Those Lines Aren't Straight!

You know it's time to tidy the studio and inventory your work when you happen upon a piece that you started a couple of years ago, finished many months ago, and realize you still haven't put a label or hanging device on it!

As I considered what to call this piece, I was reminded about something that happened while working on this piece at a show one day. I got such a chuckle out of a young boy who said to me, with some concern in his voice, "Those lines aren't straight!" 

And so, I have decided to use that as my title.

Amanda McCavour Workshop: Culminating Project...

After creating several samples while working on exercises in Amanda McCavour's workshop (see them here and here), it was time to start work on our 'big' project.










I decided that I wanted to use a range of neutral colours. I've included a couple of in process shots of the piece at the sewing machine. Because you work with the fibres trapped between layers of water soluble stabilizer, it's very easy to stitch...no threads and bits to get caught on as you sew!

I put the piece up on the design wall (stabilizer still in place) for a while to decide where I wanted to go next. Then, after adding a little more machine stitch using the ivory coloured thread, I rinsed out the stabilizer and hung it to dry.












In this final shot, I'm auditioning it on a loosely woven piece of fabric that I may use as the backing fabric for the piece. I plan to add some hand stitch and possibly some beading or other embellishments and then mount it on a stretched canvas frame.

What's Keeping Me Busy...

I don't seem to be able to find much time in my studio these days, but I have been very busy so I thought I'd share a few of the things I've been up to.

I continue to keep up on my art journal calendar, and I really enjoy recording the highlights of my days in such a fun and colourful way!

Because of his sad misfortune, I learned about Artis de Partis. Sadly, this particular little fellow lost an arm so as a favour to a friend I performed some delicate surgery to reattach the limb.  Artis de Partis was very brave during surgery considering that with the exception of a glass of wine for the surgeon, no anesthetic was used.

Yoshi and I continue daily outings to expose her to as many opportunities and experiences as possible. Often it is just the two of us, but we also like to get together with other foster 'parents' and their future dog guide puppies.  

We recently had a coffee date with Mojo, another future dog guide. As you can see, Yoshi quite liked this tall, dark and handsome flat coated retriever.

We also participated in an informal group mall visit in which we practised our skills among the many distractions of the mall and other puppies.

While at the mall, Yoshi sent her letter to Santa, asking for a pair of non-slip booties so she could sit in a more 'lady-like' fashion on slippery floors!

Popping back into the studio briefly, I was able to repurpose a damaged spatula that I felt was no longer safe for use with food.  It'll make a great mark-making tool for Gelli prints and such!










In addition to volunteering to raise these incredible future dog guides, I enjoy participating in many of the PR events that help to bring awareness to these amazing service dogs. These dog guides are provided to the clients at no cost, and all funding is raised through private and corporate donations and sponsorship!

Did you know that Dog Guides are trained to assist with more than blindness and visual impairments? Lions Foundation of Canada trains six types of Dog Guides to help with a wide range of disabilities including: deafness, hard of hearing, autism spectrum disorder, type 1 diabetes with hypoglycemic unawareness, epilepsy, as well as physical and medical disabilities. To learn more or to make a life changing donation, please visit www.dogguides.com

Canine Vision | Hearing Ear | Service | Seizure Response | Autism Assistance | Diabetic Alert

Yoshi and I have already participated in two Santa Claus parades, and we are signed up to walk in two more upcoming parades!  For the Kitchener parade, we invited my Mom along (she's temporarily in a wheelchair due to a foot issue). Having Mom along was a great help because I was puppysitting Kermit, a 13 wk old puppy and he ended up snuggled on Mom's lap in the sleeping bag. I'm not sure who enjoyed the cuddles more!

The Oshawa parade was a bit wet and messy, so by the end of it Yoshi was looking a bit more like a black lab! By the look on her face, I'd say she didn't care for my suggestion of a bath!

Because I've become totally hooked on this role as a foster puppy 'mom', I've decided it's time to get a bit more organized. I've been drawing a few rough ideas for a cabinet that will house the puppy kibble, treats, toys and miscellaneous other needs that are currently tucked into various cupboards and corners of the kitchen.  I've got a perfect space in the kitchen, as well as an incredibly skilled and willing husband, so once I finalize the plans and draw them to scale, he's said that he'd be happy to construct it for me!

As I mentioned earlier in the post, in addition to raising Yoshi, I've been helping out some foster mom friends by looking after their puppies for a few days here and there. Yoshi loves having other puppies to play with, and my husband and I enjoy having the extra puppies around too!

And finally, I'll end this way to long post by showing you that I am still working on the hand stitching of this piece in progress. However, gone are the days when I would stitch and listen to TV for hours...I seem to spend more time playing and/or walking Yoshi! As such, this is going to be a much longer term project than I first anticipated.

Life is busy but wonderfully fulfilling! Thanks for stopping by to catch up on what I'm doing! Have a fabulous day!

Exciting News...

I'm excited to share that my piece, Garden Dreams, has been accepted into the upcoming Fibre Content 2014 juried show! I hope you'll be able to come and see this and the other art in person between September 9 - 16, 2014.  See the info below for more details.

The Difference A Few Stitches Make...

A while back I showed you this new piece I started. Today I wanted to share with you the difference that a few hand stitches make in finishing off this row of fused squared.

