March BJP is finished

March BJP Finished

I have finished March BJP - Jealously - eye word of the month. Green eyes with jealous, envy looks. The background fabric has dried leaves incorporated.
Busy weekend with Mothers Day so lunch out with mum and dad and then to my sister's for dinner. We spoke to the neice and nephew so that was great.
I have made a dozen coffee cup holders for presents but a friend wants to buy some so have made them earlier than for christmas presents.
Finished another square on canvas 1 of walk on the wild side, so only one square to complete and that will be one canvas done. I am thrilled with getting some stitching time this weekend and have more planned out for the week.
Plug for a great movie - went to  the preview of Water for Elephants and this is as good as the book. I loved both.
Keep safe and bless someone this week.
Diane

Another month

January 29th

March 2010 BJP "Snake eyed floozy" - line from Capricorn Sister by Mother Love Bone

Another month has nearly finished and I have completed the third page of my 2010 BJP. This one is attributed to Maree, a friend who has widened my music taste so it now includes things like malfunkshun, kings of leon and nine inch nails. This piece is from Mother Love Bone, song: Capricorn Sister and the line reads “Snake eyed floozy”.

I have printed a picture of Mary (Madonna or Magdalene) and then an eye. Maree is a fan of eqyptian gods and the eye I have turned into a snake with the addition of beads in a snake shape. Mary Magdalene is regarded as the world’s most famous fallen woman but is also a Madonna figure of the power of redemption. I found this piece quite a challenge as my initial piece had a snake bead on it but it would not sit right and I could not bead around it. I have shown it to Maree and she really liked it so that was great.

Starting on the 2011 BJP and I am choosing to do the ATC card size so I can do a swap with Karen (Florida). I have made the backgrounds for January and thoughts to go with it will come on the next posting. I will be using words that mean something to me each month but may also use quotes from other. I am hoping to get my computer sorted as i cannot always download pictures and can never get anything that needs an adobe product.



I have been keeping in touch with the BJP'ers and found this via bloghopping on Sue's Craft Cupboard. http://tammysprinkle.blogspot.com/ has a Pay It Forward activity. The idea is to promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. To be eligible, you too must repost this offering something handmade by you to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people some time in 2011.
So - I promise to send the first five people leaving a comment here, a hand-made-by-me gift - soon, but remember you have to do it too. It sounded like a fun thing to do and as I love "snail mail" and "surprises" - and the film "Pay it Forward" - I'm following Tammy's idea too.

March is finished.

PARIS - the most wonderful musical with great tunes. By an amazing Australian artist - Jon English.

I am really pleased that I have finished this piece. It was a real struggle trying to interpret my vision for the music into beads and stitch. The background is coloured with watercolour pencils and ironed to fix. I then applied a piece of chiffon which I then ruched onto the background fabric. Because I tried to leave the stitching area not ruched it was not even but it does show the movement I wanted as like marble.

I used a different bead for each section of the letter to symbolise the various parts of the Paris story. I was pleased that the coin worked well and looks vaguely like a roman helmet which was my aim.

now onto the next one - Maree - very alternative and wonderful music tastes so this next piece should be fun.

Holidays are busy!

We are in the midst of our winter holiday so the weather started off not great but for the last week it has been fine days and minus temperatures overnight. Still a good excuse to sit in the conservatory and stitch.

Last weekend mum and I travelled to Hamilton to see the exhibitions for the ANZEG biannual conference. I was slightly disappointed in the number of entries particularly in the miniatures and members and hoped that many entries were not judged out of the competition. The variety of work in the junior members exhibition was phenomenal and I was really excited by our junior tutors news that next year our group may be moving into town and that will give me an opportunity once a month to share with them.

I purchased a couple of books – one on inchies and making backgrounds so I am inspired to rejoin swap-bot and see what’s going on. The other was the new one from Effie Mitrofanis, an Australian embroiderer, who I think has a wonderful way of combining colour, techniques and textiles to produce some exciting work.

I have also finished another cell phone dangle for my sister for Christmas and this made me finish the cube that I had nearly done. This was another kit by Laura McCabe and I have to say that they are the most delightful kits with plenty of seed beads so you can be a bit picky with them if you want.

the laura mccabe cube that i have finished. as usual I had to change something - the crystals in the corner - i did not like the colour of the ones provided so I used some of my own and will use the others in another piece.

March month is coming along for beaded journal project so this year has not been so successful with completing pieces but I have April’s mapped out in my book so that is good and I have mounted one piece already although I have to put a few more beads on the January piece to make it fit into the page opening.

School has been busy with things going on and I think there will be job changes for all in the offices at the moment so that will be an exciting time ahead. I have also been doing the advert so hopefully tomorrow I will have the last advertiser on board and that will be a great thing. This will be the first year that the cost to the school is less than half so that is good news. Jessica from our local paper is lovely to work with and she has lots of great ideas for layouts, etc which are exciting.

Nearly finished

top corner of the front of the needlebook. This piece of lace was my colour inspiration along with the picture.

The back - colours are not as purple but more brownish. I really loved working with the different stitches.

I am very excited as I have nearly finished Stephanie's needlebook. I have loved doing this piece and hope that she gets many years of use from it. The inside pages are a fawn woollen material that I have buttonhole stitched and also used for the lining.

Month 2 of the 2010BJP will also be posted at the weekend after I photograph it and then onto month 3.

February starts with excitment

Excitement this month.

Karen getting ready to ride off from Stratford on the next leg of the cycle race.

The last weekend of January saw mum, dad and I meeting Karen and Phil as they were doing the round the mountain cycle race. I then went up to New Plymouth to have dinner and drinks with them. Managed to see more cousins, Graeme and also Mike Sandle (who had come to pick up Graeme). It was a really nice evening and got sprung by the Assistant Principal, drinking in the main street.

Sunday then saw mum and I off with Gemma and Denise to the final of the provincial 20/20 cricket match. We met Karen and Phil there so it was a battle of the provinces - Central District Stags (our team) vs. the Auckland Aces (boo). It was a very exciting first half with a good score posted by our boys and a number of sixes into the terraces at Pukekura Park. The weather was not the best but at least I think we have converted Gemma to cricket.


Susan and I in the Kitchen.

Sunday night I had visitors from Florida for two nights. Susan and Art Rochlin are visiting NZ and she found me on the beaded journal project. It was really exciting to meet someone who beads in a creative way. Susan and I spent Sunday night looking at all her pictures and then going through my room looking at my beaded pages, goddess dolls and various pieces of embroidery that I have around. It was loads of fun.
Monday night Susan cooked a wonderful meal for us and we invited my mum and dad as well. Dad and Art talked the night away and it was difficult to get them separated. The only unfortunate thing was that the mountain did not appear at all and the weather was not a treat for visitors. This week it has been much better.

The school week has been busy and lots of things happening and it looks as if our roll could be increased. The weekend has been busy – I have finished two books and done my design page for creative stitchers next weekend. Have to paint the backgrounds for the BJP then I can start.

activities this week.

This week has been a bit difficult as I got to school on Monday to be told that a member of my night class had died. She had just over 12 months with cancer but finally went to peace on Sunday 17 Jan. her funeral on Thursday was very emotional affair with her family and a huge turnout.

Our embroidery this month is bargello and the workshop at my place was attended by a small but dedicated group. I completed the decoration below which uses the pine tree pattern. I have used a rainbow gallery rayon thread and carefully chosen the variation to give the illusion of the trees. Was most impresses and Mary showed me a new method of finishing which makes a nice decoration.

Heart of a cabin is coming along and I have found that some of the threads are too thick on the 22 count canvas so altering the threads to use #8 perle and less strands. Also because getting the anchor threads is sometimes difficult I have been substituting them slightly. Mum is further ahead with being on the 3rd block. I am hoping to finish block two this week and even get onto block three.

My embellished canvas piece is coming along but I have not really stitched any since I returned from Auckland. Having an internal debate about the colours so will see what happens to this. May remove some of the plain thread and use the variegated that I have self dyed some years ago.

School starts in earnest this week with two days of power cuts so that will be fun with all the reenrolments happening. Alice and David did okay but Alice was not pleased with her results overall. Used my slow cooker for the first time and it was okay. Was concerned all day about it being on but will get used to it I am sure.

Inspiration Sorted

Just a short post today to say that I will be asking friends, colleagues and even acquaintances about their favourite song or words from a song to use as the inspiration for the pages this year. I have had a late start with being away and having visitors so have only emailed the first friend today.
I purchased a special visual diary which I am going to use to put all these pages in and so will be able to keep them together. Last year's journal pages will be mounted onto a wall hanging so needing to complete that as well. The size will be kept at 10 cm by 7.5 cm either portrait or landscape orientation depending on the theme of the piece.
Yesterday I walked to Onehunga and stopped at a patchwork shop. I purchased a book on maiking fabric backgrounds and embellishments so will use this to make some of the backgrounds for me to use.

First Thoughts for 2010 BJP

I have finally decided. I will ask 12 different people if they can give me their favourite song, words, poem and use that as my inspiration for each page.
For January I will use my friend kim hopefully she will reply with her favourite and for February I have already got David's faves so the first two months are sorted.
Off to auckland and hoping to use this time for some design ideas so will take pens and pencil as well.
Size has been decided as 4inch by 3 inch as maximum and I am going to mount them in a book which I purchased earlier this week.

heart of the cabin - block 1

This is the first block for the heart of the cabin cyber workshop. I have generally got the same colours for the dark family but have moved into the rust colours for the alternate family. I had to use a cording thread for the hearts in log 1 as we do not get the renaissance threads in New Zealand. Still I think it looks okay and we are using varities that work as we go. I have not put the beads in as I thought I would do that last as I may have to source special beads from USA. I have enjoyed this and have done most of the log 1 in block 2. very slow progress I know but hoping over the summer holiday to continue with more.
diane

April BJP

April was an exciting month as my best friend Stephanie and I went to Sydney, Australia for a weekend getaway. While there we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was a real challenge for both of us as neither of us are great at heights and my climbing with my asthma was an unknown event.

It was a magical experience and so neat I would do it again. We went up in the daylight and came down in the dusk so we saw the sunset over the opera house which was fabulous.

This month I have tried to show the harbour bridge in the background with me being excited in my grey suit. The blue was chosen as so much of sydney revolves around the harbour and while we were there we went on ferries, jet boats and over the bridge on the train so lots of water in our visit.

More stitching done.

I have a face on my July piece and the Little pink lady is the may piece. not certain how she came about but she is very gay and a friend of my March piece.
the background for May is my crazy machine stitching that i did a lot of several years ago and made cards from. She looks like a little cracker, very lively.

month finished

I can't remember if I had posted the picture of March but here she is again just in case.

This is my July piece which I stitched while on holiday with my mum in Tauranga. We sat each morning on the deck overlooking orchards towards the bay and pacific ocean. It was wonderful.

This couple are the juxtaposition of the sea and earth on the landscape. The little lady is waiting for a face but I am thinking the earthman also needs a face. I shall see what happens this weekend when I do some more stitching on them.

The background was constructed with threads laid and chiffons in the colours of the earth and sky. I know the blue is the bay with the white of the sand and the green of the orchards. I tried this several ways but this was how it kept telling me to sew my people on.

Diane

Creative canvas comes alive

embellished canvas class at the weekend was great. This is my book cover half done so I am getting excited about it. I have four more nights that I can stitch on it before I have to put it aside for another piece - Pukeko Patch. It has been fun using stitches in a more random way than I traditionally do.


Inchies number 2. This is the set that I have sent to Cheryl in USA. I hope she likes the beaded stars done with #15 beads. I love these stars and have made lots using plastic beads for christmas trees.

Inchies Completed

I have just posted the inchies for the first swap-bot off to texas, USA. I was really pleased with them as they looked very cute and the flowers I made worked okay. I am going to try some more for the next swap.
I had a few difficulties cutting the card so resorted to some corrugated card that I could cut with my scissors. My little guillotine did not like the thick card so will have to try another cutter next week.

Also I have finished my first Altoid goddess and she almost has a decorated tin to live in. Need to finish the top then post a couple of pictures.

March is in the pink!

I have started on the March page and I have been inspired by a 21st birthday celebration that I went to. It was a tropical theme and the young lady is very into pink. I snaffled two pink flower petals and these are the background with other pink material underneath. my little man is stitched around with purple braid (very fine) and I started by beading some of the flower petals. It looks as though he is going to have a very big halo or sun hairdo.
I also am going to try to put on a couple of buttons and other found objects into this piece.

Also this month I have been looking at the ways others have finished their pieces by checking out the 2007 BJP finished pages and am thinking of sewing a little leather top or side to each piece and making it like a book. I have mostly got the same sized pieces so this could work and a friend has an eyelet punch to make holes in the leather for binding.
My other thought was to use a found book and cut out pages and mount the pieces inside them. I may experiment with this also and see what happens.

Punto Mat Finished

I have finished my punto antico mat and I am very excited. It has been a two year project with stitching on it once a month until the last six months when I tried to do more.
This weekend I have been at an embroidery retreat for our area and it was loads of fun. lots of sharing ideas and seeing wonderful things that others do as well as a couple of projects to make.
We made wonderful encrusted tassels, using beads and rajmahal threads and also a origami box.
We also received some coloured pellon so that has given me inspiration for one of my men.

February coming along

This is the layout and partial stitching for the February piece. January has been skipped at the moment until I get this piece out of my head. I spoke earlier about going to a function and appearing invisible. I hope that you can see my invisible man appearing in this stitching - he is hidden by the black and white figures all over him. He has been fun to stitch and lots of time spent thinking during this one. I think when his face bead is stitched on he will appear.

The background was white silk with a striped (pale yellow) chiffon and I machine stitched rows across the figures. My little man was cut out of a piece of fused fabric with a satin stitch edging and stitched on with the beads.

December BJP

My december piece is about halfway there, but faceless at the moment. This young lady is dressed in her christmas best and enjoying the festive season with stars on her shoes. The background is constructed with threads fused to pelmet vilene and then a chiffon scarf fused over the top. The chiffon has white spots representing the snow that occurred while I was on holiday in San Francisco. I think this little lady will be called Emmy but it will depend on her look when her face is attached. Having the little face beads means that proportion has gone out the window as her face will be little compared to her body. She is also dressed with a wonderful necklace - obviously her christmas present.

Catching the comments.

Thank you for all the comments. I forget to read them but glad that people are seeing them. To answer a couple of questions the little faces are glass beads that I found in the bead shop in Queenstown, New Zealand (www.queenstown-nz.co.nz ) when I was there in August last year for a conference. Unfortunately I only bought 10 of them but I have an idea for a different face for the January piece so hoping that inspiration will come for another month.

I have had lots of fun doing the backgrounds that I think the beading is covering it but I am also learning how to put less into the background. I have found in my stash several other things that might get used for backgrounds so my idea of having 12 peices the same size is officially flown the coop. I like the way I have finished the november piece with the machine stitched edge and the fact it is not square I found hard to work with initally but put the scissors away (I kept trimming the edges) as the perfect, logical me was coming out and I was forgetting the creative part of the process. I am looking foarward to stitching on the february piece and have decided that my calendar is obviously from Mars or PERN (Practically Earth Resources Negligble - for Anne McCaffrey fans) as it is different ordered to the Gregorian Calendar in my day job.