Stitching My Story

Back To School Ranger Cookies...

Yippee! We are headed back to school this week. Three of us in college means a wide array of classes and books and fees and supplies and snack-needs. When it comes to classes, one or another of us will be taking the following:

Raster illustration, vector illustration, history of graphic design, creative writing, poly sci: contemporary issues, intro to astronomy, statistics, medical anthropology, and an english class that's focused entirely on anthropology. Sheesh!

When it comes to snacks, the following will do nicely:

Mix Dry: 2c. flour, 2c. oatmeal, 2c. coconut, 2c. cornflakes, 1t. salt, 1t. baking soda, 2t. baking powder 

Mix Wet: 1/2c. butter, 1/2c. shortening, 1c sugar, 1c brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1t. vanilla

Mix wet and dry together.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes.

View From the Little House...

Unit Four went to visit his big brother earlier this month which left {dear cowboy} and I CHILDLESS (sigh... don't even get me started on this topic).

One afternoon we visited a couple of antique stores in a neighboring town and I fell in love with a jar of old game pieces.

When we got home, I decided to gather up some favorite game pieces of my own.

I am thinking that, besides being yummy to look at, grandbaby B will enjoy emptying the jar from time to time to spell out words.

A Change in the Weather...

It is cold for the first time

in a long time.

I am happily bundled inside

in warm clothes

reading, drawing, baking.

Gray and chilly are

among my favorite canvases

for painting a day.

Colors are brighter

by contrast.

 

My Blackberry has a crush on your Blackberry...

View From a Happy Day...

 

An early morning run with my BFF, followed by an iced mocha and a backwards-knitting discussion. The woman is downright AMBIDEXTROUS when you put a set of knitting needles in her hand.

A bit of embroidery-- continuing on with the blind contour hand drawings and trying to decide on a quote to put on the pocket.

A new bobbin full of hand dyed wool, along with the realization that I need to occasionally step away from the cool side of the color wheel.

Gathering to Stitch...

I was invited to join a local stitching group and decided to make little "getting to know you" gifts. I think I will make cookies too. There is no shame in WOO-ing new stitching friends with cute buttons and yummy treats, right?

; )

Using Blind Contour Drawings as Embroidery designs...

"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love being in school again, but I find myself CRAVING fabric, needles and thread. Funny thing is, after having been immersed in brushes and paint, drawaing pads and pencils, and a LOT of Adobe Creatvie Suite these past six months, fabric INSPRIATION has been elusive.

Today, cleaning out my school bag in preparation for summer classes (photography, typography and visual dialogue), I found a gazillion blind contour drawings-- many of them of my hands, which were unfailingly nearby when I needed something to draw. Even though these drawings are out of proportion and wonky (and maybe even BECAUSE they are), I like them! I like the freedom they represent. Nobody expects blind contour drawings to LOOK like what they are and that quiets the noisy little critic in me.

Inspiration hit! I grabbed my grubby, plain art apron and started transferring the hand drawings onto it. I find that both using a light table and drawing directly on the fabric, and using embroidery transfer paper to trace designs work quite well for this purpose. The plan is to fill the surface of the apron with these drawings and embroider them in a rainbow of colors.  My fingers feel so happy to be stitching again, and the experience was a reminder that sometimes finding one's inspiration is as simple as just BEGINNING.

Typography Class Starts Soon And....

... I am weak. I couldn't resist. How great is this mug???

Nonno Stuffie ...

Grandbaby O's other grandpa ("Nonno") headed back to Italy this past week after a two month visit. Baby O grew very attached during the visit and he is now speaking Italian like the language BELONGS to him!

To make the parting a little easier, I stitched up a stuffed Nonno so they could still play "together" until their next real life visit.

P.S. I got a new Canon Rebel camera. (Thank you, Hilary!!) Don't my pictures look a million times better?! (Thanks also to Nicole for showing me how to turn it on *grin*).

Yarn Bombing and Photoshop Frustrations ....

{dear cowboy} and I took a stroll through the neighborhood yesterday evening. We were admiring all the gardens and chatting, when we came upon the above ... YARN BOMBING taken to a whole new level! This creation is wrapped around the entire tree and was held on with a purple button-- It is actually BUTTONED to the tree. Fabulous. I felt almost GIDDY the rest of the night.

On another note, I love working with with Photoshop CS5.5, but crud..... so frustrating when I just want my old simple steps for editing blog photos. I could edit in my sleep with Elements.

Fall quarter I have an entire class devoted to working with Photoshop CS5. I can't wait!

(Forgive the blurriness. My cell phone camera didn't quite capture the image the way I'd hoped.)