greenie doodles

I went home to Cleveland, TN, this past weekend and took some embroidery supplies with me. Even if I look dorky, I do so love the portability! These were fun - I stitched them over the course of a few days, sometimes in the morning before work while I waited for the hubs to finish his breakfast, sometimes in the bed at night snuggled in between the rogeys (it's cold!). I have a lot more ideas for little greenies. And yes, the odd man out is the pair of glasses at the top right that are facing the wrong direction. Oh, well... that's the nature of the doodle.

thread doodles

I've been having such a ball with French knots that I decided to extend my repertoire to back stitch. I like the sensual aspects of embroidery (ok, that sounds a little weird): the needle popping through the fabric, the thread pulling along, my whispery curses when I create knots in my floss.... ahhh. I do like the portability though; knitters always look like they're having fun while they're out-and-about doing their thing. Although I did have some hesitant thoughts about bringing my embroidery out at a party... but I did it anyway!

fun with barbells!

Pardon the typos... it's hard to type with a bandaid on: I should really invest in some thimbles if I'm gonna continue this hand-stitching business! Before the massive bloodloss, I was able to complete this mini quilt, which I call barbells. And of course, the French knots made an entrance! And gold thread, gold thread! I really like it, and there used to be more of it. This piece and the last were kind of lessons in editing: I added too much and then took stuff off until I was happy again. It's been working for me pretty well, but I should probably purchase a friggin seam ripper if I'm gonna stick with that trend. Ahhh, tools.....

I've also been thinking this pattern would be fun to make in stained glass... maybe when the garage is warm enough to work in again!

hmmm.... spring

Maybe it's the 17-degree temperatures in Asheville or the utter lack of color, but something about this week made me thirsty for green and spring. And maybe a little springtime romance... with French knots! This piece was really fun to make. I was definitely kind of making it up as I went, but those little U/tombstone shapes keep showing up. I hope they stay. I've got a couple of projects in the works for upcoming books, but all I wanna do is make knots. Life is tough.

gee's bend inspired mini quilt

Yay! It feels great to be stitching again after a little bit of a break. I was really inspired by all the gee's bend mini quilts I kept seeing on Flickr, and I wanted to give it a try. I'm not sure this really ended up looking anything like a gee's bend quilt, but I did enjoy myself. It's been a while since I've been serious about piecing - love that fusible web! - so this was a departure for me. But so fun. And I cheated a little (the turquoise and brown squares are fused in place), but I'm really glad I took some time to do the hand stitching and binding right...

my crafty valentine

So here they are, my finished valentines for the Cloth Fiber Workshop auction. I was originally planning on using the microscope and the sail boat, but the hearts just seemed to fit the theme so nicely. One is made with paper and one is made with fabric. I made the paper one first (which I think I'm keeping for myself) and it was kind of fun to experiment with a paper prototype. Needless to say, more work with printed images to come. Also, for bigger pics, check my Flickr photostream.

i miss summer....

I know, I know. It's supposed to be cold during winter, and we've been pretty lucky so far. But it's 10 degrees outside right now... 10! All that chilliness should put me in the stay-at-home-and-get-crafty mood, but mostly it's making me sleepy. Until I can get the crafty home-fires burning again, have an owl pillow. The lines are made with simple straight stitches on the machine.
I've been seeing owls everywhere (ad nauseam, almost) and I'm currently taking bets on what the next owl will be. I'm personally rooting for the hippo. Who - or what - are you voting for?