One Photo - One Story #2 : YouTube Video - I'd Forgotten

Years ago, I was featured on Public Television's "The Creators" series.  I'd completely forgotten about it until I was contacted by a docent from an art museum across the country looking for information about some porcelain paintings she acquired. The YouTube video was how she found me.

I thought I'd post it here - you might find it interesting.  Remember, it was produced YEARS ago - I'm much younger and slimmer in the video ;0)….my painting style has matured - both for my sweet Limoges boxes and my portraits.

Tomorrow - another picture, another story.

One Photo, One Story - #1 - "Uh-oh!" and Smalls SAL Check-In

Angela from Pretty Little Things in a Box invited me to take part in "One Photo, One Story". I'll post a photo each day for five days….maybe there's a story attached, maybe not.

"Uh-oh!!"

2.75 inches in diameter

This is a miniature portrait I painted of my daughter on porcelain. 

Here's the story:

My in-laws kept my daughter for a few days one summer. When I picked her up, Grandpa was so excited to show me what she'd learned. He said, "Sarah! Where did the indian shoot you?" (Westerns were very popular TV shows at the time). My sweet little girl pulled up her shirt, looked at her belly button and yelled "Uh-oh!!"

She was so proud of herself - it was one of those precious moments I kept seeing over and over in my mind, so I HAD to paint it. 

Tomorrow, another picture, another story.

Oh! And here's my Smalls SAL project for the month - it will go on a miniature needlepoint stand, once the stand is stained. I purchased the kit from Janet Granger. It's done on 40 Ct silk gauss and measures 1.5 inches square.

Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party

It's Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape! Blog. Pop on over and see what other stitchers have been up to.

I signed up for the Fine-ally Finished Folio series of projects designed by Jackie du Plessis and hosted by Needle in a Haystack. I just finished Lesson 1 - the storage pouch and pin keep. I'd never done piping before, so this was a real challenge for me. Plus, I messed up the silk ribbon pretty badly…the drawstrings should be the pretty blue color of the string tunnel…..I went to using a black ribbon instead. Yet - TA-DA!  By George, I did it!!

Now, I'm ready for Lesson 2. Stay tuned…..

Tissue Pack Covers - Thank you, Renee!

Renee from Living my Dream posted her latest project - which was a tissue pack cover. The tutorial can be found here.

I purchased a new sewing machine a few weeks ago and have promised myself I'd sew something every day so I can get more comfortable using the machine (which I LOVE!!). The tissue covers sounded like the perfect, quick project for a Sunday.

Renee - you've created a monster - HA! They are so FUN and EASY and so darned CUTE!! (Thank you ever so much for the link to the tutorial).

I found pieces of "Beach Lady" fabric and made one. Then I had to make another. I had some gold metallic material with an Egyptian theme (no, I have no idea why I bought it in the first place) and made another one. Here they are:

Top:

Bottom of Egyptian tissue cover:

Bottom of Beach Ladies tissue cover:

I had to stop myself from making more, I've got other things that need my attention. But, I can assure you, I'm making MORE!  Exchange partners, BEWARE - HA!

One Lovely Blog Award

What a nice surprise from June - she nominated me for the "One Lovely Blog Award". Thank you, June!!

The purpose of this award is for bloggers to nominate fellow, mostly newer, bloggers that they wish to recognise. The goal is to bring attention to blogs that we think are "lovely" and enjoy reading. We hope others will enjoy reading these blogs also.

In order to accept the award, the nominated blogger must follow these rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you & link back to them in your post
• Share seven facts about yourself
• Nominate 10 other bloggers for the award 

Here are my seven facts:

1.  I learned to knit when I was in fourth grade. A dear friend of my mother's picked me up at school and took me to their home. She told me my grandfather had died and I was to stay with her family for a few days. To distract me, she taught me to knit. I think that was the beginning of my passion for creating and doing hand-work.

2. I was an award-winning singer in grade school and high school (soprano). My music teacher encouraged me to study music in college, but I chose business school instead.

3. I paint on china (porcelain) and love, LOVE portraits and painting Limoges boxes. I was juried in to the largest miniature art show in the world, The Miniature Art Society of Florida two years in a row (2008 and 2009).  Here is a miniature portrait of my husband and me:

4.  I've loved horses since I was a little girl. My first pony was a dark bay called "Fuzzy". He was FAST - a barrel racing pony. I loved watching Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans, Bonanza, Fury, My Friend Flicka….and reading any horsey book I could get my hands on - The Black Stallion, Black Beauty, A Horse Called Frog, All Horses go to Heaven…the list goes on. My mother couldn't quite reconcile she had a cowgirl on her hands, so she took me to a hunt seat lesson barn. Well, what can I say? She lost her Cowgirl that day - I rode hunters and jumpers for years. Then switched to dressage and acquired the horse of my dreams while in my late 30's - Toby. He's gone now and I've stopped riding, but my love for those creatures remain.

5. I was on the "Martha Stewart Show". A group of us from around the USA shared our talents to benefit "Safe Horizons", a domestic violence shelter for women in NYC. I painted an abstract painting that now hangs in SH's entryway. I had it framed but can't find the photo of the framed piece.

6. I've been married to my Knight in Shining Armor for over 25 years. I feel like we just got started. I'm so very blessed to have such a sweet, understanding husband. He keeps me grounded.

7. I have a beautiful daughter, Sarah, and two step-children. Ben and his lovely wife and two children live in Michigan and my step-daughter, Carolyn, lives in our area.

Sarah, her DH and my little grandson just moved to Singapore (SOB!).

I've met so many lovely people in this blogging world! I follow many, many blogs, here are the ones that popped up at random. Have fun visiting and learning about these ladies!

Heather  - Stitching Lotus

Pilar - Flower Borders

Renee - Living my Dream

Sue - Super Mom - No Cape!

Shez - Enjoying Life

Sarah - Sarah in Stitches

Jamie - Cricket-bug Corner

Lynda-Ruth - Purple Pixie Dust

Stacey - Bakercourt

Annette - California Stitcher

Thank you for visiting!!

LK Traveling Pattern Winner and Kokopelli Box

The winner of the LK traveling pattern is

Debbie from Debbie's Corner

I've emailed Debbie - the pattern will be off in the post tomorrow! CONGRATS, Debbie!!

My wonderful woodsmith (aka, DH), made this box featuring a Kokopelli design on the top for my dear cousin. She lives in Arizona and loves the southwestern area and its culture. The body of the box is made out of maple and the design is oak. It's roughly 4 inches in diameter and 3 inches tall.

If you're note familiar with the legend of Kokopelli, there's a good write up about him here. 

Traveling Pattern Winner, Decorative Thimble Exchange CLOSED, Lady and the Unicorn "Smell"

The winner of the Shakespeare's Peddler pattern is

Jamie from Cricket-bug Corner

I've e-mailed Jamie for her address, the pattern will go out as soon as I hear from her. - CONGRATS, JAMIE!!

The Decorative Thimble Exchange is now closed. We have 18 participants from all over the world! I'll be sending out emails today to everyone so they can get their thimbles packed up and shipped off to their partners.

** PLEASE NOTE**  I had several responses from 'no-reply bloggers'. I tried to reach out to them, but was unsuccessful. If you responded you wanted to participate, and didn't receive an email today from me with your partner's name, I'm so very sorry I wasn't able to accommodate. 

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Have you heard of the Cluny Tapestries? The Lady and the Unicorn? They are gorgeous - and I've always been drawn to them. Of course, I find the history or story behind why they were created intriguing, which make them even more attractive to me. Unfortunately, it remains a mystery, but there's a great write up about each tapestry here.

In short, there are six tapestries that tell the story of the Lady and the Unicorn and they now hang in the Cluny Museum in Paris. Each tapestry represents each of the 5 senses - Taste, Touch, Smell, Sound and Sight. The sixth tapestry is known as "To My One Desire" because of the words woven into it.

This one is known as "Smell".  It's from a Dimensions kit. Measuring 16 x 20 inches, it's now been blocked and in my hands to finish off.  I have two complimentary pieces, "Sound" and  "To My One Desire" that need to be blocked - I'll post when they're off the blocking board.

"The lady is making a bridal crown of carnations, the flower of betrothals. This lady must think she is sure to catch her unicorn if she was already making her crown." (From Tracy Chevalier's website here).

Please pop over to Super Mom - No Cape blog to take a peek at her Vintage Embroidery Monday and Stitchery Link Party. LOTS of creative ideas.

I'm So Embarrassed!!!

Remember when I hosted the 4-H group in my studio to teach them cross stitch? Well, in order for them to have table space, I cleaned up, packed up, filed and sorted through all my projects. The place never looked so good. That's not the embarrassing part.

This is: I finished the Lizzie Kate Traveling pattern, "Love is Best When you Give it Way". I had all intentions of posting a "Who wants it next?" post after the weekend of the 4-Hers. Well, I have torn my studio apart, looked EVERYWHERE and cannot find the traveling pattern!  AUGH!!! I'm a bad Stitching Sister!!! BAD!!! BAD!!! BAD!!!

Anyway, I ordered a new one so it can go off on its travels. I really hope someone will want to continue the cute little pattern's trip around the world. I am SOOOOOO SORRY I misplaced the original. I hope that doesn't put me on any "Naughty Lists".

If you're interested, please make a comment on this post. If more than one person would like to stitch it, I'll do a random draw Tuesday morning. Thank you.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow, Lioness Canvas, Thimble Exchange Reminder

Yesterday was a very emotional day for me. I drove my dear, sweet grandson and my daughter to O'Hare International Airport. They flew off into the wild blue yonder to Singapore. Sarah's husband, Efrem, has a business there. He has been there for about a week preparing for the arrival of Sarah and Ronin. I must say, I held it together pretty well on the drive up, at the airport and the drive home. Home is where I fell apart.

Ronin was so bright and alert at O'Hare - he wore himself out:

They will arrive in Singapore in another few hours. I've been so spoiled with them here for these past weeks. I miss his smile, his happy shrieks, his funny noises, the way he held onto my fingers. I can hardly wait for our first FaceTime session!

I found this canvas on Ebay. It was 98% finished and came with the silks to complete it, which I did. The stitches were a bit unconventional - I assume whoever started the lioness wanted to create texture and I tried to honor this as I completed the project. It needs to be blocked - I really like the eyes - they really grabbed me.

OH! I made this bag to hold the vintage wooden blocks I found for Ronin. He LOVES bright colors - when I showed it to him he immediately gave the bag his seal of approval by putting some of it in his mouth.

Don't forget - I'm hosting a Decorative Thimble Exchange and it's open world wide. Please see my previous post with the details or email me with any questions.

Here's one more picture of my handsome boy -

A Brownie, a Cookie, Count Your Blessings Traveling Pattern

When I saw these needlepoint confections, I couldn't resist purchasing the kits and making them up. "WHY", you ask? Just because they seemed to appeal to me at the time and involved stitches I wasn't familiar with. A little challenge for me.

The kits are from the Little Shoppe Canvas Company. The Peter Pan Cookie is stitched using a Reverse Scotch stitch and French knots make up the light colored squares. It's 3 inches in diameter.

The Willy Wonka Wafer (aka, Brownie) uses a Reverse Continental stitch, Giant Reverse Scotch stitch over 5, cross stitch is used around each section of the squares. The top is stitched using a Satin Stitch using long stitches (some overlapping to crate a thick layer) and them the beads are added for extra pazazz.  It's 4.25 inches long and 3.25 inches across the top.

I made my own cording when I put it all together. The backing material is a scrumptious chocolate colored cotton fabric.

Thoeria from My Little Corner of Cyberspace blog sent me the traveling pattern "Count Your Blessings" by Shakespeare's Peddler. Here it is - not sure how I'll finish it off yet, but have some ideas.

I'm ready to send this gem of a design off to a Sister Stitcher. If you'd like to be the next stitcher and agree to pass it along when you're done, please place a comment and indicate you are interested. The only guideline is you must have an active blog. I'll select the next stitcher April 20th.

Decorative Thimble Exchange

Greetings! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. Ours was quiet, but sunny.  I'm starting to yearn for warm weather and getting outside a bit.

I know many Stitching Sisters want to participate in exchanges, but find the postage to be prohibitive. I've been trying to think of something we could exchange that wouldn't take too much postage or time from our stitching. The thought hit me - how about a decorative thimble exchange? They're small and light - it wouldn't cost too much to send to someone.

Please note: my idea is the thimble isn't a stitched thimble - something pretty - made out of porcelain, ceramic, whatever. What you send is your choice.

If you're interested -

- It's open to everyone worldwide

- You must be a follower of this blog (yes, I'll check)

-  Leave a message on this post or send me an email indicating you'd like to join the fun

 - You don't need to have a blog, but I must have a way of contacting you. Some are 'no reply' bloggers so if leave a comment and I can't reach you, I'm sorry, but I won't be able to add you to the
group.

-  If you prefer to exchange with someone in your own country, please indicate so in your comment. I will do my best to match you up as you wish.

- If you'd like to include something other than a thimble for your exchange partner, that's fine. I'll leave it up to you

- Everyone loves something pretty - select a pretty, decorative thimble you'd like to treasure - and send it to your partner

 - I'll take sign ups until April 20th. 

  - Please mail by May 1st and  notify me when you slip it in the mail so I can cross your name off the list.

 - When you receive your gift, please email me, as well, to I can track who-gets-what-when.

If you have a blog, I'd appreciate it if you'd post about this exchange - the more, the merrier!!

I look forward to hearing from you - let's make this FUN and EASY!!

I was a Winner!

The lovely Lynda Ruth from the blog Purple Pixie Dust celebrated her first blogiversary and had a give away.  I won!!

I couldn't believe how much Lynda Ruth spoiled me. Look at this cute, colorful box.

Here's what was inside - Cinnamon Candies (I haven't had these for YEARS!!), pretty tissues and a LHN pattern - complete with floss and linen.

The bookmark made me burst out laughing. There was beautiful stationary and a marshmallow Easter Bunny and lolipops.

And here's the cutest pillow and pin cushion - made especially for me.

 Lynda-Ruth - THANK YOU!!

March OPAMs

WHEW! Hard to believe another month has gone by and I managed to finish these OPAMs (One Project a Month) hosted by Kris and Peg.

I mounted a cross stitch piece that was given to me in the Round Robin hosted by June and stitched for me by Gracie.

This design is a freebie, but I can't find the link for it.  I painted 22 Ct canvas with gold gilt creme then stitched the design in DMC floss in a basket weave stitch. It's finished with hand made cording, a tassel, irradescent black beads topped with  Swarovski gold pearls. The backing is a beautiful black fabric with gold dots. I finished it to be hung as an ornament or placed on a stand. It reminds me of my daughter and grandson.

Here's an ornament from Little House Needlework's "Proverbs" series. The back is pink moire.

Last, but not least, my Smalls SAL finish - a kit from  Janet Granger called "Cluny Women", as mentioned in my previous post.

I also finished  two other pieces, but they are gifts and in the mail to a stitching sister. I'll post those photos when I know she has received them.

WHEW!  "April - Here I come!"