April Snows

Yes, snow in April! When the rain should be falling to herald spring, turn the grasses green, and the flowers to burst forth from the earth, we've had two days of snow.
I'm happy there's not been much accumulation, since the snow melts quickly on the roads and gardens, but it's too cold to work outside and plant my spring bulbs. I guess I'll just have to stay indoors and stitch. Woe is me.....  ;-D   lol!
Last week was a busy one with three days out and then company, so not as much stitching happened.
My new thread order arrived!

Aren't the colours yummy?!
I can't wait to use them!

One road trip found me at The Creative Festival in Toronto, where I bought these threads

and these beautiful beads!

 A second road trip took me to my favourite second-hand shop. I found some lovely treasures for my wrapping cloth fabric stash!


hankies, doilies and a small table cloth.....or square runner

hankies with stitching, with crocheted edges, with lace inserts, and even a tatted edging

cutwork hankies, too.

How many hankies?


17!

this pretty lace is on each of the 4 corners

so delicate

prettily edged with tatting

filet crocheted edging on the table cloth

Wouldn't this make a gorgeous gift bag? There is a large stain, but I'm sure it could easily be covered with some embroidery.........and that way I could keep this cloth intact.



  I did make some progress on the wrapping cloth piece.

The blouse pocket flap has been adorned with buttonhole lace. The tab on the flap side has multiple rows of lace.

a different angle

a row of cast-on stitch chains

the beginnings of a row of clustered bullion loops

and my progress so far

some road-trip tatting might find its way onto the wrapping cloth











That's my week. I hope yours has brought you many happy moments and lots of creativity.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

A Little Progress

The weather has been fabulous the last several days, and in spite of spending several hours in the gardens each day, I've managed to make some progress on my projects. I was absent last week. My sister was here visiting for several days as we celebrated her birthday. One of her gifts was this fancy wine bottle holder I made just for her. Blue is her favourite colour.

Sis loved it! I had fun creating this and then making the beaded dangles for a touch of bling. I wonder if she will gift it away, or keep it for display.

I added lots of blue thread to the silk panel.

and some purple, too.

There is some altering in the size of the panel as I stitch. I'm not too unhappy about it, as it creates an organic feel to the piece.

Lots more stitching and other additions are in the plans for the silk panel. I expect this will be a slow piece evolving over the next several months.

 The wrapping cloth piece has seen some additions, too, over the last 2 weeks.
french knots, Josephine knots, a dorset button

more french knots

a beaded Josephine knot cluster, and a tatted frill

dangly bits with buttons, a shell sequin, and a sparkly bead

a row of bullions on the pocket top

and another on the pocket bottom

beads added to the frill

more beads added to the dorset button and the Josephine knot cascade

and some on the pocket, too

The edges have been buttonhole stitched, and this piece is now complete.

Next is this wrapping cloth piece. It includes a pocket from my favourite white blouse. Once the tacking is finished, I'll be adding some fun embellishments.

I hope you've had a pleasant, sunny and creative week.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

As April Arrives........

I spent some time painting with water colours and stencils last week. Onto a piece of watercolour paper, I layered a stencil, added wet watercolour washes in various colours, then added a second piece of watercolour paper on top. As I pressed on the sandwich, a positive (bottom piece) and a negative (top, natch) painting of the stencil design were created.
Once they were thoroughly dry, I added black outlines to the paintings to define the shapes.

both negative paintings

the left is the negative of the painting on the right

the top right is a positive painting

 in the negative paintings, the paint surrounds the design

a very soft positive painting

positive painting on the left

I had such fun creating these stencil paintings!
I'll probably make tags and cards with these.

 Then I decided to paint directly onto watercolour cards...........

I think I prefer the negative paintings for their softer, watercolour-like effects.
I'm sure I'll be making more of these!   ;-)




Our April showers have been pretty snowy so far, but there's a warming trend on the way.  ;-)
On the wrapping cloth, a few additions have been made:

starting to add some pearly beads

a prairie point

lace over wild fabric strip






 and a beaded JK cluster below

did you see the raised centers on the flowers?
such a pretty fabric

how the bottom half of the wrapping cloth piece looks

the 2nd lutradur piece is now finished

with the metallic paint beneath, the threads seem to glow











I hope your week has been filled with fun and creativity!

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz