I’ve mentioned this before; my husband and I start the morning off with a reading of some kind and then discuss whatever it is we’ve just read. Today we read about relationships using thread as a metaphor, which was kind of perfect for someone like me. This quote was particularly appealing for obvious reasons.
A strong rope is made of many threads. Looking at one point on the rope, we can focus on the detail of a single thread. But when we look only at a single thread we cannot see the big picture.”
The More We Find in Each Other by Mavis and Merle Fossum
And, of course, I immediately thought about my stitching and how I love using lots of different threads and other elements to enhance and add interest to a piece that I’m working on. In particular I thought of Gimp, Silken Chenille, and Viscose Ribbon, three threads that are challenging to work with, but that add tremendous texture and interest to a piece.
French Knots using Stef Francis Silken Chenille
In a relationship it’s often the challenging parts that can bring growth and welcome change to both people if they’re willing to show up for the hard work that’s required. I thought of how the foundation of my marriage is our love and the threads are all the moments we’ve spent together, some more challenging than others. But like those challenging threads, they are woven into the fabric of our love, making that fabric all the more interesting and ultimately stronger. Oh, and a sense of humor helps!
Seed Stitch, Straight Stitch and Colonial Knots using Stef Francis Viscose Ribbon on my Improvisational piece
Okay, I could go on and on about all of this, but then I wouldn’t have time to tell you about my ice dyeing experiment. This was all inspired by Nancy who was in my Improvisational Stitching Workshop. She had a really beautiful piece of fabric, which I asked her about and she told me that she had ice dyed it. Now I have to say that for the most part I haven’t loved the ice dyeing that I’ve seen, so I’ve never been tempted to try it, but Nancy very generously wrote out instructions and gave them to everyone in my workshop. All my ice dyeing attempts were using her instructions. By the way, I have urged Nancy to sell some of her beautiful ice dyed fabrics. When she gives me the okay I will post where you can purchase her fabrics.
So… my little foray into ice dying is ongoing and was somewhat successful. I say somewhat because some of the pieces came out nicely, but others were not to my liking at all. Those will need to be redone or perhaps I’ll paint on them, I haven’t decided yet. Part of the problem was I ran out of ice. As in right in the middle of sprinkling the dye onto the fabric. Now one could argue that seeing that you don’t have enough ice right off the bat is probably step #1, resulting in STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND GO GET SOME ICE, however in my case it was more like – huh, I don’t have enough ice, then think about how that means I’ll have to put on shoes, remove my apron, gloves and mask (not the kind we’re now used to wearing because of the pandemic, but the kind used when working with toxic chemicals) and then go look for my son so that I can ask him to run out to get ice. Wait for said son to dutifully do my bidding and while waiting get impatient and sprinkle more dye on. Eyeroll. Impatience is NOT a virtue. I know this, and whenever I give in to it, I always, always, always regret it. So I skimped on the layer of ice and ended up with some not very attractive streaks of color before my fabulous son reappeared with 4 bags of ice, having had to go to a couple different places to procure it. What a wonderful son!
Another problem was that my disposable pans were way too small, resulting in more of a tie dyed look than I was hoping for. As in my husband’s comment when I unfurled the first piece and said the words every spouse hates to hear, “So what do you think?” And his response, “Oh yeah, you’ve got some seriously hippy dippy stuff going on there.” Needless to say this was NOT the reply I’d hoped for, but the bold, unvarnished truth is always difficult to hear.
I’ll post a video about all of this later, but for now here are a couple of photographs of the pieces that were sort of successful and a few that I really, really liked.
Fires to the South: Ice Dyeing on Silk CharmeuseFlower Garden: Ice Dyeing on Linen SuitingShadows in the Garden: Ice Dyeing on Linen SuitingWild Flowers: Ice Dyeing on Silk
What will I do with all of this fabric?
I have no idea.
❤️
PS: For those of you who didn’t see my most recent Youtube video of Richard and my Mother’s Day walk and our surprise encounter, go watch this short video! All the reasons why I love living in this vibrant, wonderful city we call New York!
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!
“What fresh new hell is this?” You might rightfully ask upon seeing the photo below. Okay, sure YOU might not ask this, however these were the exact words that came to mind when I set up my sewing machine yesterday afternoon, only to realize that when I traded in my Bernina 880, which was plagued with problems, for my 790, I didn’t realize I was getting a sewing machine that has a smaller throat and therefore my Koala Cabinet insert would no longer fit it. So I did what any sensible person would do, I gerry-rigged it and here we are. It’s in the “it will have to do for now” category.
I know, I know. But sometimes one has to make do. And of course the bigger question that all of you are asking is, “Why?” Not why did you trade in your Bernina 880, because it was an amazing machine and I loved it, when it was working, the problem was, about 60% of the time it wasn’t working properly. In the three years that I owned it, I had to take it in for repairs more than a dozen times. Once we even sent it back to Bernina and had them fix it, only to have another problem a few months later. So eventually I said, “enough!” and traded it in for this sleek, beautiful thing. Only I didn’t do my homework and just assumed the 790 had the same wide throat that I loved about the 880. And as I rarely sew on a machine these days, I haven’t spent much time using it until now, that is. Which leads me to the more pressing “why?” as in “Why is your sewing machine out and where are all of your threads and hand stitching?????”
Should I have led with that? Yeah, probably, but then my first question wouldn’t have worked and I wasn’t willing to let that go. 😳 So, here’s the thing… I signed up for one of my friend, Pat Pauly’s workshops that I’ve always wanted to take. Seriously for several years, I’ve been wanting to take her “Take Two” workshop and then I saw that she had added one to her schedule, so I signed up. And today is the first of the two-day workshop, which I’m really, really looking forward to. The thing about Pat is that she’s just so much fun. Seriously, the woman could make cleaning out a gutter seem like a blast and you’d feel as though you were lucky to be able to do such a thing with her guiding you. So this workshop is guaranteed to be a fun two days, even if it means that I had to clear my table of all evidence that I’m really a hand stitcher. Do you think the ill fitting machine is a give away? Never mind. I’m sure no one will notice.
My fabrics are pulled and ready for me to do some damage.And this is a tiny window into where I shoved all my beloved hand stitching threads, needles and other things…More threads stashed…
And then, of course, there’s the whole mess that I’m not even going to photograph and show you, but suffice it to say that for the next two days, I’ll be knee deep in fabric and sewing on a sewing machine. I’m just hoping I don’t trip over the little piles of hand stitching stuff that I’ve wedged into various corners of this already small room.
On a separate note, if you haven’t watched my A Spring Stroll in New York City’s Meatpacking and West Village video, go take a walk with me. I included old photos of some of the places I visit to show what they looked like back when I first moved to NYC, as well as lots of stories about my ill spent youth in New York City. I can say that now that I’m over 60.
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