Inspiration Sunday October 30/2011

Happy Sunday!

Shirley and I had a great week together, sewing, knitting, tatting, stitching, and painting.

My Challenge
For any new followers, I am  creating a painting, hopefully each Sunday, following the Artist's Muse by Betsy Dillard Stroud. Each week I choose 1 or 2 cards from the three decks of cards included, and follow the instructions.
card 1:- Set up a still life. Paint it abstractly
card 2:- use a sgraffito technique: coat your paper with gesso. Lay down 5 layers of paint, scraping through in places to show the previous layer. After the final coat has dried, you can glaze the entire surface with transparent paint.

My inspiration

 The sketch

 adding gesso

1st color
quinacridone gold






I scraped some gessoed areas and lines to reveal the white beneath

2nd color
indian yellow




more scraping

3rd color

blended greens

I deepened the green in areas to add shaping, shadows and pattern, followed by more scraping

fourth color
mineral violet  to add more shadows and some darks

 final color
red  to shape the oranges and add more shadow










It's not really an abstract, nor realism either, but perhaps a little of both in a stylized way.
As the paper became rather delicate from all the scraping between layers, I added successive paint layers in limited areas.
This was a fun experiment, and I enjoyed painting over the gessoed doodles and runs on the paper, but it did take a long time to dry after each paint layer, in order to ensure scrapability without ripping.
The Next Challenge:
card 1:-coat your paper with gesso and allow to dry thoroughly. Apply a second coat, creating texture effects. Dry, then choose a color scheme, and subject
card 2:- paint an analogous colr scheme using the colors between and including red and yellow. Add a complement to one of the colors as a surprise.

outside, the toadstools are popping up here and there













wishing you all a safe and
Happy Howlowe'en!!!

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Tatting for Texas

Some StitchMap members lost everything in the recent fires in Texas. StitchMap has organized stash replacement and requested Christmas tree decorations, so I've been tatting:

from Rosemarie Peel, this heart is a nice and easy tat. I've added beads for a little glitz and sparkle, and used DMC perle, #12. Each tat is ~ 2" square.

Oops, looks like I added an extra chain, too! The top chain below the hanger was an extra.

Here's how the heart should look.


I added a splash of red, and a crystal drop, as well as the beads for sparkle.

I was doodling, and this decoration was the result.




I do like the crystal dangle.

This is a wonky doodle, so I'll keep it for my tree, and tat a few more.

Hope you have some time to tat or stitch today.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Stacie's Block

Thank you everyone who left such wonderful Thanksgiving wishes. We had a lovely time with our visitors, and then I took a few days off to recover. lol
I hope your Thanksgiving was a splendid one.


Stacie and I decided to do a 1:1 RR and she sent me her block:


 The color scheme?   Blue
And the theme?  Creepy crawlies!


Isn't this a nice block?



I decided to make a garden scene for the creepy crawlies




I created a thread-wrapped wire form for a tree, and sewed it to the block. Then I added lots and lots of tatted leaves to the tree branches.

I loved the tree. I was so enamored with it, I didn't notice that it overwhelmed the whole block The scale was all wrong for the block theme.


So I frogged it all! sigh.

And I began again.

This is a layered, woven and split-stitched seam treatment, with tatting on each side. The circular motif at the end of the row was added to lead the eye back around the seam, and not off the end of the block.

Created with a variegated perle cotton ( thanks, Fox!) I first stitched horizontal bars across the seam, then wrapped and knotted the thread onto each bar as I worked vertically, alternating the direction with each of the seven rows. It is thick, solid, and raised. French knots finish this seam treatment.

Doubled, variegated Lizbeth thread in 'Peacock Blue' sew these two fabrics together. I liked this effect so much, I had to repeat it elsewhere on the block.

A row of tatted leaves. Hmmm, I'm not sure I like this.

rick-rack and a 'shrub' with tatted Josephine Knot 'flower clusters' adorn this section. I added gold thread to some of the clusters to echo the gold rows in the fabric.


Don't you just love that snake? Believe it or not,  I knit the body using two tatting needles! The eyes and tongue are beaded. I like how snake is wrapped around the trunk of the shrub, and hangs off the branch looking for a meal.

 Two large, hand-painted lace leaves were sewn to the upper right, and a hand-painted lace arbor was added, with a stepping stone path

I began to add greenery between the stones, changing the size of the french knots as I moved further along the path. 

an intersection of seam treatments

 I added tatted greenery and tatted Josephine Knot flowers to the arbor, and then some woven picot stitch leaves.






French knots in browns, greens, and a bit of yellow grow
between the stones.

A bullion stitch caterpillar appeared on the lace leaf, and I added a lace flower piece beneath the leaves. Hmm, maybe that caterpillar looks more like a slug? What do you think?

a different angle

The block so far


The stones were subtly extended into the adjoining fabrics, and grasses were added for the garden setting.
The row of tatted leaves on the seam treatment  was covered with a fun trim in blues, greens and tan

adding a dyed lace flower to the hand-painted leaf

a lace bug crawling onto the lace stem


seed beads and a crystal add a bit of sparkle to the blue lace flower

a beaded spider based on the design of Shawkl's spiders as  shown on her blog post tutorial.

the spider web with a jeweled center and beaded web joins


Now I'd used what I thought was a washable pen to mark the spider web, and stitched it 3 times before the final frogging. Then I went to remove the pen marks. I scrubbed it twice. ARRGH!
Luckily, Stacie is sweet enough to overlook my faux pas, and decided the marks would be shadows. Isn't she wonderful?




other beads were added to seam treatments and the lace flower

buttonhole stitch in a dark green makes the lace bug stand out a little better, as do its beaded eyes

black ants follow the stone pathway beneath the arbor
( the ants were inspired by Allie Aller's ants in her book
"Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting")

a white inchworm keeps pace



I added brown stitching around certain areas of the arbor to make it appear more dimensional and stand away from the background, since the tones were quite similar to the stones. Brown shading was stitched around the stone's base to create the effect of shadows.

The block


Is it finished?


Well, I thought so, but then.........

I removed the metal tag on the left that didn't seem to work


maybe the right side was a little dark.....
so I auditioned some white flowers to hopefully lighten and brighten this area and repeat the light tones of the top fabric piece

The finished block









I had a little problem with the dark blue fabrics: they stretched when I used a hoop to do the embroidery. Has anyone else had that happen before? Were you able to fix it? I was so worried that the stretching would ruin the block. But, my RR swap partner is a gem.

Stacie likes the block! Yay!
It's on its way.
I can't wait to see what Stacie creates for me!

My good friend, Shirl arrives Sunday for a visit, so no Inspirations post this Sunday. I hope to have lots to show you next time.
Wishing you a warm and sunny weekend.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Happy Thanksgiving!

In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend.
So, Happy Thanksgiving!

Perhaps you'll be traveling the highways..............

visiting the countryside to see the autumn colors

 amazed by Mother Nature's paint brush












If so, travel safely.


We shall gather together and give thanks for all the good in our lives. Our health, our homes and each other.
There will be much laughter, walks in the countryside, good food, and many blessings.

I am having house guests for the weekend and into next week so I shan't be about online.
Whether or not you are celebrating Thanksgiving, may you have a wonderful and blessed weekend.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Brinda's Block

Brinda's block arrived with wonderful stitching by Kim. I liked the larger scale she had used, and I love her creations.















First, I stitched a seam treatment to blend the two solid materials of the brown and orange and create a softer transition. I used two threads together so the colors would blend unevenly.
You can see the metal heart charm Kim added to her spider web.
oops, I took the pic with the heart upside down.

I began a second seam treatment with SRE in a soft golden tan, adding french knots in brown.

Following Kim's lead of curling green foliage, I began a stem and branches in  mixed threads of  holographic green, and a perle. I created three leaves with the woven picot stitch.

Because Kim's butterfly was big and bold, I felt something was needed on the narrow orange fabric that would match its weight visibly.

I decided to attempt a 3-D flower.
Not wanting to add another color, I chose a variation of the orange for a tone on tone effect.

Tatting a chain of fancy picot stitch in a variegated orange (  Lizbeth 'Falling Leaves', size 40 ) around beaded stamens, with a large orange bead in the center, the flower insides evolved.

It's hard to capture the color variations and thread clearly.

Woven picot stitch flower petals made with orange embroidery floss for a soft, slightly fuzzy texture.

 It looks a little bit like a chinese lantern, doesn't it?




I carried the orange further along this piece with the addition of two heart beads. This continues the heart theme Kim began with her metal charm.






see the tatted centipede?

a side view to show the dimensions

On the small tan and brown fabric, I added more tatted leaves of green, and french knots.


I added seed beads in all the block colors, and a crystal to the silk ribbon embroidered seam treatment.

Here's the block with my contributions:




To add a touch of whimsy, three tatted centipedes chase each other around the seams of the two fabric pieces I embellished.

This block was fun and fast. I sure hope Brinda likes it, and I can't wait to see what she adds to the final fabric piece!

It's flying to India!





Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz