizontally they turn out much better. I am left handed and often have to try different ways of doing embroidery stitches until I am happy and comfortable.
Sorry I haven’t come up with a name for this piece yet.

Happy stitching!
Rose

12 In 12 X 2

2012-01-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

This year I’m working (still) on my UFO’s (unfinished objects). Last year I joined Fabric Fascination in trying to do 52 – one a week. That didn’t fare too well partly because of our major changes and partly because very few of them could be completed in a week. So while I still have a lot of UFO’s (and the list is growing as I unpack!), I decided to try for one a month. Hence 12 in 12. Judy also decided to trim down to 12, here's her blog. We’ll see how it goes!

Why the times 2? Well I also decided to get more experience with crazy quilting (CQ) so I joined a block a month challenge. So besides 12 UFO’s I’m also going to attempt 12 CQ blocks. I think I’ll work a month theme for these. I’ll post my progress as I go along.

Here’s a few more items I completed in 2011:

First there is the chair. My daughter wanted a vintage rocking chair for the nursery and she bought one from a sweet little old lady. The chair was over a hundred years old and needed a little work on it (or so we thought). First up was the cushion cover which was a brown plaid that was torn. She asked if I could replace it. So off it came. Well there was this pink fabric under the plaid. So off it came. Then came the original covering in black. Off it came along with the horsehair, batting, straw, springs and even a black spider. Unfortunately each layer had been tacked on top of the previous one. All those hundreds (yes hundreds!) of tacks took their toll on the wood. I felt it was really unsafe, especially for a newborn and his mother. So eventually my daughter’s father-in-law Willie (who loves to work with wood) took the chair and rebuilt the bottom. He supplied me with the wood seat to cover. After putting on a very thick nufoam cushion I sewed some more yellow and white canvas together to match the curtains in the nursery and gave it back to Willie to assemble. Now I’m in the process of making a cushion for the back of the chair out of beautiful bumper pads made by Marilynn’s aunt Betty. (She decided not to use the bumper pads in the crib so we are repurposing them – pictures coming when I’m finished.)

Next came the camel who was attacked by a little black dog who shall remain nameless. Both eyes were ripped out and the stuffing was falling out. I stitched them together and using black floss embroidered new eyes.

Then I took up knitting again. After giving away a mountain or two of yarn to my Hawaii neighbor’s granddaughter (she loves to crochet and her grandma who was raising her couldn’t afford to buy materials for her), I still am finding yarn as I unpack my craft supplies. I haven’t knitted in years but I actually enjoy it. So my grandson Jaden got a new blue and white striped hat to wear. (The pattern is from Charbridge Knits www. charbridgeknits.com). It’s a little big on him but he’s growing fast.

Then I needed a gift for Aunt Betty. I knew she collected roosters and hens for her kitchen and when I spotted these napkins that had some red stitching around them I thought they would be perfect for some embroidery. I finally found a rooster design that I liked and modified it for my stitching. Some satin, back/outlining and of course my signature the French knots plus some chain stitching all done in a variegated red pearl cotton thread. One was finished in time for gift giving the other three are ready to be turned over now. Now I know she is not going to use them as working napkins but she keeps her table looking so nice with place settings that she may use them as part of the décor. Or we could stitch the four napkins together and make a tabletop. Anyway I love the rooster and will modify it some more and then offer it for sale in my new shop once I get it opened. More about that later!
Finally one more thing to talk about. Besides all of the above I'm folowing the TAST challenge (Take A Stitch Tuesday) run by Sharon of Pin Tangle. She posts an embroidery stitch each Tuesday (well Tuesday in Australia) and then we use it on a sampler and/or in some form on a project.

The first stitch was called the fly stitch. I've used this stitch before. First I did some sampler stitches. I really don't like working on cloth where you can count the threads, it's too organized for me!. So after doing that for awhile I decided to try and use it on one of my doodles. Now normally this stitch is a stand alone one or it can be used as a filler or border stitch. I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to use it as an outline stitch. So first I doodled a small design and then I started stitching. Normally with my doodles I outline the design using black thread first and then start working the interior sections. So I threaded my needle with black floss (2 strands) and took off. The result was kind of surprising because of the lacy effect. Here is my stitching ready for framing. The name of this piece "The Flight of the Dying Fly"!

Happy Stitching!

If At First ...

2011-12-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

Okay so you’ve probably heard the saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. So I think that’s where I’m at with blogging. I really want to blog on a regular basis not just occasionally, but I seem to be trying and trying. So here we go again!

Wow over two months have gone by since I last posted! And now ~~it’s almost~~ Christmas is past! Well I have been busy. Still unpacking and hunting for things. When will I learn to label my boxes better? Knowing me probably never! Ha!

I’ve decided to add my Works In Progress (WIP’s) to the blog so you can see what I’m working on and what lies behind a finished project.

Oh speaking of finished projects my plans for 52 old unfinished ones went astray but I did manage to do the butterflies on a dish towel. I went back to it because I needed some dish towels.

This became a warm up exercise for my fingers before working on other projects. Plus I tested out something my art instructor told me a long time ago. “A broken line is more interesting than a solid one.” The butterfly on the left is solid stitching and the one on the right has some broken lines. Do you find it more interesting? I’m not sure if it holds true for embroidery.

Another side benefit of doing these butterflies is while working on them I made a decision for another project. I had done the shashiko embroidery in a class taught by the kit designer Sylvia Pippin in Hawaii. The kit called for appliqué butterflies using some hand marbled fabric supplied in the kit. I started working on them but was not thrilled with the fabric colors so then I tried using some of my own hand marbled fabrics (I have a lot of these from classes I taught). They weren’t suiting me either so I stopped working on the project.

I contemplated doing them as embroidery but couldn’t decide. Then I started working on the dishtowel, the more I worked on it the stronger I felt to do embroidered butterflies on the shashiko piece. Now I just need to decide whether to make them fantasy ones or closer to true colors! Follow me and see what transpires!

I’m trying to stitch 1 to 2 hours every morning before my day gets busy. I also am now watching my grandson four days a week from 8 to 5 so I may need to find another time slot. But he’s worth it! Oh the pleasures of being a Tutu (grandmother)! Here he is wearing a hat made by Tutu Rose (that’s me of course!).

