Candytuft fairy finished

Flower spray with added bling

Remember when I said

"that bit should stay relatively unadorned" ?

 I thought about it 

and I thought it needed some more bling

before

and a bird 

After

I also asked Cathy Kezerian what she thought about it.

Her advice was the web needed to look like it attached to something,          not just hang in the air. 

so I extended the yellow flower spray from the other side of the spider

Added white iridescent sequins to the green trim

Which makes it look less like that nasty fake easter candy people used to use for decorating cake when I was a kid

You know, the spongy stuff that's "edible" but tastes like disappointment

Added clear iridescent sequins and white beads to the white seam treatment

I originally made an embroidered bird for this spot but it ended up being too big,  which made room to gave this little fellow a home

It's made with bullion's and 2 kinds of tubular net ribbon for the wings head and tail

This added just enough to make it more but not too much

It just goes to show when your are unsure, ask 

Feeling Scattered

 The news just keeps getting worse so I have turned it off.

This week has been the kind that makes me feel randomized.

Like I have gotten nothing done

Like I have to start from the beginning

and will get nothing done ever again

Well that's just silly.

We had 2 days of bright sunny weather that were warm enough to go outside and work in the garden

So I got a bunch of needed things done there. I fixed the broken raised bed and made a new one. Turned the compost bin and started to move the old one into the new one and scraped the moss off the concrete around it, Yes that's a thing around here. Started to clean out the garage so we can fix the leak, that has developed in the roof, over the winter.

Taken my MIL to an appointment a day all this week. they got all piled up together because a few needed to be rescheduled when someone in the office got covid. ugh. They couldn't do it all on one day and get it over with? She's 90 this year and slowing down quite a bit but still going, on sheer stubbornness.                                                                                                                                                 I wish she would ask for help before things go pear-shaped but she "Doesn't want to bother us, dear"

The car had to be taken in for oil and filter service and a computer update, so we won't see them again for another 6,000 miles. I love my Hybrid!

So I have been running around getting groceries and other chores done, between picking up and dropping off, since I can't "just sit there". sound exhausting yet? 

Meanwhile, I have gotten a few little things prepared for doing.

Yellow scraps for the RSC, little stuffed velvet birds birds for Mary Jo Heiney's class, finished fa few more orange peel blocks for an applique project. and finishing the last little side of the candytuft fairie CQ block. There are things in flight, as always, that need gathering and prep, before I start on them everything needs to be organized or It all feels out of control. 

Candy Tuft Fairie

Isn't she fun!?!

OK I know a big shiny spider is not what most people call fun

 bUt

Shes so pretty!

I'm still working out this corner of the block

so It's not entirely done, done yet

Though in the whole scheme of the block it may not need more

Like I said I don't know yet

Maybe that bit should stay relatively unadorned

to give the eye somewhere to rest

The more I look at it the more I like that Idea

I just know I need to think about it for a bit

The yellow SRE flower spray came out nice 

And this bush of Orange flower beads

I added a few Bees

and one who went visiting our girl

Small Beaded pin

 It's just a little bitty thing

A pin

A request

Took almost no time but so satisfying

Little Brown Jacobin Finished!

So here is the last little bit of sewing left before

and after I used three different greens on the left for that little bit of woven leaf, 

some green overlaying the yellow in lattice stitch on the right And its done!

Finished!

Or That way?

this way?

At home on the wall

Little Brown Jacobean update #3

the full back

I thought I might do a thing, not many embroiderers do

and that is to share the back of my work

I find the backs of things have a messy beauty all their own

I do use a combination of burying my ends and starting with knots

so there is a fair number of both these techniques on show

the big blue flower

I also do a lot of laddering in my satin stitch instead of covering, 

especially when I haven't got a ton of the thread in use

So there you are. my back is just as messy as everyone else's back

It's ok to have a messy back

Here is the finished circle spray made with ribbed filling stitch and a very variegated thread

And the whole of big blue flower at the top

I finished this first but had it rolled up already by the time I remembered to take photos, oops!

RSC more tealing

So here we are with more teal blocks 

and a few more red

These four square blocks are quick and easy to put together

And will eventually be used as borders or corners in something

And everyone needs a few flying geese lying about don't we?

I love the way these look chasing each other

And a few more here the light and dark teal 

work really good together

such an easy way to give a little movement to a static piece

And more Teal birdies to finish off this round

Little brown Jacobean update

I love a good artistic photo don't you? I can't say this one is good but it is an artistic angle.

Anyway I thought you all would like a bunch of close ups.

I really am pleased with how well some of my stitching is coming along

a few more decades of practice and I just might be good at it.

This overlay needs more work though

It's still a bit lumpy

I tried one of those animated stitches you get assaulted with, in pintrest, 

here in the bue/purple rolled stitch

It didn't turn out too bad

I only had to re play it a dozen times to start it off

I used Palestrina stitch for the stem here

I am doing 2 things here to challenge myself

1.) I am trying to use up some thread ends and bits that are too short or consist of a thread or two

which is why I ran out of thread on that one part

2.) Using the techniques I haven't tried yet or that I have shied away from as "Difficult" or tedious

You don't hone your skills by just practicing that which you already now how to do

You have to shake it up by trying new stuff 

Or you get stale

and moldy

Life is to short to loose interest in things that give you joy

Because you followed someone else's rules or

you were afraid to branch out a little,  as long as you don't chop off the branch your sitting on, that is.

RSC Progress

 Weekends are for lazing, lolly-gagging and swanning about like a Persian queen.

That being said I have been busy this week

The RSC colors for this month are teals and aquas

so I pulled these out to use

And made some bird parts

Organized them into wings chests and head and tail 

on this handy-dandy pattern board 

I made from some batting and random fabric strips, 

that are ironed to a piece of cardboard  with fusible steam-a-seam 

It helps me keep things organized

I made a few spools out of scraps

these are about 4.5"x 5"

for my nephew, A couple of boats for a nice quilt

Though something else has been calling me this week

this little brown jacobean thing

It's a good place to practice my stitching

And look! it seams to be following RSC colors!

There has been a little headway, filling in the leaves

It just looks like progress is slow

It is still looking a bit lumpy and somehow it looks empty,

 how does that work? 

I think I need more leaves

Here we are so far

Rainbow scrap challenge

 I have enjoyed the Rainbow scrap challenge from afar for the last 3(?) years or so vicariously through Cathy over at Crazy by Design  

I've even taken a stab at organizing and sewing a color-of-the-month block here and there.

I get distracted by all the other colors I have to play with, It will be a big challenge to keep to one color for a whole month. 

And who says I can't pay attention to one color for a whole month anyway?

Who says it has to be for a whole month?

To join or not to join..........

I do love a good challenge......

Rainbow quilts are so pretty....

I adore making scrap quilts anyway...

There is at least one gypsy quilt in the leftover block basket..

So what am I waiting for?

It's not like the scrap pile is getting any smaller.

So here it goes first up a few spinning spools. 

They are 4.5 x 6ish. These are nice and quick and use up just a little of the 1"-1 1/4" strips I have laying around. 

I may even shake it up and use more angular bits, after all, who's thread drawer is this neat? 

I will be making as many of these as I can stand over this year.

Its strange, I have this dearth of red in my may piles of scrap, 

I like red and thought for sure I would have had more.

Even after I made a red scrappy basket out of the little pieces!

It could be this is why I have washed out over the years

Because I have made a few scrap baskets, for my scraps in years past. 

These are great for all the little pieces you get after a big project 

and they are squishy enough you can nest them if they aren't too full, 

but boy do they chew up time in the making!

I only did one side on this one and it took a few hours of crumb catching, 

and if you are forcing yourself to sew something,

ANYTHING!

it will put one off making them for a while.

I also made some birdies with red breasts or wings or breasts and wings. 

These are fun little critters to make, but are really fiddly and have many moving parts to them.

In order for me to enjoy making them, I had to figure out a system to streamline the process, 

so I broke it down into 3 piles 

of breast and back wing, 

head and tail, 

and front wing

Then sew it together 4x4 and so on.

From there it got really simple and fun to mix and match, 

so I can make them as colorful or as tonal as I want!

As long as you have enough 2" squares to make them.....

some fresh white fat quarters were sacrificed to make these babies.

Viva la white fat quarters!

A little brown Jacobean

 I had so much fun on my first fore into jacobean embroidery 

I thought I would try again,

on something smaller this time.

I had this nice size scrap of
8" x 12" brown pulled silk in my stash

just big enough for a wall hanging or something

I'm using several different kinds of left over threads for this

the kind you have small twists of 5-6 strands of at the bottom of your basket that never get used 

because there isn't enough left of them or you got the color and it just wasn't right...

You will notice I ran out of one on that big blue heart and just used up another that "kind of" matched.

looking at this my satin stitch is still lumpy, poo!