Finished x 2 !

Before I start into my next big project I thought it would be wise to take a couple of days and finish a few projects I've had sitting around waiting for attention.  First of all, I covered a blank hardback book....

Click on the picture to embiggen!  Here's a mini tutorial for how I did it (be prepared to be impressed...not!!).  Anyhoo....first I covered the book with some heavy brown paper (recycled from a grocery bag), glued down with a coat of Mod Podge I had lurking in my stash for what seems like forever.  Big surprise was that it wasn't all dried up.  I marked out the spine area and covered that with little torn strips of masking tape.  The 'stamps' were cut from a vintage stamp collectors album (thanks Liz!!).  Another slathering of Mod Podge and I collaged the stamps onto the rest of the cover (front & back of the book).  After drying time on the balcony in the sun, I scrounged through my stash and came up with an eons-old bottle of water based walnut wood stain....slathered that on, and back into the sun to dry.  A coat or two of waterbase varnish and voila.....a new everyday sketchbook for moi!!

AND...

Here's a little felted bag.

This afternoon I embroidered the musical

notes onto it and it's now DONE!!
Pattern is 'Two Measures of Joy"
by Elizabeth Mamo.

Final (at least for now) ledger pages...

I am very sad to say that the formal lessons have ended for the Embroiderer's Ledger online class.  Will I miss it?  No question!  Would I strongly recommend taking this class?  Oh yeah!!  Do I have ideas to carry on?  Definitely.

Below is the final two-page spread...

and here is a closeup of the final page...

Clicking on them will embiggen them so you can see the details.

Thank you Karen, so much, for 

sharing your considerable knowledge

and being such an inspiration

(and being downright fun to know!).

Go HERE to see Karen's blog

where you can find out more information 

about her classes and to see her

work.

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Some of the more eagle-eyed of you might have noticed that I have done a big update of my link list (look to your left).  Please visit any and all of them and say hi. 

Stitching! At last!!

Here you go...

Sorry that it isn't a great picture tho'!! 

The light just didn't want to cooperate.

If you click on it, hopefully it will be clearer.

Sites of beauty

Jack received this watercolor painting

from our friend on the weekend.

It was a complete surprise and isn't it great?

Be sure to click on it so you can see all the

wonderful details.

Would you believe this is one of her very

first paintings?

I think Ginette has a very huge talent and

we're SO proud of her and SO 

happy to own this.

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I have to say that my studio currently looks somewhat pristine (or the most pristine it has ever looked!), but at the detriment of my stitching!  So. in lieu of stitching pictures by me....here's some news and beyond incredible eye candy that you might like to have a drool over...

Piles and atc's

Well folks, there's no real pictures of stitching today and when I do show you these photos you will understand why!!

Most of that mess is simply because of having to find

space for my new printer!!  

Yikes!!

On another note...today was our monthly CQTeers meeting and  our 'theme' was to create something using a cup and saucer die cut that Sue gave us as our inspiration.  These are what I came up with...

They're done on fabric, trapuntoed, and then painted.  I had some really shiny 'goo' that went over top to hopefully reflect the glaze that is on a 'real' cup and saucer.

Sue made the lovely one below - from paper, which is her forte.....

New toy, and sites

Sorry, still no stitching to show you today.  I did do something but can't show you yet.  I also had a grand shovel-out (still not done!) of my studio to make room for my new toy...

I know, it just looks like a black and grey box,

but it's actually a laser printer.

I finally got totally fed up with having to pay so much to buy

ink cartridges for my old printer.

It scanned and photocopied and printed in colour

but the ink was beyond belief. 

So....

this basic black toner printer is

my answer.

I will still keep the old one for when I want

the extra features, but this one will

be my workhorse.  

I even installed it all by my own widdle self!!!  

My name is MA and....

.... I'm an embroidery book junkie!

Yes, I admit it.

I'm hopelessly addicted.

Here are my latest acquisitions,

purchased at the princely sum of

$3.00 each!!

 

sorry state of stitching

Yep, a day spent in doing anything BUT stitch  = a very grumpy person!

Sadly....

I'm sorry to say that once again there are no photos to share.  Rest assured, I'm stitching merrily away and in the next day (or maybe two) I should have something to show for my efforts.

TUSAL and mystery solved?

Today is the day for us to post our TUSAL results for the past month.  I've done a little stitching but not as much as I would have liked.  Here's my pile of ORTS for the month...

and my ORT jar...

AND,

here's what I've done with that piece of 

mystery fabric I showed you yesterday...

TUSAL = Totally Useless Stitch A Long

ORTS = Old Recycled Threads

Yikes!

Now, what in the world

do you suppose I'm

going to do with

THAT???!!

Ledger page extension

 The photo above shows the extension closed, and the photo below shows it open...

Fishing, so the mice played!

Jack and our friend John went fishing for the day so that meant.....

I WAS HOME ALONE!!!!

It's a very rare occurance that I get to have the 

house to myself, so I made

the most of it

and completed two more

pages in my ledger.

See?

Oh, yes...

the guys caught fish too...

....Here's John


















and here's Jack......

Just a ledgering along....

Here's the latest spread in my sketchbook...

I can't thank Karen enough for this class!

I have learned so much

and I'm very happy with

what I'm creating.**

 Not only am I happy, but I'm having 

a lot of fun at the same time!

** well, I'm happy with everything, but my career in water color painting

will be VERY short-lived as you can see from

the appalling mess on the bottom left!

Another ledger page

Here's what I've been stitching on the past couple of days...

a closeup - to show what's inside all

those little envelopes...

You can click on the pictures to embiggen them to

see further details.

- - - - - -

Today I've been hobbling about - muttering about how dumb I can be.  This morning I managed to wrap my toe around a box full of books and .... guess what?.....boxes of books don't move, and toes?  Well, mine is black and my whole foot is swollen.  

Hmmm.....wonder how many times I'm going to whack it again before it heals?

Books

I've been happily stitching, but can't show you - yet!

I was happy to see the UPS man come today because he brought me this...

I haven't opened it yet because I'm saving it until I can sit down and have a delightful read.  This book is by Sue Bleiweiss who I've followed online for some time.  

This book has been talked about all over the 'net so I decided that I simply couldn't live without it any longer!  Specs:  'The Sketchbook Challenge" (Techniques, Prompts, and Inspiration for Achieving Your Creative Goals) by Sue Bleiweiss.  Published by Potter Craft, c 2012,  ISBN 978-0-307-79655-4

- - - -  - - - -

I'm not here.

No time to blog.

Stitching....

Another page and Roses

First of all, I would like to point you towards a sweet tutorial on Di van Niekerk's site for silk ribbon embroidery roses.  Go HERE.  I love the little birds nest too!!

I just finished working on another of the pages for the Embroiderer's Ledger class....

(you can click on the picture to embiggen it if you'd like!)

Mystery solved

Remember that odd-looking stitching I showed you yesterday?  Well, this is what it turned into...

Another page for my ledger class!

Clicking on it should embiggen it so you can see it better.

Sorry about the poor quality photo - it's too late in the day and I had to use artificial lights.