Happy stitching!

Starting Over Again

2011-10-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Okay let’s try this again. I started out claiming 2011 to be a year of new beginnings and truly it has been! So much so that I’ve let my blogging slip way too long so let’s give it a new beginning also.
A dozen things that have transpired so far:

I retired from my full time job with the County of Hawaii. How sweet it is!
We (myself, my husband, and my son) spent the month of June packing, running garage sales, shipping a container load of stuff, and dumping more stuff. It was rough but we made it.
With the help of my daughter and her husband I started shopping for houses online. They would go look at ones we found, take pictures, and offer their opinions. Finding a house took longer than expected but we finally purchased one and moved in on August 19. Funny thing is we bought the very first house I had looked at back in March or April.
We said goodbye to everyone and boarded the flight that would begin our journey from Hawaii to Texas. It was a difficult flight and I may blog more about that one day. (Difficult is putting it mildly). And of course my husband and I were in tears as we left our beloved island.
We moved in on our daughter and husband just as they were doing some remodeling on their home and preparing for the arrival of their first child. Probably another post coming on that too!
After moving into our home we began fixing things up, trying to get ourselves organized (still working on that!), unpacking, and shopping for major appliances and furniture. We had no car (trying to shop for that too!) so we had to rely on others for all of our traveling needs.
Finally bought a car with the help of our good friend Willie (my daughter’s father-in-law) who drove us around to car dealers, lots, and spent even more time looking online. Got my wish car – a PT Cruiser with sunroof.
Went to the hospital to welcome the birth of our first grandson! Welcome Jaden Kaleo Howe! Mama Rose loves you! So does Papa K!
Signed up for an online embroidery class before retiring thinking I would be all settled in before it started. That didn’t happen so I’m way behind with the assignments but I am determined to do them.
Signed up for another online class. This one for encrusted crazy quilting with the same instructor. I love her work! This is only the second week of a six week course and I’m keeping up with it. I’ll definitely be blogging about those two projects.
Did not get any of my UFO’s completed as planned even though I did carry handwork with me on this journey. Did start some more works though and actually completed a few of them.
Started getting back into the hang of cooking and baking. Love doing it. Well except for the cleanup maybe!

Well that’s my dozen for now. Some things may have been forgotten. Here are the items I did finish:

Birds to go in my grandson’s nursery using a pattern we found on Spool. Check my daughter’s blog out to see pictures of them and the wonderful decorating job she did.
A ruffled nursing cover-up for my daughter using a pattern from RuffledBegonia on Etsy.

Here’s some pictures to tease you about my current WIP’s (works in progress) which I will be posting about shortly!

Until then,

Happy stitching!

I've Been Busy

2011-04-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

French Knot Closeup

Pin It

Bird's Eye View

The beginning owl doodle

Well kind of busy. I did get my owl embroidery and my Bird’s Eye View done. Like I said in my last post I can sit and stitch for hours. I get lost and love what is happening with the thread and the stitches. The more I thought about this the more I realized how often I’ve heard sayings that revolve around “Do what you love …” theme. And I’ve been convinced for a long time now that most of us discover what we love to do in our childhood. The only problem is we forget, get bogged down in other things, listen to the voices of well meaning family and friends and turn our backs on the “what we love”. This is true for me. I learned to embroider at a very early age (7) from a lady(my mother) who also had a love for it starting at a very early age. I moved out on my own in the late 60’s to San Francisco no less – that’s right - home of the hippies! I did not pick up my needle and thread at that time. Too bad! I did do some work in the early 70’s for my youngest brother and I still have a shirt I made and embroidered for him. It still looks pretty good; too bad I don’t fit into it. I have memories of things I worked on as a child and as a young girl. A few of these items are still with me today. While going through my stash of unfinished items I was surprised to see how many revolved around embroidery. And I am so happy to be back in the groove again!

Owl on Vintage Fabric

Faux Lava Rocks on "Lava Fabric"

One of the items I came across had nothing to do with embroidery. Here is some muslin I painted with a textured paint that was called lava. My original intent was to make some beads that looked like lava but were lightweight.

They kind of worked and I’m not sure where I was thinking of using them maybe on my woven necklace. But looking at that fabric gave me an idea. So now it has become my inspiration fabric. I’m not sure if I will actually use it but I decided to try my idea on regular fabric first.

Here’s the first of a series of work I plan to do. I will probably sell both the readymade and the patterns once I have a few worked up. I think they are coming out quite nicely.

Big Island Hawaiian Petroglyph #1

And I discovered another piece of the painted fabric I didn’t remember I had. Haha!

However I’m so far behind on my 52 projects that I think I better start doing more work and less thinking.

Bone Rings and Button Blanks

Okay I’m off and running on another idea to accommodate my needle habit which I like to carry with me to work and other places. I was looking for some bone rings (well now they’re made of plastic) that I’m sure I had (that’s how I discovered my other piece of painted fabric!). I finally found them after muttering under my breath several times “I guess I have to go to town because I really want to make this – today”. In amongst them I found a button blank (part of a button that didn’t get to actually be a button) that would work just as well as the bone ring I was looking for. Now I’ve got another recycle, reuse, repurpose item! Just love it when that happens! And I know I have a lot of them somewhere but I’ve found enough to get me started. So now I’m off to my sewing machine to make it so I can take it with me tomorrow. You’ll just have to wait to see what I’m doing.

Happy stitching!

Just Checking In:

2011-02-22T00:10:00.000-08:00

Single Needle Candy in Box

So I worked like mad to get some more of my Needle Candies ready for the store. I finished a dozen just in time to take them to the quilt guild meeting. One of the regular members lives near the store and has some of her goods for sale there. She is more than willing to drop items off for me saving me the postal expense. Don’t they look all sweet in their packages!

Needle Candies Package

You’ll notice I’ve added some more items to my 52 Week Challenge slide show. I keep running across UFO’s to add to the group. Still not up to 52 yet. If you take a peek at them you will see that there is quite a range of activity there. And it is for sure that some of them will take a lot of work to complete.

