More Paint.

I'm linking this post up to The Needle and Thread Network.  What a blast it's been there lately now that we have our Feature Fridays started!  It's really great to meet all these Canucks a little more in person.  Today, I'm showing you my work in progress as of Monday.  I'm hoping that there will be LOTS more to show on these new projects by the weekend.  I was looking again at my first ever landscape and thinking I should try that one once more, but twice the size.  There's less stitching in it, but lots of pretty fibres.

I'm amazed to look at that now.  I made that 2 years ago and I'm surprised how well it turned out for my very first landscape.  I love the dark thunderhead and the glowing field.  It's such a common scene here, but it never fails to take our breath away.  So I took out my paints.  They only grey I have is oilbars though.  I applied the grey directly, but the white was put on a glass plate and then taken up with a brush.

It goes on lump-free that way.  Now I have to wait until tomorrow before I can stitch on it.  It would have been quicker to drive to the store and buy acrylics.  haha  It turned out good and it's hanging on my design/inspiration wall now.

Those grey blotches underneath are from my little finger's knuckle... from every time I anchored my hand to hold still.  I can remove them, but they'll likely be stitched over.

So while I wait, I keep eyeballing this photo from last November out at Wanuskewin.  I think it's just so darn pretty.

It's dimly lit, but the composition is pretty sweet.  I drew it out a while back.

I really liked the angle of the clouds.  So now I'm laying out the background.  I just finished putting it all together and I can't wait to stitch it!  I hope I don't mess up the tipi.  I'm a little nervous about that.

I used a piece of winter sky I had painted last month with the Jaquard dyes.  This one in particular had a bit of that upward angle to the clouds, so I think it looks just terrific in this one!  ; )  Off to stitch!

Tips on Tuesdays! -> Spools

It's been a long time!  Today I feel like doing a Tips on Tuesdays post.

 

Remember those?  I post a topic and you add as many related tips in the comments section as you like.  It's like take a penny, leave a penny.  : )  You can see all the Tips on Tuesdays posts by going to the My Tutorials link at the top of this blog.  The topic I'm picking for today is Thread Spools.  Why?  I bought these big 1000 meter spools of Wonderfil, and the spool cap doesn't have room.  These spools are just a little too long for my Janome and for my Kenmore.  See?

You go like that... and this happens...  PLOP.

I was trying to chop off the spool's tube end, but that was a big disaster.  Then (eureeka!) I turned the spool cap around.  The pokey park slips right inside the spool tube.  See?

 : )  It works like a charm.  Easy.

Tada!  I feel like Dora the Explorer when she runs into a complication and calmly orders the panicking monkey to "Let's stop and think".  : )  haha

Any tips you'd like to share on the topic of threads / thread spools?  What do you do when something doesn't fit?

~Monika

I Painted.

I signed up for a swap themed, 'I Believe in Fairies'.  They have to be mailed out this week.  For the Self-Portrait swap last month, I did hands because I didn't want to do faces.  For the 'Year of the Dragon' theme, I did dragon eggs instead.  So for this one, instead of making actual fairies, I thought it would be cool to make a fairy ring!  It's a ring of mushrooms, and if you see one, jumping in cause you to be whisked away to fairy land.  So here are my cards.  Instead of using oilbars or shiva sticks, I just took out the craft acrylics that I used on my daughter's walls.

I painted red caps in a circle, and put in some highlights and stems with white.

It dried nice & quick, and I took them over the my Horizon to free motion stitch them.  I had this variegated thread I bought a long time ago on clearance.  It runs red - orange - grey.  I do not know WHY I bought such an odd spool.  This is the first time I fell in love with it.  It was perfect for this project!

Jump!

Seriously - if you ask me, the best thing about sewing on this machine is that I can stop & start anywhere without having to pull the threads out and old the tails and then stitch and pull it all out to clip with scissors.  On a quilt I might have to pull up the bobbin thread, but with my art I just sew the spiral, and push the 'clip thread' button.   Done!  Plus with the stiff postcard stabilizer, I don't need to engage the needle plate.  I added some decorative stitches and even clipped some edges with scissors.  Check it out.

Borders add the finishing touches.  "I Believe in Fairies" swap at PostCard Cottage

I only needed to make three, but there is a very special little girl in my life who studies mushrooms as a hobby.  Her birthday is next week.  I was her dayhome mom for a couple of years and she holds a very special place in my heart.  I think she will LOVE this as a birthday card from me over an email anyday!  : )

~Monika

Sunday... in my studio.

To be honest, I've been parked in my studio for days from morning to night.  Friday in my studio.  Saturday in my studio.  Sunday... in my studio.  I've been working on piles and piles of postcards.  Piles and piles...  I plan to have them at Waterfront in June!

Two years ago, I made my first postcards ever.  They were a set of four - one of each season on the prairies.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the time, but I naively entered them into the big Dimensions show put on by the provincial craft council.  Shortly after that, I got my first rejection letter.  : )  They were very kind.  I still have it somewhere.  The first line read, "Dear Ms. Kinner-Whalen, Thank you for being so brave."  LOL  It was terrific.  I sold them in dollar-store shadow boxes for $30 each at the Centre Galleries just weeks later.  Ever since then, I've wanted to keep making more.  They are simple, quilted, with no fancy embroidery.  I named the set, "Wish You Were Here". 

Wish You Were Here #1

Now I have several dozen more.  They will all be labelled "Wish You Were Here," with an accompanying number.  Each one is different, and each one is special with some pretty aspect about it.  They are a standard 4x6 and will all have be satin stitched along the edges.  Waterfront Craft Fair is specifically for Saskatchewan Craft Council members and I was told it is free for first time artists.  Sounds like a good opportunity to learn how to do a market.

I love postcards!  They are addictive to make, very creatively stimulating, and always warmly welcomed in this day and age of e-mail, FB status updates, and tweets.  : )

Spring Bunnies, 2010  (swapped @ PostCard Cottage)

Happy Sunday!

Finished It! Friday

I have to finish the edges and then mount & frame it still, but the thread painting is done!  Here is a commission I finished for K.  She saw my Wolf Willow & Prairie Lilies at the Centre Galleries last fall and really wanted this scene.  It was already sold.  I told the first buyer that this might happen and she was okay with it.  No two are ever identical as they are all hand done - so in that sense, everyone gets an original.  I certainly don't mind!  I loved this one and barely spent much time with it.  It was sold before it was even finished last year!  Here are some pretty details of Wolf Willow & Prairie Lilies 2, for K.

Prairie Lilies, grasses & weeds at the bottom of the fence post.

Trees out on the horizon.

A beautiful day with pretty clouds.

Grasses and wolf willow behind the barbed wire.

That's all I'm going to show you!  I want K. to be the first to see the whole thing.  She won't be getting this for a while since I'm having it juried with the provincial craft council some time next month.  I need a dozen pieces on hand, so everything I'm making now needs to stay put for a bit.

Thank you K.!  I really enjoyed stitching this one for you.

Things I Love Thursdays

What can I say?  I love thread.

Invisifil, DecoBob, Mirage, Metallics, omg I forget the other names! There were so many.

Razzle, Dazzle, Sizzle (Arwen picks her favorite color)

Tutti and Konfetti - love. 

And that was my visit to Creative House on Tuesday!  It was like a candy store.  mmmm.  : )  I STILL can't find the right green (in any brand).  Do you think Wonderfil would make me a couple of custom colors in the Tutti line?  I'll be needing a canola yellow too in Konfetti. : )

Gorgeous Garments

Only a couple of weeks ago, as the new issue of Quilter's Connections magazine was about to go to print, Heather (the editor) emailed me.  It was a last minute thing.  She had a feature article done called "Gorgeous Garments" and after-the-fact, she came across photos of my prairie dress on the internet.  Heather wrote, "if you can send me a good jpeg, I'll add you!".  Yes ma'am!  ; )  How exciting!  With lightening speed I did just that.  With equal lightening speed,  it has already landed in my mailbox!

HOW DID THEY DO THAT?

Here it is!  It's in a spread of many beautiful garments.

(Side note:  See!!?  This is why you should all blog!)  Thank you so much QC magazine!  Look what else I found in the 'Scrap Bag' mail at the beginning of the magazine...

Sweet!  You can head over to The Needle & Thread Network to see what people are up to by clicking HERE.  If that isn't incentive to get blogging your stitches, I don't know what is.  ; )

Three Spirea - Series

I hope you all had a terrific family day!  We did - we played games, brewed beer outside, and sledded down the steepest hill I've ever been on.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  : )

I'm so inspired by the winter Spirea photos along with those Sorbello stitches.  I am making a couple more to create a set of three that will go in one large frame.  It's a gorgeous frame, and these colors look incredible in it!

in progress... Spirea Over the Snowbank #2

I'll load this up with those pretty knots like I did here...

Spirea Over the Snowbank, #1

This is a very relaxing stitch.  I have to really watch while I do this one - not like the French Knots that I can do nearly with my eyes shut.  There's a lot of weaving involved in this one.  If you miss it, you can go back to my Saturday post to see how it's done. 

Next month, the Bridge City NeedleArts Guild is having an exhibit at the Centre Galleries.  This is the local Embroiderer's guild under the EAC that I'm now a member of.  All my thread paintings will be in show and sale elsewhere at that time, so I think this particular hand stitched piece will be perfect for the embroidery display!  (3 shows in one month?  Sure why not?  lol)

Now I'm off to Creative House Sewing & Education Centre.  That's where I'll be teaching this fall.  A little birdie told me they are now stocking loads of Wonderfil thread there.  I must go see for myself!  Have a great day!

~Monika K.

Sunday Snapshots

Earlier this week, I awoke before the sun was up.  We were draped in thick fog overnight.  Once things began to light up, I sat and watched the bare trees grow Hoar Frost.  It was amazing - just like a magnet picking up metal filings.   Awesome, and super pretty once the sky lit up in brilliant blue!

branches at my son's window

See how the frost grows in one direction?  (Toward the sun.)

Then she sky turned blue as ever, and the frost slowly melted away later in the day.  Sure was pretty!!

Happy Sunday!

~Monika

- - - Saturday Stitches - - -

Hi!  Welcome to Saturday Stitches : )  Here's another installment of me learning embroidery.

You can find all 'Saturday Stitches' posts in the blog header under "My Tutorials"

I'm glad you all liked that stitch from the last post!  I didn't want to do a show & tell until I know what it was called.  Found it!  It's a knot called the "Sorbello Stitch".  It's not in any of my books, but I did find it online to ensure I have the spelling right.  I did this on a weird surface that I wanted to look like snow.  It's a dryer sheet.  I said to my husband, "LOOK honey!  Doesn't this look like a snowbank!?"  His slow reply was, "it looks like a dryer sheet".  LOL  Oh well.  Ya can't please everyone!  If you are trying this out, it's easiest to use a short needle because of all the maneuvering there is.  This stitch takes four times as long to do as a French Knot.  But it's easy, and was perfect for what I wanted.  So here goes.  First, image four points like the corners of a square...

Monika Goes Macro

Margot taught me this terrific stitch last week.  She learned it from Jan Beaney.  I've tried finding it in books, but can't see it anywhere.  It's a type of knot that is four times as much work as a french knot.  No kidding.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be prefect for those photos I took of the neighbor's yard - remember the Spirea?  (you can click to go back to the original photos I took.)

stitched - 'Spirea over the Snowbank'

The knots kind of look like cloves, don't they?  The actually seed pods were five pointed, but this is great I think!  It sure beats filling the piece with french knot do-nuts.  That just wouldn't look right. I put the whole piece on white batting & a dryer sheet to look like snow.  I LOVE that. : )  I'll make a few more.  I have a three-window frame that it might look great in.

Go check out the cool photos if you haven't already!  I could stitch them for ever! ; )

Things I Love Thursdays

I'm down with cold, as are my children.  I love that I can nearly miss "Things I Love Thursdays" and you'll still read my blog : ).

a Pincusion flower from my garden last year.

Those pretty white flowers remind me of all the tissues I've been going through in the past couple days.  I won't show you those... : )

I love the stitches that Margot showed me.  I have been stitching them out ever since.

mine

I love when my boys whine, 'please can I do some embroidery Mama?'

Liam's - totally epic.

What do you love?