discoveries, stitching, and the month of november

I had completely forgotten about it, stirred to finding it after I had been thinking about the things that my Grandma Lorraine had taught me about handcrafts, and after digging around in the boxes of things I keep safely tucked away in my closet, I found it.

What I believe to be the only remaining braided rug made by my Grandma. I'm not sure if it was meant to be this small or if she just never finished it, but it is just perfect in my eyes.

I'm just so tickled that I tracked it down. I think it will find a place on my wall instead of beneath our feet.  Just seems appropriate that it be appreciated.  Love You, Grandma!

I'm slowly getting to the end of the butterfly design I've been working on. The model is almost complete, just one more butterfly to work through and then the beading.  Have been ubber-inspired lately, and have a lot of designs on deck. Kind of going through this more stylized less animated phase of designing again. The whimsical designs were starting to all look the same to me. I'm digging this fresher approach with just enough animation in it to make it still 'me'. 

Flutter By, Butterfly  CM Designs 2013

November. Right there. Staring me in the face and I can't help but grin, because this new-found inspiration I've been feeling has been bleeding into so many areas of my life. I'm wanting to dejunk and unclutter and free up space. I'm wanting to find joy again, or rather renew my joy, in the creative process. I want to remember -why- I am doing what I am doing.  

To that end, I am planning on starting a "Stitch Something Every Day for 365 Days" project for myself starting on November 1st. I've created a new blog to post these things. 365 Stitches. 

I will not be counting any of my CM Designs stitching in this challenge. This will be random, no rules stitching. Just me, needle and thread and some little bit of fabric wanting to be marked.

November also means the start of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. I'm very excited about this, as I have been in previous years, but more so now because I will be writing a novel based on a story my son, Nate, made up when he was little. Great fun, and a goofy departure from some of the other things I have written in the past.

Well, that's enough for now. Time to get back to it. Until some memory or other has me skipping off to dig up a little more of the past.

a spin on paint by numbers

My Grandma Lorraine taught me a lot of things. I learned how to crochet by watching her, but never hooked as tightly as she did. I still wonder how she ever got the hook through the stitches on the return row. I sat with a skein of yarn and chained. And chained. Until I had this ginormous pile of chained stitch at my feet.  Red wool. 

My first experience as an embroiderer and cross stitcher was with her. I still tied knots in my embroidery floss back then and never understood why I had all these bumps coming through the front of the piece. It was her patient hand that showed me how to tuck the ends. 

She also made these amazing braided rugs, made from strips of wool from old clothing. I use to roll up the balls of wool strips as she cut them. She had one in the dining room under the table. It was huge, and I remember still to this day, nearly 40 years later, what it felt like under my feet. 

Cross Stitch Pattern inspired by my Grandma's Paint By Numbers

She also did paint by numbers. I recently saw a painting kit at the craft store  and there was this wash of memory-- of sitting beside her at the dining room table, my toes wiggling against the wool rug underneath them as she popped open each of the little plastic paint jars.  And that itty bitty paintbrush. Tiny. And she would paint, dipping that brush and finding each number on the canvas board that corresponded with the number stamped on the flip lid of the wee paint jars. I wiggled in my seat, wanting to try it, too. She would let me, but only the places that were bigger. 

She knew what she was doing, she did. I still color outside of the lines. 

Lately, I find myself thinking a lot about the things she taught me. What an influence she had on the creative me. She was responsible for the foundation. She instilled in me a love for those things that were simple and real. A love for the things that are fashioned as much by your heart as they are your hand. 

Pine #2

She has been gone from this place since 1976, but I still talk with her frequently. I feel her sometimes in the things that I create. Hand and heart.

long week!

I wish I could come running in here and say that I got this done and that done and then I started on this and then that. Truth be told, I can say I got this done. Not so much 'that'...and I started this, but never got around to starting 'that'.  (Did I mention it has been a long week??)

With the boy child out of town to play tennis and the girl child playing golf, I will have most of tomorrow to get around to other this and that.

Mother's Day on Sunday. I think my kids are going to get me breakfast in bed, which will probably mean a bowl of Captain Crunch and one of my crochet flowers in a vase. IF either get out of bed in time to serve me in the first place!

I've been writing quite a bit, and that has really felt good. I don't know if it is a story I will share eventually or not. It's just a tale that has been occupying a fair amount of space in my noggin' for awhile now. I am having a lot of fun researching old fairy tales and other folk tales and putting my own spin on them. Eventually, I hope to write a story and illustrate it myself.

Grandma Lorraine in Spokane. She found kitties in a box in an alley and I believe she found homes for them while visiting  there!

I have been especially drawn to Native American legend and culture, and I even practiced (incorrectly, I am sure!) a few Lakota words.  I told my mom about my fascination, and she told me that my Grandma Lorraine would be proud of me, as she too had a deep interest.  I never knew that about her.  

It made me smile.

Great Grandma Emma and Grandma Lorraine

grandma

One of my favorite photographs that I have is the picture of my Grandma Lorraine at her graduation. 

I have wanted to attempt some type of cross stitch version of this for some time, and I started playing around with it a little more tonight.  First I played with the sepia version, but was not happy with the variation and range of tones. So, I took it into Photoshop and worked with some colorization...

And then I charted...

I wanted to try and capture a "paint by number" feel, as Grandma use to do them when I was young.  

She also  braided these *huge* floor rugs out of old wool coats and clothing that were cut into strips. These things were gigantic, big enough to cover the floor of a formal dining room. I have one smaller rug that was hers.  What strength they must have taken  to braid. She also taught me how to crochet. I still remember my first lesson some 40 years ago...I chained and chained, until I had this never ending pile.  She crocheted so tightly,  me, I have always been loose! :D  

Now back to work on Tweet  for awhile before bed!