One of the items in that group is a hoop with some denim fabric (from a pair of my daughter’s jeans) in it and a little embroidered heart. I wasn’t happy with the heart but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. Then one day it hit me, just fill the heart with white buttons, add a few more buttons off to the side and finish! So that’s just what I did. The back is covered with a dark blue felt. I was looking for some way to cover the back of the hoop but haven’t found anything to use. I don’t want it showing from the front and everything I’ve tried so far is a little too wide. I think I may look for some narrow rickrack but otherwise I’m chalking it up as done.

Denim in hoop with button heart

That put me in the mood for working on some embroidery. I’ve been itching to do some for awhile now. Finally settled on the doodle owl I had printed on some vintage fabric. The owl was beginning to fade so I needed to get started on it. It is looking good. Finished embroidering the owl, added some detail embroidery to a few of the original flowers on the fabric and it is now ready for finishing. Expect to see it finished soon!

Hoop Wall Art Owl Embroidery

Doing those French knots on that piece encouraged me to go ahead and add French knots to my colorful doodle piece. So now I’m working on it too! I had been considering doing the knots in the remaining white spaces on this piece but I was intimidated by my mother-in-laws (Eunice Rowe Balaz) work. My mother was an expert embroiderer but my mother-in-law was a master embroiderer. I’ve always been amazed at her French knots and the masses of knots that she used. It’s been a long time since I attempted them but I think I’m doing okay!

I’ve slowly drifted back to embroidery and now realize that it is something I really enjoy doing and can sit for hours and work at it. Just wish it was something I could do on the bus but the needles are too sharp and I already poke myself enough without using them while being jostled around on the bus!

One of the other things I hope to get accomplished soon is a slide show of all of the quilts I’ve made. There are a few that I don’t have photos of and a few that are very poor quality photos but I think it’s good to have a file (in this case a slide show) to remind myself of what I have made and to share them with others.

Happy stitching!
Rose
Rose

Three weeks and counting:

2011-01-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

Oh my, it’s the end of January and I feel like I am behind already. I should have at least thee things completed and a start on finishing my fourth. OK here’s my second item. From the before photo you might be wondering what’s to finish since they are already packaged but if you look at the one in the middle you’ll see the difference.

Needle Nabbers Photo

I have these little flowers for sale in my online shop and also at a local quilt store, Kilauea Kreations, that is popular with the tourists. Well the owner of the store mentioned to me that people were finding them to be a little on the tipsy side. Now we don’t want that to happen, do we! She showed me how she had glued a piece of round cardboard to my sample and it was stabilized.

Completed needle nabbers photo

Well I couldn’t settle for a piece of raw cardboard so I had to put my thinking cap on. I found some wood circles, painted them to match the flowerpot but that still wasn’t good enough for me. So I decided to crochet some little doilies to top the wood circles. That solved the stability problem. Now however I ran out of the paint I was using and found that none of the local stores were going to carry that brand of spray paint so I was back to thinking again. I did find some of the paint while on vacation in Texas on clearance so I purchased what the store had left and stored it with my son. I knew I wasn’t suppose to carry it on the plane back home. So I still needed a temporary solution. I considered sending the wood circles to my son, have him paint them and then send them back to me. But I really didn’t want to wait and they were earmark as a need to complete project. So then I decided to try painting them to match the doilies and flower colors. That worked! So these are ready and will be going out as gifts soon.

Unfinished white button bracelet photo

Finished white button bracelet photo

Next I decided to finish one of my crocheted cuffs with buttons. That went quick although I did have to “scrounge” through my buttons to find some more creamy white ones that would work. Going through my buttons is always a tempting process that often gets me sidetracked onto another project. I resisted this time though and was able to finish the cuff.

Now on to my next project. I received a phone call from the same quilt store requesting that I send them some more of my Needle Candies as they had sold out of them and all they had left was the sample. Wow! Then I realized that I had some already started from 2010 so they would work in perfectly. However as I was working on them (I need to make a dozen) I attempted to make a change to the little holders that I made from fabric. The stiffener I used dulled the fabric somewhat and I wanted to try and brighten them up a bit. I also wanted to add a little protection to them so I brushed them with some gloss medium and shellac. But I put too much on and they became cloudy instead of bright and shiny. So now I had to make some more from scratch. This time I’ll use a smaller brush and just do one as a test. Yes, I did all twelve the first time! I’m still working on these but hope to have them finished and in the mail to the store by Tuesday at the latest.

Needle Candies started photo

You’ll notice I’ve added a slide show to show some of the UFO projects I’ve located while trying to clean and organize my crafting space. Not up to 52 yet but getting close. And actually I could list some that are now grouped together as individual projects. I decided to group some of them because I was stumped on how to do the next step so as I work on those I’ll let you know what had me stumped and hopefully how I solved the problem and moved on.

Happy stitching!

2011 A Year of Finishing, A Year of New Beginnings

2011-01-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

This is really nothing new for me but a friend on Etsy who blogs as Fabric Fascinations issued a challenge to all of us starters who don’t always finish. The challenge - each week finish something we’ve already started. She encourages us to photo it in progress and then completed. Posting to our blog or flickr account or facebook will help up with accountability and encouragement.

I’m going to give it a go. I’ve tried this on my own before and had mild success for awhile. I thought maybe putting myself out there with others might be the trick. If it works I’ll have at least 52 completed projects. They can be anything that has a beginning and an end. Most of mine I think will be items either for my shop, myself, or for others. Some will take longer than others to accomplish but I hope to post at least once a week. Some weeks may only be in progress items and some weeks my have multiple finishes. But the goal is to finish the year with 52 items that were started prior to 2011 and completed in 2011.

Do I have 52 uncompleted items you ask? Oh yeah and then some! I’m not sure if I can round up all 52 projects immediately but I know they are there. It would be kind of interesting though to post all 52 in the state they are at now and then move them to a completed section as they get finished. We’ll see. Hmmmmmm - could that be a project?

One added bonus to this is I will need to post at least once a week to my blog and keep it active. Not like 2010 where it wilted in July! And yes I still have more hints and tips to post.

One final note for today it might be interesting to see how the 1st half of the year compares to the second half as I plan to retire from my full time job the 1st of July.

