A revisitation

Some of you may remember this piece from awhile ago, which remained unfinished but never out of mind.  It's from an online course by Carole Brungar called 'The Road To My House'.  Other things came up and I never got around to actually finishing it - along with the fact that there is limited wall space in our apartment.  What to do?

Well, sez I, why couldn't I more or less combine the ledger class AND the 'Road' class into one?  So I have cut (gulp) the wall hanging into three pieces which will fit absolutely perfectly into my ledger (meant to be, some would say).  I worked on the first section today.....

This is by no means completed!

Go HERE to visit Carole.

Feathers?

Did you know that it was possible

to paint pictures on 

real honest-to-goodness

feathers?

Here's proof...

Sorry about the reflection of the overhead light in the glass.  We purchased this wonderful piece of local art at an outdoor show over the weekend.  We had seen her work before and regretted not having snapped up one of her pieces.  Luckily we found her again and we both fell for this one.  I think if you click on the picture you should be able to embiggen it so you can see the details better. 

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

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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.

Some stitching

Today I actually found some time to sit with my needle and thread and DO something!  Altho', what I did does leave some element of doubt as to what it might end up actually being when it grows up.  Hmmmm.....

Tis a wonderment isn't it?

More sights - some questionable, some incredible!

Today I finally got back to working in my embroiderer's ledger.  Yay!  I was beginning to feel extreme withdrawal symptoms.

Here you go...

AND,
finally...
this is what I live with!

Ledger work and birds of the blue variety

Yesterday we were lucky enough to be able to attend a Blue Jays baseball game - had a great time, but unfortunately our team lost.....boo!!  We had excellent seats just above the Blue Jays dugout and a great view of the game.  It was fun to see it up close.

Today I finally found a few spare minutes to finish working on a little insertion for my Embroiderer's Ledger and here it is.  This is embroidered on a piece of handmade paper...

Still hot and celebration

Yep, it's still hot here.  Just a few minutes ago a small thunderstorm rolled through and we got some very much needed rain.  It didn't last long enough to do any good though, so we will just have to hope for more. 

Sorry there are no photos for your viewing pleasure today, but you'll have to just envision two pieces of birthday cake (not that we HAD cake, mind you).  Birthdays are rarely a big deal in our lives, but it seems that other people get a kick out of doing our celebrating for us.  At least DH and I are fortunate in that his birthday is the 21st and mine is the next day, so we can get it all over with at once!

Tomorrow we have tickets to see the Blue Jays (baseball for those of you who don't know) play so I doubt there will be any mumbling from this quarter.

Enjoy your day!

TUSAL and bobbins

Sorry to be a bit late in posting my ORTS for the TUSAL this month!  I've been a little preoccupied with mundane things like colonoscopies this week (yeew).  So, without further delay, here is my ORT pile for the month...

and here they are,

added to my jar...

TUSAL?  Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long

ORTS?  Old Recycled Threads

Nada

Sorry, no pictures today.  It's been (and will continue to be) a busy week.  Lots of medical appointments and running around so absolutely nothing fun and creative happening.  I guess it's been too hot to be creative anyway, so I shouldn't be upset. 

Hot, hot, hot

Yes, it`s hot  cool.  Perhaps if I *think* cool it will happen!

This was the activity going on in our kitchen this afternoon....

This is the first stage of a new backsplash and is currently drying for a few days before putting the grout in to finish it off.  Jack (DH) and our friend John spent the afternoon in our hot little kitchen doing this.

I, on the other hand, spent the afternoon in my studio working on my ledger classwork.  This picture shows what I did the end of last week (today`s effort isn`t ready to show yet)....

Who knew you could stitch on tissue paper!!

I'll bet you didn't know THIS....and classwork

This falls under the 'who knew' category!  Vicki Welsh has posted on her site about the fact that an inch isn't always an inch.  I wouldn't have believed it, but because I have faith in Vicki I checked.  She's right!! 

Thrifting find

Today we took one of our 'sanity' days and skipped town in quest of a birthday present for a friend of mine.  Unfortunately what I hoped to get didn't pan out.  The day wasn't a complete loss though because we hit a couple of thrift stores and I scored these...

$3.99 each - how's that for a bargoon?!!

Stitch videos, and some more class work

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And,

here's an update on my Embroiderer's Ledger classwork..

more classwork and beauty

Here's the next bit I've done for the Embroiderer's Ledger class with Karen...

AND....

(for the beauty part of this post)

you have to go and see the wonderful

Heart Strings

that Suzy is creating!

Be sure to check out the rest of her blog

when you're there because

you're in for a treat.

Go HERE!

Suzy has a link on her blog post

where you can read more

information about

the creation of

Heart Strings.

Yummy......

?

I just finished eating some wonderful pasta for lunch 

and thought I'd share the recipe with you.

 It comes from Kraft Kitchens.

NO-COOK FRESH TOMATO SAUCE WITH PASTA

l lb. spaghetti noodles
8 plum tomatoes, chopped (we used plain ol' tomatoes)

1/2 c. Zesty Italian dressing

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

2 T. chopped red onions

Cook pasta as directed, omitting salt. 

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

Drain pasta, add to tomato mixture & toss.

Now, doesn't this look good?

Note:  It can be served hot or cold!

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More class work

This is my completed first page from the Embroidered Ledger class with Karen.  I'm actually pretty pleased with it, but I know I have a long way to go!

small things

I'm working, just not in my studio room because it's too hot in here.  Stitching in the living room where we have a/c is by far the best place to be.  The past few days have been hot but the humidity hasn't been overwhelming.  We had rain last night so today the humidity level climbed.

Anyhoo...  I have been doing a wee bit of embroidery (which I hope to be able to show you tomorrow) and I've made these:

Wee crocheted coasters

for wee gifties.