March TIF

Here is a picture of my March TIF (noticing the little things), SharonB's Take it Further Challenge. I started out dying the fabric with the thought of stitching unfurling ferns on it, but when I walked away to let the dye dry and came back a few hours later, it looked like the center of a flower, so that's what it became!



And in the spirit of noticing the little things, here is a monarch butterfly still in its cocoon, soon to come out.

And now it's out, drying its folded wings (for several hours) before flying away. I planted some butterfly weed, just for this purpose. Orange isn't my favorite color, but I planted it so I could watch the striped caterpillars munching on it, their cocoons forming and the butterflies emerging. It is so fascinating to watch.

This guy always has this big ball of something with him.

ATCs from Europe

Happy Easter and Happy Spring everyone!
Just thought I'd share a few photos of some flowers in my garden and some thoughts.






I've been sick for the last week or so, so haven't felt up to doing much of anything. However, I did muster the energy to sit in front of the computer when I couldn't sleep and watch a slide show of ATCs from Europe. I found this slide show so interesting, especially some of the captions on the ATCs. One that really made me think went something like..."just in the nick of time, I regained consciousness" or "angels tread here". One showed a woman in some angst because she couldn't think of something to make for dinner. (That I can relate to!) That is such an ordinary and everyday thing - it would never occur to me to make a piece of art (however small) about this. But this is life and what I know, so I shouldn't discount it...

It got me to thinking about inspirations, and ideas for creativity. Sometimes I get all wrapped up in the idea that a piece has to evoke some deep emotion or be symbolically important. So I give up because I can't think of anything important enough and inspiring enough that I will also enjoy the look of and enjoy creating. But with these ATCs, you could see how you could make 10 different ones, all with a one-word inspiration, like "red". "Red" could bring up thoughts of communism, roses, anger, an apple, pain, a sunset, tons of things! And that's a whole lot simpler an inspiration than something as general as, say "love". So I just need to keep it simple.....

You can look at the ATCs from Europe here and see what you think.

Quilt Craft Sewing show

Last week I went to the Quilt, Craft and Sewing show in Pomona. I got to meet June (Grandma Ziki) and her friend Ingrid! It was so nice to meet other stitchers you only know online!

The show was fun, although I wish I had had more time to see it all that day. There were a couple of things I really wanted to get that were available there. One of them was a set up for felting(by hand). You can see it in the picture below.



I got a pad, a "felter" with 8 needles, some single needles and a selection of wool roving in several colors. I have seen all kinds of prices for wool roving, but felt this was a good deal, as each "knot" was $2.50 and if you bought 6, you got one free. Of course, once I decided to store them in a plastic box, I read that wool can degenerate if stored this way, and that it should be stored in a paper bag or cardboard box. So I brought it home and played. I got out a piece of white felt and tried felting different yarns, the roving, Angelina fibers, ribbon, etc. The best things to felt were the most fibrous items. After I played for awhile, I took a look at the back and actually liked it better than the front, so then I started felting things to appear on the back. The back is subtle and fuzzy and to me it looks like it might be a rose. We'll see what develops....
The Back


The Front


It's always exciting to try something new - I want to make some interesting backgrounds for hand embroidery.
Happy Stitching,
Lin Moon

Susan's Cyber Fyber ATC

Whoops, I forgot to include a picture in my last post of the ATC I received in the mail from Susan Lenz. Here it is - I just love it! It has so many layers; I can see knitted portions, lace portions, netting, etc.
~Lin Moon

ATC for Cyber Fyber

Here is my ATC for Susan Lenz's Cyber Fiber exhibition. I used some satiny fabric and dyed it using Dynaflo and Lumiere. I wanted a serene-looking face - I'm not sure it came out with that effect. I added a small "tassel" at the bottom that goes off to the left instead of hanging straight down - it gives it a sense of movement. I hope the asymmetetry of it doesn't make everyone want to "fix" it so it hangs down straight. This was fun and I wanted to work with some colors other than the pastels I like so much. Happy Stitching,
~Lin Moon

More Jewelry from Fabric

Here are a couple more of the fabric jewelry items I have made. The fan pin is wrapped with some eyelash yarn; the base of the fan is white leather painted with lumiere. When I go to make something that includes a few beads, I definitely have to choose the beads during the day time. I have a lot of different shades of pale green beads - some more like jade, some more turquoise, some more of a spring green. I'm wondering if I got one of those Ott lights that are supposed to be just like daylight, if I'd be able to choose beads with confidence at night. Anybody want to weigh in on this?


The ribbon bracelet "matches" the bird ribbon pin I blogged about a couple of posts ago. I just love this kind of ribbon with a woven pattern - I wanted to make a necklace, earrings, the whole nine yards with this beautiful stuff. The stores local to me don't sell too much of this, so it's harder to find nowadays...

Happy Stitching, everyone,
~Lin Moon