Monday, August 8, 2011

The results of a concerted effort...

Posted by Strlady at 12:20 PM 2 comments
My first efforts into embroidery were bad. I really didn't think they were bad until I washed the piece.

See, I felt I was doing great because I was stitching over the pattern and the pattern appeared to hide the spaces I was leaving between the stitches. I also thought I was an expert because I was whizzing right along. I didn't understand that the big stitches I was taking allowed me speed but was making my piece look horribly inconsistent and crooked... especially in the curves.

When I finally rinsed out the piece to remove the pattern from under the stitches this is what appeared. You should really click on the image to get a good close up of it.


Needless to say I had to redo the piece.
This was the new and improved effort.


Here is a closer look...


Notice the second P and the M. Also notice the vine.. Can you see the LARGE stitches? The crooked stitches of the line leading to the first P?

Here is the new one....


The P is more rounded. The lines are more straight. The vine has many more stitches. The M is still missing a stitch, but it is more rounded. Definitely an improvement.

Before I ventured into my second try, I googled embroidery stitches and found Mary Corbet's Needle n Thread site. This lady has a wealth of knowledge and she shares it in a ton of mini videos. I wish I had taken a picture of the back of these pieces because they were as different as night is to day.

Anyway, I finally finished an embroidery piece that would not embarrass me and put together my "secret" project. I was incorporating it into a mini quilt.


This was heading to my favorite pumpkin lady for her birthday.
She loves handmade things and if it has a primitive look, even better...


I framed it in a churn dash because it is her favorite pieced block.
It was quite a learning experience but one that I will be able to use over and over again.



Friday, August 5, 2011

Time passing in a NY Minute...

Posted by Strlady at 12:28 PM 1 comments
Can you believe it's been two months since I've posted? It sure doesn't feel that it's been that long but when I looked at my last post I was flabbergasted!
I thought it best to drop in now before things heat up for the wedding. This is the calm before the storm...

Talking about the wedding, June had me in NY with these three lovely ladies...


We went for the wedding dress fitting here...


But each one had a particular hot spot they wanted to see while in the Big City so we made a weekend out of it. First up was the New York Public Library. Lindsey had this on her must see list.


If you didn't know, I was born in NY and lived in Brooklyn for the first 11 years of my life but I had never been to this library. This is not your typical library. This is a mix of Museum and Library all wrapped into one. There were some serious literary artifacts housed in there, but we went to see this...


The stuff toys that inspired A. A Milne to write the Winnie the Pooh books. There is alot of history in that library and a lot of Hollywood too. Even though I had never been there, I kept running into familiar places I had seen in movies. Like The Day after Tomorrow, where a young Jake Gyllenhaal is stranded in the library while the world goes into a global deep freeze, and Sex in the City, where Carrie goes to the library to marry Mr Big!

The girls? Well they always found time to monkey around!


That night Nyshma scheduled her NY destination with a trip to a cupcake bar called Sweet Revenge


I sat this one out since I had suffered an injury while working out with my personal trainer and needed to get off my leg. I was also not very motivated to have cupcakes with a beer.... yuck. The girls had a blast though and came back with high praises for the unique bar.

The next day was the fitting.. (sorry no pics of that due to the secrecy surrounding "the Dress"). That afternoon was Jessi's turn to pick the location to visit and she decided she had to go to the Met.

I had never been to this museum and I will say that you need much more than an afternoon to see it. The layout is a bit challenging but sooo worth it.


Because of the size of the place, and it being our last stop of the day...
I think the girls were a bit exhausted...


They took every opportunity to sit.
Mostly, while waiting for me to catchup with them. LOL!


Some incredible pieces can be seen at this museum but my all time favorite was this one:


The piece is by Daniel Chester French and is called Mourning Victory. I walked into the room where this sculpture is and it just stopped me in my tracks. It felt as if the angel was just emerging into the room... Then I saw the stars..


Honestly! The pictures just don't do it justice. It is really beautiful.

Talking about pictures... I need to show you all the talent my Jessi has behind the lense.
My girls all have their talents. Nyshma is a quilter and makes beauty out of bits of Fiber, Lindsey is a singer and turns air into loud, outrageous, beautiful sound and Jess is a photographer taking light and bending it to her hearts content...


She has been honing her skills over the years and has just left me speechless with the array of pictures she took during our weekend. She just has that unique talent to look at something in the right angle and capture a unique shot.

The below slide show gives you just a glimpse of the pictures she took on the last day in NY.


It was a weekend I will treasure. It had been a long time since I spent time with my three girls and that weekend was a gift.

Will be back soon with more of my two month hiatus.
 

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