And I do know that I’m getting a late start on this. The above was actually written out on our way back from a nice vacation in Texas. One item I thought I would complete was stuck in my suitcase that was delayed. Another item I considered I remembered that I needed to find the scraps of fabric I was going to use as the binding and even if I did find them my sewing machine was still in the shop for servicing. And on it goes. I know excuses, excuses! But I did remember these sweet vases I had started and never finished so they are my first item (three of them, can that count for three items?). They were hand crocheted around the empty glade bottles. I just needed to finish the ends, starch the ruffles at the top and make the flowers. They will be listed in my Etsy shop soon. I love to recycle items. These bottles have been in my stash for awhile but it was just recently that I got the idea to crochet around them.

And so we begin 2011 the year of finishings and of new beginnings!

Happy stitching!
Rose

Rosie's Tidbits

2010-07-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

Well I woke up early (about 3 AM) last Tuesday morning and realized that I had forgotten to post my Monday Night Tidbit. Almost did it again too! But here goes with two sweet short ones:

Had this bright idea the other day while I was trying to put elastic through a tube. What if I added a safety pin across the elastic to keep it from coming through the tube? It worked! No more worrying that I will pull the elastic too far inside the tube.
Happy Stitching! Rose ♥

And here's one for those of you who use a scanner or may use a scanner some day. I like to scan odd objects now and then and worried about scratching the glass on my scanner until now. Now I just place a blank unused transparency sheet on the bed. It doesn't interfer with with scan and my glass bed is protected from scratches. Try it I'm sure you'll be happy you did!

Happy Scanning! Rose ♥

Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits

2010-06-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

Things I like in my sewing room:

Sticky Notes

When I’m working on a project that requires adjustments to my sewing machine, stitch length, stitch type, feed dogs, etc. I make a note of what I’ve done on a sticky back notepad. That way if I’m interrupted and have to turn my machine off (or if I’ll be using it over the course of days) I can stick the notes to my machine and I’ll have all the settings I need to continue. No more trying to remember what I did the last time!

Index Cards

If you have something that you do frequently but not every day, jot the steps down on an index card. Punch a hole in the corner of the card. Slide it unto a binder (book) ring and hang it near your work area. That way the next time you go to do it you have the steps to follow.
Happy Stitching! Rose ♥

Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits

2010-06-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

I have always had pinking shears in my supplies but I never used them much until now.
I started using them recently to pink around some round shapes. Now I discovered they are better then cutting the corners of new fabric before washing. It helps to keep the fabric from fraying so much. I pink the whole cut edge before washing. Now if I could only find my pinking rotary blade! Better yet if we could get fabric stores to use the pinking blade!
And yes I prewash my fabrics because they contain chemicals that could be harmful to your body.
I also have been using my pinking shears to eliminate bulk in my seams. This has been great for a crazy patch quilt I am working on.

Tips I learned this month

I was having trouble with my pinking shears not cutting good and they were very stiff so I did some searching on the internet. Here’s what I found from two different sources:
When not in use oil the cutting edges with regular sewing machine do not use cooking oil. After a few cuts on waste material there will be no harm done to the fabric. To prevent rust regularly wipe the blades with an oily cloth, preferably of natural fiber. A spot of oil placed on the screw will help to keep an even tension of the scissor. Irreparable damage at the pivot can occur if not oiled.
Remove the scissor from the original plastic packaging and replace with either a leather cover or one made from natural fiber such as calico. This will prevent any condensation forming from the plastic. Gently wipe off the blades with a soft fabric scrap after each use to prevent lint and tiny particles from building up on the blades and clogging the screw-assembly pivot area. Scissors can be washed with soap and water if they're thoroughly dried and oiled.
A drop of oil makes a big difference. Several times a year place a drop of sewing machine oil at the screw assembly between the blades. This reduces friction so cutting feels smoother. After oiling, wipe off the blades and make a few cuts on scrap fabric to remove any excess oil.
Keep scissors in a safe, cool and dry place. In high humidity areas, regularly wipe the blades with a light coating of oil to prevent rust or corrosion.

Happy Stitching! Rose ♥

Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits

2010-06-08T01:59:00.000-07:00

Things I like to keep in my sewing area:

Parchment Paper
Use when working with fusible material , place fusing between parchment paper to protect your iron and ironing board. The fusing won’t stick to the paper and you can clean the paper with a dry green scrubbie and use it again.
Use parchment paper to protect delicate material when pressing. Place paper over the delicate area and then press.

Things I can’t live without: Binding and Hem Clips
I recently used these while finishing the binding on a quilt. No more pin pokes and scratches, no more thread getting caught on the pins. It made stitching down the binding a pleasure and a breeze! And yes they look similar to the ones used as hairclips which would work just as well.

Something else I’ve fallen in love with: White Marking Pen by Clover
At first I didn’t like this pen, then I discovered if you wait a few minutes after marking the line shows up just fine. It doesn’t rub off as you are working either. But the best thing about this pen is the marking is removed with heat from an iron. So when you are done just touch a hot iron to it and it’s gone. Just be sure you are done with the mark before using an iron on it. Also if you need to make a change to your marking just erase it with the iron. And of course be sure the item you are working on can take heat and always test on a scrap first.

How cool is that!

Happy Stitching! Rose ♥

Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits

2010-06-01T01:37:00.000-07:00

Okay so I've been meaning to start this for some time now. Why I chose Monday nights I'm not sure but it seems like I always forgot it was Monday night when Monday night rolled around. I'd wake up Tuesday morning and remember what I had planned to do the night before. And it is still Monday night here in Hawaii! So here goes the first one!

I've decided to add a post to my blog to hold my sewing, crafting hints, tips, and tricks. Welcome to the first of many (hopefully!). Please plan to check back weekly to get the latest.

A little known trick has to do with emery powder used to sharpen needles. You know the little strawberry thing attach to the tomato pincushion. Yes it's full of emery powder and it's use is to sharpen your needles. Nowadays people are coming up with all sorts of cute ways to get your needles sharpened. To get the emery powder (or sand) to work it's best magic just squeeze it between your fingers and push your needle through several times. This creates enough friction or pressure to really do the job. Kinda like how you use an emery board to file your nails. And did you know that you can sharpen your sewing machine needles too? Just don't push it in past the start of the shank or you will make a large hole in the fabric and some powder may come out. Sand works much the same way as emery powder. A coarse sand will actually help remove corrosion/rust that you get in a humid place like Hawaii. I use a mixture of emery powder and sand in my needle candies. Yes candy for your needles, they'll love you for it and sew much better! Check them out in my Etsy shop.

