Friday, June 29, 2007

TASTy long and short



Here is a cat I'm making(wisp) using satin/long and short. This is about 3 inches wide. I really enjoy this type of embroidery as you can stitch layer upon layer to get the right color effect. Also, once you get the main lines embroidered, you can just "wing it". I untwisted button-hole twist, so it's done with a third of a strand of that. It's not yet finished - did you notice he has no whiskers?
Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

TASTy satin stitch and challenge



Long time no blog! Here is a sample of satin stitch from a Japanese embroidery piece I made.

I am behind on everything - TAST, Bead Journal project, house-cleaning, etc. I have been busy working on a challenge for Quilting Arts magazine ("Doorway to Creativity"). I have never worked on one of these challenges before, so this was all new to me. My first attempt, which was ripped and re-stitched several times took a long time and had to be tossed aside. I was very reluctant to give up on it because of all the work I had put into it, but finally realized it wasn't going to work out design-wise. Once I tossed it, I was disgusted and didn't really know how to proceed, so I decided to get out the Lumiere paints and play. That was the best thing I could have done! I didn't know I was still working on the challenge - I thought I was stalling. Working with those colors was what inspired me to go a whole new (and faster) direction with the challenge. But then I had to play catch-up and almost didn't get it in the mail in time!

Working on a project like this was very valuable in many ways. At first I had trouble being inspired by the theme. But I guess sometimes you have to work at it, think about it, discuss it, toss it around. I thought what was behind the door (creativity) was much more interesting than the door itself. But my husband suggested I think of the door as the "wrapping paper" on my creativity. That fit right into some slot in my brain.

One night I was tossing and turning in bed, mulling over an upsetting problem with a friend; you know how it is, you go over every detail and just can't get over it. So instead, I just decided to think about "the door". What would be my next step? What new technique could I try? What should I do for the background? And on and on.... But it was great therapy and a more hopeful line of thinking before falling asleep....

I come from an embroidery background, not a quilting one. It was a new thing for me to make a hanging casing on the back of the "quilt" (it only had to be 8 1/2 by 11) per their exact requirements. Even though it wasn't really difficult, it forced me to think in a different way - that's not really the creative part. But I think it is good experience.

So I'm very interested in how this theme will be interpreted by others - we will see some results in the November issue of Quilting Arts. I can't wait!

Happy Stitching!
~Lin Moon

Friday, June 08, 2007

Doll Nametags

I was trying to remember if I had done any other bead embroidery besides the one shown here, when I remembered one of my nametag dolls. I made a doll nametag and wore it to a meeting and next thing I knew I was doing a program on it. It was mainly to teach simple stitches used to embroider facial features and to show some different hair treatments. I figured the ladies wouldn't want to end up with all the same faces, so I offered them a selection of eyes, noses and mouths that they could mix and match to create a unique doll for their own nametags. For my display, I made up poems about the different dolls. I had a lot of fun with this!

The doll with red button hair and an art deco nametag was the one I made for myself.











Collette has the turquoise beaded hair....

Collette
Come meet Colette
Doesn't she look pert?
I can't say for sure,
But I've heard she's a flirt.
The mirror on the wall
Says she's most fair
Who could resist her?
What beads! What hair!

The purple-haired doll is Penelope....

Penelope
With turquoise eyes and
Wild purple hair
Wide-eyed and happy
She hasn't a care
She was getting worried
She was going gray
I got her some RIT
Now it's "purpled" away!

Then there's Flo....

No shiny buttons
No Purple hair
Just some rags
It's just not fair
This is Flo
Complete with pout
She's been gypped
And she's put out!

Friday, June 01, 2007

Playing with beads


I've been fooling around with angelina fibers and loved the pearlescent shine of the white. I cut out a moon from it and did a little bead embroidery around it. I haven't done bead embroidery for awhile, and forgot about how much better your results are if you use all the same size bead. I really wanted to mix up my purples to see how it looked, so I ignored size. You can't really even see the sparkle of the angelina...

I have to admit, I have joined the Beaded Journal Project, described here. I'm hoping to keep up with one "journal page" per month - haven't quite decided what size I will do yet. I've found that if I join something like this, I am more motivated to do the work than if I just plan to get around to trying something someday.

Playing with Lumiere





I bought a pack of Lumiere paints ("The exciter pack") and just started painting them on some white cotton. The colors are amazing - as you can see in the pix, some of the colors have gold mixed in and some of the colors are very pearlescent. (To get the full effect of the colors in these pictures, click to enlarge.) This stuff is gorgeous! I tried sponging it on, also, which worked ok; there's just not as much shine when you dilute the paint for sponging. Check it out!
Happy Stitching, (and painting)
~Lin Moon