Something on Saturday

Cow 98

I just found this laddie.

I think he is fun.
He was with a totally different collection of creatures on my antique books bookcase.

Cyclamen

A bit more colour even though we had a frost yesterday.

These are cyclamen living at the left side of the front garden.

They have finally begun to spread. These were the type you are gifted and are meant to keep as houseplants. But when they finished, I planted them instead.

They have done well. They are often there in the spring, having lasted the winter. But they have spread slowly compared to the little ones on the other side of the front garden. I think I started with 2 or 3.

For these normal ones, I think I had around a small bag of corms to start with. They were meant to be planted outdoors, so they thrive under the Mock Orange Blossom bush. They are much smaller.

And they have been generous with their spreading. Even some come up in the grass! I would like to get some different colours.

Cyclamen are my most favourite flower. The Thoughtful Man gave me a plant when we first started dating. I don't think I had ever heard of them before. I was amazed at how they grow - twirled up and pointing down. Then before you can blink, almost, they open and fling their petals backward. This is a link to a time lapse video which shows different buds opening.
The Maker loves breaking the rules for creation now and then!

I like Thankful Thursday

Some of the Autumn Colour round about.
I like the contrast between the orange rose and the blue recycling bin.

I like the leaf colour that dances along the path.

and the letters written in the sky


I like the wonderful sunsets lately.

toward the west

toward the southeast
 

Right. That has to be all for today.
This blog post is brought to you by the colour orange.

To see more likes, check out LeeAnna's blog where she has a list of links.

Apologies

Not getting much done. Debilitating Back Spasms.
Thank God for Doctors that straight away take you serious.

In the meanwhile...
getting back to stitching on one of the Long Skinny pieces for 70,273.

Something on Saturday

Cow 97
A few silly ones today.

The top two cows are actually oven gloves. I haven't the heart to use them and get them all stained. So they live in a drawer. They only come out if we are involved in doing games for pancake day.😀
The other one I had forgotten about, so I have hung it up near the sink so I can laugh!

Random...
2 hair scrunchies just came to light when I was looking for something else! I had forgotten about them!


And I have been debating on putting this one up. Strictly speaking, it isn't a cow. So, I will put it with these scrunchies.

My Mom made it. I get what she was doing - cow over the moon and cat with a fiddle... Only the cat hasn't got a fiddle.
I am not particularly fond of cats, so this one is also a soft doorstop. 🙀 for one of the doors that is most likely to be caught with the wind. My husband's wardrobe is behind the door. So, if the other doorstop isn't put back, this one is just by the door frame to make sure the door doesn't bang.
Which is why the whiskers are in a great mess!😾

(remember, all the doorstops are mostly for the dog who is afraid of banging doors!)

Stitch on it - 26

Stitch on paper
Cable Chain Stitch
I have done this stitch before on fabric. Somehow it was very hard to keep the tension right doing it on paper. But I got there in the end!

A traveller returns

The piece I did last year for Stretching Art has returned this week.

Sewing Large.

Makes me want to do another version. The first one was called Sew Large. It shows a large eyehand sewing needle.

The next challenge from Stretching Art and Tradition is about the number 20.
"It’s a big milestone for Stretching Art and Tradition. We turn 20! For SAT20, we invite you to explore the number Twenty in any way you can think of. Twenty Dollars buys a meal, twenty stitches to the inch (is there such a thing?), 2’s company, 3’s a crowd, 20 is a party, twenty pieces of fabric. We’re excited to see where you go with this theme."
I have a couple ideas, but probably won't be able to start it for a while.
If you are interested in taking part, let me know and I will connect you with the details about signing up.

Bead on 4-10 November

week 45 - 2018

bead on fabric

Something on Saturday

Cow 96

This is a companion piece to the one from last week.

"Cows in the Woods"

Birthday plant - just a fiver!

On Wednesday it was the birthday of the Thoughtful Man

We went to the Garden centre. I had a voucher for a free cup of coffee...He likes coffee. I had hot chocolate.

We had in mind a plant or plants for a space in the back garden.

He finally settled on this one. A Hebe 'Inspiration'

The label said £16. When we got to the till, it said £7.50! I had a voucher for £2.50. So, it was only £5! (Good for the pocket). Plus I had a voucher for double reward points. So, something else will cost less down the road.
That was a good day out!
So, we got home, and when we got to the front door, straight away we realised the plant was just right for the space where he had dug out the overgrown ivy.

And within 15 minutes, it was already planted!

I like the variety of leaf textures and shapes.
Looking forward to it growing with the other bushes there. I am not sure what the whole flowering season is, but the purple will go with the lavender.

And another Happy Birthday to the Thoughtful Man!

I like Thankful Thursday

More Autumn is happening around here.
I like the glow that comes with the combo of the red with green and the sun...great mix!

Maples near the hospital car park.

and in the garden

The Acer by the back fence (magnolia in front right)

Deep colours in the bush by the back door. Which I thought was a blueberry bush, but the Gardener says no.

Indoors, I am waking up the Amaryllis. They are ready for it. Even stored in the shed since the spring, they all have a little growth.

This photo was taken on the 31st October.

And here - spot the difference from 1 week! Actually, the second one in had grown inches within a couple days! I think the 2 on the left are still thinking about it.

I love Amaryllis! You probably recall the regular reports last year! I woke the first one up in October last year - then bought some more. This year I waited til November, in hopes that they flower together near Christmas.

This past weekend was also the weekend we packed up the Christmas Shoe boxes to send for Operation Christmas Child.

The Thoughtful Man and I enjoy finding bits and pieces to put in our boxes. We like to select special specific things beyond toiletries and school supplies. I like to imagine who might receive the box. I heard about a girl who had recently began sewing for family and friends.

The box she got had sewing supplies 😁! So I thought i can do that! So the older girl has sewing things.

The younger girl has sharing things...fun stuff to do with friends or a sister.

The younger boy had Plasticine for making and games to do with friends.

The older boy, I am thinking likes building and music,like my son did. So his special things are a recorder and a small Meccano set. I hope they all enjoy them!

And then, here are all the boxes done by the people in our small church.

There is Pat, our organiser, trying to stay out of the photo!

How exciting to see that 30 children can have the joy of opening a box and discovering the treasures inside!
For more likes, check out the links on LeeAnna's blog.

Stitch on it - 25

And this is the latest embroidery on paper.
Buttonhole Wheel Stitch - 25
Stitch on Paper



variations and exploring some ideas for design

Stitch on it - 24

I just realised I never posted the last Stitch on Paper sample. no. 24

Knotted Cretan stitch variations-embroidery stitch samples on paper. This kind of stitch sometimes takes a while to click!
Pardon for the stray threads! I did this around the 19th of October and took the photo with my phone. This was shortly after my cataract surgery, so I didn't notice them! 😕

Bead on 28 October-3 November

Week 44 - 2018

Bead on fabric

This week involved an end of month and a turning to the next line.

zoom out a bit to see that area

and then further...this is the whole work so far. 2 months to go.

As I have said before, I thought more of the cloth would be covered. But, even if I don't carry on next year, it is big enough to be a panel in something.

Something on Saturday

cow 95

Another whimsical piece I made.

"Cows in my Field"

Ramshackle ideas 22

Desert house. The look changes with the stitching.

Somehow enhances the character.

Now to deal with the threads. I have started stitching the forest section.

I like Thankful Thursday

I like the colours of fruit and veg in the autumn.

Every year for quite sometime now I have decorated the tables at the front of the church for our Harvest Service. This year, I wasn't sure how I'd be after the op on my eye. The Harvest Service was less than a week from my op. I didn't know if I could manage bobbing up and down to get bits and pieces out of the bags of produce people had brought for the display.

So, the other ladies did it! As I have been telling them, it is about putting one thing next to another and letting the colours God made do the work!

I really enjoyed seeing how other people put things together this year...(out of the random amount of eyes I could see from!)

(And if these photos are fuzzy, you know why!)

I like making bread, too. So that was my job. Put the stuff in the machine and let it work...only it wasn't that simple. Still, the end results looked good. (See if you can spot them amongst the display.) and then we sliced them up for the meal.

On Saturday, I went to a local SAQA meeting. We had the privilege of having input and guidance from Richard McVitis through a day long presentation and discussion about the professional side of being an artist - things like what you call yourself, marketing yourself, showing work, pricing work etc, etc. Very Good! I remember seeing his work at the Knitting and Stitching Show several years ago. I loved it.

front and back of a teaching sample...but which is which!

Quiet and sedate. But with obvious delight at the process of making stitches.

Richard also spoke about some of the artists he was inspired by. I loved the look of the work by Anne Wilson. There was a whole book about her work, so I snapped a few photos so I could remember it.

 Richard's work is minute - extremely small stitching. Much of it is about time. The visual connect with Anne's work is strong. 

Especially the work she did, at the time of writing the book, using human hair as thread.

Not so many I likes this week, but a lot of what is going on visually for me. ( not just because of my left and right eyesight!)

oh, and a bit of space!

 I gave this away to the ladies who run InStitches...to use with transfer printing. (We met at their studio workshop space for the SAQA meeting.)
Someone was getting rid of it a few years ago and I thought, "I will use it to do stuff with transfer paints!"
But I didn't.
So, I decided that since InStitches teaches that technique, but have been using an iron, they could do more with it than I could. and I have the added benefit of space behind my overlocker to do somethings with that! I had some ideas for Christmas presents. Whether I will do them? we shall see.

I am very thankful for aluminium foil! On Sunday, we came home to a cold oven and grey dust over the food that was meant to be cooking on automatic in the oven. SO glad everything was covered with aluminium foil!
The Thoughtful Man got to work cleaning the oven. (He loves cleaning and sorting! No, you can't have him!) And discovered it was the heating element...again.

So, he went upstairs and came back with a replacement. The heating element seems to go periodically, so last time he ordered 4! I told you he was Thoughtful. 😍
So, dinner was delayed, but the new element worked and the food cooked properly. I guessed it had been about 1/3 of the way through the time it was meant to cook. We ate, enjoyed it and haven't become ill. 😷

Go have a look at LeeAnna's blog where she has links to 'likes' others have posted.