Tune in next week for amother one of Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits!

P.S. I have a cute little owl coming to my shop soon whose ears have a secret! I'm going to post a picture of them on my facebook page soon so look for me there and become a fan of Big Island Rose Designs!

The Sansei Quilt - A Love Story

2010-02-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

The phone rang. A familiar voice greeted me, "Hi mom". A little chitchat with my daughter and then the famous words “Mom can you do something for me?” Now what mom can resist a request like that? She continued “remember how you made a friendship quilt for the pastor's wife?” Hesitantly I replied “yeah” wondering what was coming next. “Well the workers and I thought it would be really cool to give one to Sansei's mom.”

My daughter at this time worked for Sansei Restaurant in Honolulu. Most of the crew consisted of young kids about her age. The owner’s mother Sandy was like a mother to them, helping them on the job, listening to them, encouraging them, and being a mentor and good role model. Her love for her son, his restaurant, his crew and his patrons shone through. She lit up the restaurant whenever she was there. It was her love for her son and for people that drove her. So I agreed to help the crew make this surprise gift for her. It was to be presented at their annual Christmas party. We agreed to get the plans laid out for it, buy the muslin, paints, get the workers to decorate their squares, and have everything ready for me to start sewing by Thanksgiving. Well my daughter became sick and there was a delay in the plans. She worked hard to get the crew to paint their squares. I finally received them on my birthday, December 8th. Oh boy only two weeks to put this baby together! Still much can be accomplished when a mother's love is involved.

I had already begun to shop for fabric. I looked for Japanese looking fabrics that had some purple in them. I knew I wanted the purple because one of the requirement for the quilt was that it have the restaurant’s logo on it - a big purple octopus! My daughter had faxed me the logo with the instructions that it was to include the words Sansei’s Mom. I painted the octopus, laser printed the words, and iron transferred them around the octopus, and then painted them gold. The letters didn't stand out enough so I embroidered around them (by hand of course) in gold thread. I work full-time so mind you I'm squeezing all this into an already full schedule.

Once I received the squares I could start laying out the quilt. And were they colorful! It was an odd number of squares so I had the top and bottom laid out but wasn't sure how to do the center. My daugher called me one day and shared her dream, seems “I had shipped the quilt to her and as she excitedly opened the quilt there was this large, empty hole smack dab in the center. Confused and alarmed she called on her sewing cousin to try and salvage the quilt.” I laughed and explained to her the dilemma I was having with the layout. She said she was going to pray for me and that must have worked as the layout came to me shortly after that. As you can see it worked out okay!
I added a hanging sleeve and finished stitching the binding on by hand the morning of the party. My husband agreed to take the quilt over to her. As he left on the plane it was all I could do to drive back home and collapse from exhaustion. How I would have loved to be there as my daughter saw it and as it was presented to Sansei’s mom! But sleepless nights and nonstop sewing prevented me from going.

Building that quilt was quite the challenge, from designing, to shopping for just the right fabric, to mad dashes to the store for more of one fabric. Once, my husband had to drive me on a 50 mile round trip in monsoon like weather just to get me to the store before they closed. (I had called to make sure they had what I needed and would hold it for me.)

Needless to say my daughter was surprised and thrilled by the quilt. She said “I thought you would just sew the squares together”. (lol) And Sandy, Sansei’s mom, was overjoyed with the gift. I was able to meet her and her husband and the crew later. She told me how she cried and cried because she was so touched by the thoughtfulness of the staff and the love I put into the making of the quilt. Sandy decided to have the quilt mounted behind Plexiglas and hung in the restaurant for all to enjoy. She felt bad and apologized more than once because the framers had to remove my hand stitching of the binding in order to stretch it.

After it was hung in the restaurant I had a chance to visit her again. We laughed together because - well the bottom was a little wavy after being stretched. But Sandy said it was like ocean waves. She always pointed out how wonderful the fabric selection was “this reminds me of the mountains of Oahu, and that reminds me of …” but always the love shown through.

A few years later I had a chance to go back to Oahu for a two-day class. As I was on the web checking out the hotel where I would be staying I discovered her son had opened a restaurant in the hotel. I was excited but not sure how I would get to the restaurant where the quilt was since my daughter had moved to San Francisco. After checking into the hotel I decided to scope out the hotel complex and find the restaurant. As I began to approach it I couldn't believe my eyes! There right in the entrance hung the Sansei’s Mom Quilt! Well I began to examine it and criticize my work. My quilting in the ditch wasn't always in the ditch and then of course there was the wavy bottom.

Then I brought myself up short – “wait a minute that isn't what this quilt is all about.

It was not made to hang in a museum or compete in a contest, it was made to show love. A mother's love for her son, a mother's love for her daughter, a crew’s love for their mentor.

In other words this quilt was meant to be - a true love story!

