January Reflections: Q & A

Oftentimes, when I am in the middle of a project, I'll get questions about how I did something or which material I used for a certain technique.

Though I try to answer them all, I'm sure there are some that slip through because I'm in a stitching fugue...and I don't have too much time to be online.

So I thought it might be helpful to save them all for the end of the project and answer them in a post...a kind of "behind the scene" question and answer session post-completion...

Question #1

How did you get the eyes and nose of the deer to be so shiny?

I'm not going to lie. This is one place where having the right supply on hand makes all the difference.

Ideally, I knew I wanted to have a bead for an eye because of the shiny nature of the glass. Unfortunately, most seed beads are not round but more oval in nature and they just weren't right. I needed something round. I didn't have any round tiny beads but I did happen to have a couple of very very tiny vintage nail heads...they're only about 2mm. The facets of the nailheads were perfect. His nose isn't shiny at all but the one white stitch on its tip gives the appearance of light reflection.

Question #2

Is that a mirror inside the hole of the tree?

Yes! It's tough to photograph a mirror because it often gets whited out. I think the hole of the tree might be one of my favorite areas on this whole piece. I attached in typical shisha mirror style. I wish I had taken a picture before I stitched over top but alas...

I used the stitches holding the mirror in place as a "fabric" of sorts and stitched right into them as I stitched the bark. It was challenging because the mirror gets in the way of accessing the fabric back so most of the stitches that go over the tree knot do not go all the way to the back of the block...they are sewn over and through the mirror-holding stitches.

Question #3

What stitch are in those spiky leaf things?

Those spiky swirl fronds are stitched with palestrina stitch and then couched in between the spikes with a metallic thread.

Question #4

What thread is that threaded under the snowflakes in that top right seam?

That is a product called "flash" that fly fishers use in tying flies. It's really cool stuff and comes in lots of great colors. It tends to move and not behave very well...which you can see in my pic...it looks like I need to go back and add a few more couching stitches to hold it in place.

This picture is a great example of how my camera's eye is much much better than my naked one. Often when I'm showing you close up pictures of stitches or motifs, I see new things that I do not see when working (even with a magnifier!).

The block is 8" square so many of the animals are less than one inch. It's very challenging to get detail that small and you can't really see it from far away anyway. That's one of the areas most challenging to me...how to work small when most of our supplies are quite big.

Question #5

How did you attach those rocks?

The credit for this one goes to Allie Aller and p. 99 of her book, Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting: Modern Piecing & Embellishing Techniques for Joyful Stitching!

If you don't own that book yet, you need to! It is chock full of tips and tricks that I use almost every day.

And this tip changed my stitching life because it opened up a whole new realm of possibility for attaching anything to fabric...rocks, shells, cabochons, pictures, potato peelers, etc. Thank you Allie!!

I only made one modification to Allie's idea. Allie punches "buttons" from the lids of plastic containers. Unfortunately, for me, those lids were a bit too thick to use on the bottoms of the tiny rocks I was using in my piece. I used quilter's template plastic instead which is much thinner.

I custom fit each piece of plastic to each rock so that the rocks would stay pretty firm against the fabric. I didn't want them jiggling around.

It's not so easy to punch a hole in those tiny bits of plastic, so I used a piece of foam underneath to make my needle holes.

Then I used the E-6000 applied with a toothpick to attach all the pre-threaded buttons to the backs of the rocks...

And left them overnight to dry...

I really enjoyed this Q & A session so I'd like to approach future questions relating to specific projects the same way...So next time, if you ask a question and I don't answer...hopefully, it will show up in the Q & A when the piece is completed.

Did I miss anything? If so, just drop me a line and let me know.

Hope you get some play time in today everyone!

January Reflections

I have always loved January.

Maybe it's because I was born in this month.

Maybe it's because in January I remember to breathe again.

After all the exertion of December, it's nice to relax into the pause that is January.

In a normal year, the air is crisp, the wind blows and we often wake up to frost or a light dusting of snow...

We don't always get a lot of snow...sometimes just enough to ice the morning. And you have to be an early bird to see its magic before the mid-day sun burns it away.

I walk every day, even when it's bitter cold.

Walking every day joins me to the natural world in which I live, making me aware of which animals hibernate and which animals are out and about, sharing the chill.

There aren't many of us out and about so I can't help but feel some camaraderie towards them.

And I have grown to love the trees.

It's the trees that are ever-present.

I love to see their structures revealed, as they all stand straight and proud like a well-trained army.

Have you ever noticed that there aren't many crooked trees?

And if you do happen to find a tree that has tried to grow crookedly, it's not long before all the other trees whip the wayward soldier back in line and he's growing straight again.

Look for yourself. You'll see what I mean.

You may spy a crooked tendency down toward the tree's base but by the time you look up to the top of the tree, it's grown straight again. Right in line with all the others.

Which makes me think it's a lesson for parenting...

And it's not just the trees that are laid bare but the entire landscape.

Living on the ridge of a valley, I am surrounded by hills.

And it grounds me to see the boulders, cliffs and rocks uncovered along with the roots of trees.

They are the workhorses preventing erosion and holding it all together.

It amazes me to think that those rocks have been around since pre-Cambrian times...about 4 billion years ago.

Let's face it. Compared to 4 billion years, my life isn't even a flash in that pan. Ultimately, when all's said and done, I'm just the tiniest bit of fodder for trees and plants. Ergo I serve the earth...ergo, its rocks and trees.

See how my thoughts wander in January?

Are they really wandering or is the earth trying to tell me something?

I think it's the earth...sending me messages that help put my life in perspective.

That help to ground and guide me.

Without a doubt, January is beautiful to me with its shades of rock-gray and decaying-browns.

And I have learned to love a palette bereft of saturated color.

