The Right Alice

Sometimes all it takes is for one person to believe in us. Often we don't even believe in ourselves, but there is someone out there that chooses us...that picks us out of a crowd...that knows we have what it takes to accomplish something for ourselves that we never dreamed possible.


I never imagined that this piece would end up being about Alice. In fact, I started the journey completely infatuated with the Mad Hatter and the idea of perpetually having tea. I knew those two things were absolute.


But over time, as I stitched and studied the story...I chose to remove the other characters at the tea party...the Dormouse, the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat. But what about Alice? Alice was growing in my heart day by day. And so I decided; Alice had to be on the block and she had to be Big Alice.


And holding the key? Well, of course. She's the key to the entire story...and she's the key to her own happiness, her own success, her own life.

Yet it's the Hatter who believes in Alice from first sight of her. Everyone else in the story is convinced that Alice is the "wrong" Alice...and even Absolem, the hookah-smoking caterpillar says that she is "not hardly" Alice...meaning, that he was reserving judgment until she had proven herself.


But not the Hatter. The Hatter needs Alice to slay the Jabberwocky...to free Underland from the treachery of the Red Queen...and he never doubts that she can do it. And to Alice, it seems to be the most impossible thing she could ever dream of...to have the strength to wield a vorpal sword and slay a Jabberwocky? Even in her craziest of dreams, she wouldn't have imagined that possible for herself.

Yet the Hatter did. And he had faith in her and he waited and waited for her to return. Their relationship in the story is very special and Alice becomes Big Alice because of him.


Don't we learn life's lessons through great stories? And isn't the craziness of Alice in Wonderland one of the reasons it has such mass appeal...such outlandish characters saying the silliest of things...and those silly statements resonate with truth.


I love this story. It teaches me that believing in someone I love can mean the world to them. It teaches me that what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. It teaches me that believing in myself, believing that I can accomplish six impossible things before breakfast, makes me a GIANT. And makes me the star attraction in my own life.


I have really enjoyed blogging this journey bit by bit. And I have to admit that I'm a bit down now that it's over. I always need a few days after ending a big project, finishing a great book, throwing a big party...to wind down...to write the experience to my hard drive...filing the lessons learned for future use.


Thank you for all your support and your encouragement along the way. It means more than you might imagine.


And so you don't have to work too hard...here's what I added to the block from last time.

• The blue butterfly in the upper right corner to signify Alice's transformation
• I darkened the center dark grey piece to give it more depth like a hole
• I added some three-dimensional ferns and more curly ferns to the forest

• I added more Tulgey to the Tulgey wood
• and I put a few beads on the seams in the center...
• And I gave the Hatter a hat pin. It's a size 15 beading needle with two size 15 beads glued very carefully to the tip. I put on my small fingers for that task!

And now it's done.


I put all the pictures in this Flickr album and I made a slide show...it's kind of fun to see the block grow over time...kind of like time-lapsed photography.

Have a great day everyone and thank you for coming on this adventure with me!

Tea Time!

It's always tea time in Wonderland.


And it was tea time all day today in Maryland -- I think I drank at least 10 cups of tea all by myself given that it was rainy and cold outside...perfect weather for tea and for stitching...

I'm getting closer to finishing...the major stressful parts are over...the parts where I wasn't quite confident that I could make the Mad Hatter or Alice...I have just a couple of more motifs to complete.


And then I'll sit back and study the block...and add beads and a few extra stitches wherever the block says they should go...

I'm getting very close now...not too much longer...


P.S. The entire block is 8" square. That means those little bitty cups are only about 1/4" tall.

Becoming Big Alice

When I am in the middle of a project and you don't hear from me for three days...

That usually means I am struggling.

And struggle I have been.

I knew that both the Mad Hatter and Alice were going to be tricky for me to figure out...and they were.


Anytime I have to draw faces and bodies and hands...let alone stitch them...I'm challenged.

Add to it the issue of making hair and you might as well give me a valium.

But I knew that I just couldn't do this block without those two characters so I set off to venture out of comfortable territory and into my own version of slaying the Jabberwocky.

I drew at least twenty profile faces of Alice, traced 5 onto muslin, stitched two....decided on one...

It looked great until I went to cut it out. I cut some of my outline threads...and then I ruined it further by using a marker to cover some of the white threads that were showing. The marker bled onto her face and made her look like she was the daughter of Quasimoto.

My crazy (CQ) girlfriends were over yesterday and they all encouraged me to keep her and try to fix her. By last evening, I was cursing and swearing and exhausted...and I feared I would have to start a new Alice this morning...which almost made me cry.

So, I woke early this Mother's Day morning and went on a bike ride with a group of great women. And while I was out passing the fields and the honeysuckle...I gained back my perspective. And I thought about Alice...


