Some small stuff

Taking a small break from a couple big jobs to enjoy Sherlock Holmes and some hand work. 

I had found these vintage yo-yo's a long time ago and recently stitched them together.  I like how they resembled the glass grapes we used to have in the 70's that sat on the living room table.   

I probably overworked this small piece but I simply love Deborah Boschert's 'y' motif and of course my favorite French knots in variegated threads. Most of these embroidery threads are Laura Wasilowski's hand dyed pearle cottons.  YUM!

Not too long ago I was reading a blog on the Creative Mind and they had posted this poem. It really spoke to me so I printed it out.  Fast forward to this week of boob tubing with Sherlock and I had an idea.

I quickly grabbed some moda basic grey fabric; quickly stamped some grunge images, sketched a raven and grabbed some pens.  I loved having minimum embellishments and time.  It quickly focused me and I really need that type of focus.  I find I get too bogged down into 'petting' all my stuff when I go searching for materials to create something new.  After an hour I have so much crap  stuff out that I am frozen and spoiled for choice.  

16" x 20" roughly

the pens I chose.  Not shown was a teal gelly roll pen.  

This ink is so very cool and I mix it with plain black for an iridescent look. It's not the blue/black sparkle that I'm after but it works for now. 

I love using  gelly roll pens on fabric!  I didn't pre-treat this fabric at all.  The black ink outline had dried so the jelly roll gold and green inks sat right on top and didn't bleed all over which was cool!

I'm impressed with the fine line detail I can get from these pens, the metallic ones are just awesome!

This is the back.  The ink that was in the dish was so gorgeous I wondered if I could just lay material in it and pick up the marbling.  No dice but the resulting 'spot' completely looks like a Bison's head to me. 

I also scrounged up some bigger scraps for something else entirely. 

While searching through this little ziplock bag I found this bird from some cards I had made last year.  I think he will work quite nicely on this motif. 

These are real Acorn tops that I have inserted a silk cocoon and two felted balls in.  I think that worked out nicely and now they are ready to bead! 

Finally, working on my running stitch I added outlines to this pattern.  I had previously stenciled this design on.  I embroidered the snail pattern & bubbles on the bottom.  Now the running stitches have been added.  Not sure if it's done yet.