Needlepoint

One of the many things I've dabbled in over my lifetime of fiber art endeavors.

 I inherited these unfinished needlepoint canvases from my grandmother & great aunt. 

They graced our dining room chairs decades ago. 

I'm glad I saved them when I recovered the chairs. 

These large moths intrigue me.

The last one is from Mr. Finch.

His world is worth taking a look at. 

I can see some large flying creatures in my future/

 

 

 

Pods 

Since nature is my biggest inspiration I'll share my love of pods. 

 

Many of my stencils are inspired by pods. I have a Pinterest page 

dedicated to images I've saved.

My much loved lotus pod I use often.

 

 

An example of one of my pod like stencils.

 

Realized I totally missed N. Will get that out in a few. 

Spoiler alert...Needlepoint. 

 

 

Punching Holes in It 

I like my tools for art stuff.

Japanese hole punch, the one with the wooden handle.These things are great for small holes in layers of paper, bookbinding, tags. Multiple size "bits". 

Good 'ole paper hole punch. I use mine all the time. 

Punch set for grommets. 

My Olfa blade. I cut larger holes in my vessels for hand holds. Tedious but effective. 

I have several awls.  Use them a lot. Not pictured.

     

  

Annotate

It's what I do to my own patterns for the fabric bins, bags & vessels I create for storage of all kinds.  What a great word. It names what we do to make things clearer and more ordered. Also in recipes. Makes it so much easier to prep & assemble.

I discovered I needed to make notes in order to recreate what worked for each vessel, as well as how much fabric to cut for the body, handles, & any other pieces.

 

 

 

 

 So many places to display notes in my studio space. Keeping it all organized is a challenge.

 

It's been awhile & my blogging has really fallen off.  I'm adding it to the pile of obligations in my life right now. After 6 years of retirement I am filling in at my old employer for a 3 month maternity leave. We will see how this goes. I start April 1st.  Right along with the A to Z challenge.

 

Still Here

   It's been such a long time since I posted.  Almost a year.   

  Wanted to share a bit of what I've been up to.

 

        I am diving into a few calls for fiber art & my local Holiday Show.

 

 

I have lots of smaller vessels of all sorts, on display for sale at

Crooked Tree Art Center.

I will be at the kick off party tomorrow, Friday Nov. 10th. Hope you can stop by. 

There will be wine!

Sneak peek of my offerings.

Other things I've been up to in the studio & beyond:  

A little book binding repair. My 1975 copy of The Joy of Cooking.

 

 She was in rough shape.
Broke out the book binding skills.

Made a new cover.

 

Created a stencil of the original title font. 

Used book cloth & marbled paper from my stash.

 

 Did some foraging of ramps on North Fox Island this spring. Pickled ramps & ramp pesto from the leaves. YUM!!! 

 

 I can't go camp on North Fox without a hand stitching project. 

 

There is a blueberry U pick farm just up the road. We make sure we have 20-30 lbs. in the freezer to get us through the year. Plus we discovered a mulberry tree in the park we walk in almost daily. Beautiful.

 

We have been to some wonderful places over the past year. My go to place to post what I've been up to is Instagram. Follow me there & you can see more day to day goings on.

Holiday Market Time

 

It's been quite awhile since you've seen me here.

I'm back!  You can come see me &my fabric storage solutions the next 2 days at 

                             Crooked Tree Art Center right here in Traverse City. 

 

 I've been creating a lot of new pieces since my last post. 

Which happens to be over a year ago!  

So much has happened since then. But today we will focus on the art 

you will see from me today & tomorrow. A few process hosts so you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

 

Once I get in the groove I can't stop. Especially if there is an event in the near future.

 

 All packed up & ready to set up today.  I hope Kristi (Crooked Tree VP) made cookies!

My plan is to get back to blogging. Somehow I just couldn't muster the energy.

Feels like the drought is over.  A lot to share. Hubby & I have been on some amazing adventures.

We went to Africa a couple months ago & it was AMAZING!

 

 

We traveled with a group of 12. Stay tuned.

In the meantime I hope to see you soon at the Marketplace.

A to Z Challenge in April Might as Well

I was rather serious about not participating this year. 

In fact, we were to be off on a trip to Italy in April. 

Guess what? That is not happening.

As our world changes beneath our feet it feels right to once again be committed

to post daily for a month. Might as Well!

My theme will be focusing on things that inspire my creativity.

 Images, nature, people, projects, books, food, the list goes on.  

These are all things that make us human and give cause for appreciation.

Been painting lots of canvas for more & more vessels. 

Lots of time at the sewing machine. 

What are you doing to stay centered, connected, fed, encouraged? 

I would love to hear from you!

This is what things feel like in my head at the moment.