April Ends

There was a large maple tree in our backyard. The arborist told us it might survive a few more years, but it's days were numbered. Branches were dying, the bark was off one side, and it had a large split in the middle. We decided to remove it before it fell down on our new-and-not-yet-put-together large tool shed.

 It was leaning towards the neighbour's yard, too.

 DH limbed it.

 and cut

it fell true

chopping up with the help of a neighbour

then I went out to help move and pile the small amount of wood we kept, and the rest went to neighbours who burn wood

we gathered kindling for another friend
I hate to see big beautiful trees be felled, but safety first. I think we should choose another tree

As for my Christmas skirt, I'm a month behind, and I think I could probably stitch on this skirt quarter for a few more weeks, but, in the hopes of finishing my CQJP on time, I'm calling it done!

Tatted, beaded, ribbon, and thread snowflakes were added

and this section of the skirt will be put away while I work on section #2


I may add to or subtract some of the snowflakes once more skirt sections are completed

what I have learned from this first quarter:

1) while providing contrast, the green fabrics take away from the red and white theme, so any new quarters I make may be void of green

2) small snowflake motifs get  lost in the skirt, so I shall go Big

3) too many different styles of snowflakes may be taking away from the overall look

4) I may decide to simplify the number of fabric patterns in new quarter pieces in order to get closer to the picture in my mind

5)  conclusion: I need to Simplify, simplify, simplify!
And that's all the stitching I accomplished this week.

I spent a happy evening or two playing with my gelli plate, and found out just how easy it is to get ugly results...lol!
The flowers look blurry because I was going for a tone-on-tone effect, but blew the placing

 I love the blues in this one

some of the items I use to create texture and patterns

dots and grids.......

I need more practice to get the results I see in my imagination. Oh, boy, that means more play time!

I was down for a couple days under-the-weather recuperating from doing too much, but I'm feeling much better now.
Wishing you Happy Stitching and Creating for the upcoming week.


Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Easter Walk and Stitching

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a nice Easter. Sunday was a pleasant day, and we all went walking in the local park.

The creek is running a little high and rough after the snow melt and the rain

 I am fascinated with the look of water as it rumbles along, roiling over rocks

foaming, bubbling, churning

reflecting the colours around it

creating fabulous layers of dipping sediment,

thick foam

always moving, gurgling

and sometimes roaring

cascading over boulders, gathering broken bits and damming them together

 the covered bridge witnessing the flow

and the peaceful, reflective surface of the pond

tree roots reaching outwards. I like how they look.

we walked around the pond and headed home for tea and a game of bid euchre........











Even with the holiday I managed to get some stitching done.

 I'm really pleased with my "Umbrella & Flowers".



The Embroidery Guild made $920.00 from their sale table to donate to charity. WooHoo!







 

On my wrapping cloth piece #11, I secured this corner of an old hanky with french knots and cast-on rings.

The bullions along the gathered lace morphed into cast-on circles, and french knots were added at intervals to create little pockets along the billowing lace.

piece #11 has lots more french knots added, too

ooops, there's a hole!

I wonder what's going to happen there?

 bullioned and french knot snowflakes are appearing on the Christmas tree skirt

wee red snowflakes

 french knots to secure the trims

and the skirt is still not filled with enough snowflakes......yet

I have decided to add red snowflakes as well as the white, so more wee and large ones will be tumbling down the skirt

I hope to have this 1st quarter finished by the end of April.


Hope you've had a good stitching week.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Week's Fun

Here's what I did last week: stitch-a-bit and paint-a-bit-more. What did I stitch?
Well, I began work on the April HEX LABS from StitchMAP, and chose the Umbrella Design to embroider. Here's my progress so far:

I made an error placing my second rose, so I ad-libbed a bit on the placement of the 'daisies' made with the twisted detached chain stitch.
I used some of the wonderful, variegated ( chenille?) thread Monika sent me.

I think my spider's web flowers might be a little small, but there's flower size variation in nature, so I'm leaving them as is.

This different angle shows the flowers a bit better. Now I have leaves to add, and baby's breath to bead, and I'm almost finished......












 And what did I paint? I bought a gelli plate (a gel printing plate) and a brayer, and I was having fun trying out textures, colours, and stencils on paper. One of these days, when I sort of have an idea how to get more pleasing results, I may attempt to print these on fabric. That should be fun!
Here's just a few of my experiments with the gelli plate:

 no, that's not blurry..........that's the effect of many layers of colour, and this rather reminds me of crocodile skin

swirly fun

Using a lace piece as a resist
maybe it would look better with some ink here and there to enhance the pattern. I think a solid colour would have shown the lace design better, too.  So much new fun stuff to learn.