Blessings in Disguise

2009-07-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

We have a tree in our front yard that I love, it’s a kukui tree. In the old days oil from its nuts was used for light. The leaves have an interesting shape and they are large giving a lot of shade. My husband gets annoyed with this tree because it’s messy. He constantly has to clean up the leaves and nuts. So every now and then when I get home (generally with thoughts of getting a good picture of the tree or using the leaves in some crafty way) I find he has gone and topped the tree. And I do mean top it! Not much left of the tree at all. I fuss at him but all he says is it’ll grow back – no worry!
Recently I’ve been searching for hearts in nature. I was inspired by an article I saw in a book. Now we have lots of leaves here that are heart shaped and I have managed to find a few more things but not that many. Imagine my surprise one day as I sat on our front porch have a cup of coffee. As I let my eyes feast on our yard and revel in the birds and butterflies I glanced at our kukui tree, now covered in leaves, and saw the heart. My husband hadn’t even been trying to create it, it just happened. It won’t last forever but I’m enjoying it for the moment and it got me thinking. I stressed and fussed each time he cut that tree not knowing that someday I would be blessed by a heart. (God sometimes gets out His pruning shears and gives us a good topping too! He’s trying to bring out His heart in us.)
I can think of a lot of other events in my life that seemed to be blessings in disguise. Once we were driving to church when my husband had such a severe headache come on all of a sudden that he had to pull over and let me drive. I grumbled because I wanted to get to there a little early in order to speak with our pastor. Now that wouldn’t happen. But as I drove down the freeway we came to a dead stop – there had been a multi-car, multi-lane accident that had it not been for the headache we would have been in the middle of it. And my husband’s headache was gone. Blessing in disguise!
What about the time I was up for a promotion. I was so excited and confidant because after the testing and interviews I was number 1 on the list. I had the job. But not so fast they gave it to one of the other workers. I was crushed and unsure of myself. Later I talked with the one who got the job and she told me how lucky I was because she had to be dishonest on a regular basis with her clients. That would never have worked for me, I would have been miserable. A secondary blessing was one of the requirements for the job was to have a valid driver’s license which I didn’t have at the time. I hadn’t driven for 15-20 years so I asked my sister-in-law to go with me and help me brush up on my driving skills. I didn’t want to risk being turned down for the job based on such a simple thing. I got my license and have been driving ever since. What a blessing to not have to rely on others to get around.
I have lots more instances of blessings in disguise but I’ll leave you with this last one. Now I live on the rainy side of the big island of Hawaii. We see a lot of rainbows but this particular day was different, one I’ll never forget. Passing showers, a pleasant drive into work, easy day. As I got out of my car there over my head was the biggest, most breathtaking, brilliant rainbow I have ever seen! It was stunning! My heart soared at the beauty of God’s creation and the wonder of His promises. I floated into work and began to tell everyone of this wondrous sight. Within an hour I received a heart rending phone call from my beloved daughter telling me about the situation she was in. As I began to pray for strength and help for my daughter I realized what God had already done. He knew of the coming phone call and had prepared me with that rainbow as a sign of His Love and grace and the promise that everything would be all right. He has never failed me yet.

So when you are counting your blessings don’t forget the ones in disguise!

ACEO - A First for Me

2009-05-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Recently I introduced something new for me in my Etsy shop SaRoMaSa. ACEOs. For those of you already familiar with the term and concept you can skip down a ways or go straight to my shop. For the rest here’s just a little background on ACEOs.

ACEO stands for Artists Cards Editions and Originals. The only rule for them is their size 2 ½ by 3 ½ inches. Yes that’s right inches. Same size as sports cards that are avidly collected by sports enthusiasts. The ACEO has a similar purpose but rather than celebrating sports they celebrate the arts, all at an affordable price. Probably the most inexpensive way to collect art is to buy prints. This is very similar to buying regular size art. While the format of ACEOs is small the work that goes into it may consume as much time as a larger piece. I am still amazed at some of the detail in these small pieces of fine art. The type of art may be collage, fine art painting, photography, quilting, fiber arts, and anything in between.

Looking at a blank 2 ½ by 3 ½ inch canvas my mind goes blank. It took a lot of courage to finally attempt to create a collaged ACEO. The first one got smeared right at the end of the process. I almost cried but instead cut out some more yellow tulips and pasted them over some of the first tulips. Not bad. (Although, I had planned on using those extra tulips on another project.) I then scanned in my ACEO and used PhotoShop to remove some more of the smears. Okay that looks better. I’ll keep the original partly because I like to keep all of my “firsts” and partly because it will remind me later that being flexible is one key to being successful. So this one is now being offered as a print.
The second one I made is really an ATC but I’m offering prints of it as an ACEO. ACEO’s were really born from Artists Trading Cards (ATC). ATCs have one more rule. They are never to be sold, only traded or exchanged, or given freely. The original was part of an ETSY team trade with the theme of Spring by BBEST and made its way to one of the members.

The other two prints currently in my shop are a reduced copy of an acrylic painting by my daughter Marilynn and a sewing collage. To see more of my daughter’s work visit Ladiesbydesign and click on Marilynn. She has a Flickr badge that showcases some of her work. While you are there I encourage you to spend some time reading her posts. Besides a visual artist she is an artist with words.
The sewing ACEO is a print of a collage I made to use as an invitation to a gathering of sewing friends. I have reduced it here to fit the size requirement.
I’m working on more collage pieces and more ACEOs (both original and prints) so stay tuned. As always I look forward to your comments.

Laughter

2009-03-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

Most of us have probably heard the platitudes: “Laughter is the best medicine.”; “Laughter is good for the soul” and others similar to these.
I’ve never given it a lot of thought but lately with prodding from my online friends and my daughter I’ve been considering things. Most of these prodding’s fall in the range of “tell us seven (or ten, or five) things about you that no one knows.
So I’ve been thinking and last night while trying to drift of to sleep it occurred to me “I like to make people laugh and I like to hear people laugh”. Now most of this laughter comes from telling on myself, or about something happening in my life, or just making merry about a difficult situation that’s been taken a little too seriously. It’s definitely not telling jokes cause I’m not much good at that!
I’m not sure where this comes from. My mother always told me I have a weird sense of humor. According to her I'm like her mother in the humor department. So I guess maybe I take after my Grandmother Clough. It’s true I find humor sometimes where others do not. For example I think it’s funny how I can get lost because I’m not paying attention to where I am or I decide to try a different route. Once when exiting a freeway I almost hit the guardrail because I wasn’t paying attention, I laughed but the passengers didn’t.

Or I could tell you about the time as a sophomore in high school when I put the entire varsity football team on the run. It was very embarrassing at the time but is now a funny memory with the passing of the years. Then there was the time I was setting up our computer training room for a workshop I was to present. Not my normal routine! I had turned on the laptops but couldn't figure out how to turn on the PC's (a task I do everyday at my desk but for the life of me I was so nervous I couldn't get it!). In a panic I was getting ready to call our regular trainer and confess to her when it finally dawned on me "Just push the power button on the CPU!" I told the trainer about my panic later and we both had a good laugh.

