finally got back here...

i've been busy these past 2 weeks but didn't have much to show you. we are playing with 'white' over at Jude's What If forum so i did some experimenting. click on images for a better view.

with a prism...

playing with the light coming through the kitchen window

love the curved rainbow up above

turned a dyed piece into black and white and printed it on cotton cloth...

cut out the center and added some white lace. planned on stitching on this but the cotton was too tough for the needle so i gave up on that.

 here is the actual dyed piece that will become the top part of a hassock/stool i am covering.

not too much stitching ...maybe just a little bit more needed around the center circle.

and there has been some knitting happening as well.

a pinwheel purse with some sewing equipment within to carry for emergencies. i made 8 of these for my quilting friends.

the pinwheel purse opens up origami style and the pattern is here on Ravelry, if you want to try it.

and i also started knitting a purse that will be felted when finished...

this yarn is a wonderfully soft wool

i was thinking this week how lucky i am to be doing exactly what i love doing every day. it took some planning through the years to get here but it was so well worth some of the struggles. wishing the same for all of you.

mostly white this week...

Jude has been Whispering White in her latest What If workshop and that fit right in with the lace work i'm doing in Karen Ruane's Alchemy class. so not too many words just a few pics.
click on the images for close-ups.

cheese cloth, cording and free motion embroidery

a piece of lace, cheese cloth and free motion embroidery

 some more white on white work.

a new cell phone case from a thrift store table runner

the drought we've been having for the past 2 years is showing itself lately with limbs and trees just breaking off and falling to the ground. it's taking me lots of time to trim this up so i can put it out for recycling. hope this is it for awhile.

this youpon just broke in half. hope the rest of the tree survives and puts out new shoots.

more next time. have a great week.

just a bit of stitching this week...

trying to finish up this and that to eliminate some of the clutter in every room.
this will be the last pouch with bobbin lace for a while. it's a small one lined in silk. it just needs a closure...maybe a bead or a button...and then it will be gifted.

embellished with bobbin lace...measures 5" x 5½"

lined in pure silk

getting toward the end of Karen Ruane's Alchemy class and my ledger isn't anywhere near finished. i'm determined to continue working on it to completion. i did a piece of embroidery this week that i thought would be included but it's turning out to be a piece that will stand on its own...i think.

the embroidery is finished but it will sit within an embellished piece of acrylic paper that will be hole punched and stitched.  embroidered section measures about 7" x 8".

we've been having temperatures ranging from the 40s in the morning to the mid 80s in the afternoon and it's only March. looks like it will be another one of those very hot summers with very little rain. need to get all those seeds planted. have a good week.

the piano is finished...

now to create a setting for it in my journal....
click on the images for a close-up view.

a stitching done based on an abstract drawing i did many years ago

 my bobbin lace pear with a weaving now has a place on another pouch.

stitched on brown velveteen

and a cotton lining

stitching on watercolor paper...

3 shades of pink floche thread

and a great find at the thrift store. it had several stains but i've been able to get all but one out. will have to work a bit harder on that last one. this will make a great light throw. it measures 52" x 64".

we've had some rain here for the past couple of days and spring is on its way. i'm anxious to plant some seeds and flowers.

choices...

i have so many projects in progress that it's sometimes hard to choose which one to work on. this week i decided i had to finish making the pouch with my bobbin lace piece. it's tall and slim so will be good for knitting projects.
click on the images for close ups.

lush purple velvet with a green upholstery lining

close up view

more journal work is happening every day. i need to start working on completing pages now as there are lots of bits and pieces of things all over the place.

working on thick acrylic paper

the old style telephone

and a wonderful surprise from Nat...some hand dyed thread and a beautiful bag embellished with indigo dyed color catcher sheets. check out her blog. it's always chock full of gorgeous and interesting info.

hand dyed bag and thread from Nat. even the wrapping paper is beautiful.

wishing you all a creative week.

all over the place...

i'm trying to spread myself all over the place and do a bit of everything. i stopped at the thrift store this week looking for something specific and found two things i couldn't pass up. they both will be used almost immediately for projects planned.
click on the images for close-ups.

both are runners...crochet lace and a thick cotton embroidered white on white

more journal work with free motion embroidery on paper and scrim.

free motion embroidery on paper and then hand embroidered. insert of grandma's picture.

a test sample piece of watercolor painted paper with scrim...free motion embroidery...and hand embroidery

i got close to the end of the wool unraveling that i've been posting about and it all started tangling. i have enough to start spinning and the rest will be untangled little by little.

and finally, i'm back to my bobbin lace that's been on the pillow for over a year. it's close to being finished and will become a pouch. it's stitched onto purple velvet and will have a green lining. it's a beautiful green, linen thread. could not capture the beautiful color with the camera.

bobbin lace stitched onto purple velvet. adding some beading to the fringe.

