Embroidery Imbroglio No More!

A few weeks ago I posted the beginnings of an embroidery project which sadly featured bird legs that were awkward at best, and downright mutant at worst. Despite Carla's kind comments, I opted to surgically remove the initial stitching and try the legs again.

I'm must happier with this version, and as you can see, I added Dr. Seuss-like flowers and embellishments for the bird.

I'm loving the chain stitch. I used it for the bird's tail feathers and kind of for its head and the dangling vines. Making big, open loops is a great way to cover a lot of real estate without spending a lot of time...great for someone who likes more immediate gratification like moi. Apparently the random stitches on the bird's wing are examples of a technique called "seeding"...who knew?

Here's are a couple of closeups of the chain stitching:

Now the question is what to do with my embroidery. Covering a pillow is the obvious choice, but given how my cats love to shed and drool on such things, I'm reluctant to give them another "toy" to play with...

A riot of pink

A friend of mine, Grant Johnson, sent me a series of photographs he took on a recent family vacation. The colors in this one were so glorious I asked him if I could share them in my blog.

Thank you, Carla!

When my friend Carla Sonheim posted this painting in her blog, I commented that I absolutely adored it. For some reason it reminded me of a scene from "Out of Africa"...a simple house surrounded by a vast savannah with low, stark trees. Or maybe it's a thatched roof hut on a quiet island beach...

And guess what...less than week later, I received a surprise package from Carla, with that very painting! And it's even more beautiful in person. When I thanked her she just said, "Well, I'm going through things before we pack up and move so I thought it'd send it to you."

I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and generosity...and all the more excited that she'll be moving to Seattle sometime this summer, close to where I live.

Yahoo for artgirl friends!!!!!!!!!

Junque Journal Workshop Preview

As some of you may know, I'm working with Salvage Gals Beth and Lisa on the first-ever Salvage Studio Art Party on September 19. There's a ton more information and registration forms on their blog, but here is a little preview of the Junque Journal workshop I'll be leading.

Of COURSE there are birds involved...

It will be fabulous fun. I've already started putting together the journal kits, and am having a blast finding fun old books to convert into journals. Next will come coordinated papers, fabric snippets and secret embellishments. Hooray, indeed!

Again, thanks to my friend Jason for the blur-free photos!

Rose Blocks

This is a little something I made out of worn out wooden alphabet blocks. I glued snippets from old books and music sheets onto a smooth side of each block, hot-glued all of the blocks together to form the bigger 3x4 block, and then covered the edges with still more text from an old nursery rhyme book. I glued little fabric tabs on top so that it could be hung.

My patient, patient friend Jason, who is a photographic whiz spent time with me this evening getting me set up to take pictures that aren't blurry. We finally found the magic settings, so even though I was tired and grungy from gardening, I took a few shots to post.

Cheery, cherry bird

I'm posting this just because it makes me happy to look at it. I got the image from Vintage Moth. I do notice I'm more observant about bird legs since my embroidery imbroglio.

I looked up "imbroglio" and found that one definition is a "confused mass". So this wasn't really an imbroglio...but I just really like the way those two words sound together.