Wait A Minute! What Happened to April?

It came and went before I got anything posted. I did have something written out but never got around to posting it. So much for my posting on a weekly basis or at least a more regular one.

Here’s what I wrote in April on the 15^th to be exact. You’ll see why I mention the date in a minute.

A Day of Finishing.

Yesterday (April 14^th) was a day for finishing. This is a rarity for me as I tend to be a starter not a finisher. Not because I don’t want to finish; not because I’m really lazy; and not because I’m stuck. I just get sidetracked by something else and start another project. Occasionally it’s because I’m out of or can’t find something for the task (and while I’m looking for it I find something else that captures my attention). Sometimes it’s a request from a family member or friend. So I have a lot of starts and very few finishes.

Spring wreath with Butterflies

What I finished yesterday (April 14^th)

A spring wreath to delight my grandson (stopped for a few days due to shortage of yarn, the a few more days as I wanted to add butterflies so I had to find a pattern, decide on colors etc.). I saw this on Pinterest and couldn't resist. He likes it – they were studying butterflies in preschool at the time.

March Quilt Block Jar of Strawberries

April Quilt Block

Quilt Block for quilt guild. OK I was 2 blocks behind on this. I’m not the best stitcher and my machine has been giving me trouble not to mention a dull blade in my rotary cutter and not having the right fabric. But I finished the two and did the next one due in May too.

May Quilt Block

Taxes. Well I started them and filed them at the stroke of midnight! Hey I normally file on the 15th!
Also went to church
grocery shopped
cleaned the pool
and took my first swim of the season. 

Wish all of my days were as productive!

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Life Goes On

Well so much for good intentions. I’ve been working on my projects but not as fast as I’d hoped and definitely not posting updates like I had planned. This week was looking good for catching up. I even was almost done with the TAST2012 stitch for this week by Wednesday. Ha! I was going to finish block 2 and 3 for the CQJ2012 project in time to be included on their website with my own page. That didn’t happen either.

Instead I spent a lot of time at the local hospital waiting for the doctor’s to determine exactly what needed to be done for my husband. He had taken a mean fall at home on Wednesday and was in a lot of pain. Thankfully the injuries from his fall were not that serious (he does have to use a back brace and do no work for the next two months). That will be a challenge since he is working outside in our yard all day long.

The doctor’s did decide he needed to have a pacemaker installed. His heart rate was staying in the 30 range and the highest they could get it was 40. So Thursday they did the procedure and Friday afternoon he was released. I was at the hospital almost the whole time so I did not get much rest. I did manage to finish the TAST2012 stitch and add a whole lot of French Knots to the Monkey Face piece.

TAST2012

Wheatear Stitch Scribble

Wheatear Stitch following another one of my scribbles. I decided to use a wheat color thread to work this design. First I practiced the stitch on my sampler since this was the first time I had used this stitch. I wanted to see how well it handled the curves of my scribble especially the tight ones. I’m quite pleased with the results.

Last week the stitch assigned was the French Knot. I love this stitch and have been using it since I was a teenager. I had never seen it worked in a tight style until I saw the work my mother-in-law did. Eunice Balaz was a master of the French Knot and bullion stitch. Here is a sample of her work with close quarter French Knots.

I have a better example which she did on a dress for my daughter. As soon as I can get a picture of it I’ll add it to my blog. Also a picture of her bullion work.  My mother Mabel Ruth taught me how to embroider when I was just a child of six of seven. Eunice taught me how to do the bullion rose. She used DMC floss and a milliner’s needle. The needle was new to me. Her floss was the variegated variety which she bought by the case. It’s not as easy to come by these days. When she used it she would cut off the very pale sections and use only the stronger color. I’m still amazed when I see her work.

For my sample I decided to stick with my scribbles. When I scribbled this one I immediately saw a face so I decided to outline it with French Knots and then fill it in with more French Knots.  I decided it was a Monkey Face and I will add ears to the design. This is a departure from my usual scribble which I normally do not add any more lines once the scribble is done. Rules need exceptions and this is one of them.

Here is the outline:

French Knot Monkey Face

Filling the Monkey Face


And here it is in process of being filled in. These knots are all single loops done with DMC pearl cotton size 8.

CQJ2012 

February Crazy Quilt Block

My February block is finished except for some buttons and possibly beads to be added as I assemble the entire crazy quilt. March is in the works. April fabrics have been selected and should be stitched this week.

Robin's nest in my magnolia tree

9. Air scented with flower perfumes
10. Blue robin eggs
11. Plants poking through the ground
12. Modern technology

Happy Stitching!

Rose

ACEO - A First for Me

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.