Once when my invalid mother was living with me we (the home aids and nurses who took care of her while I was at work) were surprised and happy that she was drinking a lot of water. Something she normally didn’t do, she hated our water. All of a sudden I started laughing because I realized what might have happened. You see I always made her cream of wheat or something similar to it for her breakfast and I always added a lot of cinnamon to it. That morning I think I might have grabbed the bottle of red pepper instead and that was why she was so thirsty. Of course we flushed her with a lot of water but she didn’t complain.
There are things that have happened that when told to my friends bring a smile, maybe a chuckle but which give me a real belly laugh. Even several months later when I think about it I want to break out in a loud, throw the head back laugh, but mostly I settle for a chuckle, a smile, or even a silent inside laugh. After all I wouldn’t want the other people on the bus to think I had lost it! And I certainly wouldn’t want to go into a long story explaining my laughter. Chances are they wouldn’t see what was so funny about it anyway.
My dad used to get us to laugh at the dinner table. I was raised with six brothers and we would all try and keep from even cracking a smile when dad started his fake laugh. He would start to laugh about nothing in particular it was just his goal to get us to laugh. And he always succeeded. We kids would start out biting our lips, then the giggles would start and then before you knew it we were convulsed with side splitting laughter just from his infectious laugh. We loved it of course. I think we slept better on those nights. I know a good solid laugh will always help me sleep better.
Laughter is good for easing tension as long as it is either at something and not someone or with someone and not at someone. Maybe that’s why clowns are so beloved, they make up laugh with them or at least a good one does. Comedians too! Favorites of me and my dad’s were Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Bill Cosby, Carol Burnett and many others.
I’m considered by most to be a very serious person but I consider it a good day when I’ve made someone laugh!
Smile and the world smiles with you, put a little humor in someone’s world today, tickle their funny bone and you’ll feel better for it!

Life's Treasures

2009-03-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

To me one of the most important types of treasures are friends. Friends come in all styles and from all walks of life. Some start out as family and wind up as friends, some start as friends and then become the start of a family. Some start out during our school days and where once they were “bosom buddies”, “friends for ever”, they became disconnected or just lose track of each other. Some we meet in person, some through correspondence, others at least nowadays we met online. But wherever they come from and however long they last, a short time or a lifetime, friends can be real gems, something to treasure. A friend can cry with us or help us to sing when we really feel like crying. A friend can make us laugh and forget our cares and woes for a minute. A friend can drop a note at just the right time to encourage us. A friend can push us in the right direction even when it seems they are being harsh on us. I remember a good friend I had when I worked in San Francisco, she took me to lunch once when I was going through a very rough time in my life. As we sat talking I was blaming everyone and everything else for my lot in life. She made me face myself and accept the responsibility for my life. It was hard, I actually hated myself when she was finished but to this day I say she was used of God to make me look in the mirror and see what I had become and where I was headed. It was a direct result of that meeting that I turned my life around and gave my heart to God. A friend can be a treasure indeed.

Speaking of treasures – In my last post I mentioned treasuries on Etsy. I thought I would write a little about them. Etsy is an online marketplace for all things handmade, for supplies, and for vintage (20+) items. Whatever you might be looking for from pillows to original art to a gift for a co-worker or just a quirky fun object to brighten up your day, you’re sure to find it on Etsy.
One thing they let both buyers and sellers do is showcase the work of others. You select 16 items from the vast array of wares, 12 of them will be the main treasury and 4 will be alternates. Arrange then the way you like and then when the opportunity arises, type in your title and load up your selections. Others will come in and look at the items and leave comments. A treasury lasts for 2-3 days. They are so much fun to do and you get a “feel good” feeling for encouraging and promoting others. I've placed a couple of treasuries I have made in the past here in this post. Etsy uses some of these treasuries for their home page. Of course the frosting on the cake is to have your treasury make the front page. But even without that they are still a joy to make. The next best thing is to have someone put one of your items in their treasury!
Every time I start searching for items to put in a treasury I am amazed at the variety of items offered on Etsy.
To find the treasuries go to Etsy’s homepage, look on the left-hand side scroll down to the Explore box and you’ll find the word Treasury. Click on that and you’ll see a list of treasuries (333+) to choose from. Be prepared though you could lose track of time once you start viewing them!

Encouraging others – to me that’s what life is all about!

"Almost White"

2009-02-19T07:20:00.001-08:00

It started out to be a white piece; it ended up almost white.
I’ve been trying to be creative every day following the Creative Every Day blog. One week Misty Mawn suggested working in one color a day. On one of those days the color given was white. To me that was the biggest challenge. An all white piece. Now those who know me or who have visited my online store Big Island Rose Designs know that I’m not afraid of color. Many of the treasuries I make on Etsy prove that point. But an all white piece – hmmmmmm. Going with my theme of "back to where I started from" I knew that it would be a collage. So I began the search for white items, textures, details from old magazines. After I had collected a supply I started laying them down on my canvas. Now nothing looked white-white. It wasn’t very exciting either but I continued.
First a layer of torn text covered with a little gesso to tone the text down. Then I found some white paper heart doilies in my stash. Good. Next I arranged my “white” magazine pieces until I liked it. Still not exciting though. I knew I would add some buttons somewhere on the canvas so I played with them for awhile. I had another challenge with this piece, how to finish the edges. A quilt gave me the idea to cut squares of paper and wrap them around the edges. First I was going to do all text but then I spied some old sheet music damaged in places and decided to alternate words with music. Okay that works!
Some vintage white rickrack from my stash caught my eye. I added it to kind of accent the heart shape of the doily and mimic the doily’s edging. Searching the magazines some more I found a white daisy, perfect for the center of the heart but what about that yellow center. Definitely not white. I played with my buttons some more – maybe all around the heart or along the edges of the canvas. How about a big one to cover up that yellow center? All the time I could hear my former art instructor Joan Hill, “Rose, when you think you are done, always remove at least one thing, don’t overdue it.” Okay too many buttons and I really like the yellow center of the daisy – it makes the piece pop. So take away all but a few buttons and I’m done.
Only problem now is I like this piece so much I’m not sure if I’ll sell the original. I will definitely do prints of it. It would make a lovely card don’t you think?

Back Where I Started From

2009-01-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

When I was a little girl I enjoyed working at my workspace in our basement trying out different things experimenting with broken egg shells, cancelled stamps my Dad gave me, and any other odds and ends I could get my hands on. As the years passed I drifted away from my arts and crafts childhood and more and more into the world of business. Now,50 years later, I feel like I have come full swing again and am getting back into my first love, collage, taking ordinary and not so ordinary things and creating art. Collage has always been my constant companion whether I’m working with paper, fabric, found items, or fibers. Even when I think about working with people it’s always with the idea of showing them how to take simple things and make them into something beautiful. Isn’t that what our Creator does with us? He takes the broken pieces of our lives, mixes in those of others, adds some color, spices, or laughter and makes beautiful stories, beautiful lives.

