Summer Fun

There was a bit of painting going on:

Creating a background

yellows

adding some greens

more greens and some brown, red

dried, and a little dull, but a good background for what comes next. I hope....

playing with leaves on an old, ugly painting

practicing painted leaf imprints

a ghost print
Thinking about adding leaf prints to the background......






Some stitching was accomplished this week. I made more Purple Project pieces:

I began embellishing PPP #4

I tatted these Bud Fragments ( Mary Konior:  Tatting With Visual Patterns )

 a few photos from my gardens.......

I hope you had a wonderful and creative week.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

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

Marching Out

March is ending, and, hopefully, taking the last of the snow with it!
I'm ready for spring.

 Mr. Cardinal was sitting in the magnolia tree in the front yard.

I think he's looking for spring, too.

a sure sign that spring is on the way is this little chipmunk, out looking for seeds

These goldfinch are starting to turn yellow

Still, it was really cold last week, so I brought home a wee bit of colour to cheer up the house

Mr. Milkers came to visit for a week. The snow was still pretty deep then.

look at that chin spot and those tear-drop eyes! What a cutie!

















A wee bit of stitching was done on the Wedding Piece this week, with a few additions:

2 woven picot leaves, a cast-on stitch rose, and a bud.......more to add.......



On the wrapping cloth piece #12, I added a beaded center to a fancy picot flower. The base is a wrapped ring with rows of buttonhole lace 

 

bullions bridge the design of this lace

this giant bullion is 185 wraps!
Soon it will have a few more friends......

the progress so far

I need to create more wrapping cloth pieces

It was time to actually use my Kumihimo kit.

The large braid on the left was made with the kit material using 8 strands.


The braid on the right used 8 strands of size 20 crochet cotton. I've been playing with patterns.

 Tatted bunnies and cabbage edging is a seasonal tat with Easter next Monday. I used size 20 crochet cotton, so this feels quite bulky. Bunny 1 on the left has a major error with the neck join.

Next I'll tat the bunnies, with a longer chain between them, using a finer thread.

Two more gelli painted fabrics join the queue awaiting some hand stitching.

My art room has been re-organized. It's a small bedroom. (~9x11) Here's how it looks now..........( well, before I did the painting!)

north wall

east wall

This work table is a very old one with a porcelain top- once probably used for rolling out pastry, but now it's great for cleaning up spilled paint!

west wall

The center unit was fastened to the dining room wall when we bought the house, but didn't work with our furniture. Now it's a great unit for storing some of my supplies.

south wall

There's a bedroom closet to the left of the computer, and there I keep my fabrics in plastic storage tubs.

Here's how the work table looks now!
Neat and tidy didn't last long, did it? lol

 Treasure hunting this past week led me to a second-hand shop where I found these blingy buttons, ( up north near the lake house)

(aren't they pretty?!)

two packages of lace,

( rolls of lace!)

4 cut-lace napkins, and 2 lace doilies.

The total came to $5.00! Wow!

I love shopping there! (too bad it's so far away)




Well, that was my week with needle, thread, paint and fabric. Hope you've had a fun and creative week.

Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz