February Daily Art Challenge

It's February, and that means it is time for the Daily Art Challenge!  I am going to try to do something that speaks to the wild and organic side of me this month, and I am hoping to do each piece on a 

4" x 4"  "canvas".  I am also doing a 2" x 2" weekly challenge, so I will be doing a lot of exploration in upcoming days. 

February Daily Art Challenge 2-1-15  "Seeds"

February Daily Art Challenge, 2-2-15  "Durin's Day"

I always find myself picking up my crochet hook even when I say that I am done with my creative day.  I am having some fun with flowers again, using found buttons for the centers. I'm giving these a trial run on Ebay, but intend to do a few (as there have been requests!) for the website as well.

I am slowly pulling away from my Etsy Shop. Eventually I hope to have everything I do available on my website.  The shop just isn't working well for me, but my website is, so it makes more sense to bring in the wagons and have everything available to customers in one place. 

I have a few ideas tumbling around in this old noggin' of mine for stitching accessories such as fobs, pin cushions and needle books, either as kits or finished items. Leaning a little more toward the finished items now as I need something to sate that desire to make things rather than just design them. 

Almost finished with the model for The Flowers In My Window. Just a few panes left. And so I'm off to get to it. Hoping for mid-afternoon finish! 

I've jumped into this new challenge of creating with a small stitched piece at least once a week. A fellow artisan on Facebook is also participating, and we hope to keep each other on track!  At the end of this, we both plan on putting these little bits of art into a cloth stitch book. 

I think I will probably try to do more than one a week. It is a thoroughly enjoyable thing to do. I want to push myself to explore different and maybe even unexpected combinations of cloth and fiber with some embellishments tossed in.

1*21*15

 Another of my obsessions lately has been these little winged things. As I have a ginormous stash of beads, I thought I would try and bling up a few butterflies. I also played around with the size, too.

Threads picked up to start the new design, which at this time is nameless. I did change up the colors a bit, and I will be posting progress as I get going. 

Attitude of Gratitude

The support of friends during this difficult time of grieving.

Finding inspiration from other creative souls.

The feeling that what I do is worthwhile.

a new project and other assorted bits

So I have this plastic four drawer crafting  box. In it, I have more 2" x 2" and 4" x 4" cotton squares than I might use in this lifetime or the next. When cleaning out the studio/sewing room last week, I found myself plucking them from the drawer with this want to do something with them again.  I use to make watercolor quilts years ago. My designing and stitching have taken priority now, but I still find myself wanting to fiddle with fabrics.

A box full of orts and four drawers full of squares= a whole lot of little bits of stitch meditation! 

1*18*15

1*18*15

I had recently found images of fabric stitch journals on Pinterest and a few of my favorite Facebook pages and thought they were interesting. This morning, a fellow artist friend pointed me a weekly challenge to create these little embroidered squares, and she thought it might be a cool way to make up one of these stitch books. (Thank you, Lee Ann!)  I would like to make more than one a week. I am thinking one a day. A warm up of sorts, a morning meditation. 

I have tried to step away from crocheting. (Like I ever *really* thought that could happen!) I needed to free up more time for designing and stitching.  I had a few stray orders to fill for Tidbits. Realized as I was making these that I really miss the futzy work with my little hook (oh, I never ever would have thought I would find myself saying that) So, to sate that hooking itch, I'm going to create a few things each month to offer as a monthly special.

Cotton Hearts

A Whole Bunch of Butterflies!

And finally, what's next in the cross stitch realm? So happy you asked. I wanted to do another piece that felt like a combination of quilt blocks and cross stitch sampler. I found several floral motifs and changed them up. I'm still unsure if I want to stitch the entire block in or leave that negative space around each flower.

And so the week begins!

the revamping of my Etsy shop

As I have slowly worked through plans for what remains of the year and goals for the new year coming,  I have found myself coming back frequently to the question of what I want to do with my Etsy Shop. 

While I had been getting a fair number of views and favorites from those that follow me, I haven't had a sale in some time. Which, led me to thinking that the shop has become stale.

With all the designing I have been doing, there just isn't enough time to create new embroidered pieces for the shop. And so, I took a look at what I have done in the past with my shop-- what was successful, what was not. I thought about the time spent to make items, and how I felt about making things, and what I find myself drawn to now.  

Earlier this month I made the decision to pull back a bit on the "Tidbits", my crocheted flowers that I have been offering on my website.  While most will be going into hibernation, I think I will still put something together each month and add it to the monthly specials. Other than that, I need to free up the time for designing and stitching and figuring out new techniques and surprises for those who are working my designs.

What I have found, however, is that I still really, really, *want* to crochet and create embellishments. It is  love that runs a very close second to my designing. So, what do I do? 

 I always have scraps-- orts. Those bits and lengths of thread and floss that have been tossed into plastic bags. Lengths of fiber that I have rescued from abandoned needlework kits at this thrift store or that. I won't even comment on the stacks of fabric and pre-cut quilt blocks and jars of beads from deconstructed jewelry.

And so I have mulled. How can I pull all of this together? How do I create fresh, fun, and beautiful things  in my needlework designing and still find a way to satisfy my want to explore other fiber and sewing ventures?

Think, think. Think, think.

It was a light bulb moment. Not anything with a huge wattage. More like a table lamp light bulb moment because I still need to sort some of it out-- okay, *a lot* of it still needs to be sorted.

I am working on a lot of embellished designs that include flowers and beads and buttons, and I am always trying to find new things to work into my designing, more now than I ever have. 

Came to a conclusion, albeit a fuzzy one. 

There *is* a place for my crochet embellishments, my trims and my sewn flowers and all those other things I experiment with. I need to approach it from a 'one of a kind' way of thinking. I think part of what had me feeling boxed in and a bit stymied was that the flowers had started to take on this mass-produced feel. I loved making them, but it was starting to feel a bit monotonous. No surprises. That's one of the reasons why I love special orders.  It breaks things up a bit. 

Clear as mud, yeah?

So I have given my shop a face lift. It will now showcase one of a kind fiber goodies, be it crocheted art yarn, trims, sewn flowers, crocheted flowers. I am going to give myself one day a week to just flat out play and create and explore. Denying myself that opportunity really only stifles my other creative projects. I know this from experience.

At the end of the month, the Tidbits (other than the embellishment packs for designs) will be coming down from the website, and my Etsy Shop will be the place to find the new, one of a kind things that have been dancing around in my head. A chance to tap into those things I really want to try and to fashion new fun from those things that others may have left behind.

End of ramble.

Shoo, off with you.

Time to play.

The start of Sissy's Garden

I started the model for A Garden For Sissy last night and am working today on a few more flowers before I settle in to crochet for awhile this evening. The little tidbit flowers, trims and art yarns I had been making have been well received on the website, and I think I want to create a few new embellishment choices for artists. 

I often struggle with the want to do too many things, and I have found myself spread too thin too many times. While I am so super-inspired by what I see others doing, I have to exercise some small amount of self control. Maybe find a way to apply what they are doing to what I am doing-- similar to what I did with the quilt block interpretations. 

While I have been selling a fair amount on eBay, the fees are killing my profits. Part of the problem with selling small, lower-priced items, I guess. I am going to pare things down to my website for patterns, tidbits and trims, and my Etsy Shop for the one of a kind fiber and embroidered art and one of a kind art yarns and occasional one of a kind embellishments.  

Doing this will give me room to explore all sides of my creative self. After all, one feeds the other. My designing often inspires the one of a kind pieces, and giving myself time to free form lends itself very well to sparking new ideas for patterns. 

With both kids off at college (Go Bison!) I want to use the time that has been freed up wisely. I want to commit and really dig in and run with this. 

my granny's afghan

My Granny's Afghan 

I have been working this week on the model for my newest design, My Granny's Afghan. I've been a little hung up on granny squares lately, using up scraps of yarn to make blankets for Christmas gifts, and thus came the inspiration for this design.  I am having a lot of fun with it.  The colors picked are even based on what I had for "scrap" embroidery floss, kind of a 'blanket of many colors' thing. 

My brother and his family were home for the holiday which was wonderful, and I found myself with some 'crochet time' while we sat around drinking coffee and sharing memories.  So I started working on an embellishment order for a customer on Etsy, and then crocheted these--

Flowers for Sharon

I have a friend that is battling cancer, and I sent her a crochet "hug" a few months back, a lap throw for her to wrap up in whenever she needed a little warm and fuzzy comfort.  I made these flowers now, and they'll go on stems tomorrow. Will package them up and they'll be on their way to her on Monday. 

Now I think I will go and warm up my tea that I have somehow neglected and see about finishing a few more odds and ends before work this afternoon.

finally made one to keep for myself...

Finally made a Super-Granny-Square-Blanket and kept it for myself. It's made with a bulky yarn, Loops & Threads Charisma and it's just yummy. I used only the variegated yarns, and just let them work as they would giving me this hodge-podge mix of colors that work perfectly in my hodge-podge bedroom.  

 

Working on a few new cross stitch designs now, although it has been slow going as I am working way too many hours at the two outside places of employment. Has cut seriously into my creative time, something I am going to have to remedy after the holidays.  But for now, head down, power through, get some financial things in order so that I can play around guilt free!

crochet & loom flowers

I'm positively obsessed with my flower loom.  I've been experimenting with old lace and even some bits of ric-rac and quilt binding tape besides the vintage fabric scraps.  A lot of trial and error.  I just completed a set with yarn that I had harvested from a few old sweaters.

I crocheted the yarn into a chain, (a really long chain!) and then wrapped that on the loom and this is the result.  They're incredibly organic in feel, all just a little different. 

They are a wool and acrylic blend.

Finished up another lot of flowers for an artist on Etsy, too.

This group was a mix of loom flowers and my traditional crochet blooms. They are just yummy!

This afternoon I *must* set down the hook and get into PatternMaker and get some new cross stitch things going. I've a stack of sketches that have been nudging me for a couple weeks now. I think they're feeling neglected!

so i've been playing over at spoonflower...

My first test swatches of the Nature's Kaleidoscope collection I created.

I am having so much fun with the fabric design. Now I just need to see what I can do with it!

Also crocheting! Look Shan! Something other than flowers for a change. Was just really itching to make granny squares again and had all these little balls of leftover stuff.

Newest design finished yesterday, My Meeces which is part of the Whiskerkins Collection

And some goofin' around with crochet dream catcher tidbits

friday wanna try this

I have all of this scrap tapestry wool that I have started doing this with.

I've started doing these...and they are just FUN!

This will be a weekend project very very soon...

As will this...I have the *perfect* lamp to do it with, too!

Day off today, so I am doing some lace tatting. Something I have never done. Freeform, not following any pattern, but a very pretty doily is starting to emerge and I am quite pleased!

odd red birds & cross stitched snowflakes

I've been thinking a lot about him lately. Why, I'm not sure. It's not the anniversary of anything. He crosses my mind a lot anyhow, but the last few weeks, even more. I hung this in my hall when he was still alive. I would walk past it and shake my head, sometimes, I will admit, thinking it was the ugliest bit of latch hook rug I had ever in my life seen.

Now it is one of the most precious things I could ever own.

I'm surprised though that the cardinal ended up red and not orange, as I am quite certain there was brandy to be had when the yarn was sorted. Love you, Dad.

Also working diligently, hooking hats and now taking a break from that today as I have *gasp* run out of yarn. Yes, a trip somewhere or many-wheres is in order today!

Stitching now for the rest of today, trying to finish up Herbert Heartfelt by the end of Sunday. Blustery enough day, one I am quite sure was created to be...well, creative!

a busy week

It's been a busy week.  A lot of business stuff to finish up which ate up a good chunk of the early week, but I did find time to putz with a few things as I try and get myself ready for a few craft shows. I've scaled back on the number of shows I am participating in this year, as I still haven't found the extra few hours a day I needed!

I have finished a good chunk of Henry Heartfelt, with more stitches to come this afternoon...

And I got out the hook again, feeling the need to whip up a few hats, this one embellished with one of my cross stitch buttons.  Still playing with the design of this hat. And its an acrylic and wool blend, not my favorite to work with, (as I prefer natural fibers) but for shows around here more economically priced yarns are better received.

I need to get the sketchbook out too, as I've some new designs tumbling around in my head, inspired by some color palettes I came across and Indian art.  I'm also feeling a really big pull toward samplers since I've been doing some embroidery, so there might be some of that coming as well.

Now off for coffee, vampire and lycan movies, and a bit of stitching.