In January, I feel more clearly the import and contribution of the aging and dying earth. It helps me to be more gentle with my own aging body.

And all that contemplation of who I am and where I am going...

Which choices I am making and what remains undone...

Sets me on a renewed course...and I am helped along by the whispers of Mother Earth...and by the conversations I have held with the rocks and the trees..with those winter animals...that are sharing my life.

I'm not sure I believe in resolutions and a magic start date of January 1.

But I do believe in the power of January.

A quiet, contemplative respite from the frenetic world we have come to live in.

Tarnished silvers and grays and crystal and sparkle and taupes.

Cells decaying and being remade into new life and new ideas. Resting and conserving...and hiding...and reflecting...

That's January.

Hiding

And trying to make it until Easter...

Monday is a good day to hide, I think.

Happy hiding...

Snowy Boughs

The snow has begun to fall and the shadow of a bunny has entered the scene...

Happy weekend everyone.

Playing...

Painting...

Distressing...

Dusting...

Drying...

Transforming...

Choosing...

Smiling.

Waving...

Sticks and Stones

My January reflections block is all about the color palette of winter.

So when it came to making a "flower spray"...well...let's just say...there aren't any flowers around here in winter...

But I live in the Patapsco River Valley in the Piedmont region...and the closest thing we have to a "flower spray" in winter are metamorphic rocks, tree twigs and dried leaves.

And so I set about making a bough of dried leaves by using some of that pre-made leaf trim...But I didn't like the satiny shine or the homogenous color so I colored it with acid-free markers...

And then to make the leaves look more realistic...I wrapped them around mangled and bent wire to simulate twigs...

I didn't like the dark color of the brown so I lightened the sprigs by adding some of this champagne mist Tsukineko ink, a new color they just introduced that I had picked up at the AQS quilting show.

Next up was making the pile of twigs...

It actually took a bit of time to make this small pile of twigs...I just basted some white, paper coated pastry wire that I had colored with my markers to soutache and used thread to "color" the branches.

So now I have branches and twigs. And thanks to nature, I have a few small stones from the river bank...

Mostly gneiss and schist for all you geologists out there ;)

These will probably be added to the block close to last. Just a few more details before I can call this project complete.

Happy Monday everyone!

Oh Deer!

Since this crazy quilt block is about January reflections, I wanted to include one of the other friends I frequently see in my yard during that month...

And she, of course, had to have a mouth full of plants.

Just like the owl, I googled a picture of "deer face"...And then I shrunk the picture, playing around with the size until I find which one fits best in my space. In this case, I think it was 1".

I then traced the outline of the deer's features and cut out my shapes from felted sweater bits...

This time the pieces were so tiny that I did use interfacing on the backs of the pieces in order to hold the sweater fibers together as I cut them out. I then either use a hoop with water soluble stabilizer or tear-away stabilizer to assemble and embroider my deer.

And my favorite discovery?

Deer have really, really looong eyelashes...anywhere from 3"-4" long!

Who knew? I noticed them when I was googling deer faces...which led me to google "deer eyelashes". [Don't you just love google?]

That's how I found out that deer eyelashes are so long because they act as "feelers", providing sensory input to the deer about the proximity of branches or leaves that might damage their eyes while their feeding on my plants. Isn't that cool? [The eyelashes. Not the feeding on my plants...]

So I went in search of some false eyelashes I've had in my bathroom drawer for years that I keep threatening to wear but never have...and I stitched them on my deer.

So now, I've got quite the long-lashed, plant-eating, bush-hiding deer to keep my shaman-owl company.

Isn't that deer?

Happy Tuesday Fellow Needle People!

The Great Snowy Owl Migration

My work talks to me.

And when I begin a piece, I don't always know what it will become. But I usually start out with a few key elements.

For this block, those key elements included snow, the bare tree, and...

An owl.

I even left space for it...

For the past six months or so, I have heard the hoot of the Great Horned Owl in the woods behind my home.

And this past January, I was struck by the stories in the news of the mass Snowy Owl migration.

Evidently, great numbers of snowy owls have migrated into the northern regions of the United States...

I was amazed by the beauty of these animals and intrigued by the mystery of their appearance.

How better to mark this amazing migration and my new relationship with the nocturnal harbingers in my woods...than by placing one in the tree on my block.

My owl isn't any one species. In fact, I started with a picture of a Barred Owl...and traced it's main features and then reduced it to about 1"...

Recycled and felted wool sweaters formed the main body and wings of my friend. I liked the texture that the sweaters give to the bird, allowing me to sculpt it a bit with my needle...similar to needle felting.

That being said, I did not want the stitches to sink into the face of the owl, so I placed a little mask of fusible interfacing to hold the stitches in place. (It's hard to see in the picture, but it's there.)

I had also had some of these barred feathers from my trip to the fishing tackle store, and they just said "owl" to me.

You can see how fluffy my owl started out before it migrated to its true self...

For some reason, it liked the use of the feathers...and became less of a specific owl...and more of shaman-like owl...

A spiritual messenger, a symbol of wisdom and inner-knowing.

In ancient Hindu, Celtic and Egyptian cultures, the owl was symbolic of the keeper of the underworld...a seer of souls, able to connect this life and the next...the keeper of spirits and of secret knowledge.

A quick list of owl symbolic meanings:

• Wisdom
• Mystery
• Transition
• Messages
• Intelligence
• Mysticism
• Protection
• Secrets

I was surprised by how my visitor was transformed through my stitches. I don't think I could have planned it, if I tried. But I'm very happy she came to roost in my branches...and I am pondering what message she brings...

Today, I'm off to be a docent for the Japanese Embroidery Serenity in Silk: World of Nuido Collection at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. which runs through April 2, 2012. (And I am allowed to take pictures!)

I'll share more tomorrow.

Happy Monday everyone!