A Card Swap

Doreen liked one of my cards from Painting Experiment #1, and so I sent it to her. She sent me this card in exchange:

Machine stitched layers of paper with a wonderful picture of this sassy lady decorate the front of this card. I just adore that hat!


Thank you, Doreen, for sending me this lovely card. It makes me grin!











Hope you'll be smiling today!
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

On the 11th Hour, Of the 11th Day, Of the 11th Month......

In Remembrance and with Gratitude.  For those who have served, those serving now, and those yet called to serve. Bless you and Thank you.

A Bit of Tatting Going on.........

I've been doing a bit of tatting for some special people. The pieces below are in the mail, and being sent to Gina for her lace piece.

 Tatted with Coats' Opera #30 in ecru. this pattern comes from "Needle Tatting with Style Book 1", page 16, "Place Mat" by Virginia Byrd.
I tatted Round 1 and Round 2, then added a third row repeating the pattern in the second round.
This mini-doily measures just over 2 1/2".
Frilly, huh?

 

I was tatting variations of Rosemarie Peel's 'Leaf' from " 20 Tatted Motifs". My 'leaf' variation measures 1" at its widest point. The 'flowers' are 3/4" wide.
These are for Gina to use as she wishes.

Other tats are waiting to go in the post for some swaps.




Have you been tatting? What have you been making?
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Fabric Doodles Finished

I've been working on my fabric doodles and created two fabric postcards from this start.
Along the way, they looked like this:

 Taking shape with the addition of beads, tatting, rusty bits cheesecloth, as well as some rusty fabrics with free-form machine embroidery.




 I added some rusted lace, and a shell bead.

There is also some yarn-- a tawny-coloured lion suede. I was pleased with my progress, so far.

 I added some tatting to this postcard, some paper bead dangles,  sewed it all onto a dark chocolate corduroy backing and finished the front edge with a brown varigated eyelash yarn in two layers.  I frayed the corduroy edge and sighed. I was finished.



 I loved the fact that these different elements had come together in a monochromatic colour scheme to create something I think is interesting. I usually work with lots of colour, so this was an experiment for me.









 On the second postcard, I added an edging of the suede yarn with two wood bead dangles. It also has a backing of the frayed chocolate corduroy.








I had now completed the fabric doodles.............................At least I thought I had until I read Jillayne's blog , and thought again.
I agree with her philosophy of creating with thoughtfulness and adding special details to one's creations.
To me, hand-created is heart-created, and if I am putting my heart into the art I create, I want to do so mindfully, and with attention to all the little details that show I care and make it special.
So, inspired by Jillayne's writing, I decided to add a little something extra to finish off the back of my postcards. It's just a little addition, but it's a small surprise that I hope will delight the recipient.
So, I tatted this on the reverse:                                                                                        

 A small tatted 'Josephine chain' on the diagonal, ending in 3 Josephine knots, with two special wood bead dangles. I liked it, but wondered if it was a little too dinky.














I decided the first motif was a little small for the size of the postcard, so, on the second one, I created this larger tatted 3-D flower.                                             
What do you think?

I like the size of this better. Maybe I'll go back and add more to the first postcard.



Thank you Jillayne for the inspiration!


One of the postcards is going out in the mail. I haven't decided which one yet. If you were choosing, which one would it be? Postcard #1 or #2?


I hope you find some inspiration today, and time to create.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

MAIL CALL!!

Friday afternoon the snow was still falling, and it looked like this:

It was so dull and grey, it looks as though these are black and white photos.










DH came back from town, and brought the mail! Two big envelopes. I couldn't wait to rip into them and discover what treasures were hiding within.

 This wonderful package of goodies came to me from Bsotf! Fabrics, wired ribbons, satin ribbons, and  2 Workbasket Magazines!! I've never seen a Workbasket before, and now I have two! And they each have tatting patterns!! How neat is that? Thanks so much, Bsotf, I love it all!

"Tatted Flurries" is Sharon Briggs' new book, and my copy arrived today. Yay!
I love snowflakes!
I see lots of tatting in my future........it'll be hard to choose which one to try first!

Aren't they gorgeous?







Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

I Bought it at The Second-Hand Store

I keep going back to search for treasures. And I found some more!
a lace tablecloth for $2

 a meter of fine, white cotton for $1



12 feet of lace for $1







a package of yarn for 25 cents





seam binding for 25 cents and a package of curly hair for 25 cents









See what was in the package of yarn?









           And more laces in a package for $1


Treasure hunting is addictive!
Everything I found  is already earmarked for projects I'm planning.













I hope you find some treasure today.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Fabric Doodles

I have been preparing fabrics for some projects.                                     

I have pieced together some rusty bits fabrics with an assortment of fabrics in the same shades, creating a couple of 'crazy squares'.

I've used  dinosaur and leopard designed cottons with a geometric pattern.







Here, white satin has been free-form machine quilted with silver metallic thread onto old flannelette in a pattern which I think is called (and please correct me if I'm mistaken) vermicelli lace, where the stitches are continuous, but never cross over other stitches within a border.  I often used this pattern when I decorated cakes.

Another piece of rusty bits fabric with more free form machine embroidery in brown as well as a multi-coloured thread.

What am I making? Several items, some for gifts and some for swaps. I'll be adding tatting and laces and beads!
I just thought I'd show you what I've been doing lately. I hope you've had some time to create, too.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

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