- - - Saturday Stitches - - -

Hi!  Saturday again... how did that happen?  OCTOBER!?  How did that happen?  Welcome back to watching me teach myself some embroidery.  : )

bloggers can click the picture to copy & paste, and then click here for the link url

I found an interesting stitch called a cable chain.  It looks JUST like an old fashioned chain.  Here's how you do it - you make a regular chain to start, and then before each stitch, you will need to wrap the needle once first like this:

It's so easy.  It turns curves well.  As for applications, I see a doggie chain or collar.  I see a perfect swing set chain!  I see a ball & chain.  ; )  I'm sure all the modern steam-punk embroiderers love to use this one!

I also did some Buttonhole Wheels.  They are EASY.  You always start at the center, unless you are me.  You should mark your outer circle first, unless you are like me.  lol  I realize the outer blue circle is terrible...  but remember, I am learning.

And then I got carried away - mostly due to making mistakes.  But that's all right.  That is how I learn.

I didn't like how crooked my blue wheel was, so I threaded the outer circle.  If you click back to the other Saturday posts, you'll see that I like that threading technique!  It helped a lot and added a rope-like effect around the edge.  This next sample is from another circle I didn't mark.  I messed it up, and look what happened!  Sweet.

Sometimes, you have to just go with it.  This gives me lots of ideas!  Have a great weekend everyone.

~Monika
stitching in Saskatoon

I Got Mail!

Thank you so much Sheila!  Sheila and I were in a "Leaves" themed postcard swap this month.  Hers just arrived in my mailbox!  And look at the silly packaging that the postal service put it in.  ??

My mom says Canadians apologize waaay too much.  Sorry mom!  (oops)

It is beautiful, and it is in perfect condition.  Sheila, if you are reading, you should add it to the flickr group as an entry for the 3CreativeStudios giveaway.  All entries must utilize thread sketching since that was the tutorial for the month.  Everyone has until October 16th to upload their photos.  : )  All the info about the contest and prizes is HERE.

Speaking of postcards, thank you so much everyone everywhere who shared the "What's in My Jar?" post.  It has received over three thousand hits worldwide in 2 days.  I've even seen posted links in other languages.  My goodness, did that rock or what!?  ; )  Now to think up some terrific themes for the newest swaps at PostCardCottage...  Tomorrow is the first of the month!

yikes!
~Monika

Things I Love Thursdays

I love love love the colors this fall.  It's been an 'Indian Summer' (is that politically correct?) and things just keep changing.  It's gorgeous!

I love the blue and the red and the yellow - all primaries!

I love fall!  

Here come the leaves...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

: )
Happy Thursday everyone!
~Monika

WIP Wednesday #6 @ TN&TN

Oh boy.  Mostly, I can't show you what I've been working on.  1) paperwork.  2) more paperwork.  3) MORE paperwork.  4) my quilt show entry.  I will give you one sneaky peeky here.  Dare I !?

oooh I think it's turning out so pretty!!!  : )

Okay, there.  I have probably shown you too much, but I'm having so much fun with this that I just cannot keep it completely in the closet.  Why don't you click here and see what everyone else is up to for now while I keep working?  ; )  Linking to: The Needle & Thread Network

 See ya!
~Monika

I Heart Math (and you aren't gonna believe this one! )

I swear, the WEIRDEST things happen to me.  Get this.  The other day I got an email from an editor in B.C. asking for a photo of me quilting.  She was going to search for general stock photos, and then decided to search around for real Canadian material on the internet since she is involved with a Canadian publishing company.  (***Major kudos to her for doing that!)

  pin basting a baby's quilt

 
In her search, my blog popped up.  She liked what she saw, asked me for the rights to a photo, had me sign a release form, and it's all done!  I'll be in a Grade 12 Math textbook that will be used by western and northern Canadian high schools!  I personally think that is SO cool.

just look at all the math here!  ; )

