bjp 0214 - cinnamon and mustard

I had a dream, and when I woke up, all I could remember was the colour scheme of cinnamon and mustard. I'm not sure why my subconscious continued to dwell on those colours, but I just had to use them for my February Bead Journal. To be frank, it's not my favourite, but I think that it's important to stretch yourself, by sometimes working outside of your personal comfort zone.

This section contains a mustard coloured, embroidered disc (straight stitch, over plastic drapery ring), in honour of the closed, "serious embroidery" facebook group that I joined earlier this year. Also showing, is a bronze coloured screw eye from the stash (but it's almost buried.

I taught my first Altered Domino class at BeadFX , at the beginning of February, and wasn't it lucky that I just happened to have a tiny domino bead that my sister had given me? The cinnamon colour on the domino and the mustard on the button, are both courtesy of Adirondack, Alcohol Inks. One of my favourite playthings!!!

February marks my first purchase of Tila beads (the three, square white/yellow beads. I've used a small screen (sent from my friend Kaite in Australia), which is now almost entirely hidden under the domino. Also included is a small slice of dyed silk cocoon. gifted to me, by my sister, last Christmas. The leaf was traced from a brilliant red leaf, that I dried last fall. The elongated shape was enough of a departure from the others, that it almost doesn't fit in with the rest. Oh well, let's call it the misfit leaf!!!! LOL! February is actually my least favourite month of the year. It a constant reminder (thanks to growing up on the West Coast) that spring is showing up in other areas of the country, but not here in Ontario. We're still in the deep freeze! Sigh!

what if i experiment with hand stitch?

What if I'm just cruising along on a friend's blog and find a new book to purchase from Amazon? What if it's called Stitch and Structure, Design and Technique in two-and three-dimensional textiles, by Jean Draper? What if I actually skim the book cover-to-cover and stop on a section that talks about using hand stitch on water-soluble stabilizer (WS)? What if I had never thought of this? What if I find it very exciting? What if I made two small experimental pieces, over two days, and then decided that I needed to stop for a while, because my hand was hurting. What if I'll get back to it later?

What if I sandwiched thread waste and used teabags between the WS and then stitched with a running stitch? What if I knotted the thread intersections? What if I sandwiched strips of felted, thrift store wool between WS and then stitched with running and cretan stitches? What if I say there's an awful lot more to explore in this book? What if I say that I've actually finished my February bead journal, but am having trouble photographing it? What if I say that I'll return in the next couple of days>

just doodling around

A little hand work to doodle around with during the Olympics. Not good during skating, but perfectly acceptable for some other sports. The leaves were made a while ago in an Alice Vander Vennen fibre collage class. Although I did play with some of Alice's colour combinations, I went way off track with this one, so much so that Alice was actually surprised at the way the leaves turned out (definitely not her style or colour scheme). I spent hours, collaging bits of upholstery material, ribbon and vintage lace into one large piece, and then horrified everyone, by free hand cutting my leaves. Then I slashed each leaf in half and rejoined them with another mis-matched leaf part. I did this with a free motion ladder stitch (my apologies to people who, actually do this by hand, because the result is much more elegant). Yes, I went off on a tangent!!!! However, I did redeem myself close to the end of the class. I have three more, leaf collage pieces, assembled and ready to stitch. These ones are individually backed with creamy St. Armand watercolour paper and will include sheer fabric, small stones, text and perhaps a bit of metal. Now all I need to do, is figure out how to attach the fabrics to the paper. These lovely collages were all taped and bundled, until yesterday, when I opened them up for the first time since the class (I think it was a year ago, last October). I'm still waiting for a little more inspiration, but am definitely closer to the finish line!

As for these little leaves, I'm not quite sure what I will do with them. Perhaps a wide narrow piece, but am still not fully invested in that layout. For now, I'll just continue to doodle.....By the way, I'm sure that I have more leaves lying about somewhere, just waiting to be discovered in some future workroom adventure!!

what if? - abandoned projects

What if I like in-between projects? What if I have the bodies of many of those projects, tucked in various drawers and boxes? What if I join Arlee's hand embroidery Facebook Group (already happened)? What if I dig out one of these projects and start working on it again (again, already happened)? What if I show you some progress photos? What if I say that I originally abandoned this piece because I didn't like the fact that the braids were going 'wonky'? What if I say that I preferred them straight?

What if I was persuaded to embrace the 'wonkiness'? What if they were right? What if I included a "wonky" section, then some embroidery, then 'straight', then more embroidery, then more "wonkiness"? What if I added some beaded backstitch?

What if I say that I'm enjoying the process? What if I say that I'm using my own, machine wrapped braid? What if I say that it doesn't really matter, because the handwork is the entire point of the piece? What if I say that the piece is 5 1/2" wide X 70" long? What if I say that I'm just past the halfway mark? What if I say that I may need to repeat some fabrics? What if I say that I don't think anyone would notice? What if I say that I've already raided a friend's stash? What if I say thank you? What if I say that I'm happy with my overall progress? What if I say that I'm totally in love with the process? What if I say that I won't give up all of my other techniques? What if I say that this one is particularly restful and relaxing? What if I say that I love blues and greens?

What if I say that I'll have a lot of TV to watch, before finishing this piece? What if I say, what do you think?

bjp 0114 - in the pink

Well, January is a funny month! You'd think that I would find it depressing, but no I'm feeling "in the pink" and am looking forward to all the exciting challenges 2014 has to offer. Change is not always good, but I've decided to embrace mine and enjoy the new experiences. I'll stick with my leaf series, but probably end the year in September. That makes me happy, because it means that I've already completed my first three pieces (due to a late start in 2013). Yeah!!! I'm well on the way to accomplishing my goal. All that being said, let me introduce my January leaf!

I'm teaching my first Paper Bead workshop at BeadFX on January 26th, so I thought that it would be a good idea to include one of the first ones I made. It makes me happy, it's pink and white, and fits my theme (recycled paper from an old needlework pattern book). The shells are from an ugly old necklace of my Mother's, the buckle from a discarded watch strap and the sparkly earring, little butterfly and various metal bits, from my swap stash. I love these little goodies! I don't always remember who gave them to me, but they are still very special and precious. Most have flown to Canada, in various swaps and trades from all different parts of the world. It proves that people are very generous, and our world is united in a love of sparkly stash!!!!

In this section, you can see the bottom of my focal, more of the earring, and a few old necklace components. And now the full piece! Tada!!!

The focal is a fabulous vintage button, and one of those gifted to me by my sister at Christmas. She knows how much I love vintage and she happened to find the button in a very cool knit/coffee shop in Sault Ste Marie, ON. I should remember the name, but I don't, but do remember that it has "Motley" in the title. I really should remember because a) I visited the shop before it opened, and b) I may be able to teach some workshops &/or sell some stuff there in the future, and c) it's owned by my brother-in-law's, nephew's, wife. Sheesh! I promise, it's only a momentary loss of memory. The name will probably pop into my head soon after I publish the post. Stitches used include back, stacked, boucle/bocche and peyote. The leaf shape was traced from one I collected in the fall. I have no idea what tree it's from. Oh, one more thing.....pink is not one of my favourite colours, although I do like the duller tones! I chose it because of the focal. More later.......

what if? - paper circles

What if I buy more glue sticks, instead of constantly searching for the two UHU ones that I already own? What if I use pages from the old 'Dominion Educator' I purchased in Aberfoyle at the end of the summer (or was it fall)? What if I buy a 3/4" circle, paper punch (already happened, but I really wanted a 1" one)? What if I totally wreck my hands by punching out tons of little tiny circles in a very short period of time(again, already done)? What if there's an easier way? What if I actually use some of those circles? What if I don't follow Kaite's idea for making a slinky, though beautiful and probably terribly impractical, necklace out of them (like she spotted on a friend)? What if I pile them up,and UHU some of them together? What if I then punch a hole in them? What if I have no idea how I want to coat or protect them? What if I just make a bunch and then figure out what I'm going to do later? What if I add them to a stitched piece, bead journal or make a completely different type of necklace/bracelet/earrings out of them? What if I tell you that I have some ideas, but don't want to share until I experiment (selfish, I know)? What if I figure out what to do with the leftover bits from punching out the circles? What if I actually have more circles, but that they're in neat stacks, just waiting for a good TV show and UHU? What if I confess that I now own a 1" and 1 1/2" circle punch? What if the circle has no end?

What if I take a nap?

what if?

I started a new series in 2014? What if I focused on recycled materials? What if it's all about making do? What if I used some of the swapped paper and old calendars that I've been hoarding? What if I used fabric, thread, yarn and lace? What if I used beads and embellishments? What if I include natural elements? What about paint? What if I didn't impose any limits? What if it's all about trying different techniques? What if it's all about the photos? What if it's about making components? What if I'm just scratching the surface? What if I have no idea how often I'll post? What if I dreamed this up when I woke up this morning? What if it's just plain fun?

What if it's woven calendar pages from a prior year(thanks to an annual calendar exchange with Kaite in Australia). What if I have no idea what to do with these pages? What I frame them, stitch them, paint them, cut them up for backgrounds, line a tray, or make cards or coasters out of them? What if I put them in the component box? What if I make a what if box? What if I encourage all of you to play along with me? What if you link back to me so that I can see what you're up to? What if I'm finished with my what if's for today?

bjp 1213 - icy cold

As 2013 comes to a close, so does my leaf series for the same year. Oh, don't worry, I'm not done with the leaves yet, and may continue them in 2014 (after all, I only made three). But perhaps not formally, or should I say solely as the BJP. December was cold, we had snow and we had ice.....boy did we have ice! I'd like to say that the colour scheme was a result of said cold, but really, it was mainly influenced by the focal cabochon I had chosen. Well, did I really choose it, or did it choose me as a result of the weather? Who knows? Who ever knows? Do I sound slightly wacky?

I love this blue!!! I made the cab in an Ice Resin class at BeadFX in Toronto (taught by Malliga Nathan). You'll probably be seeing more of these cabs in the future, as I made tons and have plans for making more in 2014. A few more detail shots and then the big reveal!

The regular posse of stitches, including back, peyote, stacked, fringe, flower and boucle/bocce. Interesting bits include vintage and not so vintage buttons, old key, broken cufflink from the family button box, component from a deconstructed necklace and a little tiny puzzle piece (that you can hardly see, because I covered most of it up). Now onwards and upwards!!! I wish you all a happy and healthy and creative 2014!

a terrible beauty

At times I've felt that I'm in the middle of an Ansel Adams photograph!!!! I'm incredibly lucky that my power was only off for around 30 hours. Internet/cable and full cell service, back on at around 6 am today. Many homes and businesses are still without!! As hard as I try, I cannot properly capture the fierce beauty that surrounds us right now! A few photos of the last couple of days taken either on my old Canon PowerShot G6 or my iPhone:

a cold but festive day

Photos taken on a very cold day, at the Loews Christmas Market in our historic Distillery District, on December 6th. My ears were so cold, I even had to resort to buying a hat!! I almost never wear hats!! All photos taken with my iPhone and very little editing done other than cropping. I'll let the photos do the talking:

Gotta love that truck! Neon lights had been installed, so it was a perfect photo opportunity for a cold night! If you look really carefully, you'll see me captured in the red ball in the first photo. If you squint, you may even be able to see what I look like in my new hat. LOL!