I hadn't thought to do this post until I had already completed some of it, so it's not a true before and after, but you can see just how much more interest and texture the contrasting stitching gives to those squares and rectangles. (The colour in the top shot is truer to the actual piece...the two other shots are too green/lime)

I haven't touched this piece for a couple of weeks, but I do plan to work on it more once I'm up at the cottage.  It'll be a great piece to stitch away at and I won't have to bring along a whole truck load of supplies! My thought for this summer is to have a lot of hand work ready to work on so I can leave my sewing machine and fabric stash at home and limit my art packing to a couple of bags containing fibre art needing stitch and some very basic art journalling supplies (journal, Koi watercolour set, and a couple of black and white pens).

That's Better...

It seems I'm no longer happy with machine stitch on its own. I sat down and added some hand stitch to this piece, along with a some text, and now I think it looks finished. It was a fun little diversion, and now I feel I can get back to the two more labour intensive pieces that I have in process...

Embellishing the Text...

I last posted about this piece here, when I had added the text using painted fusible web. Well, I've finally found my way back to it (life's been getting in the way!) and I've now finished another step in the process. I've layered the batting under the top (no backing yet), and free motion stitched around all of the text to outline it.













As you can see, I've also begun the hand stitching on the text to add a little more texture and interest.  So far I've just finished the first word, but I'll catch up on some TV listening and hopefully get all of this stitching done in the next few days.  I'm using one of my hand dyed cotton threads for the stitching. Once all of the hand stitching is done, I'll add the backing and then finish the machine quilting.  By doing it this way, any 'messiness' that may result on the back from my hand stitching will be covered!

I'm Featured on StencilGirl Talk Today...

I'm featured on StencilGirl Talk today to show how I used a Jane LaFazio stencil to help with some design elements in this predominantly hand stitched silk piece I'm currently working on.  I hope you'll pop on over to see what I'm doing.


Have fun and I'll see you tomorrow.

What Do You Do When You Have No Pockets?

Although pockets tend to inform my shopping to some extent, a few of my clothes don't seem to have them. Although I can't be bothered carrying a lot around with me, I do need somewhere to keep my iPhone, a bit of cash and maybe my Visa card and my keys.

On Monday, I showed you a 6 inch square of my rust dyed fabric that I had embellished using Michelle Ward's stencil design and some hand stitching, and I promised to show you how I was going to use it.  Well, it has become a tiny little pocket/bag!

I created the bag using a simple pattern idea from Jane Davila, which I altered to suit my personal needs. The 6 inch hand stitched square was bound with the same fabric that creates the accents by the zipper and the inside lining.  This creates an open front pocket in addition to the one compartment within the bag.  I couldnt' find a strap that I was happy with, so I made my own by combining some Blue trim and a bit of copper coloured 'rope' trim.

Blog Hop Featuring Michelle Ward's All New StencilGirl Designs

Today's blog hop is really exciting...the creative team at StencilGirl is creating with brand new stencil designs by Michelle Ward.  These stencils are just being made available to you for the first time today and we've been asked to keep them a secret until today's reveal!

Ta da!  Here they are...you can click on the images for links if you want to start shopping right now...(I'm thinking all 4 of them would work so well together in some surface design for art quilting!), but... 

maybe you'd like to see how I used 'RIPPLES' first (that's the second one in the top row, with the wonderful concentric circles).

I started with a piece of rust dyed fabric that I made several months ago and I traced the entire stencil onto the fabric using pencil. I often 'take stencils apart' and only use bits here and there in my design, but for what I'm planning Michelle's composition is perfect just as it is!

I outlined the pencil lines using three strands of blue DMC floss and a simple running stitch.  A finer variegated taupe/blue thread was used to outline the background areas in the same manner. 

I filled the background areas using French knots and seed stitches. I switched back to the DMC, this time using a single strand and began filling the circles in with straight stitches. A single strand of a rust coloured floss was used to add additional stitches in the areas between the 'rings'. 

Here are a couple of close ups of the stitching:

  

 

I'll back on Wednesday to show you how I used this little six inch piece of stitching. Until then, enjoy the rest of the hop!

Great news...StencilGirl has a giveaway! 

All comments left on the hop are eligible for the giveaway so 

the more blogs you comment on, the more chances you will have to win. 

Have fun and GOOD LUCK!

The giveaway will close on Friday, January 31th at 11:59PM Central Time. 

Please note:  I have discovered that blogger will only allow/show 200 comments, including my relpies so as much as I love to leave personal thank yous to each of you, I have stopped replying to make sure your comment shows up and therefore gets entered in the draw.  Please know I appreciate all of your thoughtful words!

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Michelle Ward

Mary Beth Shaw

Linda Kittmer-You are here!

Julie Snidle - Hop to see Julie next please...

Judy Shea

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Carolyn Dube

Mary C. Nasser

Janet Joehlin

Kirsten Reed

Maria McGuire

A Simple Solution...

This piece is back on track.  Last week I showed you the stitching I had started in the shadow areas, and I was saying that it wasn't working for me.  Well, it turns out I just needed to lengthen the stitch and put it on a 45º angle to achieve the texture I want, with enough contrast to show up.  This stitching should be done soon (I hope) so that I can get to the machine quilting of the background.

I'll be back with an extra post tomorrow, to reveal the finished piece that I've called 'Stepping Stones'.  If you're a new follower, it began with a skein of thread as inspiration and then involved a lot of hand stitching that you can see here and here.  

Have a great day!