Creating into 2018

It's that time of year to think of the changes we want to make to ourselves and our lives in the new year. I'm sure you know how it goes by now. Goals, resolutions, new schedules, all this is going to help us change for the better. It's not quite enough though, it never is. There is one thing our lists often miss...

The action part.  Goals and dreams mean nothing without action to take us where we want to go.

So this year, I'm dedicating myself not just to dreaming big, but taking steps every single day towards those dreams. I aim for at least one or two small steps daily, but I am hoping there could be many in a day.

I dropped off blogging a year ago, I was bummed and felt I wasn't finding my voice. So I spent time through last year writing and writing in my scribbly notebooks, thinking and thinking what it is I want to say.

I have read a lot too. Any articles I come across that I could learn from, hoping to find that hidden nugget that I missed inside myself.

In the end I have realized a few important things:

• there is no substitute for doing. Yep, action, the more the better.  What do you miss in your life? Think of the action it will require.


• think in small steps. The actions don't always have to be big.  Little ones matter, and they add up fast when done daily. What small steps can you start today?


• create, create, create! For me what I want to do is create, and that involves getting going, being uncomfortable, taking risks, not putting things off. Not always easy. What are the things that hold you back from taking a small step today?


• don't give up too easy. I do sometimes, I know I do. When something feels like a solid wall, I duck away. Sometimes I take long routes to try to get around the walls, but there is no way over them except to learn to climb. Do you have any walls in your life you're running around?


• be positive! Yes, I have been drowning myself in negativity at various points in my life. I am making good progress on not doing that anymore. Positive thinking is a better way, and it is for everyone. Do you often find yourself slipping down the rabbit hole of negative thoughts?

So now here we are in a new year that can't be wasted. Today is a great day to begin a small step forward.

One little step I am taking is to return to my embroidery journal project. I had a blog for it and even a few people joining, but I am not sure I will resurrect that blog. Maybe.

I have chosen the word create - an active word. It is a reminder to create and to be creative, as often as possible, writing, drawing, painting, embroidery, and many other ways in life.  Above all, I hope to remember to always be active. This is key to moving forward into new paths.

Happy 2018!

Christmas Florals Embroidery

I'm spending the week attempting to catch up on things, but still so far behind, and getting more behind. I spent a week stitching these Christmas Floral Embroideries, which was definitely a week well spent, but I let all else slide while I did that. I am so not a multi-tasker.

I was trying to think which was my favorite. The little bird? Maybe. Definitely a cutie.

 But I really like the reindeer too.

I like them all! They were each fun projects to work on and not at all difficult stitching, but even so, they were still interesting to work on!

Winter Wreath Embroidery

This is one of my designs I did some years ago. I posted it this week on Instagram, and wow what a response I got. The most likes of anything I have posted so far. It's funny, but sometimes you just really cannot predict what people will react to. Projects that I think are great sometimes get no response. But I will say, it's also a matter of your audience. Somethings get lots of likes on Facebook but not elsewhere, and that sort of thing.

I have also found and try to remember this every time I make anything. The number of likes you receive is in no way related to how good or nice the project is or even how well it will sell. Some get lots of likes and no sales, others get very few likes and lots of sales.

Of course, these are only a couple metrics.

There are other things that I think are far more important! Like what you learned from the project, how you felt, and how enjoyable it was to make. I strive hard to only do projects that I really enjoy, ad that includes the pattern, the stitches and the colors.

I can definitely say, every thing I make comes from the heart, and I truly do enjoy the process of making.  And I think it's so important to record this journey we call life in some form or another through writing or pictures.

Tell your story!

Summer Hare Crewel Embroidery

The Hare Crewel Embroidery has been a long favorite of mine. It was fun to design and stitch.

The motif seemed to fun not to play with some more. Way too fun! So I've made a follow up in the series, yes, it will be part of a series, yet to be created, but I have a start! The Summer Hare Crewel Embroidery Pattern is the first.

I love the colors in this! So warm and soft, feels just like a hare out in the meadow.

A couple closeups. I just love embroidery closeups!!

The rest in the series are yet to be created, and I am definitely looking forward to them all. So much fun playing with little animals!

Squirrel Wreath Crewel Embroidery

What a busy stitching week it's been, and it's not over yet! There is still time to work on more projects before it's done. This will be the second finish of the week. It almost makes up for last week's lack of finishes.

 

 These colors were truly a pleasure to work with, so warm and soft.

This is available as a pattern or with the whole kit.

All these projects are learning experiences - the designs, the colors, the stitches. Embroidery really offers limitless possibilities to explore, so keep on stitching, keep on working to express yourself because there is no one else like you, and the world needs your perspective.

Christmas Kitty Embroidery

An embroidery I did last week.

I finished it into a little quilted wall hanging with a vintage lace border.

I'm trying to actually make some of my embroideries into something as I finish them instead of just throwing them on the pile for later. The pile is impossibly big now!!!!

May 2012 Embroidery Journal Project

I've returned! My apologies for the extended away time. I just needed to think about what direction I am headed with my embroidery and other related things including this blog. I'm going to shift the focus a little to include my other thoughts and work regarding what inspires me and what else I create other than just with the needle. It all means something to me and is part of the bigger picture. I hope it "ok" to venture a little outside the bounds of just embroidery, but the other things impact my stitching in many ways, so I will handle things as such.

I have said it before and I will say it again (and probably many more times!), embroidery is an art form, and like all art forms it is an expression of what is inside. Things that you love, that happen to you, that you think, feel, and see all effect what is inside, so it's a useful exercise to examine what in your life guides your self-expression in whichever media you choose. You will learn more about yourself and the world around you if you take the time to contemplate your work and try to find the meaning.

Next I have a new blogging, stitching friend you can visit at Wonderland Woods. Starr is a new blogger and a new embroiderer. It's great to see new people take up the needle, and they should definitely be encouraged! She's been a great help to me in focusing my thoughts and ideas.

 Ok, now for this month's embroidery journal project!

I have stitched this piece on cotton fabric with wool, linen, cotton, and silk threads. Plus some little glass seed beads for sparkle. I painted the fabric with watercolor paints. The blue is a little washed out in my photo, but you get the idea. This project pictures the metamorphosis from frog egg to tadpole. Ok, so only 2 steps are shown in the project. I filled in with little plants and algae. I started with an idea for the project, but I made it without drawing on the fabric, so I could develop it freely as I worked.

The reason I chose this subject is because I have been watching the tadpoles develop this spring. We found a pile of eggs in our backyard a few weeks ago. The water in the yard was draining away and it was starting to freeze. So we scooped up the eggs into buckets and kept them in the cellar. In the days, we hauled them out to get warm, then back at night, changing the water so they would have plenty of oxygen. I watched the eggs develop day by day, then the tadpoles emerged. There are a lot of them!!! It's fun to see them grow and swim around. I am really hoping for a big pile of frogs.

Above is my inspiration for this embroidery.

A new crewel project

I often seem to need some time to re-group after finishing a bigger project like the dragonfly. Most of the time I am too busy stitching to plan out what is next. I did some stitching over Easter on another project I have going, but not much was done. I was taking advantage of the chance to watch the eider ducks, since the males don't stick around. The males have a beautiful black and white coloring and make a woo-wooo sound you can hear from the shore.

Anyways back to the embroidery.

After working with the cotton floss for a couple weeks, it was nice to get back to the wools. Really nice, in fact. It really is my new favorite material now. It's just so soft, and I love the way it looks on the fabric. The threads are thicker than cotton, so there is more dimension to the embroidery.

If you rub against the cotton too much while you work on  your project it tends to get a little fuzzy and loses its shine. Wool doesn't do that. It's already fuzzy to begin with. Which is why the wool looks matte, while the cotton is shinier.

The loose fibers scatter the light. I've read many, many authors refer to this effect as the wools absorbing the light while cotton reflects it, but that simply isn't true. The amount  of light absorbed determines the color, but the shininess depends on the how many directions the light is scattered by the surface of the material.

The wool has a bumpy surface, so it scatters the light in many directions. It has very little shine. Ok, enough of the physics lesson. Time for the little sheep - which are always a favorite subject for embroidery!

 

I used fairly simple stitches on this one on purpose, since these crewel projects have been generating inquiries from beginners. If I succeed in bringing a few new converts to embroidery, then I will have made one of my larger goals. And by the way, my other goal with the crewel, if I can manage, is to try to show that crewel embroidery is not defined by the patterns! They can be fun, modern and playful or whatever else you want to make them. I am planning on revisiting a few of the patterns I already have made with crewel and see what can be done with them.

I already have the next project in mind, so I hope to be able to get started on it very soon! I am actually going to make an embroidery with a use in mind. It's going to be a cover for a little foot-stool we picked up at a flea market. And yes, it will be with wool again!

The Hare Crewel Embroidery

This is my finish for the week:

As you see more crewel embroidery. This has a little bit of spring feeling to it, which is good timing because the weather is improving quickly! I didn't really plan it, but this to me has a little bit of old time sampler feeling. I like that. I might think of other ways to bring that feeling out.

I wrote a long post about Pinterest, but I wasn't sure this was the best place for it. I have to think about it. I am not writing about how to use it, but rather how to protect yourself from it. They are basically uploading your photos to their server and claiming ownership whenever someone "pins" something of yours. A flurry of articles is being written, and most are calling it wholesale copyright infringement. I think a lot of crafters and artists need to be very wary. Personally I welcome people to use my images IF I get proper credit, but in this world, that is not a given, so I am going to be marking my photos from now on, even if I think it ruins them in a way.

Now I have to see what projects there are for doing! I am waiting on some needlepoint canvas to come. Am I about to start needlepoint? Well, there will be some but what I really need is a sturdy fabric so I can try my hand at some projects with more dimension in them. There is lots to learn. It should be fun!

Creature of the Deep Blue Sea

I've been busy working on more wool stitching! My subject this time in an octopus.

I wanted a semi-realistic shape so I did a photo search and got a feeling for how the head should be. The tentacles are a bit exaggerated, but I wanted them long so you get the feeling of them floating around in the water.

After I made the octopus, I added the seaweed on the sides and the middle. I managed to use this week's TAST stitch, the feather stitch in there! And even better I found a great use for the wheat ear stitch. Makes perfect sea plants.

Lots of french knots and a starfish finished off the embroidery. I really filled the fabric this time! Next up is a sheep. I already made the design.

And finally, we went out to the flea markets yesterday as we often do. I found something a bit special this time.

Unfortunately the name and name plate are missing, but this is a Willcox and Gibbs sewing machine from about 1885. It has no bobbin and makes a single thread chain stitch. This design was patented in the 1850's. I can tell you, this little machine isn't a lightweight. They surely don't make them like this anymore! In the background is an antique Husqvarna sewing machine from the early 1900s. So now the count is up to 3 antique machines. I swear I am not a collector, it's all Mr Floss Box's fault!