Ta-Da!

I finished "Sea Garden," and I have to tell you, this was so fun--it put me in kind of a ridiculously good mood. Ever get so cheerful it kind of worries your family? That was me, finishing this up last night.

More Fun with Circles

Sometimes, no matter what else I'm supposed to be doing (and there's always something, right?), I carve out a few hours to sit at my work table and play. There's just no other way to ensure that new ideas will come. If the muse arrives, my dear, and you are in the basement putting in a load of whites, well, she goes her merry way, and when you crawl up those cellar stairs again, just a hint of her perfume lingers. It smells like apples--no, lilac, no--. Gone.
Well, I'm not falling into that sad trap. Uh-uh. Now who's gonna clean up all these teensy scraps?

Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes?

Nope, just metallic floss, which might be harder to make happen. Have you ever worked with this stuff? It's a challenge, folks--the strands appear to hate one another and hope to remain as far apart as possible at all times, which makes knotting the stuff near impossible. But sometimes--for the silvery tootsies of a bride, say--it's worth the effort.
In a marathon session yesterday, I managed to finish this wedding portrait (and yup, that's the bride, decked out in purple and red--awesome, right?), whilst A. watched football (streaming from the internet--who knew?) with her dad. The running commentary was a little distracting (like, at one point, A. said, "That guy's butt cheeks just wiggled."), but I did it, and the results are, I think, bright and joyful. Phew.

Like a Talisman

Miss A. received a surprise invitation for one more trip to the beach--September 25 and, yes, it's warm enough here in Maine, which is odd. Well, she didn't have to be asked twice.
That left me free for a few unexpected hours, and what did I decide to do?
I photographed her beautiful paper clay seal because I couldn't wait to show it to all of you. It's lovely, and looking at it, holding it, fills me with with quiet. Nice.

Ye Ol' Number Generator Says. . .

. . . the winner is Del, who said, "Fantastic idea! Your sachet looks fantastic. I'd love to win one of the books. Thanks for giving us a chance!" Thanks, Del--send me your mailing address (at the email on the right sidebar), and I'll send off your calendar and your circles!

Thanks to all of you for playing (and for encouraging me to languish in my jammies)--it's always so fun to see new names pop up in the comments and to find out a little bit more about who's reading this little old blog. Some of you provided links to projects you've been working on, and you should know that I love seeing things you've made that are inspired by my tutorials or just generally felty. Feel free to email any time if you've got something you want to show me. Unless it's pictures of your clean house. I'm not into that. ;-)

Giving stuff away is a kind of housework, right?

I come to you from my craft desk, my feet nesting in a pile of felt scraps, my pajamas covered in bits of string, and yes--I should be folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, blah, blah, blah, but wouldn't you prefer that I give you things? I knew you'd understand.
That's my sachet up there in the top right corner of this new-for-2011 Sewing Calendar, which is absolutely stuffed with good tutorials. And I want you to have one! Also, since one of the questions I hear most is about how I cut all those felt circles, I thought you might like to get a little stash of ready-to-applique circles along with your calendar. If I'm right, leave a comment, and I'll shut 'em down and pick a winner Wednesday at midnight.

Meanwhile, I have a lot of cleaning to avoid.

Factory-ish

Okay, I guess you can't really call it mass production. I only made seven, but I'm pretty sure I could embroider one of these little guys in my sleep at this point. I'm in the process of making a set of ornaments featuring a child's drawing, for her mommy to give away as Christmas presents this year.
Meanwhile, Sophie and Annabelle are collaborating on a graphic novel project. (Do you think the state of Maine will consider Manga an art unit? ;-))

One More Abby's Birthday Post

I made the above embroidered portrait for my little sister, Abby, for her 26th birthday, based on the photo below--
--and here's how she turned out. Looks pretty lionhearted, right?

Time for an Annabelle interlude?

I thought so.

This drawing was Annabelle's birthday present to my younger sister, Abby, who loves images wherein animals (or cowboys) ride on other animals, specifically when one of the animals--which should be very small--is rendered large. I can't explain why the chipmunk is eating a grape whilst mounted. That doesn't seem safe.

P.S. You can click if you want to see it larger, and why wouldn't you?

Words and Pictures

Here are a couple of Embroidereading entries that struck our fancy, both of them because of the excellent combination of imagery and text. The rules stated that the hoop could include artwork, as long as the words themselves took center stage, and so many of the entries pulled this off in ways I didn't even imagine. In the top hoop here, for example, Karen managed--largely through the selection of perfect contrasting colors--to stitch her poem right over the world's most appealing cabbage. (And it didn't hurt that said cabbage reminded me of my gifted and lovely friend Sam.)
The poem in this second hoop happens to make use of one of my favorite words (augury--sounds like August and sugary, so good), but more importantly, I adore Under the Neem Tree's sweet bird on a branch, those cheerful pink flowers against the blue background. And--let's be honest--I'm totally envious of her perfectly-stitched lettering.

New images are being added to the pool, and I'm itching to add some of my own. We're chilling (quite literally--it's cold here!) in Aroostook County with good friends, and can you believe I didn't bring a single hoop or thread? But as soon as I get home...

Oh, heck. Why was this so hard?

I'm not a very competitive person--I'm a perfectionist, yes, and dedicated to improving everything I do. For me, it's all about that time and effort, that movement toward satisfaction with myself. So why did I decide to host a CONTEST?

Well--because I thought it might encourage a group of women--interested in words and stitches--to make themselves known to each other (and to me!). And because I thought it might inspire commitment and excitement and generate some awesome work. Um, it soooo did. But the byproduct was a panic attack (for me and for the wonderful Corinne of September House, who agreed to help me). Having loved every entry--and, somehow, every woman who entered--I had no desire to select. Instead, I wanted to throw a party for all of us. I'm thinking tea, cupcakes, embroidery hoops. . .

But I'm a woman of my word, and so is Corinne--so we did it. And it was hard. Sometimes Corinne and I had different opinions, which reflects not two vastly divergent sensibilities but really just an embarrassment of riches--and that's why in the days to come, I'm going to continue featuring "honorable mentions" and talking about why we love them so dearly. But for now, here are the beautiful hoops that have taken the prizes.

In the kid-verse category, it was a legitimate tie (and I'm not just being wishy-washy!)--between Mama Lindsay's amazing "Boom" (How can you not love those fireworks--not to mention the little girl who spoke the words?):

and Poppy's (and Patrick's!) "Roses are Red." As my fellow judge remarked, this one just feels like it comes together, which we all know is pretty rare.
The quoted verse category turned out to be our toughest pick--there were just so many wonderful entries, so much good poetry (and song lyrics!), so many talented stitchers pulling out all the technical stops (many of which you'll see in later posts). But Corinne and I agreed that the simplicity, ingenuity, and apropos-ness made Idle Hands' touching "Absence" special. I'm truly moved by the Merwin quote, but it's elevated, I think, by the continuous, hand-written quality of the stitched text, not to mention the turn to red on the word "color" and that needle at the end that makes the sentiment feel suddenly literal:
And finally--I adore every single entry in the "original verse" category because it takes such courage to present one's own words, one's own feelings, to strangers (or even to family members--sheesh) and because they're all just so good. Sarah's "Trapeze" somehow managed to create a conversation between the contemporary poet and stitcher, and a woman from the long past who created the embroidery that shares the hoop with Sarah's own gorgeous words:
So that's all--for now. If you've won a prize, please send me your full name and address via the email on my right sidebar, and I'll send off your goodies! If you entered, I love you. No, really. And even if you didn't enter, I hope you'll share your own "embroidereads" at the flickr group, which the members have decided to keep open for, like, ever.

Some Like it Hot--I Do Not

I feel like my summer is in this doodle-sampler. Hours sitting under an umbrella by the public pool while Miss A. splashed and squealed with a friend. Evenings sitting next to my beloved while he watched Star Trek, the day's first cool breezes erasing the heat from our bodies and our minds. Into these hundreds (thousands?) of stitches, I poured the season's stresses--a chipped tooth, a bat encounter, a hit-and-run on our poor car, and other things too tender to mention.
Now, as the wise always tell us will happen, these things too are passing, and what remains as a memento of my worry and my joy is what my hands made while I moved through both.
And it's doing a nice job covering the thermostat right now so I don't have to see how hot this last (please?) hot day really is. We are wilting, folks. But I'll be back with results of the BRILLIANT Embroidereading in a couple of days when things cool down around these parts. Wait for it!