I Finished It x3!

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this done in time for the sale at Solar Gardens!  I took the photos on Sunday, and then worked all week non-stop to get this accomplished.  Here's the image that I couldn't resist.

I wanted to make my 5x5" square sizes, and thought, 'how great to make several sections of this view!'  And I away I went...

Day 1 - I will count that as the day I headed out to the hills and took the photographs.  Later, back in my studio I loaded the images, sorted through them, picked my favourites, made some crops and brightened a few up.

Day 2 - I spent this day selecting the right fabrics, pressing them, snipping them, coordinating then, fusing them, messing up, taking it apart, snipping and re-snipping and then fusing them.  With fabric markers, I marked out where I wanted the faded layer (too lazy/exhasted to snip a different green). Then I cleaned up my huge mess from the last project and started to select my thread colours.  This took an entire day.

Day 3 & 4 - Freemotion stitching.  It worked out fairly well to have three on the go at once.  I like how each is different, but look great together.  As always, I end up pulling way more threads than I start with.  Once I really look and work through a scene, I always discover colours I didn't notice the first time over.

The end of Day 3 is where I'm left with the ugly phase. Sorry.  No photos.  lol  It is the phase I question myself.  Can I do this?  WHY did I start this?  What was I thinking?  Should I just stop now?

By the end of Day 4, I am seeing the light.  YES!  I can see the finish line.  This is turning out to be awesome!

Day 5 - Today is Day 5.  I did it!  I finished all three.  I spent the rest of the day photograping my work and writing this blog post.   I just need to hand stitch in my signature on each.

Day 6 - I will be signing, cleaning glass, matting, framing, putting on the backing & the hardware, pricing, and packing it up.

I feel so good about this accomplishment!  I can't wait to set up in the Glass House out at Solar Gardens.  I need to thank my husband for making the treck to Weyburn for pick up and Regina for drop off on my behalf, and to Caryl at Handmade House for switching shifts so I could use Friday to work on the show.  THANK YOU both -  I got an entire week to produce art, and it was well worth it.

See you Saturday?  : )

Friday Finishes x 2

You might think I'm running out of titles after all these years, but no.  When I look at this, all I think is the word, "Prairie".  Nothing more.  Nothing less.

Inspired by Chief Whitecap Park in October, I really loved all the long stitches.  Much of it is my hand with 12 weight threads.

Oh!  And I've been back at the French Knots as well!  This next one has a fun title.  I was going to pick something pretty and sweet, but then I decided on The Road Trip.  If you've even had a summer vacation in Saskatchewan, or just head to the lakes now and then, you'll understand.

 

I'll frame these up and then I think I'm ready for the Saturday Sale at the Creative House Classroom.  If you dare to venture out in this snow for all the wonderful sales, please add this stop to your list.  There will be 7 artisans set up at the shop.  The venue has free parking, free snacks, and free admission.  129 Ave I South in Saskatoon, 10-5 (I'm there until 4).  I'll bring some postcards supplies & stash packs too.

Be well.  Drive safe.  Stay Warm.

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!!  : )))

Fibres, Postcards, and Snow - OH MY!

I'm surprising myself with how much I'm able to get done lately!  Five hours a day, a few days a week is more than I've ever had to sew.  I even made some video for you to see, but decided to wait for my husband to splice it together.  It's machine and hand stitching - back and forth - so you can watch me make my art.  In the mean time, I have been working on this 'My Sweet Prairie' piece.  It's 6x6" square which I haven't done before.  The sky is not stitched, and the ground involves some felted wool (no really!).

My Sweet Prairie, 6x6 work in progress for the December show

I no longer own my felting machine.  I simply machine stitched the green felt bits down, and then covered the whole thing with hand embroidery.  What is with my camera!?  The flowers are purple in real life.  I took this photo at night with my Ott Light.  I can see the grape colored purple, but my camera cannot.

hand and machine stitching

There are seed stitches, French Knots, and straight stitches all done with silk threads / yarns.  I like this piece so much, that I'm inspired to make three more 6x6" pieces so that there will be one for each season.

Winter will be easy...

haha - Joy sent me this last year after taking the postcards class.  : )

The seasons were all so, so long last year - summer & fall went on forever.  Now we have snow very early - four days of it!  The weather is very mild, and I still enjoyed my morning coffee outside.  My kids enjoyed the back yard at 7 am!  lol

Have a good day.  I'm linking up to The Needle & Thread Network.  Cheers!