I happen to have aced highschool algebra - and I mean ACED.  (97%!)  I've spent some of my adult life tutoring math to kids in fact.  I'm a good tutor at that!  My students did so well that one was accused of cheating.  lol  Is that the strangest serendipity or WHAT!?  I can't wait to see.  I will show you when its released!  ; )  Isn't that hilarious karma!?  

smiling and shaking my head at life,
~Monika

Guildies Rock & A Cool New Product

I feel so lucky!  I got to go for a morning walk with my guild pal Kerrie.  I usually do this trek alone, so it was nice to have company.  I think I scared her a few times when I gasped and stopped dead in my tracks.  I had my camera with me and was enjoying the scenery too much.  It's an Indian Summer for sure- hot hot and dry so everything is continuing to turn colors.

some are beginning to fall

some are still hangin' on...

It's just so gorgeous out there!  Okay one more...  It's over-exposed, and take with my cell phone from out at the lake on the weekend.  Everything is so loose and lush right now as the grasses are going to seed.  I don't recall summer being THIS long ever.  This is taken facing the lake, and I wanted to remember it because it's calling me to stitch it some day.  (There is a faint horizon, but I set the phone to very bright to capture the true colors of the foreground which I am interested in...)

I am sure that to you it looks boring and sad after those BRIGHT red leaves... but this was so soft and pretty when I was there.  It really caught my eye.  The kids couldn't stop touching it!

And now for the new gadget!  I found these chalk leds at Periwinkle's (our local quilt shop).  It only came in white, however I bought them and tried them out in a mechanical pencil, and as the photo shows:  WOW.

For some reason, white chalk pencils crack and crumble every time I try to sharpen them.  THESE are fabulous.  I was told they are new.  I hope they come in different colors to mark on white fabric.  I love that I am able to always have a clean line without needing to resharpen!  Sweet.

Oh!  Good news!  My littlest's kindergarten was changed from mornings to afternoons, so I get to go to the afternoon and evening guild programs all year round without needing a sitter!  Woohoo!  That means I get TWO guild meetings today.  : ) How happy am I?

Happy Monday
~Monika

Sunday Snapshots #4

It's officially Autumn now!  Happy Equinox everyone.  I was so thrilled to wake up on the first day of fall to a yellow sky.  It's not really a clouded, colorful sunrise.  The sun was already up and the sky was fairly clear and lit.  There was just enough humidity in the air to catch the most beautiful yellow in the eastern sky.  There's a standard deck of tarot cards I've seen before where many of the skies are yellow, and I've always been quite fascinated by that.  Why YELLOW?  I've never forgotten that unique and strange sky.  I feel pretty lucky to have witnessed it for real right at home.  :)

Just yellow.  That's all.  Simple and different.  I like it.

Happy Sunday!
~Monika

- - - Saturday Stitches - - - #3

Today, I did not feel like doing this.  I'm so busy with my show entries.  I thought I had better 'get this out of the way' a day early.  So I took out my camera, threads, and embroidery books and stitched anyhow.  I am glad I did!  I made what I think are some really cute variations and I learned a lot about precision.  (I learned that it takes much practice!)  So take a look!  Bloggers can grab the button if they like.

click to copy & paste pic, click HERE to copy & paste URL link

So here we go: the Chain Stitch.  Basic?  Boring?  Keep looking... there are some cool things you can do with it.

The Basic Chain Stitch is done much the same as the Backstitch that we did last weekend.  The difference being that you need to catch the loop to stitch it down.  With each stitch, you keep it right in or near where you brought the last one up.  You can also try this next stitch.  It's identical to the first, except you are putting the need in away from where you brought it up.  See?

It's s tough one keep perfectly straight, especial with this crochet cotton that is apparently shedding everywhere!  lol  I did draw faint marking lines for myself with a pencil to keep "on track".  It looks a lot like a ladder doesn't it?  I bet it would be pretty to lace a silk ribbon through.  Here's another thing you can do with the chain sitch.

I'm not sure I would use this again.  The loops slide around on the next stitch quite easily.  Maybe I should not have zigged and zagged quite so steep?  And here is everybody's favorite.  The daisies!  And look what else you can do!  Like my dragonfly?

Now for some variations.  You knwo I love threading!  IT adds so much texture.  Threading the basic chain is easy.  Use the blunt end of the needle.  Slip it under up, down, up & down.  Then do the same thing back again to thread the other way: down, up, down, up.  You could try using a second color too!

This is my favorite.  It wasn't in the books, so I don't know what it would be called.  I just thought the daisy's chains would look better filled in a bit more.  Check it out.  I love this!  I could do a whole loopy rainbow!

Ahhh, it got quite overcast while I was doing this.  I hope you can see clear enough.  Thanks for stopping by, and HAPPY STITCHING!  ; )

~Monika
who knows darn well that procrastination gets you nowhere.  : )

Things I Love Thursdays

Days and nights have shifted quickly as time turns to Autumn Equinox.  I love that the sun now rises 'late' enough for me to see sunrises again!  (In the summer, who the heck wants to get up at 3:30 am to see some pretty colors!?)

'late' sunrise, as in 6:30 am

I love that it's darker earlier so we can enjoy the stars, and a fire with the kids before bed.

8 pm.

I love lying on the deck with them after 7:30pm, and watching them draw maps of the constellations, and inventing some of their own. It's nice to enjoy night again.

Happy Thursday!
~Monika

WIP Wednesday #5 and PRIZES everywhere!

Hey!  Did you see I'm at 3CreativeStudios with a tutorial?  It's true!  There's also a contest that the hosts Vicki Welsh and Terri Stegmiller organize with their flickr group.  Basically, if you make anything using the techniques in my tutorial, you have until October 16th, 2011 to upload them (link at the bottom of this post).  All submissions will be eligible for draw prizes, including a great big how-to Fibre Art book, hand dyed fat quarter fabrics from Vicki, and some postcard art from me.  Sounds fun!  Unfortunately, I doubt I can join in.  haha.  I do want that fabric from Vicki though.  : )  So here's what I've done with leaves and a bit of thread sketching.

strawberry leaves from my garden

I took a bunch of leaves that had changed color, and some odds and ends of thread and yarn.  I placed them all under sheer fabric and started to free motion sew.  (Yes - I see my thread popped out from the hook there.)

my poor shamrock... being recycled into art.

All I did was outline the leaves and some main veins with different thread colors.  I ended up with three very colorful thread-sketched postcards.  It's so very fun to do.  These are for a swap I'm in , so I'm popping them into the mailbox today!

Ahh... I think the shamrocks look much better here.  Have fun with whatever you make!  ; )  You can read more about the prizes and get that flickr link for your work HERE.  Good Luck!!

Since I most likely cannot enter, I'm going to Rachel's at Stitched in Color with this last postcard.  She has a Celebrate Color event happening and I am so into FALL!  ; )

Linking this WIP Wednesday post to

The Needle & Thread Network!

~Monika

The Artist's Statement.

Big.  Heavy.  Sigh.

I've been asked by several things I'm involved with to submit an "Artist's Statement".  I've never done this before.  So far, I feel I haven't had it explained very well to me.  I've read some great ones!  But what exactly should go into it?  What questions should it be answering about me and my work? 

what do i do?  i need direction.

I found the following in my google results.  I shook my head in horror as I read it:

Q: Why do I have to write an artist statement? It's stupid. If I wanted to write to express myself I would have been a writer. 

I 'm thinking that might be the wrong attitude to start with!  lol  I did find THIS advice on another blog.  That gives me lots to think about.  And I came across this, which I thought would be helpful by the sound of the title.  But it was too much to read and now my brain is beginning to turn to mush. I'm feeling the deadline pressure.  Perhaps the first google result holds more merit now?  lol  Ahhh I'll keep trying.  Feedback?  Links?


Thanks!

~Monika

Postcards ROCK! yes they do do do...

They really do!  I think everyone had a great time yesterday.  Here's what we made!  Bernie made three!  ; )

In our jars: bugs, pumpkins, brownie mix and salsa...

Aren't they terrific!?  You can click on that pic to look close.  I LOVE them.  And yes - these are postcards!  They are all ready to be stamped and mailed, envelope-free.  Great job!  Thank you so much Bernie for hosting.  Here's what I was photographing when you passed me on the road : ).  LOVE>

I am stitching this up on BLACK fabric.  Oh it will POP with color and texture!  I can barely wait.
; )

~Monika
always smitten by the prairie...

Sunday Snapshots #3 (yr 2)

I just got back from teaching a postcard workshop at Bernie's farmhouse.  Thanks ladies!  You were all so creative!!  What a great day.  : )  They all passed me on the dirt road driving home.  I couldn't help it.  THANK GOODNESS I brought my camera.  The colors were INCREDIBLE!  So here's my Sunday Snapshots... better late than never!  (p.s.  please do not reproduce these pics as I use them for my art.  Thank you!)

Look at the reds in the grasses!  (Can you tell I am ecstatic!??)  You know I'm going to stitch every single blade.  Oh it's gorgeous!

This next one was taken just before coming onto the highway. 

And I love this next one.  It's cropped from a very large photo... I like the simplicity of it.

The rest will be put on my flickr page.  There's a lot.  : )

Happy Sunday!
~Monika

- - - Saturday Stitches - - - #2

Hi!  Welcome to Saturday Stitches where I post new needlework stitches that I'm teaching myself through books and such.  Last Saturday's post presented basic running stitches and variations of it including interlaced running stitch, double running stitch, and whipped running stitch.  Did you know there were that many!?  I didn't.  You can see that post here.  Today I'll show you some more!  You can grab this button for a quick link back every Saturday if you like.  It links to all posts with that label.

If you blog, you can copy and paste the photo and then copy and paste this url to link

Here's what I tried this week: Back Stitches, Stem Stitches, and French Knots with variations.

It looks a lot like the double running stitch, except you are using one thread color continuously.  It's kind of like stitching backwards.  Reminds me of the moonwalk from the 80's!  : )  The next photo shows the Stem Stitch which is worked in the same back-stitch fashion.

That Double Threaded Backstitch above was done by lacing a threaded needle back and forth with white (up down up down), and then doing it again with purple thread (down up down up).  This is threaded through the existing stitches, and not at all through the fabric, except at the very beginning and very end.  Makes sense?  I love these threaded textured lines.  Use your needle eye-first when lacing this so you don't get stuck piercing the fabric.

Okay now - French Knots.  I love them.  I use them all the time.  Sometimes I find instruction to wrap three times, and sometimes to wrap twice.  ?  Can anyone clarify this?

bring the needle up, wrap a few times

and then back down near where you started

Easy.  I thought I would try something different and bring the needle down away from where I started.  I can't find it in a book, but I doubt it's never been done.  You can make some pretty starbursts this way.  It reminds me of connect-the-dots or constellations!  ; )  I've used them as flower stamens.

I'm off to teach at Bernie's tomorrow, so I'll be skipping Sunday Snapshots.  Take a look at this!  I'm the Guest Artist at 3CreativeStudios' blog.

have a great weekend!!
~Monika

Gathering the Goodies

Slowly but surely, I'm digging up Canadian bloggers out from blogland and adding them to my list in the blogroll below (go see if you like!).  The new link party has been pretty fun.  If you want to be added, please email me!

I've been slowly gathering more materials for my show piece.  Here's some sneaky peekies!

fabrics for my wearable art.  that's right!