This gerbera daisy is growing in my bow window, and seems to really like that spot! Notice anything as you look out the window? No snow! We had some this morning, but most has melted.
Spring!

Well, that's all I have to show. Where did the week go?
Hope you had lots of creative time this week.
Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!


Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Cuffs

ooops, I had this all ready and forgot to post it.......better late than never..........lol

I'm running late this week, but it's all been about the cuff bracelets:

lace, tatting, beads, and embroidery.........


some have dangles, too


ribbons, toggles, buttons.......

some need pressing and some need buttons......




some are simple, and others are fancy

  some need toggles or clips,

but all have been stitched,

even the ones with butterflies

  some are pretty, some rugged

some are for children, but most are for larger wrists to sport



there are hearts, too

and if you've been counting, there are 21 cuffs for the Embroidery Guild table, and one on my wrist


Do you have a favourite? Which one?

Well, I must finish the closures, add the buttons, toggles and clasps as these are going out tomorrow morning.

Where are my skates?  lol

I'll catch up to y'all soon.
Hugs from Suz


Thanks for visiting. Hugs from Suz

What a Wonderful Week It Was!

April is underway, and I am still behind......... but I hope to catch up this month......or next....... ;-}...
What a week I've had! There have been wonderful goodies in the mail, snow melting!, and signs of spring (Yay!) popping up, and I treated myself, too!
The Fiber Fest was on Saturday, so I took a few photos of the Embroidery Guild table......

 felt birds and hearts hung from the branches of a tree......

 crocheted Easter eggs, too

 my bracelets were in the bin behind the doggy brooches......... once there was some room, I think they made their appearance........

there were fish key chains, and tiny embroidered brooches

 felt egg cup covers, and bunnies, too

and felt ones

more bunnies......my how they multiply.....lol

 crafty felted crow pin cushions.....

and lots of fiber goodies on the other tables, and basketry, and rug hooking

 I had reserved this little Sweetie before the sale......

so Maggie Bunny came home with me.......

isn't she adorable?

Her jacket comes off, so I may just make some more clothes for her.

I know she has a good heart

and she'll soon be whisking her way across the world to Australia to stay with our Jewel. Jewel loves bunnies, so I plan to make a few more for her so she'll have her own little felt bunny family to join all her other bunnies.......












Once I finished all the cuff bracelets, there was very little time left for more stitching.......

 but I did tat this snowflake

 and then one in red

and the skirt looked like this

you can't see the beaded snowflakes I added, but they're adding a bit of sparkle here and there.......

lots more to add to this section before the next piece gets any attention

These lovelies arrived in the mail from  Madtatter. Aren't they pretty?  And so delicate, too.
Thanks so much, Mad!! I love them, and my tree skirt will look gorgeous with their addition!

 much larger than the wee one beside the quarter that I'd tatted!

The snowflake with the pearls will be added to this section of the skirt, and it really pops against the patterned green (especially when the photo isn't fuzzy! ..lol)










I was thrilled to win Monika's wonderful giveaway. She sent me fabulous fiber goodies!

a magazine, needles, postcards, thread, silk ribbon, fabric glue, sulky sticky, beads, specialty thread, fibers......

such an awesome box full!

see that container of fiberlicious stuff?
there's some fish leather! wow!
Good thing it doesn't smell like fish! It's used to make purses, shoes, belts, bags, eyeglass cases....... all sorts of things.....

then, if that wasn't enough, Monika included a whole other bag of wonders---thread, and more thread (I LOVE thread!), suede thread, perle thread, silk thread, variegated thread, chenille (?) thread, beads and more silk ribbon!! Yummy stuff!!
So awesome, Monika! Thank you!
Monika is an amazing fiber artist, so check out her blog for some great eye candy.
There were a few signs of spring........

 Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal were out picking through the snow for seeds

I caught Mr. and Mrs. Dove sitting in my window box planter, soaking up some sun and watching Chippie gathering seeds

the ice and snow are receding .....slowly.....but we're expecting warmer temperatures in the next few days.........we may even get into double digits!








I've been wanting one of these for quite a while now...........

so I treated myself!
Looking forward to having some painting fun!
I see lots of layers, masking and stencilling in my future!

The April HEX LABS have been released at StitchMAP, and I've begun working on one of the  patterns, and hope to have some progress to show next week. My wrapping cloth needs some attention, too.

I hope you've had time for some stitching or creating this week.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz