I just can’t tell you how thrilling it is to go to my website and write a new blog post! For those who may be confused, last week I was still posting on my old site, which now is housed under the umbrella of my new website! I know, I know, I’ve already talked about all of this at length and I’m not going to do another post all on the fabulousness of my new website, however I just have to say that as I sit here typing this I’m silently bouncing up and down and squealing with joy. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It’s been such a long time in the making!!
So. Now that I got that out of the way, what are we going to talk about?
Oh! Before it slips from my mind, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. It’s just to the right of this post. ❤️
The other thing that leaps to mind is that I just released a new video on my YouTube channel.
The title of this video sums it up.
This video begins with an 8 minute riff on life, aging, Merlin, facial recognition, the results of my MRI and whatever else flew into my mind as I was recording. So yeah, there’s that. However don’t despair, I did some stitching too.
In other news… okay there IS no other news. This is my life in a nutshell. It’s evidently a very, very tiny nutshell. 😂 So I will add a few videos of other people’s lives that came up when I went to schedule this video. The first is my favorite Golden Retriever, Bailey and his new best friend.
And then I had to share this one, because going to Africa to see the gorillas has been on my bucket list for decades now.
I wasn’t familiar with Keith Urban and his music until I saw this pop up and hit play while waiting for my video to finish uploading. How great is he? And Nicole Kidman? Love them both.
Enjoy the weekend everyone and don’t forget to check out my upcoming workshops!
Yup, you read that correctly. This post is being written within my brand, spanking, new, website. So let’s take a little look around, shall we?! (A quick note: my website is experiencing a few growing pains, so pages may load slower than you’re used to due to high volume, but we’re working on it.)
First things first. See the horizontal menu bar just above this post? That’s where you can navigate to my “Stitching Shop” and my “Workshops“. It’s also where you can browse and see all the various things I’m offering and teaching. In the workshops section my next workshop is the Dorset Buttons Gone Wild, which is the one to take if you’ve never made a Dorset Button before or are rusty and want to know how to line those spokes up so that your center is… well, center.
I also cover what to do if you run out of thread while still wrapping the plastic ring. SPOILER ALERT: the answer is NOT throw the whole thing out! What to do if you run out of thread making those spokes, again the answer is NOT toss in the garbage and go get a snack. What to do if you run out of thread while stitching that whipped woven circle. In other words this workshop takes you from start to finish how to make a traditional Dorset Button. And then we go a little rogue and I show you a few other things like how to add a bullion knot around the edge or add French Knots or maybe a few beads and while we’re at it, how about some Drizzle Stitches? Yup, we cover ALL of that and more. AND we have a blast, so there’s that too. Three hours of fun, fun, fun and you’ll come away with a finished Dorset Button or two.
Now just because I told you all about the Dorset Button Workshop doesn’t mean you should stop there. I’m offering three other Dorset Button workshops, the Advanced Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Workshop, which is one week after the more basic one, so you can sign up for BOTH. I know, I’m SO helpful.
And then there are two more that I designed new products especially for and those designs and instructions are not available anywhere else. Those two workshops are the Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Scissor Case Workshop and the Dorset Buttons Gone Wild Glasses Case Workshop. They are 3-day workshops where all the information and material from both the Dorset Buttons Gone Wild AND the Advanced Dorset Buttons classes will be covered as well as so much more! We will make a scissor or glasses case featuring Dorset Buttons from start to finish. So we will be covering all the basics and then so much more! This class is intended for all levels of stitchers, from the newbies to the old hands.
If Dorset Buttons aren’t your thing, never fear, I have created a 2-day workshop for those of you who love looking at hand stitching, but have not actually done it before. This workshop is called The Basics. I cover everything you’ll need to know to start creating and hand stitching your own pieces of hand stitched art! We begin with a 6″ or 8″ square and at least one other element that we will be adding. I cover needles, threads, knotting, ending, beginning, all the basic stitches, including whipstitching, needle turn appliqué, design basics, composition, the elements of design, color, and how to design a rocket ship. Oh I’m just kidding and also checking to see who’s paying attention. There will be a quiz at the end of this post. Again, I’m kidding. 😂
And finally I’m offering my Improvisational Stitching Workshop again. This is a workshop I just wrapped up last weekend, and am offering again. It runs for 5 consecutive Saturdays beginning in July. I’ve written a pretty detailed day by day break down of what we cover, so I won’t do that here again.
Improvisational Stitching Piece in progress
And then for all you website/virtual workshop adverse types, I have a new Youtube video premiering today at 11am EDT. That’s in just a few hours from now. If you’ve never done cut work before, this is the video for you! Join me and we’ll watch it together. ❤️
I’m sitting here in my workout clothing sans sneakers typing this as I didn’t dare put on my regular work “uniform” for fear I would never honor my Spin Class reservation that begins at 11am. And while we’re on the topic, I just have to say, workout bras are truly a form of torture. You just haven’t felt discomfort until you’ve shoved yourself into one of those. Yes, yes, I understand the need for keeping everything in place while exercising, but seriously, I’ve become so used to comfort this past year, this feels positively barbaric. Curious about my workout routine, you’ll have to watch the video I’ve posted one paragraph below this one. Spoiler alert: I don’t have a “workout routine.”
But I am not going to get side tracked. I’m not. My friend Pat Pauly has posted a brand spanking new workshop to her already busy schedule. It’s a Line, Shape, Setting virtual workshop, which I’ve signed up for and it is July 20th & 21st. If you want to sign up for it, hurry! As it will most definitely sell out soon. Click ‘here‘ to learn more about it and to sign up. To see more of Pat’s fabulous work, click ‘here‘. She’s pretty fabulous. By the way, those scarves I always wear? Yeah. Those are all from Pat. As is the gorgeous linen fabric that I’m doing some improvisational stitching on in the video below. Oh, and by the way, that fuchsia colored cording that I’ve couched? That’s silk sari strips from Stef Francis. I just adore all their products.
I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I will be able to announce something fabulous in my next blog post. I thought I would have been able to announce it last week, but alas life got in the way of my best laid plans. I’m just hoping all falls into place in the next two days. We shall see.
Yesterday I had to have an MRI because I’ve been getting headaches that often wake me in the middle of the night. I was quite sure I was fine, but it’s a precaution and being an adult and all, it seemed the responsible thing to do. So off I went feeling I’d prepared myself adequately. I don’t care for small, enclosed spaces, so I knew I was going to need to practice breathing and asked for something to put under my knees so my back didn’t begin to hurt. I believed I was on top of the situation and lay down, dutifully putting the ear plugs in and began counting my breath. Except once I was in the machine, I could feel my jaw shaking. As in uncontrollably and I was so freaked out that my jaw was doing this weird thing that I seemed to have no control over, I became convinced that it was so bad it would make my head move and ruin the imaging, which only made it worse. It took everything in me to breathe in and out, count my breath and eventually my jaw calmed down.
The upshot of the whole thing is that I’m fine. Perfectly fine. My neurologist called yesterday evening to tell me all looks well, “for someone your age” which of course gave me pause. “What does that mean?” I asked a bit defensively. He explained that you expect to see a few tiny white dots in “someone my age” and that this is also common in those who experience migraines. Evidently I have a couple of those white dots and also a tiny cyst, which is not in my brain at all, and is about 4mm. So another MRI in about a year to make sure that doesn’t grow. All in all the news is excellent and blood work is all good too. Whew. I knew I was as healthy as a horse.
After I returned home the skies opened up and the rain came down like some sort of end of the world scenario. That was when I decided to do a livestream, which you can see here if you care to.
And then I had to do a lot of work on my website, so I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening writing copy, learning how to input new workshops into my workshop schedule and create images for the workshops.
Every now and then when I needed a break I’d work on the piece below, which I’ve fallen in love with and that is inspired by plant and human cells. Pinterest is great for finding amazing images of organisms, cells and plant life that have been put under a microscope. I have a whole board where I’m saving such images.
This piece I’ve added some of my hand dyed t-shirting to and then stitched on top of it. It’s very relaxing.
My mother and two of my brothers are scientists: a chemist, an astro physicist and a bio-chemist. I was never very good at science, but I do love looking at the microscopic images of organisms and cells. They are things of such exquisite beauty.
The photograph below is of a coronary blood clot, horrible, but if you remove what it IS and just view it as an image, it is incredible.
Coronary blood clot. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a blood clot (thrombus) in the coronary artery, showing red blood cells (purple) in a fibrin mesh (threads). Magnification: x2500, when printed 10cm wide.This is a microscopic image of a cactus (I think). Amazing.
Which took me to viewing images of brain cells. Talk about inspiration!
Microscopic image of neuronsAmazing, right?!
There is beauty in just about anything if looked at through a different lens. ❤️
When last we met, I had just pulled my Bernina 790 out of hibernation only to find it did not fit my Koala sewing cabinet and so I had to order a new insert. Check, check and check. Who says I’m not getting sh*t done?
New Bernina safely back in hiding so that I could teach my Improvisational Stitching Workshop.
I know all of you want to know how Pat Pauly’s Take 2 virtual workshop went and I won’t leave you hanging. It was all that I’d hoped for and more. Just fabulous. Of course now I’m trying to talk her into doing another one: Line, Shape & Setting. I think I may have persuaded her, and the minute she adds it to her jam packed schedule I’ll tell all of you so that those of you who might like to sign up for it, can.
In the meantime I’m back to my improvisational stitching, Youtube tutorials, working on my next design, slowly chipping away at my Stitching Book, juggling my other various commitments and oh, yeah, life!
I have photos of what I worked on in Pat’s workshop, but it’s still a work in progress, so I think I’ll wait until I have something I love before I show you. Which means that I’ll have to pull that sewing machine out again or use my smaller, travel Bernina, which isn’t as much fun, but will do the job.
Yesterday as I was doing a livestream for my Patrons over on Patreon, I was talking and stitching away, as I do, and then I had this idea to add a piece of hand dyed t-shirt to the linen piece I’ve been playing around with and ended up loving it! I just love when that happens and it doesn’t happen all the time, so when it does, it’s just thrilling!!
Organisms
It reminds me of organisms that have been put under a microscope. I love that!
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