I've traced the pattern, cut the pattern, sewn the pattern sample, resized the pattern, recut some fabrics, hopefully this sample will fit me so I can start on the real thing.  It's a lot of work making something fit.  Sheesh.  So far so good.  That's all I have to report for now.

Come back tomorrow for my big Feature Artist surprise!  Tomorrow is also the second day of my Saturday Stitches.  So far so good!  So much to learn... For now, I'm kickin' back and reading the latest Quilters' Connections magazine.  It just arrived in my mailbox!

The new A Needle Pulling Thread magazine is out too I'm told.  I'll have to run out and buy it this weekend.

~Monika

Things I Love Thursdays

I love being a part of the Saskatoon Quilters' Guild.  They are such a FANTASTIC group of women!!  Boy, was it great to gather together again.  I also love where meet.  Our guild has the best view.  I took this photo from the meeting room while climbing over some of the women in the back row (sorry ladies!).

taken through the window while at the SQG meeting.

Yes - those are all our vehicles.  It's a HUGE group, and this is only half of us.  The other half meets in the afternoon.  Mark your calendars - I LOVE quilt shows!  This is a big one with nearly 500 entries, loads of vendors from across the country, a market place for people to purchase handmade items, food, prizes, workshops, and more!

This falls on a Friday & Saturday

I love it! 

And I just love this post... it made me blush!  You have to check it out!  : )

click to go there : Sew Karen-ly Created

~Monika

WIP Wednesday #5 @ TN&TN

I'm done my second quilt of 2011!  That sounds pretty pathetic, but I've been so busy with my embroidery art all year.  There's a story behind this quilt.  I was asked by Jesica to make a memory quilt with one of her late and loved Grandmother's stash which she had inherited. What a stash it was!  There were curtains, stretchy things that melted onto my iron, thin thin polyesters, vintage cotton prints, and even Jesica's flannel pj's from when she would stay at her grandmother's house.  Jesica had half-square triangles with white in mind after seeing a quilt somewhere (I'm thinking Red Pepper inspired?).  So I made all the triangles from nearly every piece of fabric.

Through many photo emails, we decided on a rainbow like cascade from one corner to the opposite.  I had already decided on a scrappy pieced binding to pull it all together.  After a bit, Jesica asked if she could have wilflowers stitched into the boarder to represent her other grandmother.  Both of these women had passed away one year ago.  Jesica told me of the times she spent as a girl, picking wild flowers with this grandmother. What a great idea!  I got to work researching native plants and began drawing after drawing until I created some good continuous line images of those flowers that I could then freemotion quilt.  I found this quite easy and was pretty excited that I could pull this off!  : )

I'm putting the label on now and she's coming tonight to pick it up!  I hope she likes it.  It was a lot of work.

i love this label!  it features those 70's green curtains as the border ; )

 

So now what?  I have Aaron's Memory quilt to make for Steffi, but I still have to dream that one up and decide how I will use all those pieces of clothing.  I'll need to figure out how to make panels because that will be waaaay too big and bulky for my machine.  It will have denim, leather, zippers, pockets... so I can't send it out to a long armer.  I can see myself starting this in the new year.

September to do list:
- teach a Postcards Class this Sunday ** 2 spots left **
- Get my quilt show entries made!!  p.s. they are not quilts.  : )

postcards at Bernie's

October to do list:
- Finish entries and shop shop shop enjoy the show!!
- visit Margot... I must do that.
- Catch up on Karen Ruane's Embroider, Embellish, Create class
- dye some threads!

go on a dye-it

November to do list:
- Stitch Stitch Stitch up some art!

photos to embroider

December to do list:
- Hang my second solo show at the Jade Gallery (yesssss)
- Get that darn carpal tunnel surgery (ew ew)

Bloom. Can't wait to make more!

Thanks to everyone who is linking up over at TN&TN!  It's so nice to meet you all and venture around your blogs.

Linking up to Lee's at Freshly Pieced (because I actually have a quilt to show).
Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network (because I am Canadian).

~Monika