This is a story, afterall, about a young woman who finds her strength and her courage within herself to do what she needs to do when she needs to do it. She holds the key to her own destiny...and so do I.


There's a reason why we all love this story so much. It helps us to imagine and test out our own responses to challenges and adventure. So I can say to myself, if Alice can slay a Jabberwocky, I suppose I can figure out how to fix her facial disfiguration.

So, I woke up this morning and performed an enucleation (that's the operative term for an "eyeball removal" - I know, you get so much for your price of admission...)

Here she is after I painted over my marker bleed with white fabric paint...but before she had her surgical procedure.


And here she is post-enucleation (I'm trying to use the word three times so I'll remember it...)


And I am happier with Alice. I love how her dress turned out...especially the little embroidery around the bottom...


While I was out riding, my friend Maura suggested that I think about direction...rather than perfection. I liked that a lot.

And even though Alice isn't perfect. She's my Alice and I'm heading in the right direction. I'm stretching myself to a limit and vowing to try to keep growing, even if it's painful.

Is this still about embroidery?

I think it is. Or about anything else that we strive to do and do well.

It's all about the journey after all...and we each have to find our own way.

Let's hope I don't disappear again for three days...or, heaven forbid, need an enucleation! (tee hee hee, that's three)

I need the next step to go a little more easily now.

Maybe it's time for tea...

Happy Mother's Day!

The Hatter Waits

"I think he's been sitting at that table, having the same tea, with the same people, in this kind of funk, for ten years, waiting for Alice to come back."
~ Johnny Depp


This waiting...this hope and loyalty and faith that the Mad Hatter has for Alice...that is what this block is all about.

The scene that follows the Mad Hatter's wait is one of my favorites. And it's the Hatter's reaction when he finally sees Alice again for the first time after sitting and waiting for years and years that makes it so.


Here's the excerpt from Disney's Alice in Wonderland as Alice comes upon the tea party and the Hatter catches sight of her:

At the sight of Alice, he bolted upright. His whole being seemed to brighten; even his clothes perked up. Transfixed, he moved toward her, stepping directly up onto and over the table, as that was the shortest route to reach her. Alice shivered a little as he came closer, staring at her intently. There was something in his face that made her anxious for him. She knew she couldn't possibly deserve the delighted look he gave her.

"It's you," said the Mad Hatter. He reached toward her golden hair, then pulled his hand back before touching her.

"No, it's not," the Dormouse snapped. "McTwisp brought us the wrong Alice."

The Mad Hatter shook his head. "It's absolutely Alice! You're absolutely Alice! I'd know you anywhere. I'd know him anywhere."

This time he did touch her, seizing her hand and pulling her back to the table. He stepped right up onto a chair and led her over the table the way he had come. Alice tried not to step on any teacups as they walked across the tablecloth. On the other side, the Hatter plunked her down in the chair next to his. She fidgeted nervously under his rapt gaze.

"Well, as you can see, we're still having tea," the Hatter explained. "It's all because I was obliged to kill Time waiting for your return. You're terribly late, you know...naughty. Well, anyway."

"Sugar?" asked the March Hare.

"Time became quite offended and stopped altogether," the Hatter continued. "Not a tick ever since."

This whole block is a precursor to this scene in Tim Burton's Alice. It's a snapshot in time...a vision of the Mad Hatter waiting...and, unbeknownst to him, Alice has already landed in Underland...he just doesn't know it yet.


Johnny Depp plays this scene masterfully...and it's amazing that his whole persona...his makeup, his clothes, his accent...all change with his mood. His character is remarkably written, acted and portrayed. I can't wait to do more blocks with him in mind...or out-of-mind...

This morning I felt like I've been painting. First came the foundation, the piecing and the seam treatments.


Then came the first layer of embellishment. And now, I think I'm on either the second or third layer. Building up the scene as one might build up a painting??


I don't know. I've never taken a painting class in my life but I've heard that what painters do. So, today, I felt a bit like a painter with threads...


I'm off to find Alice...see you next Time if someone doesn't kill him.

Undergrowth

Top O' the Topiary to You!

1. I've done lots of work on Underland but it's a rainy Monday and not a good picture day.
2. I had a bit of analysis paralysis over the weekend and couldn't decide if Alice needs to be Big Alice or small Alice or whether to nix Alice all together and pretend that she hasn't yet come down the rabbit hole...so I grew her and shrank her and grew her again...just like in the story....you'll see what I decided soon enough...
3. The wig of the Mad Hatter is made from Yak wool. Maryland had it's fantasmagorical, huge Sheep and Wool festival this past weekend...so I went in search of hair for the Hatter and hair for Alice...It was 95 degrees and I felt like a sherpa transported to the Mojave desert...so I didn't get many pictures...
4. I made way too many mushrooms -- probably enough to put on three blocks...I was, however, grateful to have choices.
5. I'm off to make/buy a cake since my friend Carolyn turned 70 on Saturday and I'm going to see her today.
   
