Spring and Stitch

In the gardens, spring has sprung!

Flowers are bursting through the ground

 The magnolia tree is in bloom, too!

 There are so many flowers this year.

Wow!













I finished this block for my Purple Project, thinking to send it away to The Kindness Quilt Project promoted by Vickie Boster, and then realized it was too large.

Ratz!













 So I trimmed another of the purple blocks to the correct size, and  then had fun embellishing it.

This block will be in the mail tomorrow. If you'd like to know more about The Kindness Quilt Project, click  here








The next block in the Purple Project is awaiting needle and thread.

Although I've been busy in the gardens, there has been a bit more stitching.........

All the padded satin stitching is finished on this flower, and I've begun adding the petal outline in a dark blue. sorry this is a bit blurred

Here's how the 2 flowers look together. I hope to make more progress on the crewel piece this coming week, maybe even finishing flower #2.

More machine stitching has been added to the silk panel, somewhat distorting its shape.  Since this is a garden panel, and since gardens are seldom exact, I think the distortion adds a bit of character and interest.  (which is really good, because I think ripping out all that stitching at the bottom would be a bear)
The next step is to add hand embroidery using a variety of threads.

The wrapping cloth piece also received a little time. The third prairie point is filled with bullions, and the beginning of some french knots is shown.

Some embroidery has been added to the lace portion to help  (I hope)define and enhance the flower shapes. Lots more stitching needed yet.

The tatted piece is sewn to the front of a card that went out in the mail.

I first stitched this flower design on the inside flap then the border was created when the tatting was added to the front.

I liked it so much, I made a second card, but used a different thread in the bobbin to make a second flower on the inside flap. 
These were fun to do.

That's my week. I hope yours was filled with sunshine and creativity.


Hugs from Suz
Thanks for visiting.
 

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

Fun with a Gun

Umm, that should probably read: Fun with a Glue Gun.

While surfing one day, I came across this post about making glue stencils and thought I'd give it a try. Once I found my glue gun, I set up my work table, and began playing.

 I began with a squiggle

then added more, and I tried some sparkle glue in a tube, too

lots of different shapes

 they pulled off of the parchment paper quite easily although the ones made with the tube glue were thinner, I just had to be gentle with loosening them
1 was broken.....

Wondering how to test out the glue stencils, I decided to create some painted cards to use in the experiment

I made a dozen

 this was a dull one, so I added more colour

This was an ugly one, so I piled on some blues and greens

I'll have to use acrylics on this one........
















and this had some dots added

 Glue gun stencils were fun to create and I'm looking forward to testing them on my cards.

Hope wherever you are, the weather is pleasant, and you have some fun in your day.




Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Inspiration Sunday June 5/11

Sorry I have been away for a bit: last weekend was our choir concert weekend, and then we had wind storms which knocked down several trees, which took out our hydro, and that meant no computer satellite connection. The power was off  during several days, and kept cutting out due to the wind and rain storms once the trees had been removed. I'm happy to be back!
My Challenge:
card 1:- coat the paper with white gouache, then, when dry, paint over with thick watercolor. After drying, lift out lights and areas using water and tissues
card 2:- select one pigment each for the mental, physical, and spiritual side of your nature. Use in a painting

I didn't have any gouache handy, so I used gesso instead.
I chose green for my spiritual pigment, since I love nature, blue for the physical, and red for the mental.
I used an unfinished painting, and added the gesso thickly with the palette knife, leaving marks in its surface for texture.

 adding the spiritual

 a second shade

 adding the physical

 Short bursts of mental

 upside down

 Once dry, the painting looked a little washed out. I like how the texture from the gesso shows through, but felt it also flattened the watercolours.

 I added more paint in the same colors, and prefer the result with its feeling of energy.








Last time, I turned the completed glue painting into cards and have sent them on their way. Here's what they looked like all cut up and on the card stock:

I was very pleased with the result.














The next challenge:

card 1:- coat your paper with a layer of irridescent paint added to gesso. Paint with transparent watercolor over the gesso.
card 2:- paint using red, black and yellow

I hope you are having a nice Sunday.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz