Embroidery PC-Daisy Stitch

Here they are done. I am for sure going to have to practice the blanket stitch..When I came to end I did not how to end it at the back and also did not know how to start it again to look like the rest of it..I did the blue and rose colored ones first..than took the other two and in the back drew some lines and put holes where I wanted the stitching to be to at least make is uniform around it..it looked a lot better than my uneven lines..but I have learned a lot and for sure need more practice..enjoyed this swap. hope the girls on the receiving end do too..

I worked on this till the wee hours in the morning. they do looked a lot better glad I gave it a try..once I had the needle and thread I could not stop..I do not know how many french knots are in one pc..lol..Now I have to put it together by hand with a blanket stitch which I have only tried once and it was okay..hope I do it justice..

My Day today-with ANTS- Packages and a PC swap

These are Rainbow Spun from Idyll Pleasures..I bought what ever color they had..Beautiful in person.
These are my silk Roving I bought from Try My Designs..Denise hand dyes all of hers and when I bought what she had, she emailed me and told me had dyed different colors and if I wanted them, of course, I said yes! Just look how intense in color they are..they are just stunning and the price is better than any other place I have bought them.. Thank you Denise for such a warm person to person contact with your site..I will always come back for more..Oh yes, I can not forget the needles I bought. A starter pack for my new machine..just in case I break any needles, which I am told I will, lol..This way I will not have to wait for July to buy them..I am planning on winning this challenge with my dh ..of course I am ordering like crazy..I told my girls if I wonder if stamps for mailing out pc and a new computer, in case mine was to go, would count. As these are necessities, are they not? To persuade him that they are I will have hammer near by to help...lol..just kidding..or maybe not!!
This is my 2 lbs of wool roving..mixed but will find ways to use it up..lol..Bought this at The Sheep Shed Studio..she had a sale and jumped right in for it..lol
These are the post card for the embroidery swap in my group..I am using the daisy stitch..I love them especially on my hand dyed fabric..hoping to finish them tonight and hope my hands will survive the french Knots in the middle, if not, I will just finish them with the blanket stitch edges. We will see.

How did my day start up..ANTS!!! More ANTS!! I hate these little pesky insects..All over my counter..the thing was that got me..it was clean..these pesky things found a crumb, mind you a crumb..and a little spillage of my tea..just a little drop and wow. a thousand ANTS!! so I found the ANT spray..and killed every one off them, before I even had my first cup of tea or breakfast..told myself hope this isn't what my day is going to be like..

Nope it has been a good day..had my tea and breakfast and started to work more on my embroidery swap..which has been taking me already 2 nights and 2 days to work on off and on, but mostly on..lol..I am not very good at embroidery, got some designs out and started the first one 2 nights ago, it just looked terrible. Took it out and played with others..and than found one I can do now. The post cards has them all over with different colors..the daisy stitch..lol My daisies are not all equal but that is OK it is mine and I love them..all the colors on my hand dyed fabric..Took a scan of them and I will put them here to show you where I am at at this point..Can not spend that much more time on these as I have other things to experiment with.

Than I received 3 packages today and will take a photo of them..Silk Roving, Rainbow Spun and needles for my new machine that I do not have yet..lol..A package from sis.. Yesterday I received my wool roving, 2 lbs and love the intense colors that where in there..I guess I should have put the photos in first as I may not be able to now..oh well, they will be next a little posting under each item..They are above my regular posting, sorry for the double chat..lol

Experiment with UTEE-charms and beads

OK..I knew I had plastic on both sides of my charm. It was one of things that you say try it anyway..It did what I thought it would..putting into the utee pot and it melted and look at that poor charm..well, now for sure I know..This is my sister's charm, lol..but I know it will work on just plain fabric if you like the Hardening look, which I do not..I tried some of my beads too..Do not like it. When you lay it flat on the protective surface, is it flat on the bottom, now I did not think of this..can't think of everything..lol..it also left a lot of the utee on the bottom that was sticking out...but it trimmed well with the scissors. It also closed the one end that I let dripped for a bit before laying it down..so I had to do some drilling!! lol..but it was all fun and will experiment again with my utee pot..
I have had it for awhile and used it while I was doing the batik and it was to small..but tried some beeswax in there at that time..I just forgot I had as it was inside the electric frying pan I use for batiking..out of site, out of mind..this is sure happening a lot in my world..tooo much stuff..can not remember what I have bought and where I put them..So it was good..
But the rest of the swappers will not get these charms.. I will make more but not try anything different..
I have received two each from Paulette and Rita..and I will add all the charms when I get them all together..They both used peltex/timtex, not sure which..and painted on each side and/or painted fusible..which I love doing this..I am not sure what I will do..
I know it was hard putting in the eyelets..not only did I break one of the tools, mine are sloppy could not get that eyelet in very good...I wanted to buy the newer tool at Wally's world but dh would not let me, as it was a different application of putting it on some how you have to pull it and with my hands , he said he would have to do it and he did not want to..No more charms for me..these will be fine, but do not mind making the inches that we do not have to have the backing, sides done and eyelets..lol I really did not mind the rest of it but eyelets just took the cake for me..I worked on them for 2 and half hours and still did not mastered it. Very frustrating.

Charms/Inches

Charms, there are so many groups doing these, so my group jumped in on it too.. But not so many in one swap..we have 7, just right for a bracelet..The photos above is front and back on mine..The beaded one is fabric, lace and plastic heated to melt the layers together..and silk paper is sewn for the middle part, as it is transparent.. you can see the teal color silk paper..the other one is from an experiment I did a while back using cling wrap..with different layers..now this is not finished..I still have to add the eyelet and than I will put them in utee..to seal it for me..there is no way my hands will be able to do a satin stitch..since I had these already cut up, I could not do the stitching as a whole cloth..and than cut..so it will be task alone for me and I opted out..it is not worth it to me to having my hands, palm area hurt for days...for 6 charms..so utee it will be..if not that some other way of sealing and there are plenty..the lace effect one is for sure my favorite and of course used my favorite fabric..almost out of it ..used this in ingredient swaps 3 times..all different too..In fact this idea is from one of them..

I have two more swaps having to make inches..one to put them on a post card and another one is to make 21 but no fabric involved..we will see if I do this one..not committed yet..but sure would love to try it..

Embellisher ordered-DH Challenge

I have ordered a HuskyStar Embellisher and was suppose to come in this week. The dealer called me and told me they are back ordered till May 11th. so now I have to wait another 2 more weeks for it..
While we were shopping for my embellisher, my dh wanted to know if I could stop buying for 6 months..I told No Way, JOSE!! Then he ask about 4 told him no..and than 3 months..well, we both agreed not to buy anything, other than food and the necessities.. We start May 1st..that gives about 7 days to figure out what I might need...I really do not need anything but I like buying more of this color or more for stocking up..as if i really need ..one can only do so much in a day..lol..
I still haven't found my Twinkle 20s so I am going to have to buy at least 3 and if I find the others, my sis can have those if it is repeated..more than likely it will be..
Since I have ordered my embellishing machine I am going to send my sister the itty bitty one that I have..but can not find the foot pedal and directions..now I know I do have that for sure, just put it in a safe place and haven't found that safe place. lol.. maybe I will find some money, I am very good for hiding money and not finding till years done the road.lol

BEADS Fabric, Paper and Tyvek

The photo below is all of my fabric beads minus what I am sending to my girls. I have mostly African fabrics as they are bold in color. Makes such a beautiful and colorful bead. I have added fibers, coiled metal gold, copper and silver wire to them, added metal gold, copper with beads. There is quite a few that needs to be finish. I will do those as I need them. I have added glitter to a lot of them as when I did gold leafing with my first fabric beads back in end of November..the adhesive was way to old..at least 8 years ..used it in my ceramic business..and had a hard time with it and made more of a mess than anything else..but when I was looking for my Twinkles 2os, which I never have found yet, I found all types of glues in my Working Studio. Also found medium gels and such when I was working on a alter book last Jan..for a class..and many more glues.. But I will give gold leafing another shot. The below photo is my Paper beads. What is mine!! Now this to me was the messiest of all beads..I have used papers from around the world that I had bought from a person who bought these papers and was selling them..I again used beads, fibers and glitter to add to these paper beads..I have silk paper, homemade paper, painted paper, Angelina fibers, shimmer, this is too soft no matter how many times you put a sealer on them..just experimenting..I have used Angelina film wrapped over the paper and zapped quickly with the heat gun, this tightens the film around the bead...found this out when using it for a pc.. I love my red white and blue, added some blue and clear crystals on them..this is two papers twisted together, white and blue and added red beads..plan to make more for the 4th of July.
Below is my Tyvek beads..boy I had forgotten how easy these were to make..make 67 in a 12 hours period off and on doing housework. I have added wire, wire with bead, fibers and some just plain ones. I have photograph my steps for my girls as I went along but could not take a photo as I zapped the fibers and watch them melt..how cool is this..I see this with my felt melt..but with the beads it was way too fun.. My girls will get the photos in my group.
I did do something different as I have not seen any one post this. I took a Tyvek sheet that has already been zapped about 2 and half years ago with my Element class just to see what it looked like..and never did use either sheets..The purple, blue and green ones are from this. The only disadvantage is when you zapped the bead with the paint on it..the paint shrinks more than the Tyvek and you have white showing, not much but enough where you have to repaint it.. I have a photo but leave that to all to experiment. I have one more of these to make beads with. Oh it is a bit harder to roll..with me having nerve problems in both hand..I felt it..but I did get about 21 beads from one sheet. All were cut into triangles..but I also like rectangle beads.. Today is going to be experimenting with Lutador, cellophane, friendly plastics, clays and such..this will take a few days..

Nephew Ethan-Need Prayers

My great nephew, Ethan of 7 months, that had brain surgery last week is back in the hospital. He was throwing up and he kept putting his hand on his head. I just feel for you Ethan having to go through this being such a little one. My prayers are going your way..Please anyone who reads my blog, keep Ethan in your prayers and thoughts..thank you.
Photos of Ethan when they were down in Florida in March. My sister got to meet him for the first time..

Been busy

I have been busy but with no results to show for now..but at the end the photos are there..lol..I will post pictures later..I am still making beads as I am showing my girls how to make them. They are still on fabric beads but I am on the paper beads..they will get the directions for the paper ones next week Friday. I have made quite a few, but this is not one of my favorite beads to make, so far I do love making fabric beads. I have a journal of 12 pages since I have started. I always write down what my process is as I go. I also like to write down what product that I use and what I consider is working for me..I have done this for over 25 years, always wrote what I have done with every piece I paint and what went wrong and always happy with what went right..I love to experiment and sometimes it does not go the way you see it in your mind...lol.
Tyvek will be in the next 2 week, I have made these before but the preparations are a bit more cautious that fabric and paper.. I will have to wear a mask maybe even a respirator..I may have to wear goggles as I have an eye disease that even the fibers of fabric effects them..this we found out as my eyes has gotten worse in the last year where as the total of the last 3 years, my eyes stayed the same in the first two years when just making art quilts..and not post cards..I am constantly putting drops in my eyes..and also using steroids eye drops to help them..More tomorrow I hope.

Nephew-Riding mower

Here is my grand nephew Philip with his grandpa Art. Grandpa let Philip "pretend" he was doing it all by himself for 20 minutes and that he let Philip run it all by himself for a few minutes...He was so excited. He just turn 13 on April 7th. He is autistic.. I am so glad he was so excited over this..

Radiant Rain Experiments and Books

The above photo is my purple with a touch of blue Radiant Rain on card stock. It really did not do what I thought it would do..so I feel like I added to much of the liquid. I am using these in a class call Blitz of Glitz with Carol Murphy from joggles. It was quite wet but that is all about experimenting like she wants us to do..Below is Tissue paper with green and I can see more of the gleam than on the card stock. Both of these do not have a base coat so they on the look of pastel colors. I was going to use these with my Twinkles 2Os's but I bought a dozen of them as I could not find the other 3 older ones that I have so got a bit carried away, now I can not find the package..so St Antony will help me find them. With my studio redone last September-October, it seems it is harder for me to find things now. I have containers marked but sometimes I get in a hurry and was getting ready for Easter so where ever I was and what ever container was open I probably stuck it in there. I was going to start the class yesterday but now I will go to the forum and let her what my problems is and I just might end up doing my book in Adirondack as the base coat and will experiment with these tonight with all other types of paper and some sheers, nappy liners, lutador. cheesecloth, paper towels. She gave us a list and I plan to do them all..so glad I have different Adirondack inks..or my book would be very pastel..not good..And when done I will make more paper beads with these..lol really addicted to them.
My book 15 Beads by Jane Dunnewold came in Saturday and was ecstatic because they showed how to use metals..now I love and love working with metals..so will do them to..it is an awesome book. I should be getting two more books tomorrow from Amazon.com as the tracking said I should have gotten today. I will let you know about them tomorrow. I really can not add any more of my books here as all you will be viewing is books. lol The list that is below is about a third of what I own. I have ordered every book that has been mentioned all my classes and from other artists that writes them and such..about little less than half has been from the last 3 years since I took up quilting and classes on line.

One of Winners in FiberArts Magazine

I received this package today from FiberArts Magazine and could not figure out what it was, it had something in it...I told myself, No Way, I could not have been one of the winners as no one informed of this..Well out of over 200 I was one of the 5 people that was randomly picked, Yeah For ME!! These gifts came from Kaspareks, a rubber stamp Co. but also sells collage elements for the fiber artist..thank you!! FiberArts Magazine! Oh I received 2 stamps, about knitting, which I love to do and some Adironadack alcohol inks, I have a few of these but not these colors, rustic Lodge..
You can see some lovely Valentine Cards here and mine is on page 6. You can use the magnifying glass and it is on the left hand side, third row. It has our names on the side of the photos.
http://fiberarts.com/ on the left side it will it has a link of where to go. have fun viewing.

More beads

I had made more beads last night, these are not all of them as I made some for my girls in our swap. the two on the left is silk paper and the others are fabric done in different ways..having fun doing these. Now I will make paper beads and put them here..just because I do not have a group for this any more does not mean I can not show the group on how to make them...

Fabric and Paper beads

I worked on these off and on the other night and yesterday as I have the crud again. Not feeling to good..I put these beads on by hand with a doctor's tweezers...regular tweezers did not work for me. I tried the bowl with a bunch of beads and had a mess and beads that did not go on the the fabric or paper bead..could not be used anymore ., had glue all over them and did not go on liked I wanted them to. After they dried I applied clear nail polish. I am still working on paper beads. I am done with the fabric beads but to put some fibers on a dozen or more.

A 10 Minute Challenge

In a group for felting I belong to we had a 10 minute challenge to do a gingerbread man. Well, here is mine..my dh laugh at him but that is OK..I hand felted him and know I could have done better if I had a machine..so if you get a good laugh, that is great and hope I made some part of your day happy..I did him in about 8 minutes so I added a scarf and than tried to add eyes but only got one on before the timer went off..not bad.. He is blue as I did not have brown..so I have a Blue felted gingerbread man!!

Knitting swatch and felted piece

these two pieces is what I did not being able to sleep last night, no thought in them at all..just something to do..I will redo them by adding other embellishments to them, melt them and so on..Gave me something to do..my great nephew Ethan came out of surgery this morning without complications..he is 7 months old..God is good..reason for not being able to sleep or concentrate on anything for a few days..

Bonnie Sabel New Book Positively Postcards

I received my copy of Positively Postcards by Bonnie Sabel and Louis-Philippe O' Donnell today in the mail. We were in group that swap our post cards..I had sent her one for an open theme..Bonnie liked it so well she was going to have it in this book..but the publishers cut it out..so Bonnie wanted me and another person to have one. Thank you so much...The cards are so magnificent and loved them all..It is not signed as it came directly from the publisher..Bonnie give directions on how she makes her award winning quilted cards. This is a book to have on your shelf if you love making post cards or even if you don't. It is so vibrant with colors. You will love it.

Hand Felting

I have been hand felting all evening and enjoying it very much..boy I can not wait for my machine..big one that is..
I have signed up for a challenge for postcards, bookmark and an 8x11 piece..it is wonderful..when I get done with them I will post photos.
Also not good at embroidery and forgot I had sign up for a swap in my group..so this has me a bit nervous..yes, me..lol..but I am trying to learn the other stitches besides the basic ones we all use but might have to refrain to the basic here..I have not been on my machine for a few days and really wanted to get to it today but did not..
My son's quilt has really got me this time..I hate to remove that dragon but I want flames to go up to the border and can not when the dragon's head is pointing down..so who love taking out stitches, my are invisible threads, even worse..lol

Brain surgery

All day I have been on needles and pins. My great nephew, Ethan, is having brain surgery tomorrow morning. He is 7 months old. My twin's other grandson. He has a cyst in the back of his brain. It is pushing on the brain. Thank goodness babies have check ups all the time. This is how they found out. His head was larger than what is was suppose to be for a 6 month old. Please all that visit my blog, prayers and more prayers...They said it was a 60-40 ratio on this surgery. I love you my dearest Ethan.

Wonderful Day

We celebrated my dh birthday yesterday instead of Sat.
I have not done any sewing as I was cleaning, a bad word, lol, to get ready and cooking so today the house is clean and do not have to make dinner so I am a free bird to anything I want.
I think I will make tyvek beads in my "Working Studio". and will have to wear a mask or respirator, it is just to darn cold to work outside.. My "Working Studio" is what use to be my mold room where I kept all my molds, paints, greenware, bisque and did my ceramic pouring and such. We have slowly taken most of the molds (702) out of there and changed it over to my "working room" this is where I do my burning of textiles, making silk paper, fusion, painting, stamping, dyeing (but some in the kitchen/dinning room) and such..So all these supplies is out of my studio.

Nephwe's birthday

My gift for my great nephew Philip. He is autistic, his birthday is on my husband birthday on April 7 th. He love to swirl fibers all around and he loves light bulbs, so what better than putting them both together. I sent him a light bulb book marker with fibers at the end and my sister said he just loves it.. We, sister and I, do web cam mostly every day and now he will look at her computer and say "Aunt Lorraine", of course I just love it and also I can see him..and we will exchange faces..he is so funny sometimes. He is going to be 13 and has a mind of a 5 year old. Happy Birthday, Philip, my dearest nephew. I love you..Auntie Lorraine