 February went by so quickly. i'm looking forward to March. the bulbs are starting to bloom and Spring is on its way. we've had a real mild winter here in Austin. some of the plants didn't freeze back at all this year. wishing you all a good week.

mostly journaling...

i did get a bit further in unraveling this raw wool mess. another week or two and it will be ready for spinning.
click on the images for a closer view.

more than double the size since last week.

while searching through old pics and documents for my family memories journal, i came across this abstract drawing of a piano i did about 5 or 6 years ago. i modified it some and transferred it to cotton cloth. after it's all stitched, it will become a journal page.

i'm having to do the satin stitching of the keys wearing a magnifier. the black keys are wrapped bars so they are raised up off of the cloth a bit. all the keys measure 4" x ½".

both sides of this journal page have been finished. the mandolin was my grandads. my dad played it quite a bit when i was growing up. he couldn't read music. he played the mandolin and the harmonica by ear.

the negatives are from pictures my dad took in the 1940s

the bars of the mandolin are wrapped threads on wire for a 3D effect.

i'm working on lots more journal pages...so more next time.

have a great week.

if only i knew...

i ordered this wool from ebay several years ago. had no idea what i was going to do with it but it was such a good buy for wool. well, when i received it, i realized that it had to be spun and plied before it could be used. i knew nothing about spinning back then. now that i am learning to spin with a drop spindle, i pulled it out of the closet. i quickly realized that this was going to be a difficult task, as you can see. i will wind a little bit each day and hopefully it will get done sometime soon so it can be used. it took me a while to figure out a way to manage winding 6 balls at once.
click on the images for close-ups.

why would they have wound it this way????

 i spend most of my time working on my Alchemy journal in Karen Ruane's class. here are a couple of pictures of what i worked on this week.

my dad played the mandolin. printed a picture of a mandolin and did some coloring with my inktense pencils. the strings are wire wrapped with floche thread. each string is 7" long. it took hours to do but i like the 3D effect.

i finished embellishing this lace frame with embroidery and it is stitched on to a journal page.

hope all of you who have been inundated with snow are staying safe and warm.

a new pin cushion

i saw a wonderful vintage pin cushion on facebook that inspired the start of a new pin cushion for me. it involves some wooden parts that i haven't managed to put together yet but this is the start...i made that little bear head many years ago and stitched it onto some of my grandmother's crochet. the ball measures about 3" in diameter. click on images for close-ups.

3" diameter ball made with kimono silk cloth. hand made bear head on grandma's crochet

in the last post, i showed you some fabric wrapped cording. the basket is now complete and this one will be mine. all the others were given as gifts.

fabric coiled basket made with cloth scraps

and still working on samples for my Alchemy class journal with Karen Ruane.

an old family photo...a map-like collage in cloth...some musical notes with names of operas. my mom loved to sing opera.

have another great week. i'll be back soon.

a little bit of everything...

i managed to put some more scraps together for another coil wrapped basket. hope to stitch it up today.
click on the images for close-ups.

a real variety of color

my focus has still been on the journaling  class with Karen Ruane. here's another glimpse of pages i'm working on.

that's mom and dad in 1939. i gathered bits and pieces of lace and put them between water soluble stabilizer and did some stitching to hold them together before washing out the stabilizer. and that's mom in the bottom picture. she loved to sing opera.

while looking for something yesterday, and being frustrated because i couldn't find it, i decided to clean out the closet. so lots of things for goodwill this week. and the thing i was looking for wound up being in another room, but it's got me started. today another room will be cleaned out and i know there will be lots more for goodwill.

filling up bags and boxes for goodwill

hope you've had a good weekend.

Gathering...

i'm still going through my accumulation of things through the years...and there are dolls...so far these...

all made at different times for different reasons

i must decide what to do with them. i'm determined to do something or they will have to go to someone who will... i'm sure there are more around that have not yet been unearthed.

haven't done much this week other than work on my journal in Karen Ruane's Alchemy class. each one of us has chosen a different theme so i'm learning so much as each person gathers and posts info that will find a place in their journal. my theme is Family so i've been going through old albums and letters and papers that i've accumulated through the years. here's just a clipped view of what i've been working on so far.

my dad and my grandmother have been the focus so far

wishing you all a good week. stay warm and stay safe.

having fun...

the days seem to be flying by at record speed these days. funny how time flows in accord with our state of mind. doing lots of experimenting...as usual.

i'm playing with some spun silk hankies. they are so delicate and fragile. i needle felted a couple to a piece of felt, layered it with bits and pieces of lace, embroidery, etc. and did some free motion stitching. now for some hand embellishing...

click on the images for a close-up view.

delicate spun silk hanky

layering, stitching and then some hand embellishment

Jude talked about fringe---one of my favorite topics---over in Diaries so i did some experimenting with my drop spindle. i could become addicted to creating fringe.

the cloth was ripped so it has created lots of texture (more fringe) on the edges

and Karen Ruane's Alchemy class started on Monday so there's lots of gathering and collecting of materials and ideas to include in my journal. we were to select a theme and mine is 'family' so i've been going through old pictures, handwork, etc. i'm finding things i forgot that i had and am enjoying the process. here are just a couple of pics showing some of my gatherings...

family photos and an old pattern book

looking through old family handmade items for design motifs to paint, sketch, stitch. and found this photo that i had forgotten all about. my dad took the picture in 1947 and wrote a letter on the front and back to his sister who was living in Israel. hard to believe how much info he included there...lots of family gossip. it measures about 2 1/2" square. my aunt gave it to me when she visited in the 1980s.

hope you're all having a good weekend.