Friday, May 18, 2007

Ramblings




I did not do this embroidery, but I wanted to share it with you. It's done on a chenille knitted vest that was a gift from my sister. She said she thought it looked like something I'd make....It's very pretty, don't you think?

Well, yesterday I was teaching my 17-year old some embroidery stitches. She learned the whipped backstitch, lazy daisy, chain, french knot, and herringbone. We were looking at my encrusted block (shown here). Except for the ribbon-work, she had learned almost every stitch on my block. That made me realize just how few stitches you need to know, and that it's the creative way they are combined that really makes the block. Not to mention color and fiber choice. She was learning stitches using regular floss, and doing the same stitch in a metallic ribbon really changed the effect. It just struck me how much you can do with just a few stitches!

I do think it's important to have a lot of stitches at your disposal. SharonB's inaminuteago has been instrumental in introducing us to new stitches and showing different ways in which they can be used. And looking at everyone's stitching on the TAST group is like getting a new book full of inspiration! But how many books get new pages added all the time?....

Happy Stitching!

Rose Bowl Swap Meet




On Mother's Day, my daughter and I went to the Rose Bowl swap meet. It is big! I was hoping to find some nice trim or ribbons, but it was not to be. Instead I got this nice lace and these pretty buttons. There was some trim there, but it was big and chunky, more for curtains. We had fun looking at all the antiques. Unbeknownst to me, that weekend was the Vintage Fashion Show. I KNOW they had trims there, but I missed it! Too many fun things to do the same weekend!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

7 things meme

Well, boskez has tagged me with the 7 Things About Me meme, so here goes:

- I have a degree in Math/Computer Science. When I went into college, I wanted to be a Spanish teacher, but once I took my first computer class, I was hooked. I was a programmer for about 11 years, until my first daughter was born.

- I am a child of divorce and am the only one in my family who hasn't been divorced. Because of this, I was rather skittish about getting married. So when my husband and I got engaged, I told him it was a 40 year engagement, not the usual kind. A year later we got married.

- I work part-time at Borders Books & Music. I love knowing how to find almost any book and don't mind getting that employee discount either!

- I would say the last 10 years of my life have been the happiest of my life - enjoying gardening, chocolate, my girls and my husband of 18 years...

- I have suffered from insomnia most of my life and now that peri-menopause/menopause has me in its grips, the not-sleeping has gotten worse and worse. Last week during a hot spell, I slept on the bathroom floor! - it was the coolest place in the house.

- I have been doing yoga for about 5 years now and it makes me feel soooo good.

- I used to be a member of EGA (Embroidery Guild of America) and wrote a group correspondence course in Silk Ribbon Embroidery. You can see the project here.

And, I guess I am supposed to tag other people. But I think practically everyone's been tagged....so if you haven't and you'd like to share 7 things about yourself, you can claim that LinMoon tagged you....

Friday, May 11, 2007

more TASTy stuff






I've been playing more with whipped and woven spiderweb. This fan shape was whipped with rayon ribbon floss, which is much harder to control than just using floss or something less slick. The rose is just a woven spiderweb rose, but I had fun using different blue fibers. The purple coneflower is just woven at the top.

In case you don't know what TAST is, check out SharonB's blog at:
Inaminuteago

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

TASTy whipped spiderweb

Here is a version of whipped spiderweb - a carnation, or "pink". The cool thing about this flower is that each spoke is not just a straight stitch, it is a long and skinny chain stitch. Once the whipping is done, the sides of each chain are pulled together to form the diamonds at the top. This is from Jane Nicholas' book Stumpwork Embroidery.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Purple texture


This is part of a small piece I am currently working on. It's not CQ, but it's fun to play with different shades and textures of purple fibers....

Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Flowers from my Garden

Can you tell I like purple? This is my favorite iris. The angel's trumpet smells so good. The flowers start out cream-colored and then change to a pale peach. The climbing rose is going wild - I neglected to trim it last year....