Well, while digging for embellishments for the FELT heart pins, I found some great scraps of vintage cottons and upholstery fabric, so they worked fine for these little heart-shaped sachet pillows.............
I especially love the ones made from the old rose fabric with tan/beige backgrounds.......some hearts are weirdly-shaped and some have little pockets that will have little "somethings" tucked into them.........(yet to be decided)! This could take awhile...........I seem to get sidetracked from one project to another when I'm digging into stashes that I haven't been in for a year or more........anybody else do that? Now I'm back today working with the felt; gotta go practice my blanket stitch for edging and I cannot for the life of me get started without looking it up in one of my embroidery books! Duh. I've only been doing hand-embroidery since I was 16 years old. This is why we seniors need a BIG supply of reference books, right?!! Heh, heh....
Today I started dragging out all kinds of fun stuff to make Valentine heart-shaped pins. And mini-pillows. And sachets. Ideas just keep coming! And time is short, as usual........it was just Christmas, for heaven's sake! Now the stores have Valentines already out to sell, and the Easter bunnies won't be far behind! So I thought I'd better get MY behind in gear.........
Felt, ribbons, laces, beads, wool and soy silk rovings, hand-dyed velvet and buttons........surely I have all the "makings" for LOTS of heart thingies to sell and give for Valentine's Day! It's amazing what you can put together with ONLY bits and pieces of scrappy things, if you don't throw away those clippings of metallic threads or fabric or yarns............stay tuned............
I found these wonderful sheets of wool felt at "joggles.com" and cut out shapes from all my stash of pink/red/purple mixes. Then stuck a thick felt heart under the Babylock Embellisher machine to punch some dangling yarns onto it, and immediately broke one of the seven needles! Arggggh.....!
On top of all else this "new year" so far, I knocked my pretty little mirror off the dresser and when I caught it, I grabbed it so hard that these cracks radiated from the sweet little woman looking into it! Whew! It never hit the floor, thank goodness...........I would have been wiping up glass shards with wet paper towels to keep the cat from walking on them.
Finally! Above is the pretty beaded art dolly I've been working on (her legs)
The doll was all covered with beading except for her legs when I got her; so now the fronts are done and I'll finish up the leg backs SOON! When there are so many freeform stitches used, you have high and low areas. I kept getting the thread hooked around a bead or sequin on the "other" leg while working on one; I finally wrapped up the finished leg with a scrap of fabric to cover it smoothly and then could get to bead without that hassle! Whew! I've learned a lot during the last six months of beading on this group of art dolls, and made wonderful new online friends also. Now I have to move on to the project of beaded 2" squares, both for the Pink Artist doll and for a monthly on the Cloth, Paper Studio Yahoo group. And it's time to begin whatever I'm going to make and donate to our local Relay for Life that will be held in a few months' time! Happy beading, everyone!
Here's the latest book I read last week; I rated it "Good". Tabitha King is Stephen's wife (he of the horror stories), but she's a great writer herself.
This beautiful cat figure was given to us by a local dear friend for Christmas! Isn't she just grand? She reminds me of our old Siamese cat that lived for 20 years........and we still miss her! This kitty keeps me company at the computer every day and loves the photos that come in showing other felines, of course!
I really wasn't drinking when I took this shot(!), but I wanted to show the beautiful finish on her.........it's copper/greenish and looks like the real thing of a bronze sculpture until you pick it up and realize it's not heavy.
Aren't these embroideries just wonderful??!!! My dear friend Sue Kurowski in Ohio sent them to me in a swap, and I cannot wait to add embellishments to them.........maybe some beads, ribbons, laces, feathers?
I've found so many beautiful shapes and colors of things right here in my yard this winter; it makes me stop to think how much Mother Nature gives us for pleasure and creativity. The top photo is the stump of an old cedar tree we had to cut down because of ice storm damage done years ago, and it was dying............(and a friend needed some cedar fence posts!) And yes, it still smells wonderful like cedar chests or cedar closets! But look at the shape of the tree's outline................sort of like a flower. Or a leaf. Or a butterfly with a huge head!
This is one of the late Laurel Burch's fabric panels with horses in her wonderful, bright colors. I hope to put lightweight batting and a fabric back for a wall hanging for my nephew, who loves horses. Of course this one will have to have lots of beads and yarns for embellishments! And I love doing hand quilting......my quilt stitches are not the tiniest or the neatest, but I love doing it!
I am a breast cancer survivor. Recently my online friend Monica Magness invited me to participate in making parts of her project doll, which when finished, will be auctioned off on ebay I believe. All proceeds will go to the Komen breast cancer research. For more info, please visit her blog listed in my side list as Girl Gone Thread Wild!