My Dad received lots of mail from all over at his job and would bring the stamps home for me. I never realized that my Dad started me on the habit of collecting and reusing items that most would just throw in the garbage. My family would say that my habit has become uncontrollable as I have a hard time tossing out any thing, you just never know when it might be just the finishing touch for a project. Dad even saved all of my grade school report cards and gave them to me before he died. Now my mind is thinking about what treasures those are. Not the computer generated reports we get today but handwritten notes from my teachers. And then of course they all have my Dad’s signature on them too. Treasures indeed!

I truly believe that if we can capture the essence of who we are and what we want to be when we are children and build on that, we will be less likely to drift and stray into other areas. I think I lost a sense of who I am and who I wanted to be along the way. I dabbled a little in the realm of sewing and embroidery but never to the extent that I was consumed by it, as I was when I was a child. I recaptured some of that when I started taking fashion design classes as an adult but by then the business world was such a part of me that I had a hard time seeing my way back to my passion. Occasionally something would come along, like a quilt for someone special, or a chance to make the costumes for our church drama team, or a newsletter for our fashion club, that would pull me back to that early path. But the weeds had grown, and life had left little room for my art. Even when I finally had the opportunity to go back to college and take art and graphic design classes, I never fully found that path again. Funny too, because my instructors all encouraged me to try. One assignment given us was to make a stamp depicting the theme Go Forth and Create. I struggled with it, couldn’t really draw, wasn’t comfortable with the computer, I didn’t have a clue what to do. My instructor saw the struggle and I’m sure wasn’t expecting too much from me. But shortly before the assignment was due I had an “aha!” moment. I considered what I loved to do as a child; I would do a collage. The ideas began to flow and before I knew it I had done something that surprised me and my teacher. I wound up with a 10+ for that assignment and words from the instructor to follow my heart and do collage. Collage was just starting to become popular in the design and advertising world. Now 15 years later I look at all the wonderful collage work being done and wonder “What was I thinking?” And so I pick up the tools again, I work at it daily, slowly regaining what I had, adding to it new dimensions, trying once again to overcome my fear “Is it good enough?” “Will anyone like it?” “Have I waited to long?”

Dusting Off

2008-08-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

Woosh -- Woosh!
Excuse me but I'm just blowing some dust off of my blog. I've been inspired by my daughter's blog Agape4Aloha to get mine going again. We both started blogs within days of each other not knowing that the other one had. Then we both got busy with other things and neglected them. She revived hers at the encouragement of her writing mentor and now here I am trying to revive mine.

It just goes to show you how things you do especially in the encouragement arena can have a ripple effect and maybe even a life changing effect for someone else. And the originator may never even be aware of what they have generated. Did David as a lad and then later as king know the words and psalms he was creating would still encourage people thousands of years later?

I think what the world needs today especially for our youth is for the writers and producers of murder, mayhem, nonsense and weirdness to have a change of heart or be replaced by those who can craft wholesome, entertaining, good stories of encouragement. Stories that can be life changing, stories that will generations later still have the same effect. Make the story more important and while there leave something to the imagination. I don't need to actually see the mutilated bloody body, I can imagine what it must look like just by seeing the detective react to it. Let the actors do their job in portraying enough to let my imagination fill in the details.

Oh - sorry - back to my blog. I'd like it to be an encouraging one and part of that will be just simple stories from my life, musings on a rainy day and at times showcasing some of the wonderful talent of my online friends and my own creative work as well.

I hope you'll come back for more and leave comments too!
Remember to encourage someone today! Someone may encourage you tomorrow!

The Mabel Ruth Quilt

2008-03-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

The quilt in the picture on my last post was one I made for my mother's 90th birthday. Well it didn't start out for her 90th but that's where she was when I finished it. I thought I would highlight each block in my future posts. This one is of the fushia flower. The flowers are all embroidered by hand. Mother was an excellent embroiderer, seamstress, milliner, and crafter. She started embroidering at a very early age and would tell of doing a tablecloth which took 1st prize at the state fair and was promptly given by the aunt who was raising her to a very wealthly lady. My mother was not very happy about that.

She taught me how to embroider when I was about 7 and I've been doing it every since. As a teenager I did embroidery work on my clothes (which I made myself!). I remember one time making a pair of black satin pants which I embroidered pansies down each pant leg. After doing the embroidery I discovered I had sewn the side seams incorrectly. Instead of sewing the backs to the fronts I sewed the backs to the backs and the fronts to the fronts. I never did finish those pants and I don't know what happened to all my handwork!

I still have a vest I designed, embroidered and made. It's a mustard yellow (not a color this summer gal can wear!) with embroidered red roses and white statice. I keep most of my firsts.

Anyway the Mabel Ruth quilt is in honor of my mother who was also a gardener and loved her flower beds. She gave me a love of crafting and designing and always encouraged me as best she could.

She went to met the Great Creator a few years ago at 92 1/2 and I miss her.

Encourage someone today, it will warm your heart for sure!

Rejoice!

2008-03-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

"… you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to. " Deuteronomy 12:18

My first blog…
I do rejoice and thank my God for all the talent and creativity He has given me to share.
It is a source of joy and happiness

… to take materials and make something cute and lovely or wacky and crazy or
bold and compelling to wear or display.

… when I can come up with something that’s also useful and functional.

… when someone else sees my items and stops me to ask about it

… when I can encourage someone else to discover their creativity and develop it.

I remember a time when I taught a class of seventh grade girls basic embroidery stitches. One girl in the class was from a very large (13 kids) family who lived in the projects in San Francisco. Hard to get a lot of attention when your from such a large family! She was borderline trouble and had very low self esteem. She was an excellent embroiderer and I encouraged her to develop it. She had to leave our private school and go back to public school. One day she came up to me at church, her face all aglow and you could hear the excitement in her voice. The principal of her school had seen her work and was so impressed with it he set up a display of it in one the school’s display cases. What joy! Things like that create strong memories and this one is over 30 years old but it still thrills me when I think of it. It’s treasures like that that make life enjoyable!

Encourage someone today! It will put a smile on your face for sure!