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

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

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!

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

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!

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....

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

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.

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....

TASTy oyster and palestrina

Here is a small sample of oyster & palestrina. The flower on the left is done with oyster stitch - I like using velour fiber so you can see the pattern the stitch makes. The leaves are whipped running stitch. The flower on the right has palestrina petals, each surrounded by a detached chain. The stem on this flower is also whipped running stitch; I just whipped it 3 different times, using a different thread each time.

~Happy Stitching

Free Turquoise Suede

This has been in my stash for years. I have been doing a major re-organization and cleanup of my sewing room. I am going to cut this up - if you'd like a piece of it (I was thinking about 8" x10" pieces), just email me at LinMoon@earthlink.net - see the link at the top of my sidebar.

Garden Pix

Here are some pictures from my garden:

This is the yesterday-today-and-tomorrow,
whose real name is brunsfelsia pauciflora













Every Christmas I buy one or two amaryllis bulbs and then after they are done blooming, I plant them outside in a pot with others. Some of these came to me from DH's grandmother.






















On the last picture: I don't know what this is, but I think it should get the Weird Plant Award!

TASTy whipped running stitch

Here is a tree I did using the whipped running stitch. It was really fun playing with different textured threads for the tree trunk. I added in some stem stitch to fill in the spaces on the trunk. I know there should be more greenery on the tree, but there's lots to do, so I stopped there.....

Below is the tree before whipping:

Good Book

This is not a new book (copyright 2005), but it is new to me. I discovered it at JoAnn's and was interested in it because I wanted a creative border for my Art Nouveau button (see below). I really like this book - it shows a lot of different edgings that can be used around cameos or buttons. I had some trouble with the instructions for the twisted edging I did, but was able to adapt the directions just slightly to make the final product look a little nicer.

The nice thing is that someone else (Jamie Cloud Eakin) figured out how to do things like make a circle appear more oval with the addition of an edging, make a beaded ruffle around a button, make beaded "lace" around a cabachon or button, make a twisted edging that turns into a looped pendant at the bottom - I just love all the ideas.





On a side note, I also found the SRE Bible there that has been talked about so much. I perused it and frankly, I was unimpressed. The motifs were nice, but I thought a lot of the stitching looked kind of sloppy. Just my opinion.....

Thinking Blogger Award

Ati has kindly tagged me with the Thinking Blogger Award. How thoughtful of her! (LOL) So now I am to tag 5 other blogs that make me think. Hmmm, it's harder than you might think! Here's who I tag:

Allie, who makes me think "Could I ever do something that gorgeous?"

Pat Winter, whose beautiful embroideries and talks of walks on the beach make me think of nature and blessings.....

Iris Susan, who is so good at finding the best seam treatments from Carole Samples' book and then adding her own twist...

Marty52's Textiles in Time, whose encrusted fairy block left quite an impression on me...

Crazy Aunt Perl, whose blog is so hilarious, she really makes me think about how humor works...

Read more about the Thinking Blogger Award here.





insert info/link about award here

Encrusted Block Complete!

Well, after what seems like a loooong time, I've finally completed my Encrusted Block. What with getting my girls off to their trip and spending a week with my husband (alone!) not much stitching was going on there at the end...But I was true to my word and didn't cook one meal that whole week! We had Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Thai food - it was wonderful! And we actually saw a couple of movies that were geared toward adults! And my girls actually survived their airplane trips and came home alive! So many blessings....

I'm very happy with the end result of my block and also relieved to be done with it! Do you, too, get tired of a project if it drags on too long? Also, I always have a plan for the next project - why does the new one always seem so exciting? - maybe because you haven't started working on it yet and don't know its challenges...

Busy Busy

Well, I haven't been doing much stitching lately. My daughters 14 and 17 left for Europe yesterday for Spring Break and the last 2 weeks I've been running around getting them ready for their trip - buying lightweight suitcases (there's a hefty fine for a bag over 50 pounds), getting them shoes, travel toiletries, and worrying about their plane blowing up or crashing.
Happy to say they arrived there safely - I always worry whenever I fly that the plane will spontaneously combust upon landing, so it was a HUGE DEAL that I let them go. They went with a group of teachers and other students, 60 in all - to London, then Paris. So DH and I are childless for a whole week - longer than we've ever had! I informed him that I am not cooking for a week! Yay! Spring is here and flowers abound. My camera skills can't rival those of others, but I'm still enjoying the flowers. I don't have a picture, but one of my all-time favorite plants is Yesterday-Today-and Tomorrow. Do you know of it? It has small fragrant flowers that bloomed dark purple yesterday, turn to lavender today and will turn to white tomorrow. It smells heavenly and is right next to my angel trumpet, which smells wonderful also. I love to just go outside and breath in that smell!

I hope to get back to some stitching soon....