Project for February 2018

I've been continuing my embroidery journal projects. I was a little slow getting going with February, in fact it was almost over!

But I'm glad I made an effort and got it done. Doing these is a good habit for me. I get to play around with different ideas inspired by what's happening around me. It gets me out of my bubble at least a little.

The arctic turned warm, and so we got the cold and snow and then more snow.  It's still cold!

The snowman is very happy to live a little longer!  But I'm wondering still, where is spring?

Creating into 2018

It's that time of year to think of the changes we want to make to ourselves and our lives in the new year. I'm sure you know how it goes by now. Goals, resolutions, new schedules, all this is going to help us change for the better. It's not quite enough though, it never is. There is one thing our lists often miss...

The action part.  Goals and dreams mean nothing without action to take us where we want to go.

So this year, I'm dedicating myself not just to dreaming big, but taking steps every single day towards those dreams. I aim for at least one or two small steps daily, but I am hoping there could be many in a day.

I dropped off blogging a year ago, I was bummed and felt I wasn't finding my voice. So I spent time through last year writing and writing in my scribbly notebooks, thinking and thinking what it is I want to say.

I have read a lot too. Any articles I come across that I could learn from, hoping to find that hidden nugget that I missed inside myself.

In the end I have realized a few important things:

• there is no substitute for doing. Yep, action, the more the better.  What do you miss in your life? Think of the action it will require.


• think in small steps. The actions don't always have to be big.  Little ones matter, and they add up fast when done daily. What small steps can you start today?


• create, create, create! For me what I want to do is create, and that involves getting going, being uncomfortable, taking risks, not putting things off. Not always easy. What are the things that hold you back from taking a small step today?


• don't give up too easy. I do sometimes, I know I do. When something feels like a solid wall, I duck away. Sometimes I take long routes to try to get around the walls, but there is no way over them except to learn to climb. Do you have any walls in your life you're running around?


• be positive! Yes, I have been drowning myself in negativity at various points in my life. I am making good progress on not doing that anymore. Positive thinking is a better way, and it is for everyone. Do you often find yourself slipping down the rabbit hole of negative thoughts?

So now here we are in a new year that can't be wasted. Today is a great day to begin a small step forward.

One little step I am taking is to return to my embroidery journal project. I had a blog for it and even a few people joining, but I am not sure I will resurrect that blog. Maybe.

I have chosen the word create - an active word. It is a reminder to create and to be creative, as often as possible, writing, drawing, painting, embroidery, and many other ways in life.  Above all, I hope to remember to always be active. This is key to moving forward into new paths.

Happy 2018!

May 2013 Project

It took me a little while to decide on a theme. I wanted to do something that reminded me of the softness of spring. New leaves, new flowers, the warmth of the sun as it gets higher in the sky each day, the sweet songs of the birds as they mark out their territory. There are always lots of ideas to choose from, but this time it ended up being the cherry tree that got my attention.

This is a free embroidery project that I let develop. I had an idea of a tree.

I used some painted strips of linen for the grass. I pulled out some threads from each strip, so they looked a little grassy.

For the tree I couched down some wool yarns. I wasn't quite sure the best way to do the branches, but I ended up unraveling the yarn at the ends. They are a little loose at the ends, since it was impossible to stitch down where they thinned down.

For the leaves I cut up bits of a specialty yarn and just sewed them down irregularly.

You can see the details in the closeup photo:

This project was fun. As I said, I let it develop freely. No pattern lines or templates. I told myself not to pick out any stitches as I went along too! Everything is as it was stitched. It's good practice in moving past perfectionism.

Blackbird

Blackthorn

Cherry blossoms

Sparrow with nest material

March 2013

I have finished my embroidery journal project for this month. I had the idea at the end of February, so I went ahead and started it.

I got this idea from watching the birds, of course, as I often do. These blackbirds love to eat fruit. Apples are a favorite, but I think they like the raisins even better.

I added the tangle of branches around the little bird, since they spend their days hiding out in the bushes.  The males are jet black which makes the orange ring around their eyes really stand out.

The snow and ice continue melting. The winter has been long and oppressive. The sun is starting to be strong enough to warm us. Now we wait for the days to grow long enough for the blackbirds to break out into their sweet song.

February 2013: What is there to be afraid of?

That's the real title of my latest project but I will come back to that in a moment.

Last week I had a serious case of stitcher's block. Actually it's still there, but I can't let it stop me. It's not a lack of project ideas or designs or anything, but it's a matter of finding something that makes me want to actually pick up the needle. It's not a problem with motivation, it's a feeling that is grounded in something else.

So I tried a different approach. I picked up some materials that felt interesting to work with and used that as my start instead.

This is my free embroidery for February's journal project, and I call it Art from the heart. I didn't know what I was going to make when I started.  I started with a heart and went from there.

It wasn't at all inspired by Valentine's day. There was something else I was trying to remind myself of. And that is what is there to be afraid of? As the ongoing stitcher's block reminds me, what is stopping me from picking up my needles and materials and making something that flows out of me.

The lines on the heart represent how I feel about perfectionism. They trap us in, imprison us and prevent us from being ourselves. As I mentioned, I created this to remind myself not to let the mindless pursuit of perfection stop me.


I chose to do this project as a traditional Swedish style crewel embroidery, wool on wool. Thick wool felt is a popular material to do wool embroidery on here in Sweden. 

There is resistance where the thread meets the fabric, I can definitely say. And I won't say it's impossible, but exact, perfect stitches are hard to manage on this type of material. You have to accept that the overall effect is more important than the individual stitches.

We've had a little visitor a couple weeks ago!! This was exciting since owl-sightings are so rare.

This little pygmy owl stopped by one morning and sat in the bird box for about 10 minutes. I saw it go in. 

The owl is smaller than a cardinal. So small, but yet this bird is a predator of other little birds and small mammals.

No doubt it was here looking for breakfast. The peanuts and sunflower seeds flow freely here, so the little birds are always at hand.

January Embroidery Journal Project

Here I am finally! This time I have my embroidery journal project along with me.

This year I decided to give myself more freedom with the size of the project to allow the size to suit the project instead of the other way around. I like the 4 x 4 inch format though, so I will return to it in other projects.

This  little project I call Let your heart sing.  First a short mention of the techniques. I used an acrylic ink wash to color the fabric. Then I have coming crewel embroidery with raised embroidery.

I had the idea in my head, but it didn't quite take it's full shape until one of the commenters on Stitchin Fingers left a comment on the Folk Art Crewel Bird that it made her heart sing.

I thought that was such a nice thought that I decided to make it my theme for this month. This project is about joy. Find where your joy comes from and show it to people near you and especially yourself.

And don't forget to hear the bird's songs. They are full of the joy of living.

And by the way, you can find the tutorial for making beaded berries on my site.

New Beginnings

This was the theme I chose for my January 2012 embroidery journal project. Little did I know that that theme would stretch through the whole year. Actually, I purposefully didn't choose a theme. I didn't want to limit myself. I wanted the freedom to make a project for each month as it came.

Each of these projects have a meaning, something I was trying to convey, to remember. All of these I have done for myself. Most didn't even get any particular notice by the public, but that was never the goal. But each one is a new beginning of sorts. For me. I will go ahead and list them.

January - this project was created with the idea of new beginnings. I took a pencil and drew. What I came up with was a seed. The perfect new beginning.

Februrary - I did this little bird with crewel yarns. This has been a new thing this year. I have found threads that I love. When I pick them up and sort them out, they always make me feel like making something. Every time.

March - I rediscovered music. I got a clarinet and began playing it after years. It doesn't matter how good I ever become, what's important is the challenge it gives me. Another way to express myself, another front to grow on.

April - Spring is my favorite time of year. It came a little late this year, so it officially began in April.  The whole world explodes in joy.

May - I captured the tadpoles in stitches. As the squiggle about searching for food, growing, developing. New life is always amazing in any form.

June - This was my effort to capture my beginning point in free form embroidery. Abstractness never gets the interested that recognizable forms get.  But I would argue, that learning to abstract is a necessary skill for any artist (or there could be a good many other uses for such a skill), since we only ever make representations of things, and never the actual thing.

July - Moving in to color. This was me marking a point in beginning to really see color. It changes your world when you do this. I encourage everyone to try their hand at color journals, even if you are like me and don't make it far.

August - I was restless to try something different. A new way of thinking. I chose the idea of a gate into a magical forest world. It marks a beginning into a more fantasy-oriented place for me.

September - Sitting by the window reflecting on the light filtering through the maples. Fall can be glorious.

October - I was moved to try something new for me. I made this small project wtih the purpose of learning how to take advantage of the yarn's properties to create interest and texture. I hope this is just the beginning of this type of work.

November - My somewhat feeble attempt to capture the forest around me. Again, a beginning for creating richer, textured embroideries.

December - My crazy santa, based on real life! This is a beginning too. As I end the year, my thoughts turn to using art to tell a story. My own stories, real or imagined. I am not sure I could do a good job telling someone else's!

This year has been busy, it has practically flown away. I'm afraid this is how it is as you grow older. It becomes even more important to grab hold of the things that are important to you. Moments deserve to be remembered. They are the foundation of who we become.

Now as I said before I have come full-circle. This is a new beginning for me now. I have changed so much myself in the past year or two. I was restless, anxious, not sure what the heck I wanted to do about my work, embroidery, art, blogging, you name it. The way is hardly clearer now. It never is or will be, but perhaps I am more at ease with that. Uncertainty is a difficult thing for us humans. But through art, you can learn to embrace it. Appreciate that it can mean a great many good things if you let it.  Explorations and discoveries await around every corner.

I can't go back to the way I used to blog anymore. It isn't interesting, it stops me in my tracks, every time. My projects are lovely and all, but they are not the important part. It's what I learn from them.  About myself, about the world, and how well I can inspire and challenge others with them.

I will end with the words I steal from a post I just made about the embroidery journal project, which I do hope you can find a few minutes to read:

This is the time to look ahead to 2013. To be thankful for the days we have together. To fill them with meaning and purpose and joy. To be better than we are now. 

December 2012 Journal Project

It's that time again! The final project for the embroidery journal project for the year. I feel this project brings me full circle, but I'm going to save the year review for another post. For now I will focus on this project!

This is after a little drawing I did for our scrap book journal. We are busy catching up from last year, so I had out some photos from Christmas 2011.

Every year the family gathers to celebrate the holiday, and we get a visit from Santa. I don't know about the santa that visits your family, but the one that visits us always has a bat!!! He is no ordinary santa for sure

I thought the drawing I had made was fun, so why not turn it into an embroidery. An embroidery that not only means something for me but tells part of a story. Here is the photo of santa that I based my artwork on.

As you can see, there is no "perfection" in my version (I am certain I broke all the "rules" for proper crewel embroidery), instead it's about telling a story, a memory of a santa that doesn't just give gifts without challenging you first!

November Embroidery Journal Project

Back to stitching.

For this month, I wanted to make a try at capturing a little piece of the forest around here where I live. This time of year, it's dark and wet and gray. But not in the trees. They are pines and fir trees, green all year. Then there is the moss. It's always green.

There are many varieties too. At first it all just looks like a green clump, until you look closer and see all the many forms and textures.

I started with a painted fabric. I like to use acrylic inks, which I will talk about soon. I just came upon them recently and am still learning.

I did have some ideas of stitches to use, but I didn't quite even get to them all. I was just looking to create some textures.

I feel that my artistic and technical skills aren't quite up to the challenge yet, but this is a start for me in any case!

October 2012 Embroidery Journal Project

I am ahead this month! Actually it wasn't planned, but I was working on this little project and since it was the same size as the others, I decided it could be my journal project.

I started it out as something of a study in using different yarns to help add interesting textures and surfaces. I found a great yarn that I thought would make an interesting sea, so this because a little seascape project.

I didn't really plan the project out at all. I just started with the water, then built up the land area with some different types of yarns. I made the rocks along the shore out of fimo clay, as are the bigger rocks. I didn't work off a photo, but I did take inspiration from my time along the coast in SE Sweden. It's very rocky and in places there are a great number of large boulders. There isn't much by way of sandy beaches, but the coast is interesting and varied!

It was fun just letting the project develop as I went along. There will be more of these types of projects in the future.

September 2012 Embroidery Journal Project

Here I am with this past month's embroidery journal project!

This project was inspired by the maple outside the living room window. I often sit near this window where you can see the afternoon sun shining through the trees.

So this represents one of the branches that hang down, filled with leave turning all sorts of beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow. I painted the background with watercolors. I was happy with the way it looked. I wanted to have the feeling of the autumn sun lighting up the leaves. For this project, I just started with an idea, I didn't make a pattern or any lines on the fabric.

I picked out a few threads that I thought might be interesting to use, and among those I had the brown threads I picked up at the flea market. It's a bunch of very thin threads all twisted together. No idea what the thread is for, maybe weaving, but it made a great branch.  I couched them down and left the ends loose to give the feeling of even smaller branches.

This one was fun! I'm off now to go out in the fall sunshine in search of my next project inspiration!

August 2012 Embroidery Journal Project

Hi all,
My embroidery journal project is now complete!

 I wanted to do something different this month, something that would be a little challenge of a different sort. So I chose a door to a magical, walled forest. I had to figure out ways to make the walls so they had dimension, and the door I wanted to be able to open. The walls are bits of a stiff interfacing that I covered with fabric.  The gate posts are wrapped up pipe cleaners. I couldn't get the wire through the back of the fabric so I glued the ends so the floss wouldn't unwind and cut off the wire. I used a black permanent marker to cover the white that showed.  My door is fabric covered interfacing too. I used several layers and ended up using glue in the end to hold all the layers together. If I did it over, I would have planned that part differently. The door is held shut with the help of an eye. It lifts up, so the door can open.

I had to put something behind the door, so I choose to represent a magical rose bush that blocks the way in.

What does my little walled in world represent? Good question! I will answer with it's the way into my magical embroidered world where anything is possible, and there are always great projects to be done!!!

We've had a heron visiting us during August.  I suppose it found out we have little fish and crayfish in our water. No doubt a tasty snack!

July Embroidery Project

Hi all,
I am posting my July embroidery journal project today. It was a bit of an experiment! The idea of red stuck in my head. I wanted to do something with summer fruit. I ended up with currants, raspberries and cherries represented in this little project.

I was a bit free with my interpretation as you see. Actually I really wanted to do just the currants like in one of the photos I pasted in my little book using a bunch of beads, but it didn't quite work out.  I covered some wooden beads with crewel threads, and they were too big to fit with the smaller beads, so they became cherries.  I wrapped up the stems in some thread and attached them.  They are a little floppy, but I like how they look. I will definitely find a way to use that idea in another project.

My lines of currants actually look kind of cool. They look realistic, so something esel I can use too.

I have made a couple watercolors too with red fruit and a mushroom. I'll get those scanned. I'd say I've learned a lot about working with colors! I don't know if I will continue making more color pages with other colors, maybe. This was mostly a fun exercise to do while I taking a break from the usual tasks.

I will say though, that I feel myself noticing the color around me much more. It's so easy to just dismiss things as being one solid color, but they aren't, and the light changes the color we see.

June 2012 Embroidery Journal Project

I have finished my project. It's different for me, so I was actually hesitant to post it here at all. I call it Sun and Rain. It's a texture study.

The background represents the sun, of course, and the blue, the rain. The blue is not to mean puddles though. It is holes in the sunshine. June goes down as the rainiest on record for us. It was often very unsteady weather with periods of rain and sunshine, sometimes both at the same time. I think most of you know the type of weather!

Anyways, why a texture study? Because it is just now that I feel inspired enough by the idea of creating textures in my work to really begin learning how to use the stitches to create interesting textures. It isn't that none of my projects have textures, but the idea with my texture studies is to focus on texture first, then color and design. I hope to get better at all three in time. So I chose to mark my beginning point with a journal project. I can't think of a better use for a journal project than to set a marker where you are with your artistic progress. And I want all of you out there to remember that we are not static, we are capable of improving. Just because today you can't create the project or artwork you want, doesn't mean you never will be able to. Work, push back your boundaries, test the water outside of the box, but most of all reach inside yourself, learn about yourself, and express what is in there. You will be surprised at how far you are able to go if you keep on your journey.

May 2012 Embroidery Journal Project

I've returned! My apologies for the extended away time. I just needed to think about what direction I am headed with my embroidery and other related things including this blog. I'm going to shift the focus a little to include my other thoughts and work regarding what inspires me and what else I create other than just with the needle. It all means something to me and is part of the bigger picture. I hope it "ok" to venture a little outside the bounds of just embroidery, but the other things impact my stitching in many ways, so I will handle things as such.

I have said it before and I will say it again (and probably many more times!), embroidery is an art form, and like all art forms it is an expression of what is inside. Things that you love, that happen to you, that you think, feel, and see all effect what is inside, so it's a useful exercise to examine what in your life guides your self-expression in whichever media you choose. You will learn more about yourself and the world around you if you take the time to contemplate your work and try to find the meaning.

Next I have a new blogging, stitching friend you can visit at Wonderland Woods. Starr is a new blogger and a new embroiderer. It's great to see new people take up the needle, and they should definitely be encouraged! She's been a great help to me in focusing my thoughts and ideas.

 Ok, now for this month's embroidery journal project!

I have stitched this piece on cotton fabric with wool, linen, cotton, and silk threads. Plus some little glass seed beads for sparkle. I painted the fabric with watercolor paints. The blue is a little washed out in my photo, but you get the idea. This project pictures the metamorphosis from frog egg to tadpole. Ok, so only 2 steps are shown in the project. I filled in with little plants and algae. I started with an idea for the project, but I made it without drawing on the fabric, so I could develop it freely as I worked.

The reason I chose this subject is because I have been watching the tadpoles develop this spring. We found a pile of eggs in our backyard a few weeks ago. The water in the yard was draining away and it was starting to freeze. So we scooped up the eggs into buckets and kept them in the cellar. In the days, we hauled them out to get warm, then back at night, changing the water so they would have plenty of oxygen. I watched the eggs develop day by day, then the tadpoles emerged. There are a lot of them!!! It's fun to see them grow and swim around. I am really hoping for a big pile of frogs.

Above is my inspiration for this embroidery.

April Embroidery Journal Project

I worked on my embroidery journal project over the weekend.

I chose only motifs that I felt like stitching. This piece I call Spring, the promise and the beauty. The birds nest represents the promise, and the daffodil the beauty. I didn't feel motivated to put a lot of extra decoration on this project. My flower is made with needle lace, and the bird's nest with lots of couched down wool yarns.

Spring has also brought us the opportunity to do some outdoor works, which satisfying, but also extremely tiring. The needlework suffers, but I'll be back soon with a new project.

Embroidery Journal Project

I finished my project yesterday evening. It has some personal meaning which I will explain, but first the project:

The technical details. I painted the background fabric with watercolor. I wanted a rainbow of color to contrast with the instrument's black. I stitched the instrument next. I used silver beads and metallic threads for details. I made swirls with glass seed beads and made the border and the music with silver and gold metallic threads. There is a lot of shine and glitter. You pretty much see none of that in the photo.

Now about why I picked the clarinet for my project. I took up clarinet when I was 9. I knew right away when I saw it that it was the instrument for me. I played on until the end of high school. I gave it up my last year to take AP classes for college. I thought that was it for me. I was "good" enough, but no star, and I never thought of myself as especially musical.

Now back to the present, some 20 years later. Some members of Mr Floss Box's family play instruments and sing (guitars mostly). Anyways, Mr Floss Box's father in particular, heard I used to play and thought I should get an instrument and play with them. I just said maybe. Then one day in January we were at a flea market in town and I saw an old clarinet. I couldn't believe no one had already picked it up (flea markets are mega-popular here!), so I grabbed it and checked the price after. It was cheap, so it came home. It's a bit old and needs refurbishing, but the clarinet is definitely playable. I found a bunch of free music online, and now I practice everyday. It's opened a new world for me.

Music and making music is special. It is fabulous for the brain. So much is going on all at once, motor and sensory neurons are firing, the fine motor coordination from complicated movements, listening to the sound, reading the notes and anticipating what is ahead, keeping tempo. I do believe this is superior to brain games, and you have the potential to make something beautiful.

I've learned in the years not to give up so easily just because something is "hard". It's a useful lesson for everyone. I believe we are all capable of much more than we think we are if we just are willing to believe in ourselves and not give up when it feels difficult. (It's making our way through the difficulty that makes us grow) So, when I come to hard areas in the music, I practice the fingering over and over, gradually it comes. Day by day, I improve. And most importantly, I enjoy the music.

February Embroidery Journal Project

Yesterday you got a sneak peak with my tutorial. Today you get the finish!

First a few details about the project. I stitched this on plain woven cotton. I used Appleton crewel wools throughout. Lots of long and short, but a few other stitches are in there too, stem stitch, split stitch, french knots, satin stitch and couching. I wanted some interest in the background but nothing to overwhelm my little bird, so I chose to add some beads to give the feeling of snow falling. They look dull in the photo, but in the light they add a lot of sparkle. They are nice contrast with the fuzzy wool. This here shows by the way that "stumpwork" or raised embroidery as I really prefer to call it, is not just meant to be stitched with fine cotton and silks, but any thread you can imagine. So this I call my crewel stumpwork project.

Now for the reason I chose this subject. This bird is the great tit. I feed the birds all year round even in the summer. The woods surround us (the woods don't actually have many birds in them as they are production forests not natural forests - more about that another day) but when you come to our property you can hear the birds singing. These little birds stay here all winter long and keep me company. They are one of the most common birds in Sweden and have a truly wide variety of songs, but some are reserved for the spring and summer.

 Like many of you, I long for spring, the winter is long and dark here. So it was quite a welcome surprise and a reminder that spring is on its way when I heard the first mating song already in the middle of January. The days are growing longer fast now, the sun shines stronger each day, but the air is still cool, and the snow remains on the ground. But these little birds are in a hurry just as we all are.

My little tribute to the birds wouldn't be complete without a photo of a real one. This is a young fieldfare. I'm counting the days till new life flutters around us.