Apricot Sky. (& book winner announced!)

Whew!  What an exciting few days with that book in my hands.  Thank you again to Sophie Long & her crew for including my work.  This has really pushed me into places I never thought I'd be.  I dropped off all but one of the books I planned to donate/gift.  That's been pretty exciting.

I've been working on another cattails piece for one of the spring shows.  I'm still not sure which show.  I guess it depends on whether it's framed in time for Gardenscape or not.  This one has a beautiful apricot sky.  It's always fun to find the right thread match.

Isn't that funny?  It's perfect, but I wonder how old it is.  The spool is styrofoam.  Check out the label!

Lily, 19 cents.

That's so cute.  It's not as funny as when I see the name, 'Zwicky Ursus' though.  That thread name cracks me up every time (I'm chuckling to myself right now!).

So here it is - a 6x6 inch Cattails # 4.  It's getting professionally framed this week.  The ribbons are from RibbonSmyth (see link on sidebar.)  Some were dyed by her, some were dyed by me.  I love them.  I just want to work with ribbon so much more now.

Cattails at Sundown, 2013

OH!  So I guess you are wondering who won the Mastering the Art of Embroidery book giveaway?  

Well... I'm not as tech-savvy as people think.  I picked a number in my head (84) and then counted through the list of 142 comments to see who that would be because I do not know to do any other random # generator.  The winner is Molly!  I know Molly.  She's a good friend of mine who lives in my city.  I started feeling self conscious about this, figuring people might think this contest was rigged.  In my moment of doubt, I turned to my six year old daughter and asked for her suggestion of a number between 1 and 142.  "Eighty four!" she said.  WOW.  So there you go.  : )  MOLLY IT IS!  Congratulations Molly!  I'll drop it off to you soon.

Have a good day everyone, and THANK YOU for all the comments!  I read each one at least twice.  Your words were just as fulfilling as being in the book in the firstplace.  I am so very grateful.  : )

Linking to The Needle & Thread Network's WIP Wednesday link party although this WIP is finished : )

Friday Finishes - BIG TIME!

I feel so accomplished and productive this week!  I can even explain how thrilled I am about that, especially considering that my kids have been home all week for the break.  My glasses are terrific, and thanks to some afternoon napping, I was able to pull some late nighters and sew until 2 am.  It's not as exhausting as it sounds.  I feel like I can get 2 days worth of work into one.  Fasten your seatbelts - here are some finishes from this week...

a little mini for the annual Gardenscape show in March in Saskatoon

That one is very small and I'll frame it myself.  The Spring Crocuses piece is all done.  I added so much hand stitching in beautiful platinum blonde threads.  I predict this spring will be much greener from the amount of snow that's out there waiting to melt.  Last year was so unbelievable dry.  Here is a detail...

so dry, such soft colors, such a pretty spring it was...

Here is the full piece completed.  This one is larger and will be professionally framed.

Spring Crocuses II, 2013

Here is an interesting show.  I printed out a photo I took near Grasswood Road to have beside me instead of using the computer screen.  I did up this little piece by sight (no printing or tracing or templates)... and when I was done, I laid it on the photo to take a picture.  I laughed!  I could totally light it up perfectly!  Pretty funny...

click to view larger

I love the sky in that one.  I embellished the rays coming down.  The reeds are all hand stitched.  It worked out really well. 

But wait!  There's more.  The reeds in the last photo reminded me of hand stitching cattails onto a little mini I made last year.  I had this crappy blurry dark source photo... source photos need not ever be perfect.  There was something about the composition and the glow in it that made me fall in love.  I found it in my files, and stitched it out one more time with the prettiest yellow sky.

Add some hand dyed silk ribbon, some variegated thread, and some chunky yarn.  Tada!

Cattails at Sunrise III, 2013

Want to see the source photo?   I'm afraid to show you.  lol  It's baaaaaaad.  But again, the quality is not the point.  It's what I can see in it that makes it so worthwhile.

my dark photo, brightened up a touch...

And there you have it.  Now I'll spend some time stitching my initials into them and prepping them for mounting.  On Monday I'll take them all to Donna @ CMP to get framed.

Whoopee!!  : )))

Friday Finishes - minis

I put together some mini threadpaintings of a couple of my favorite pieces.  One is of Cranberry Flats in September.  I plan to fill empty spots on the gallery wall with these...

Cranberry Flats mini  3.5 x 3.5" framed without glass

And one is from 2011.  The first larger piece was called 'Cattails at Sunset'.

Cattails at Sunset 2, 2012  3.5x3.5"

VERY BIG SIGH.  Would you believe my new camera jumped right out of my arms and did a face plant on concrete driveway!?  :(((  I'm not posting a lot here until I get it replaced.  I'm having trouble getting it to focus properly on macro mode.  These photos will have to do for now.  Those boxing day sales cannot come fast enough. 

The good news is that all my snowglobes sold out locally and I just delivered a half dozen more.

A Very Merry My Sweet Prairie 2012 @ SaskMade Marketplace, Saskatoon

'Home from the Lake' is now sold from the gallery (whoopee!), and I have a new commission for another winter piece.  That is all very happy news.

Home from the Lake, 2012 7x9" framed & matted (sold)

I'm not sure if I mentioned it on the blog, but I called the gallery and had them reduced all my prices by $100 per piece.  Merry Christmas!  If you want to see what's available, you can click on the FIBRE ART tab at the top of this page.  You can scroll to the bottom to see the newest threadpaintings.  I'm not sure if all of them are there.  If you have questions, just ask.  : )

hmmm... I wonder if they make cameras that bounce?

Linking to Friday Felicities.

Have a good weekend everyone.