Work in Progress

I was finally able to get more done on this piece...  Eve's Glow.  October's Glow.  October Eve.  (sigh)  Still not decided on the title.  I am really enjoying every stitch though.  ; )

rusty French knots in the reeds to show off curls

I am still so very impressed with how those Wonderfil rayons really make the water look like water.

I'm also at the point of hand stitching this piece.  I haven't shown you yet.  It's a new take on Bloom.  It's 3x9 inches... vertical!  I love the feel that cropping things differently creates.  Here's some pretty close-ups of the work thus far.

Bloom 3, in progress

Here is the first Bloom from last year, 6x8".

Bloom, 2011 (sold)

Now that I have more colors, I really look forward to stitching in the blanket flowers onto Bloom 3. 

Check this out.  I was wandering aimlessly around a department store, looking for treasure to perk me up after a week of tending to sick me and sick children.  (Do you ever do that?)  I found it!  Bernat decorative bundles of yarn fibres.  It's a 'scarf making kit' at Zeller's... but I have other plans for these pretties.

mmmm... couching, couching, and more couching : )

No kidding!  Zeller's for ten bucks each.  Nice.  There's a heck of a lot there!  I'm impressed.

Linking to The Needle & Thread Network!  ; )

 

At Least There is Celery.

Now that I'm on the mend, the last two kids are down with a cold.  I have nothing to show but that fact that we've been juicing a lot.  Sleeping.  Fighting over the tissue box.  Drinking much tea.  At least there's celery!

Sunday Snapshots

Some of my favorites from one year ago...

snooping around the Bessborough for a good view

on guarde!  by Jack Frost

that little bud at the Mendel Conservatory

my fridge magnets

Happy Sunday!

Work in Progress - Nearly Done!

I'm having a lot of fun with this piece.  It has crazy colors, but it's all coming together so well.  This is why it is good to have nearly 300 thread colors in your stash.  ; )  Here is the hand-stitched finishing, part one.

This is based on a photo I took in October.  There were pinks and purples in the darkening sky.  Night was coming.  It was windy out.  I parked just past Grasswood and faced into the west for these shots.  There was a flooded ditch, or maybe a slough lined with green algae and curly-topped reeds.  Those trees are typical - when you can see all these bare top branches poking out above some leafy boughs.  I wonder... if I leave this, will people think I failed to finish the trees?

I have this 7x9 inch canvas clamped into the universal craft stand and my Ottlite is on.  WOW.  These are no doubt my favorite presents from under the tree last month.  I can see good color in the dark, and my work is being held for me.  lol  Brilliant.

I'm quite thrilled at the contrast of glowing burnt orange in the land with the teal and purple in the sky.  I'm really happy as well with the way the water has turned out!  It's rayon Wonderfil, and the reeds are cotton with some hand stitched.  The pond reflects the sky colors really well!

the lower corner of the piece...

I added a lot of texture to the trees' leaves by hand.  There's still lots more to do.

this is my favorite shot

The pink and blue sky is so reminiscent of the beginning of winter here.  So that's where I'm getting the name... "Winter is Coming".  Or should I call it, "October Evening"?  `October`s Eve`.  hmmm.  I haven`t decided.  Inspire me! Hopefully I will get all the stitching completed over the weekend.  There are a few more highlights to add until it's done...  Happy weekend!

Friday Finishes - The Canola Field!

Ever so slowly, and I mean really slowly, I have been working on this little piece.  I'm down with a cold, so it's stitch - sleep - stitch - sleep...  I've done a few canola fields so far, and this is my favorite.  I know.  I say that each time, but it's because I feel like I get better with each piece.  I certainly notice that each successive piece becomes easier to create and more enjoyable to make each time.  So here it is!

I have yet to finish the edge and mount it to frame, but the work is done and I just love it.  It's inspired by my first prairie photo ever...

2009

I snapped that picture from off the highway just south of Cochin.  I stood by the ditch, facing the Day's Beach market garden.  It was that first photo with the lush, lush ditch that inspired me to try to stitch out my first landscape.  You know... "nothing to look at" on the prairies.  Here's a whole bunch of nothing, I stitched in great detail ; )

By machine and by hand...

I think it even looks pretty cool sideways!  : ) Bear with me... still under the weather.  :(

I love sewing the prairies!  : )
 Linking to A Prairie Sunrise - For the love of color.

Things I Love Thursdays

Bear with me... I'm sick.  Husband is sick.  Little boy is sick...
hmmm
I love not being sick.  ;)  I love being able to breathe.  I love sleep.  You get the idea...

the only place I want to be right now.

I do love these sunshiny days.  It's warm again - above zero in January!  I love that my oldest can walk my littlest to school.  : )

that's right... she's wearing shorts again!

For the most part... I love that my girl has a mind of her own.  : )  I love that my oldest boy is so incredibly responsible.

Did I mention that I love not being sick?  (...trying to be positive here).

Then yesterday, a sweet surprise landed itself into my mailbox.  I love how this cheered me up!  : )

It's a fabric-collage garden postcard from Dorothy M. to say thanks for the workshop!  Awe!  Thank you Dorothy!! ; )  I love it.

Happy Thursday everyone!

WIP Wednesday

I've been on the look out for dress forms / dress displays.  We've had lots of snow and I've gone for several walks in it.  I feel so infused and ready to continue on with my second wearable - A Winter Dress.  Or perhaps just an arctic corset.  We'll see how it transforms.  Nonetheless, Karen Ruane (Contemporary Embroidery) will be so proud of me that I'm finally picking up the slack.  I took her white-on-white embroidery cloth class last year online and fully expected to be done by now.  But without snow through November and December, it just wasn't working for me.  The timing must be right because a second dress form was just delivered to my doorstep.  It's time!

how else to say thank you to a sewist for passing on some of her gear to me?

I made up this postcard with a print from Fabricland.  I 'traced' it with variegated thread and popped it in the mailbox last night on my way home from guild.  We had a garage sale there last night, and can you believe I came home with a bolt of the most perfect color for an autumn prairie dress!!??  Oooh I'm committed now aren't I?  2 more dress forms or dress stands are needed to buy or barter for, so drop me an email if you can help out.  mysweetprairie@gmail.com

Last week I began an "Experimental Fibre - Advanced" class at university.  I've been having trouble writing about it since that first day.  I was expecting to be able to work on a project of my own using some techniques I've been wanted to try.  Instead, we are asked to bring in an incomplete project and work on finishing someone else's.  WHoa.  Many of my classmates like paint and felt, and I don't (can't stand the feel of working with wool).  Still, I want to put my heart and soul into this class.  What on earth would I offer!??  I'm not sure sewing machines and quilting are embraced in this arena.  But maybe that's just my own apprehension.  Then I had the perfect idea (or so I hope).  I worked all afternoon on Sunday stitching together a nest by hand.  I used cotton thread and flax fibre to create something I can resonate with.  It's texture, it's fibre, it's nature, it's full of intention...  : )  I think it will be a wonderful palette for someone else to add to.

I am so proud of this.  I am making more.  I have plans!  ; )

My hopes are that someone else in the class will thoroughly enjoy embellishing this sculpture in their own way, with their own story. I will need to work on a project on my own time using the skills I take from that class.  There certainly is a terrific range of skills that those women hold!  I'll keep you posted.

And finally - I have a pile of prairie.  There are a good ten weeks until the Gardenscape show, and I'm feeling really terrific about what is done so far.  I have 4 pieces ready for hand stitching.  : )  This one below is about half way done. 

My Sweet Prairie Canola field in progress (sideways)

There you go!  That's where I'm at right now.  Oh my!  I heart fibre art!  : )  I'm linking to The Needle & Thread Network and Esther's Blog too : )

Happy Chinese New Year

What perfect timing!  I just checked the mailbox, and there was a card from the "Year of the Dragon" swap!

4x6 postcard from Cheryl Coville

Woohoo!  It even matches my outfit.  hehe  Thank you Cheryl!  I love it!  Here's a couple of cards that I made for the swap.  They are in the mail today!  It's a baby dragon about to hatch.  I tired to make them cute, but I worry it looks a bit spooky.  lol

I'm looking forward to the other cards I'll be getting soon.  : )  You can see Becky's here.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Pretties for You.

Last week I saw crocuses at the grocery store.  I just couldn't pass it up.  I gave them to my daughter and they began to bloom.  Nothing today but pretty photos.  Enjoy! ; )

I love that ruffly stamen and the sparkle in the purple petals.

Have a great day.  I'm busy stitchin' and will have more to show tomorrow...

Sunday Snapshots

All photos are unedited, and courtesy of Jackie Frost : ).  Enjoy!

South window - freezing, melting, freezing

ice firework bursts!  North window.

Birds on a hill.  : ) WOW.

That Jack... he's one cool dude.  : )

A Terrific Evening with Crappy Photos to Prove It!

Last night went really great!  We got all dressed up and found a sitter.  That doesn't happen very often.  After more than 12 years of parenting, I can count our night-outs with my fingers once each.  I'm feeling like I shouldn't bother posting because the photos or terrible, but I had a great night.  I want to share it with you anyway.

Monika & Michael (p.s. It's his birthday!)

It was fun to watch people get closer and closer to my work.  I love when they finally realize what they are looking at - all those little stitches.  The wine was great.  The food was great.  Some friends came by and I even got a little wrapped gift of chocolates that I devoured on the way home ; )  (Thank you!!!).  It was so nice to visit with Terry & Margot Lindsay.  (Each colored name links to examples of their work.)  They are both prairie artists - one paints and one stitches.  Nicki Ault came by with some of her friends.  She blogs and paints the prairie.  You can see her work here.  All of the craft council people were SO gracious to all the artists involved.  Thank you for putting on such a wonderful event!

Of the items in the show, I really loved the soapstone and the glasswork too.  The wood work was exquisite!  I don't have photos to show you.  I need to go back and take note of some of their names.  I couldn't get over that storm photo taken by Craig Hilts, a storm chaser.  That in itself is a craft I think! Yikes!  Sunsets & sewing is much safer for me : ).  You can see his photography here.

The bad news though, is that I was not there with 'bells' on.  I was, however, there with a GORGEOUS bracelet!  Thank you Grandma Coco for offering to let me test drive this gorgeous handmade beauty!

you can see a WAY better photo of it HERE.  It is SO pretty.

It's Saturday now.  There's a bit of a blizzard out there so I'm going to work on all the handstitching that is awaiting my with my new pieces.  Hopefully I'll have lots of new things to show next week.  : )

New Colors & Winner Announced

New colors!  Aren't you proud of me?  I have piles of photos from every season, but generally I have done blue sky and green grass.  Even when the grass is yellow, those skies were still blue.  There's a stormy late-November photo that has been nagging me.  It dawned on me that I have just the right sky, from my painting experiments last week!  Take a look.

I realize that is extremely dark.  The foreground has a ditch full of water, backed by reeds that have turned a gorgeous color!  Here's how I have put it together...

That's more blue & purple than pink, but I love the contrast of the purple with the deep orange undertones.  Here are the threads I've pulled out.

The mucky-green is the color of the surface of the water.  I may or may not use these exact threads, but I put them by my machine and start filling in space.

Basic threadpainting started.

I am LOVING this so far.  The colors in real life just sing and glow.  I think it really gets the feel of that day when I snapped the photo.  It's pretty magical.  Crossing my fingers...  Sometimes when I over thread-paint the horizon, things buckle on me a bit because the sky is minimally stitched.  This time, I stuck some of this on the back.  It's pretty cool!  It's tear-away Sulky Sticky+ stabilizer (though I won't bother tearing it away).  It comes on a roll that has a peel & stick backing.  great idea!  No fusible, no iron.  I like that.

And now .... (drumroll please) the winner from is Wendy O!  My random draw was done by my 8 yr old ; ).
Let me know your snail mail and I'll mail it out to you!  Congrats and thank you so much for you lovely comments.

Alrighty then.  Time to do some hand stitches.  Have a great day everyone, and thank you again for all the beautiful words.  : )