Well, this is the last fully-beaded art doll in the online round robin I'm working with. She's really large at 9 1/2 inches tall; but the beaders have done a wonderful job thus far, as you can see in these photos! Above is the front of the doll.....and check out the creative fabric "yo-yo's" on her! A new idea for other beading projects!
Her full hair and whole dress both front and back have been beautifully beaded in lots of peyote stitch and other "freeform" stitching. Now it's up to me to cover both those naked legs from her skirt down to her little feet!
This is a gorgeous "bronze" finish faerie given to me for Christmas by two of my dearest girlfriends! She has tin wings and is tall; I can't decide where to put her yet. Or a name for her, either. Hmmmm.................
Isn't that the sweetest face?!! Not all faeries have "nice"/sweet facial features; I am picky about my collection of "statuary" of different mediums around here......I don't do "cutesy" any more. I like them to look old-fashioned and dainty..........
...........and here she is from the back; her skirt is a flower and she is plucking at the "petals" with her dainty little hands. And she's wearing very sensible shoes.......little flat ballerina-style flats that are just right for tip-toeing thru the woodland world!
One day this past week someone on one of the Yahoo groups mentioned she had found Blue Moon beads in the "craft" section of her local Dollar Tree store. Another lady said she was so disappointed because HER local store did NOT have them. Of course I had to whiz on over to MY nearest Dollar Tree store about 15 miles away and check it out.......I almost missed finding them! So I asked the sales lady and she sent me back to the area where the (sometimes) skeins of yarns and paper craft supplies are. As you see in the photo above, I got a great selection; now I can use some of them in one of my January challenges, which is a small beaded pin/brooch. I'm doing it all in white/silver/blues, hoping it will look cold and wintry. So hurry on over to your local dollar stores and find some........it seems all states didn't have them; and there were only a few colors available, but still a lot cheaper than in the bead stores or ordering online! Good luck.....
.......my dear Krystin.....today's image above is for you and Jackson. Today he is walking along a peaceful path such as this one. We are weeping with you and for him and his family. May God be with all of you this week.
This is a pin/brooch I made last night for my cousin's black beret; and it matches the lime green scarf I knitted her for Christmas. These brooches can be made by hand or using your embellisher/needle-felting machine. I have the Babylock Embellisher......a "sewing" machine with no thread! It has a close grouping of 7 barbed needles, and as you "sew", the needles felt/punch yarns, sheer fabric scraps, etc. through the base of felt or Pellon, etc. Here I added some glass beads, lime feathers (Dollar Store boa)!, scraps of chiffon and silk rovings, silk ribbons; and the outer edge is a wide ribbon of green and yellow (another dollar store find!). Also I love using sequins and gold "glitter glue". I belong to several online Yahoo groups of needle-felters and we all have fun seeing what everybody can whip up from scraps of "this and that" off the sewing room floor!
Here is our farm pond a few days ago covered with ice; today our outdoor temps were 72 degrees, and broke another N.C. record! But we might get another little rain "event" the weatherman says, for the next couple of days............our area is still 9 inches below normal for the underground water table and the drought is still upon the land. And so, we continue to pray. Feel free to join us if you like; we need all the help we can get!
......check out this wonderful old beaded necklace I'm thinking of selling at the local thrift shop.........it's so unusual and since I've been beading for one year now, I can REALLY appreciate the time and work that went into making it! The beads are black glass seed beads and the whole piece is 28 inches around.
These thin metal "leaves" are attached to leaf shaped wooden pieces underneath........and there are little holes bored thru the wooden underside for the beading needle/thread to pass through when it was strung! I forgot how many separate strands there are, but it's more than 20.......hmmmm.
...check out my new paperweight here on my computer desk! It's a favorite gift from my dear friend Sue K. who used to live here and now lives in Ohio. We exchange "goodie" boxes/pkgs./envelopes once a month, and it's the highlight of my month! This gorgeous pale pink gem was in my last pkg. and she knows I love glitz and glitter and "bling"! Thank you, Sue!
Above I've laid out some of the beads and sequins and a rhinestone oval from a broken piece of vintage costume jewelry that I'm beginning to work on for my January project. It's a one-year challenge in my Yahoo Cloth, Paper Studio group that members have signed up for.......to bead a two-inch piece of fabric and cover it 100%.......one for each month of the coming new year! Of course January reminds me of cold and ice which we usually have here, so I'm working with rhinestones, white and clear and silver beads, and ice-blue sequins............stay tuned! Hopefully, I will end up with 12 finished square brooches/pins to gift or sell by December and the next Christmas season!
Well, all the folks have gone, and this house is SO quiet! This great-niece above helped me cut/sew most of her wrap skirts before they had to leave late yesterday. I sometimes wish for a larger house at times like these, so we wouldn't have to lay out fabric and cut on the floor! But I would only fill it with more stashes of "stuff"! Now to try and get well, and get back to life being "normal", whatever that is.........