6. Many thanks to all of you are making suggestions...I try on all of your ideas, kick the tires and see if they work --- Thanks to Marty for suggesting I hang the moss in clumps. It looks great that way. And for her inspiring ferns on her Midsummer quilt...Thanks to Allie for suggesting I add legs to my tables...I tried to add chairs behind the tables but decided that they made the block look too busy...And thanks to Gerry for sending me fern fabric from a silk blouse...it's coming in handy on this piece!
   
7. Finally, I lost my entire email inbox on Saturday when Jim logged into Microsoft Outlook by mistake. The pirates transferred my entire Yahoo inbox into their browser and I'm still working on restoring it. If you sent me an email on Friday or Saturday, I'll get back to you when I can. And if I haven't gotten back to you on something important, please email me again...sorry for your trouble. Downal wyth Bluddy Behg Microsoft~!

It's a Moss Pile...in a Leaf Year

This pile is my morning's work. I know...you're saying, "That pile of *&%! is her morning's work?"

Hey, I hear you...


Sometimes I am seized with an idea and I head down a path and I have no idea if it will turn out or not.

I still don't know whether this idea is going to work or not. See, I was trying to create that hanging Spanish Moss that helps to give Tulgey Wood a little dark and sinister air. First I tried crocheting the little buggers...forget that, I would be here until next June. Then I thought I would hand embroider them on stablizer...and then the madness left me and I embraced my sewing machine.

I hope when I attach them to the block, they will have the desired effect.


I've found that if I use Ultra Water Soluble stabilizer (it's much thicker), I don't need to put it into a hoop for the free-motion embroidery.


Only problem is it takes much longer for the stabilizer to dissolve. The trick is to cut away absolutely as much stabilizer as possible and then be patient.

So while the little centipedes of thread were dissolving, I tried some practice stitching.


I've been trying to find the right technique to use to make fiddlehead ferns. Aren't they glorious shapes?


DMC makes Memory Thread, a rayon wrapped wire that holds it shape very well. I decided to coil it around a size 00 knitting needle and then couch the coil down. I threaded through some dark floss but that didn't show up enough so I'll have to use something else.


It's definitely a contender but I much preferred the palestrina stitch on the right. I had to practice starting and stopping my thread and making it look contiguous. See that one wonky thread? That's where I started and ended improperly.

OK. So the rest of today and most of tomorrow, I'll probably be working on creating the Mushroom Forest and filling out the Tulgey Wood. Here I am again, immersed in making foliage!


I think I'll call this year "Leaf Year" - By the end, I think I will have tried almost every method of making leaves that are known to man...

Best Regards,
The Leaf Maker

P.S. There's a thought to ponder in my sidebar today. I'd love to hear your responses...of course, assuming you have the time, and it's not to much trouble, and you'd like to play...

Making Mushrooms

Today I made mushrooms. I'm not sure if it's a worthy pursuit or not...but I did enjoy making them.

Yet again, I found that I needed to make the mushroom components first before I could figure out where they might be placed on the block...then I can place the ferns...and the moss...and the fiddlehead curly-Qs...

So I painted that beautiful velvet that I got from Chris at the Shady Grove...


And then I sewed the velvet to the felt in little mushroom top shapes...and made spots with french knots.


I cut strips from an old felted ivory sweater to make the stems.


Now they are ready to be placed on my block.

There are mushrooms all over Tim Burton's movie...and many of them are psychedelic colors of pink and purple and gold and blue...


But I wondered from where did the inspiration come for these fabulous fungi?

I found these pictures of fly agaric mushrooms on Flickr...and many of them look just like this...[They really are beautiful to behold so you should check it out...]

Photo courtesy of Johnson Cameraface on Flickr

Evidently they are highly toxic and found in Central Europe. They were mixed in milk and set out in a saucer to attract flies...the flies drank the liquid and it killed them...hence the name, fly agaric. Too cool.

So this is the mushroom that inspires all of those red mushrooms with white spots that we see everywhere. Who knew?

See you next time with fiddlehead ferns and foliage...

Three Tables and a Chair

Well, I changed my mind about stitching the lace...I found a few laces that would work as table toppers and I decided to use those.

And I found a 1/4" thick doll house moulding that I used to cut into three smaller pieces to make the table tops...


Covered them with their linens...and voila!


I was trying to make the chair very simple since that is where the Mad Hatter is going to sit. I'm just not sure whether I like it or not but I'm hoping that won't matter in the long run...


Now that I'm looking at the overall block...I need to darken and deepen the area around the table with the Mushroom Forest...and I may have to add some hanging moss from the top of the block...



That will be next before I embroider the tea party. Now I'm off to figure out the mushrooms, the curly ferns and the hanging moss. See you next time!