Really?

OK, I listened to you and worked on my composition more with the rose border. One of my problems was mixing the various kinds of flowers together. I didn't want realistic flowers with the stylized flowers. I think I may have figured that out. The other main criteria I have to keep in mind is that the embroidery has to blend well with the other elements of the quilt. I was also struggling with the inner borders. They have to be a certain size since I am coming at this a bit ass backwards-the outer border is already made.

I'll load the pictures for you; and explain a bit about what I am thinking.

Here's the main composition--reminds me a bit of my current Hoffman Challenge: Bird Study. Maybe this is "my style".
Basically, I will be cutting out the vine and floral border from drapery books and then adding in machine embroidery to flesh out the swag. Everything is cut a bit big at first so I know I have plenty of fabric to work with for the final stitchout.

I am envisioning a "bouquet" of cutout and appliqued flowers at the top of the composition with some leaves going down the sides to then hook up with the swag across the bottom. Possibly two bouquets at the corner. I am not sure I want the formality but the composition might benefit from some orderliness.

I am scattering the jacobean flowers around as directional pieces floating in and out of the various floral groups. These will be embroidered. Those leaves will be cut out and hand embroidered on (broderie perse style). One thing I am discovering is that I really don't like the intersection of all those seams on CQ blocks. I find myself wanting to cover them with something big, like leaves.

I'm not in love with the big wonky flowers anymore so I think they may be either replaced or eliminated. I haven't quite gotten that figured out. What do you think? In this photo I added a hummingbird circle and I like that. I want this whole piece to have a folksy almost germanic look to it.

At first I wasn't so sure about the red jacobean floral border but now I like it. It's a bit surprising but not so much that it is distracting (I hope). It also plays along with the jacobean floral idea. It also offers another scale of flowers which helps with the large scale roses next to it.

I am leaning towards a dark inner border. I wish I had enough of the one floral repeat but that is what happens when you buy fat quarters. I may be able to locate it again or I might just mix it with the other blue floral.

So that's where I am this morning. If someone would hand me a shovel so I can shovel my way back into my studio, I might be able to make some more progress today. Comments are welcome.

Have a Creative Day, Y'All! The QOVs were received last night. Thanks to all who helped me make them. They truly help a person heal.

Pauses

Yesterday's shooting at Ft. Hood is unsettling to me in very personal ways. I spent a few years of my pre-teen days living near Ft. Hood in a town called Copperas Cove. My dad was in Viet Nam during that time; so there was lots of uncertainy for my family. Every evening the TV news was on and we waited patiently for letters to arrive. My mom spent days each month making cakes and cookies to send over to him. I really didn't know half of what was going on over there. I was more interested in my own personal life and figuring out how to adjust in a new school. It was probably when I "really" learned to sew since we had a spare bedroom with the sewing machine set up in there. I know it's where I learned to put a side zipper in a pair of pants--one pair took me 14 tries.

And that brings me to this new wallhanging. I think Barbara was right. The big roses around the outer square of "my favorite things" are too big; wrong scale. I have also decided that the CQ outer border isn't right either. I think I'll save that for another idea. Now it is back to figuring out what to do. My studio is littered with possibilities. I'll figure it out. Or not. Who would have thought putting together one's favorite things would be so hard?

Finished rose

Please take a moment today and say a prayer for our soldiers and their families at Ft. Hood.

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

Embroidering a Rose

We have 2 couches and 2 chairs in our family room. One couch looks directly at the TV and it's the one that Wes and I usually sit on in the evenings. At my end of the couch is a big round table where I have my embroidery supplies (and on the floor and on the arm of the couch-let's be truthful here!). In front of the couch is a big stuffed hassock. Some evenings if I get to the couch later than Wes and Elmo, Elmo has taken my spot. Usually he just gets off when I come near. Last night I was cleaning up the kitchen and was running a bit late for my spot on the couch.


I have been slow to adjust to the time change and getting up in the mornings has been tough since I can't seem to get to sleep. So yesterday I skipped Elmo's walk in the morning because I had just enough time to get to my golf lesson.


Last night as I am approaching the couch I realize that Elmo has no intention whatsoever of relinquishing my spot. When he stretches out, he takes up 3/4 of the length of the couch. I've also been around him long enough to realize when he is sound asleep and when he is playing possum. Wes thinks he is a precious child and won't make him do anything he doesn't want to do; that leaves me to be the Alpha Dog. Oh Elmo's eyes were shut like he was not going to interact with me. But, when I turned my back and glanced back at him, I could see he had raised his eyebrow and was looking at me with one eye which he quickly closed. This was his "punishment to me" for skipping his walk.


So, I played along because I knew he would get hot and pretty soon move to the floor. Next to the end of the couch and sharing the round table is a nice armchair. I sat down in that to begin stitching.


A few weeks ago I mentioned to Wes that I really needed a different cutting table in my studio. The one I have is a dining room table from IKEA and it's too low. I could move it to another part of my studio but that would mean moving out a very nice table styled desk I have in there.


When I sat in the armchair I happened to look across the room at the very nice 2 bulbed adjustable lamp by the other couch that we never turn on. I snatched it in a heartbeat and put it next to my chair. Then, the thought came back to me. What if I moved the desk into the family room and used it as my embroidery desk? It would be right in front of a very big window that faces the back of the house letting in good light should I want to work there in the daylight hours. I could tuck my basic supplies in the drawers. It's a style that would match the decor of the family room nicely. It's really a shame to have it in my studio anyway. So this morning I am thinking about it some more. It would mean a trip to buy a new table somewhere or have something made.


Instead of being mad that Elmo was such a couch hog last night, I have to say that sitting in a different spot in the room helped me see a possible solution to a nagging problem. You never know where or who will help you solve a problem!

Here's what I got done! I am working on outlining the rose petals.

Have a Creative Day, Y'All! We already took our walk today.

Central Section Hand Embroidery

Here are some detail shots of the central section. I was able to get most of the embroidery done last night. I think I'll go out in the sunny backyard and work on the fused rose when I finish here.

That pretty little Remember tape was sent to me recently by Barbara--perfect spot where I have it!

I love the personalities of these birds! I bought this on eBay when I began collecting bird items for a CQ. I am glad I had the nerve to trim them up and put them in this piece. I think they are so lively and set a nice tone.

I found a lady through eBay who hand cross stitched a pile of bird embroideries for me and this nest was from that group. It's another of my favorite things.

A bouquet of roses that I added to the outer border yesterday. I also added another darker pink group of abstract roses. These rose bouquets are pretty labor intensive at 90 minutes a piece. I just hope they don't look dorky with my big floppy flowers. I am beginning to have questions about those. . . . .sometimes it is hard to visualize it all together when it is in pieces. And now, I'll have to think about Barbara's concern over the big rose fabric . . . . . . and before I begin the hand embroidery of the petals.

Have a Creative Day, Y'All! I am just in from my golf lesson. I wish that was easier.

Adding Roses

This style of work takes a whole lot more thinking than it is probably worth! I swear that when I do the next one, I am going to write down some steps to follow or things to think about beforehand so it goes smoothly. When this piece is done, I don't think it will look anything like the original piece. Well, truth be told, that's probably a good thing!

Yesterday I was able to draw the perimeters of the inner section onto muslin. From there I measured and placed the rose fabric so I had as many large complete roses as possible. I very bravely cut out the middle section so "my favorite things" would be sewn to the muslin. This step required more editing. Two pieces got axed from the pinned layout but I may be able to find a way to incorporate them (heart doily and a daisy) into the main body.

I thought about stitching this down by embroidery last night but I was too tired. So today I'll do the embroidery on it. I hesitated adding the middle square until the roses were embroidered but I decided to proceed anyway. I can enjoy looking at them while embroidering. I also have to figure out how to get the ribbon around them with nice mitered corners.

Here's a detail---that open spot is for a fused rose-with collaged CQ, you really have to think in terms of layers alot. It can get a bit tedious.

It also dawned on me during all that heavy thinking *wink* yesterday that it would probably be smarter to do all the embroidery in the very outer border before attaching the middle section to it. So, I began working on the roses that will help fill in the floral swag. Totally love 'em!

Have a Creative Day, Y'All! Elmo is anxiously waiting for his walk-beautiful day outside today!

Do You Really Want to Know What I am Thinking?

Thank you to all who stopped by to leave a message about the anniversary of Will's death. It's probably one of the reasons I dread fall coming other than having to put on shoes.

Here's a question for you-- I am getting ready to work almost extensively on my (now being called) Debra's Sampler. Do you want daily pictures and progress reports? Or, does that just get boring every day?

About etsy. . . . . if you have stopped by my shop lately, you have noticed that it is pretty empty. Once all the listings expired, I have not renewed them. My idea to embroider pieces that others would use in their own work sounded good but in reality, I now have a big drawer of embroidered pieces. But, just last week I sold the (very nice) set of embroidered linen towels I had listed & that gave me pause. I really think people shop etsy more for finished items than supplies. What do you think? As always, if you want any embroidery done, just contact me directly.

Next year (which is coming soon and I am not Chicken Little) I think I will concentrate on some smaller projects. I might even start selling some of my finished work on etsy too. Rayna had an interesting post about artists influencing artists so I attribute this idea to Libby. She's the mistress of small works.

Two more things--do you ever read Vicki's Field Tripping the Web? I try to check it out weekly and last week one of the new blogs to me was a woman who has a huge collection of virtual quilts done in EQ6. She says she is a hand piecer and hand quilter so to get all the ideas out of her head she has started quite a few series based on blocks from EQ or her own drawings. It was pretty interesting to see how she started with the blocks and the variations she got as she worked through them. I've been thinking about her for some reason this week.

I have apparently been thinking about Kay too because I had a dream the other night and someone (off stage) told me to call Kay and ask her (some question I had). So I picked up a piece of elastic and held it to my ear and started talking. Surprisingly (in reality) but not in my dream, Kay picked up her end of the elastic and answered me back. Now where does that strange stuff come from?

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

Day of the Dead

Remembering My Son Will

Jan 5, 1980-Oct 31, 2001

One of his favorites hats was his top hat. This embroidery always gives me a chuckle & makes me think of him.

Brent has Will's hat now in a place of honor on the altar he and Laura have set up about him.

Dying on your favorite holiday in your favorite hat--only Will could pull something off like that--and he wasn't even trying.

Rest in Peace, Honey