winters hold

The brightest moon of the year. The Wolf Moon. It hung stark and alone in the sky. sending shadows all through the neighborhood. It was aptly cold out. Winter is holding on to us with its icy grip.

It is Feb. That means another cold month to get through. Just four weeks...Then March. The last month of winter...unless you count last year when winter hung around until..um..well, June.

maybe

just maybe

this year we will have

summer.

My hands, a self portrait

The self portrait challenge for Interept This was a tough one for me. I am the one behind the camera. I shy away from having my photo taken. AND, I really didnt want to post my photo on the web.Soooo, what was I to do? Think outside the box I told myself. And that is how this came about. I am an artist who chooses to work primarily in fabric. With paints and floss. I love embroidery. My hands stitching away would be my self portrait.

Using a photo of my hands stitching on something I did a quick sketch on fabric. using oil pastels I added a bit of color. Floss filled in the feather...I only had a month to do this...I wanted to fill this with leaves and color but with limited time I needed to work on a scale I could manage. The eight inch square would allow me to add details I wanted and yet finish in time. I have been looking at Kantha stitched quilts and knew these simple running stitches were my answer!

The feather was very time consuming. I added some colbalt stitches to bring about a bit of the blue black that one sees in a crows feathers in sunshine. It is hard to get this to show up in a photo but it is effective.

Adding some fabric petals within the hoop. Using squares of folded bits with a french knot to secure them as buds and a colorful butterfly near to my hand were the final bits. For more self portrait reveals stop in at Interept this!

Challenge posting

Teaser. A tiny peek at my challenge piece for Interept This! Photo taken while it was still in progress. Nellie will be posting her work this morning and mine will appear after noon.

Interept this challenge

What are you doing here??? Leap-frog on over to Interept This! Libby and Rian have posted the first challenge pieces today. Click now!

postcard for Nellie

Stitching stitching and still stitching. This is Nellie's post card. I am calling it  Midnight Butterfly.  Yes, it is still here...It will be in the mail to Nellie hopefully by the end of the week.
AND, I have very nearly finished my piece for my Interept this reveal on the 29th. I am in the process of stitching on the sleeve. If you know me you know that is a truly amazing thing. Sometimes the stitching on of sleeves can take years to get added!
 lastly, what happened to bloggers spell check?? Do they not understand that I MUST have spell checking? Did it really go away or am I somehow missing it? That said, please ignore and forgive any and all spelling mistakes...it is all bloggers fault after all...

The sneak peek link.

Time for a sneak peek of the piece I am working on for 'Interpret This !' Blog. Go to the blog for the pic that sheds a bit of light on my self portrait.  click me !
                   And a very Happy Birthday to my mom!!

On paths that find me

Remember these?

No, I have not made any more lately. The ones here were all spoken for. Sent off. Used here for holding lots of stuff. I will make more when I find time.  Now, why am I posting this again?  Well, as of the last few weeks my stat counter has gone through the roof. Why...I wondered. Looking at the paths I see that many, and I mean LOADS of them have found me from this link >
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art54060.asp
So I sent of a thank you e mail to Tamara Bostwick, sewing editor for Bellaonline.  And for those of you who found your way here, Welcome! These baskets are easy to make and have been much sought after by friends and family. You can never have too many it seems!
Paths.  I find such a wonderous asortment of places to visit via the links on blogs I read regularly. Sometimes from following a side bar link and often times from clicking on the commenters link.
Paths will be explored. I like that.

cloth visions

Being just a week or so away from the sneak peek at my 'Interpret This' work I have nothing to show of my stitchings. So this is a post about what is going on in my head. Looking ahead. Daydreaming that seeps into my night dreams. Visions full of cloth with stitches and paint washes. Drawings from the sketchbook transformed onto cloth. Texture added subtly with stitch and batting. Even while I stitch on my current work I am thinking thinking thinking, of these works to be..

Three or even four drawings vie for my attention. Flora and fauna with faces. Bits of color.

leaves,berries and feathers.

sun rays and dew driplets

I still have not really decided on a quilting method for these. Initially I was going to do machine quilting in a free motion method.  Now lately, as this one hangs on my wall, As I live with it day by day. I am thinking of doing hand stitches with floss.  A Kantha varity of running stitch. Tone on tone so as not to distract..Still very much undecided. Still letting the dreams turn it this way and that. Letting it grow and evolve in the background of my days and nights.

Judy Martin said it all

Go here read this I could not have said it as well.

Girlfriends page done!

Another Girlfriends page done ! This one for Joss of Soulbrush. And in the same package that this arrived in I also got back my Girlfriend book. Thank you all for each page! I am not sure exactly how these will be bound and am actually just thinking of hanging them on the studio wall so I can always see them.

And here is a wonderful link to a site with some of the most amazing work to please your eyes! Love this online magazine!    Handeye magazine  Enjoy yourselves!!

Meeting Nellie

A recent Saturday found me sitting at a little side table in Starbucks  next to the windows. The snow was falling in beautiful big fat flakes. A perfect day for our wintry holidays. Across the table from me was a woman whose work I have much admired and writer of a blog I have been reading for several years. The artist I met is Nellie Durand of Nellies Needles . Nellie was in the area visiting family and since I live nearby we decided to try and meet up. I dragged along some of my quilts and while at her sons home we oohhed and aaahhed over each others work. Let me tell you, seeing her quilts in real life was absolutely amazing! The flat photos on the web are fine but in the three D world they shine! I am so lucky to have had this opportunity! Thank you Nellie and thanks to your son and daughter in law for allowing me the visit. On parting Nellie gave me a post card quilt from her lake series. (shown on the left )I have since just about finished up the little postcard I will be sending on to her in Tennessee. One of her most beautiful quilts hangs in the familys living room, Spectrum of Love is even more amazing to see up close. I can see why she would never sell that one in spite of offers! On the tree there were many ornaments made from Nellies hands. It was a wonderful Christmas treat for me!