PLOS .. Too Conservative I Think!

I have been working on my Personal Library of Stitches class for a couple of days. I have no problem with the stitches, but cannot seem to find the right balance of colors..ughh

PLOS..Playing Today

This morning I took a piece of the felt that I painted yesterday and began to just play with stitches... straight stitches, running stitch, chain stitch, herringbone stitch and fly stitch. A few beads and a butterfly charm. What I have learned is that my color contrast needs to be stronger. I really enjoy working with the felt.

Personal Library of Stitches

I spent most of the day going through the lesson plan, highlighting, trying to define my goals in my journal (something I haven't done in many years...eek! I don't remember it being so hard! grin) and finally preparing and beginning my sampler. These particular stitches are not ones that I have used, however I have used a variation of the feather stitch many times. It is one of my favorites. I'm sure my decisions will evolve as I go along, but my plan at this point is to explore stitches using a nearly monochromatic color scheme with each sampler.

After I put my things away this afternoon, I went into my work room, painted 2 squares of felt and cut several 7x5" rectangles of unbleached muslin. These I will use to experiment wildly..grin The large samplers I would like to stitch in a more traditional way.

My First Art Trading Cards

Got a little sidetracked yesterday from my quilt. I got an email from my old Fabric Follies blog (that continues to get more traffic than the new one!) asking if I would like to trade ATC's. Of course I just couldn't resist. So... these are the first ATC's I've made. They still need to have the edging put on them, but once that is done they are off to Indiana.

Sunday Childhood Memories

This picture was taken when I was 3 years old. My aunts Audine and Lorraine were older and were my favorite playmates. This was taken at my maternal grandmother's house in Lorenzo, TX... a small group of buildings on the hot plains of Texas near Lubbock. Mom, Dad, my brother (2 years old) and I were visiting. I don't remember much about the house or what was going on, but I do remember the big tree on the other side of the driveway that held that miracle of miracles... a swing! That feel of my tummy sinking and the wind blowing my hair was the most wonderful thing this side of ice cream. What I didn't realize was that there was a red ant bed right under that swing... but I found out when I fell out of the swing! It took only a minute or so for them to let it be known that they truly disapproved of the intrusion and destruction of their home. A few hugs, kisses, a little soda mixed with water and put on all the red spots and soon all was well again.

A few years ago, Mom, Lorraine, Martha and I went looking for that house again. It, of course, is no longer there. But amazingly...the tree was still there. I didn't get out to look for the ant bed... grin.. once was quite enough..grin

Did You Know...??

that today is Champion Crab Racing Day? I didn't either. And did you know that February is National Blah Buster Month, National Grapefruit Month, Return Carts to the Supermarket Month and International Twit Award Month. Just think of all the holidays we are missing!

It seems there is some obscure holiday associated with every day of the year. Bizarre American Holidays is a site I came across a while back that lists them all.... By the way... I was born on National Chocolate Chip Day...WooHoo!

Pro Aging?

I saw a commercial on tv last night. It was thought provoking to say the least. Dove soap products has launched a campaign trying to bring a little reason back into the idea of personal beauty and the beauty of aging. No 12 year old models that look like they've been starved for a month to fit into the skin tight designer jeans...looking for all the world like cocaine junkies. No 99 pound pregnant youngster showing her tummy (naked, I might add). So many ads...not to mention total nudity that is seen in prime time movies, sit coms, dramas every night of the week... showing men and women supposedly naked in the shower with all the curves close up. But not this commercial...

It has been banned in it's complete form... the ad I saw had equipment... people..whatever... standing in the way of the models in this ad. At the end of the ad the audience was told that to see the complete ad you must go online. It's here. Why is that? Yes...they were nude. But no more nude than the youngsters posing in the showers for other soap commercials. Nothing was shown that was not shown in the shower commercials or body lotion commercials or the women's shaving products commercials. No titillating views of any kind, any where. Why was this commercial banned? The women were between 50 and 65. All sizes, shapes and colors. Tastefully filmed and wonderfully affirming.

There is a discussion board re: this ad. In reading through some of the comments on the board, I was struck by one woman's thoughts on the fact that as one grows older she becomes "invisible". Suddenly there is nothing pertinent to her on the television..no ads except 12 to 27 year olds.. no clothes except in the specialty stores. Thought provoking...

Read Deb R's thoughts on this at Red Shoe Ramblings...

What do you think?

Crocheted Footies & 'Possums

It's cold again..ughh Last night I couldn't get my feet warm, so I crocheted me some footies from some left over Wool Ease yarn. The basic pattern is actually a sock pattern and I just left off the top of the sock. I didn't add any embellishment because I wanted to be able to slip on my house slippers when we go onto the back porch. They are quite warm, but I do want to learn to knit socks soon. I have put off buying the knitting needles necessary for socks... if I get them I will be obsessed with learning how and I have enough projects going ... and the stitching classes will begin within the week.

I had to laugh when I popped over to Sharon's blog. What does she have up but a pic of a possum. And what a cutie pie. He looks almost nothing like the one we are trying to bribe into staying in our back yard. We think ours has moved in under the shop and comes out every night to feed on the seeds the birds drop every day. Ours in America are solitary little guys and everything we have read says they don't stay long in any one place. I think this one is an immature youngster, so he will probably move on as he reaches maturity. This picture is not the one we are trying to bribe...grin This one was around last summer and didn't seem to mind having his photo taken at all.

Textured Images

Last year I took my camera out into the backyard and began taking pictures of tree bark, knot holes, leaves and acorns on the ground, tea bags, coffee grounds ...anything with texture. Colors weren't the main concern...just the textures. The idea was to get enough pictures that I could pull them up in my photo software, crop and then use my different effects if I wanted colors. This the inside of a large flower pot on the back porch.

This is the cropped image pulling up the glass and leaves on the inside of the pot. Nothing has been done except the crop.

This one has had the negative filter applied.

The idea behind this is to have textural images that can be printed onto fabric and used in whatever project I am working on at the time.

Personal Library of Stitches

I have received the list of supplies needed for Sharon B's online class "Personal Library of Stitches"! The class is offered through Joggles.com. I can't say how much I have looked forward to this class.

In looking back to see when I first came across Sharon's blog and decided to take part in the "Bags of Fun" challenge, I have to laugh... that challenge was the beginning of this blog...lol That was in August of 2005. I've learned a lot since that first blog entry...but must say that I am still a lurker...grin