Happy Saturday!

   I have been making good time on this year's Christmas ornament model, I think ya'll will really have fun with this one. I cant wait to share it with you!  I am also working on something else out in the shop, one for me, and one to share....inspired by my experience with runaway spools during this current project....(driving me crazy!)

Stressball Summer

Shhhhhh...be still....it's Looking at me....

 So what have ya'll been up to this summer??  I have had a super stressful first part of the year, I am surprised I still have hair. I keep meaning to post, but then something comes along, I get busy..ect ect, and time is just flying by leaving me in the dust....literally, the dust. We have not had any rain here in southern Colorado for soooo long, it has been so dry...tho last night it did finally rain~ woke me up out of a dead sleep to hear those little drops of joy.

 The Spring fire just up the road from us is in the 90% containment finally...last update I had was 108,045 acres. We were very lucky here to have the winds shift and take it in the opposite direction from us, but so many folks have lost everything. Its been stressful these past few weeks from that and some others things I don't even want to get into. 

I have been keeping uber busy working up not one or two, but four new classes for 2019!  I will be teaching two at the Spring Needles & Sins Needlework Seminar in Colonial Williamsburg, and two at the Bath Textile Summer School in Bath, England in August.  When the classes get posted by the event directors, I can share more info about them here. So keep your eyes peeled!

Of coarse the 2018 ornament is lagging behind because of all the other stuff going on...but coming on again. I had it finished already once, but then when I went to work up the kit, some of the materials I could no longer get....along with the fact that I didn't totally like how it came out the first time, so I did some redesigning, and started over. Little fellow up top here is happy I think.....his little dome is made up of Ghiordes Knott...I couldn't possibly pack any more stitches into that tiny space, and with the soie oval, its really soft and luxurious. It's nice to work with silk for a while, instead of beads....as much as I love them....but still...the eyes are beads so I guess I failed at getting totally away from the little things.

New Pretties

on eBay this week!

  All the fat little squirrels in our yard this year have inspired me to make and paint up another squirrel thread palette set, and to go along with, a one of a kind ort pot painted to match ~

I love little squirrel peeking out from under the lid!

If you would like to see them closer, or perhaps place a bid, they are on eBay this week~ you can find them here on my eBay auctions

I hope you all have a Happy & Safe Independence Day Holiday!

Class Updates

Bath Textile Summer School 2019

  If you are interested in 17th c style of beadwork, and will be in the beautiful city of Bath, England in August of next year, you may need to come join me for one of two, (or both!) classes I will be teaching. 

 Registration will be opening on Sat, 25 August 2018 for classes on the Bath Textile Summer School website~ (the link is to the right in the sidebar)

I will be teaching two 3 day classes~ Bath Bunny, and Pretty Ladye.  Classes this year focus on surface techniques, and instead of antique beads, we will be using 15/0 modern beads.  Detailed information, including kit costs,  will be up on the website in August.  

Early American Life Directory of Traditional American Crafts

Thankyou Early American Life!

   I just arrived back home from a trip up to Washington state to take the children to see my parents, and look what was in the post box waiting for me!  I am super proud to have been juried into the Directory for my 11th consecutive year this year!  Pomme, seen above right, traveled to Jamestown Va for her photoshoot~ she has told me all about the friends and interesting people she met while there. Tho Pomme was pictured in the magazine, I sent two dollys in for my entry this year, Pomme, and her little sister Spoon.

They are worked in two different mediums, Pomme is all mache with cloth legs, and Spoon is in wood...but I think they came out looking alot alike. I wanted little spoon to be more primitive and gave her a very tall forehead...her head shape is that of a spoon, hence her name, Spoon!

My son asked if there would be a 'fork' coming up, to which I am not thinking so...but one never knows. 

 I am working on my classes for next year, and have some dollys in the works as well, so hopefully I will become better at juggling my time and you will be seeing some new faces here soon!  Ill be starting the next panel on my casket as well~ I cant wait!  

on eBay this week!

My New 1850 Rose Needlework Needfuls....

  Do ya'll remember the reproduction I made last year of the red rosebud winder? I really loved that simple design, and since my lil roses outside are just starting to bloom, they inspired me, along with that early winder, to paint some roses to share. These three pieces bloomed forth...and just look at that cunning little maple ort pot or jar up in the right hand corner~ Oh . MY. golly it came out so cute!  I love this grouping for another reason~ I get asked all the time if such and such a wood would go with something else the person has....nothing explains it better than a picture~ that different wood species look great together! The winder in front is sycamore, the palette is red oak, and the pot is maple...and I think they go together great!  If you would like to see better pictures of them, or perhaps place a bid,  you can find them, along with some antique needlework things, on my current eBay auctions here.

on eBay this week!

New Design Flemish Palette &!

 Happy Monday! I hope your day is a great one and your relaxing with a nice cup of tea...I have mine!  I have finally had some time to breathe after finishing all the end of year school things for the children, and have this gorgeous spool palette up on eBay this week.  I designed this one after the other Flemish pieces I have made, but the design is a little different, based more on the box I embroidered of the same. I love to paint in this style, its really fun and feminine, and I love how the gold looks when its finished. Its something the camera just doesnt pick up in a picture~  if you want to see it on eBay with huge pictures so you can see all the details, or perhaps place a bid, you can find it here

  The gold is very subtle head on, but when the pieces are moved, or you move around them, you get these unexpected little flashes of light~ so pretty!  Just think how pretty a casket would be...I mean....an entire casket, painted this way!

  I have all sorts of things in my head I would like to paint, so many ideas, but the bulk of my painting time is painting what others have always wanted~ its a challenge to be sure. I haven't posted pictures in so long of my slate frames, mainly because I don't post pictures until they get to their intendeds....but by then I get busy and forget~ so thought I would share a couple of my favorites.  Its amazing sometimes what people ask for~ things I would never think to paint on a frame, but in the end, they fit really well.  Sometimes people are very specific about what they want....other times, they can be fairly vague. The above frame was a request for snowmen and snowflakes and silver Christmas balls. 

 Skeletons & pirates are always a popular theme...so this time I combined them.   I know if I was a pirate, my treasure box would be chock full of embroidery threads! 

 Charlotte told me to paint what ever I wanted, but that she likes witches.....so witches it was! I love Halloween and witches and thought this frame would be a breeze, and it turned out to be the most challenging frame I have painted to date, as it is just so blasted difficult to fit mainly vertical objects onto a horizontal plane that is only an inch tall. I love how it came out, its one of my ultimate favorites.

Dollys have been busy to, Ladye Pomme is on her way back home from a visit to Jamestowne & Colonial Williamsburg. I am really thrilled to announce that I was selected again this year for Early American Life Magazine's Directory of Top 200 Traditional American Craftsmen, for the 11th consecutive year in a row.  Its truly an honor and I am so excited for Pomme to get back here so we can have some tea and she can tell me all  about her venture East. I hope she got to go to the glass furnace there...I went this past March and it was fabulous!